His article in this morning's SMH captured the sentiment that a lot of people in road racing have been thinking about the Cycle Classic. He said "Road cycling is one sport which always battles for sponsors but there has to be a cut off point in catering to them. It has always been a problem for Phill Bates, promoter of the Pacific Power Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic, who has tried everything from clowns to stilt walkers to town cryers -- and this year Singapore trishaw racers featuring former world champion Martin Vinnicombe --to whip up public interest in a race now in its 14th year.
Although our national track racing squad are arguably the best in the world and are sponsored largely by the Australian taxpayer through the AIS, the road squad which is also part of the AIS have failed to deliver. The coming Olympics however in the new era of open racing means that "the future of Australian road cycling hangs in the balance".
Wells goes on to make the point that "That will require a road cycling culture in this country like there is in Europe. And you don t develop that culture by taking the race into the middle of nowhere and relying on TV highlights. People must get to watch it live. So racing around power stations in the Hunter Vailey is an exercise in futility."
The point is well taken. The race is five days old now and very little public presence has been involved at the stage starts or finishes. The press coverage is abysmal - we only get down to 10th on both stage placings and GC, and the TV coverage (half an hour each night plus special weekend coverage) is poor. The half hour coverage every night turns out to be about 10 minutes of action and the rest Phil Liggett trying to tell us what is obvious. Packaged prizes and stupid discussions about tactics and what a racing bike looks like is frustrating in the extreme.
Wells however is arguing about the race route which gives "little reason for the public to take it seriously. And that is largely because it cater to the needs of Pacific Power, one of the two major sponsors. Today will be the third straight day that the cameras have been positioned to catch the massive chimneys of the Bayswater, Vales Point and Munmorah power stations. If TV footage of giant concrete phalluses is meant to be good for the overseas markets, it beats me why.
He goes on to say that "Once the race started in Brisbane, then it was the Gold Coast, and then Coffs Harbour. But the towns down the coast became disinterested and the crowds fell and the masses of school kids decked out in bank caps and waving national flags dropped away. A few years back, when Pacific Power joined the bank as a main sponsor, one of the advantages was the ability to build Bumble Hill in the Yarramalong Valley - - the only serious steep climb to sort the big animals from the pretenders -- into the race. But the power station stages, with rent a crowd school kids brought in by bus for the finishes, are anachronistic."
The tour this year broke with tradition in that it started in Sydney at Manly Beach which on a reasonable day should have attracted huge crowds. Unfortunately it was pouring down with rain and the crowds stayed away. Previously, the tour had used the Coogee beach, south of Sydney as a criterium site but chose to ignore that popular venue this year. It has to be said that the reason the promoter, Phill Bates decided to base the race around Sydney is probably because he found it hard to attract the interest of sponsors on the north coast, the races traditional starting point. But we will never really know that.
Wells further attacks the next several stages. He said that "On Sunday, the 127.3krn from Hornsby to The Entrance, followed by a criterium at The Entrance, drew minimal crowds. On Monday, a piddling 66.3km road stage from The Entrance to Newcastle was a yawner. And that was followed by a soulless 3.6km time trial around Newcastle's Harbourside Park which drew only a handful of people....But we had to be headed for the Hunter Valley because of Pacific Power. On Tuesday, the race went from Newcastle to the Bayswater power station, with nobody watching. Then there was a criterium around the power station in the middle of zero."
Strong words indeed. In fact, the race also annoys the people who know about bike racing. I mentioned in another part of my pages about the two- stage days, a short road stage and a crit later on. The crits do nothing for the race itself, unless there is a crash and that hardly is a way of determining GC in a tour. And the road stages are so compromised by the schedule in terms of distance and routes (fairly easy with the big ring out more often than not) that they lack the ability to discriminate.
Wells argues that "Yesterday, it was from the Bayswater to the Eraring power stations, travelling some of the same sterile roads, followed by a criterium in Terrigal. Today it is power station to power station, over Bumble Hill, before Sydney finally gets back into the act at the Darling Harbour criterium - if folks remember that the classic is still on."
Reflecting on the future of the event leading up to the 2000 Olympics, Wells argues that Sydney has to become the focus of the tour. It is the population centre of NSW and the largest city in Australia, ahead of Melbourne. The last Tour should be over roads that will be used in the Olympics. Already, a round of the triathlon World Cup was staged recently in Sydney and highlighted the Opera House. Wells says it would be "a splendid place to finish with a criterium".
He says that "Canberra has long provided a fine race finishing criterium on the Sunday but that should now be a Saturday event. It could be preceded by the good new climbs we will have tomorrow and Saturday between Wollongong and Canberra, which give the race greater international credibility. Of course Bates has always had to battle governments and councils for the right to run the race on main roads. But the State Government and Olympic authorities -- and the Australian Cycling Federation, which is obliged to educate the public about the much greater prestige that road racing has over track cycling -- must find a way to bring the finish of the classic to Olympic Sydney, in the lead up to 2000, preferably incorporating the Olympic road course and the Opera House.