Page 4 – Monsieur's Trip

Tour France 2014 might topple WorldTour rankings

Tour France 2014 is quite expected to topple up the existing WorldTour rankings, redefining the names in both team and individual rankings.

The Tour France winner scores 200 points, with the points rewarded to top twenty cyclists overall on sliding scale. The stage triumphs are worth twenty points which makes each of days of the championship highly significant & prestigious for WorldTour UCI rankings. Often it is seen that the Tour France winner ends up winning the WorldTour UCI rankings.

Alberto Contador from Tinkoff-Saxo is currently leading individual ranks with a whooping 397 points given his excellent performances in spring stage-races. Nairo Quintana , the Giro winner from Movistar I in the 2^nd place with a great 345 points while Rui Costa, the World road race champion from Lampre Merida is in the 3^rd position with 268 points post his amazing overall triumph at Tour Suisse. Another Movistar rider Aljandro Valverde is in the 6^th place with around 262 points. Interestingly, 2013 Tour France champion Chris Froome is on the 15^th place with say 163 points.

In regards to team rankings, Omega Pharma is currently on the lead with a superb 796 points & thanks to Cavendis’s success at sprint stage might be a strong help for the team in defending its lead in World rankings. Movistar is in the 2^nd place with a close 781 points while the 3^rd one is Tinkoff-Saxo with a great 647 points. It’s Spain which seems to dominate rankings, followed by Colombia, Netherlands & Australia.

This year will mark the 101^st season of Tour France. The race will commence on July 5 with stage 1 starting at Yorkshire of northern England from where it would take clockwise direction across France finalizing there by the 27^th of July.

#TotallyReady for the Tour de France

Movie Ranking: 4 / 5

Lifting Cycling restriction plans in Bournemouth might be stupidity, or not

Residents of Bournemouth have offered mixed reactions at a plan aimed at lifting bicycling restrictions there. Few are of the idea that the trial plan to ride the bicycles through the Bournemouth Square, which is quite pedestrained along with Pier Approach will work much better if the paths have cycle lanes painted on them. While the others have put across a vibe that is might be a stupid idea to do so, since this will cut down on the safety quotient of the pedestrians.

Recent government figures depict that outside London, Bournemouth is one location which has the 3^rd highest casualty rates of cyclists. Richard Pinnegar, who is the transport project manager for Bournemouth Borough Council’s commented that they want to make Bournemouth a bike friendly town and have undertaken such schemes which have been trialled in other locations with success. Jason Falconer, the cycling coach for Bournemouth commented that he thinks that the trail plan is a good one and strongly believes in shared spaces. Robert Aldous, a Bournemouth resident commented that he thinks it is a great plan only if lines can be painted on the pedestrian paths.

Along with these positive comments came an equal share of negative comments as well. Resident Libby Griggs complained that her dog was once hit while her toddler narrowly missed an accident because of the negligence of a cyclist who had complete disregard for pedestrians. Malcolm Bott also protested saying there lays no safety add-ons for cyclists riding in the area along with lowered safely for the pedestrians. Another pedestrian, a certain Anthony Dyche blatantly called the idea stupid, to let bicyclists ride in such busy streets like the pier, especially during the summers.

In the year 2012 the town had almost 803 cycling mishaps per million.

Tour de France 1997 Stage 12 Ullrich Individual Time Trial St Etienne

Video clip Score: four / five

Tour could use mounted cameras on bikes

Riders taking part in the Tour de France could have cameras attached to their cycles to enhance the experience of the audience on television as it targets much wider viewing of the grandest even in world cycling to increase revenues from advertising and viewership.

Brian Cookson, the president of the International Cycling Union or the UCI believes there is a lot of room for innovation and that is something the sport must do in order to promote itself to a wider range of audience. He stated that they need to embrace innovation in order to be able to sell their sport, adding that they will be looking at a lot of technology incorporation such as cameras on bikes.

He mentioned that it would be great to have a bird’s eye, the same that Chris Froome had as he came up the Champs-Elysees to take the Tour de France last year.

Cookson, who became the president of the governing body of world cycling after a power struggle last September made the suggestions while at a seminar in Turkey and there have been more or less positive reactions from the world of cycling regarding the latest innovation from the UCI boss.

According to the 62 year British cycling enthusiast, the sport needs to be at the forefront of the cutting edge of technological evolution in order to enhance the experience of the television viewing audience, encouraging the masses to go on downhill mountain bike holidays in France and across Europe.

He mentioned that one of the biggest obstacles for any sport is the need to evolve while staying true to its essence but he thinks that having mounted cameras on bikes at the Tour de France will not be taken the wrong way just like the technology was accepted in Formula One so many years back and thinks slowly, other races will employ the strategy as well.

Monsieur's Trip