At the world championships, the earpiece is banned, and so is radio. The Belgian federation has therefore turned to the oldest piece of kit in the bunch: the bidon. On Sunday in Canada, messages will be printed on them, and riders will be able to collect them lap by lap in the feed zones, the “boxen”. The usual signboards remain in use.
“We tested that on Friday with the under-23s. We work with signboards every year, as always, but we have also worked out another system with the bidons,” Serge Pauwels told Sporza. The trial had an unplanned witness: a message bidon ended up, by mistake, in the hands of Sporza’s cameraman.
Remco Evenepoel did the maths: twelve laps, twelve chances. “It is a good idea, but there are risks involved. If you miss a bidon with an important message on it, you have not seen it,” he told Sporza.
Firstly, the bidon is a feed. It becomes a letter. I note that the letter is delivered in the designated zone, which is compliant. Secondly, the recipient. A bidon handed to the cameraman is a misaddressed item. At the town hall, a misaddressed item is returned to the sender. Here, it is filmed. Thirdly, twelve laps, twelve deliveries. I note that no acknowledgement of receipt is provided. I do not comment on the contents. I did not read it, and it is not in the column.
Serge Pauwels also joked about writing real instructions on the even laps and false ones on the odd laps, before judging the idea excessive: on the signboards, he pointed out, everyone else can read too.
It’s true, we checked: Sporza.
