At the world and European championships, there are no earpieces. Sports directors have to get creative to reach their riders, and the riders race on instinct. Wout van Aert is clearly against, Mathieu van der Poel is for.
Philippe Gilbert put a third option on the workbench this week on RTL Sports: one or two riders per team as captains, and a test race with one or two radios per team. “Some sports directors go over the top to stay relevant,” he added, quoted by WielerFlits.
One or two radios per team. Fine. But who charges them? To me a radio is the van’s radio, and it dies on the third lap of the kermesse (a village circuit race), always when the announcer calls the prime. The captain will have the box in his back pocket, with the gel and the windproof. Where does the wire run, mind you? A wire rubbing under the jersey, you don’t see it, you hear it. And instinct, in my book, is a part as well: it’s the handlebar. You hold it, it tells you where to go. Alright? I’ll go and change the batteries in the club’s radio, then.
Gilbert’s idea is still only an idea: no test race has been announced.
It’s true, we checked: WielerFlits.
