The Future of Pro-Cycling

(Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

For years racers have been putting bike computers to good use. Knowing the time difference between the peloton and the break-away group it is easy to calculate what average speed to ride to catch them. And the current GPS-enabled devices already provide additional benefits: see the geographical profile of the route ahead, know exactly where you are with regards to the remainder of the course.

But certainly from a team director point of view much more is possible. GPS radios can inform the team director exactly where all the team riders are and where they are in relation to each other. Biometric information can be sent along so that the director can also have an idea of the remaining fitness levels of each team member. And so Eric Breukink of Rabobank could decide to send Pieter Weening after an escapee instead of Joost Posthuma judging the realtime reporting of wattage, heart rates and lactate levels of both riders. 

Team leaders like Lance Armstrong who have a direct interest in team strategy as well could have much of the same information projected on heads-up displays integrated in their sunglasses.

Team directors of the future need not be in the team cars anymore. Not be distracted by the driving and the discomfort of being in a car for the several hours of a race. Instead, they'll be in a central (nicely air conditioned) team command post with plenty of displays and communication devices around them conducting the cycling battle like a modern general. Ignoring a team director's instructions will become harder and harder for the riders, continuing the increasing control of the team director over the team tactics during the race.

It still frequently occurs that a rider looses a race due to poor eating or drinking. Alberto Contador lost this year's Paris-Nice because of this. Robert Gesink had a bad day in last year's Vuelta due to not taking in enough food and also Lance Armstrong has fallen victim in the past. I expect these decisions to go away from the athlete. In the future a rider may have biometric devices embedded that monitor the rider's blood levels and, carrying a future-version Camelbak, have the appropriate nutrients inserted directly into the bloodstream.

Over time where races are held may also change. Already for some years races like the Amstel Gold race, certain stages in the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España have become more dangerous for the riders due to the so-called traffic furniture that is installed to make the urban areas safer. Instruments like round-abouts, speed bumps, road dividers are put in to slowdown daily traffic and minimize accidents. For a fast moving peloton of 150+ riders these actually create greater risk for bodily harm. Just as car racing - for the exception of the famous Monaco Formula 1 race – by and large has moved to dedicated circuits, also bike racing may increasingly move to rural courses and avoid the cities making the traditional circuiting of the Champs d'Elysées a memory of the past.

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