You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Which outside of GTs and stage racing isn’t that much.
What's your point Contrary Mary?
What’s your point Contrary Mary?
The idea that sky’s tactics ensures success is a canard, they’ve been spectacularly unsuccessful in classics and one day races, even when they’ve targeted them. Their gt and larger stage race victories have also been dependent on them having the best rider in the peleton as their team leader (or second in command) not just turning up and riding to numbers. Race craft, tactics - skills can still defeat dominating trains (conversely a superb example being Stannard v quick step 2015 het nieuwsblad)
That's an accurate analysis of Sky's performance in the Classics.
And it reinforces the position that fitness is the predominant factor in determining most pro road race results.
With fitness and wily Belgian tactics combining for a few which take place in the spring?
Are we still on topic here?
As skill is often defined as the ability to something well, all sports at the top level could be considered equal in skill as they are the best human kind has at doing that particular task.
This thread would make more sense if it was defined as bike handling skills, rather than skill per se.
Don't you come in here being all sensible.
Translation: I want it so much to be the roadies, but it’s plain that they really don’t have much in the way of skills on a bike*
To repeat myself again, I don't think road cycling is the "most skilful" cycling discipline. I think every cycling discipline requires a different set of specific skills, so you can't rank them in any meaningful way (and I'm basing that on my experience of riding MTB, road and track competitively). If you read this thread, you'll see that people can't even agree what a skill is, let alone rank them!
Some people are proposing a very narrow definition of "skills" as bike handling. I'd suggest that ignores a whole chunk of skills that make successful DH riders special. Good DHers have some form of eidetic memory for a course, and an elevated ability to analyse their surroundings and the route possibilities at higher speed than the average person. They have the ability to exclude distractions and attain an extreme level of "flow" that is way beyond what most of us can achieve. There's a heck of a lot more going on than just body position and the finesse with which they move the bars or use the brakes.
Now you might argue, like fitness, good DHers are just born with this mental ability, so it is not a skill. I would argue that the top riders have improved and honed their natural abilities with a lot of hard work, which clearly makes what they do an acquired proficiency, or what I would call a "skill".
Alternatively, just carry on punting the supremacy of your favourite cycling discipline by ignoring the skills present in the other ones...
Freeride
Trials
DH.