I can barely open my laptop these days without someone spotting me. Wherever I am, but especially when I’m in my usual workplaces, like my flat or at my local cafe, it’s hard to get on with my work without being mobbed. I’ll just be there, typing away, when someone shoves their phone in my face for a selfie, or perhaps they’ll just sit behind me, aping me, in order they can tell their friends or post on social media about how close they got to Adam Becket.
Sure, I’m a bit of a giveaway, when I’m wearing my full Cycling Weekly kit head to toe, and I am working in public spaces, but that’s my prerogative.
News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. As ever, email adam.becket@futurenet.com – should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.
If you’re Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard or Mathieu van der Poel, and you’re on a training ride, especially in the Spanish hotspots of Calpe or the Sierra Nevada, you will be subject to regular, seemingly endless, attention. In recent weeks, I’ve seen videos of all sorts of pro cyclists doing their job while fans or regular riders try to get close with their cameras.
Unlike us normal people, and most athletes too, riders have to do their training in the real world, on real roads. It’s part of what we love about cycling, that it happens in places we can all access, but it also allows for behaviour which gets in the way, disrupts, or perhaps makes pros feel uncomfortable.
This all came to a head this week when Jonas Vingegaard crashed on a training ride, purportedly after he attempted to get away from an amateur cyclist. In the aftermath, his Visma-Lease a Bike team urged fans and other riders to “give them [their pro cyclists] as much space and peace as possible”.
There is nothing to suggest that the other cyclist involved in the Vingegaard incident did anything to provoke the Dane, other than cycling near him.
Pedro García Fernández, who posted on Strava about the incident, wrote: “You can be professional, but you can also be humble. Jonas fell while trying to leave me behind… When I stopped to ask how he was, he got angry with me for following him down. He was going down fast just to leave me behind and ended up on the ground.”
However, it does not take much of a reach to understand why Vingegaard might have been trying to ride off, and then his anger when he crashed. The 29-year-old will face attention all the time, people riding on his wheel, trying to get close to the two-time Tour de France winner.
It’s nothing new, but it’s amplified in the social media age, with people chasing views. It isn’t a huge leap to thinking it would be a stressful situation, something Vingegaard would want to get away from. Even if it was just someone riding on his wheel, it could be uncomfortable.
Last year I wrote about my strong dislike of people riding on my wheel when I don’t know them, especially when they make no effort to be polite or introduce themselves. “If you’re the kind of person who drafts, maybe it’s time to take a look in a mirror,” I wrote. That applies to pro cyclists too.
The roads are free for everyone to use, of course, but why not have a bit of respect and thought and give a pro cyclist space? This is not confined to riders, obviously, but there is more potential danger to getting in someone’s space while cycling as opposed to bothering a celebrity you’ve spotted at a local restaurant. Incidentally, I would still advocate disturbing a famous person anywhere with the utmost of politeness and respect, but that’s just my manners.
It seems rude, frankly, and also weird, to expect a level of candour and time from someone just trying to get on with their job and train. I can understand why riders hide their Strava activities, or travel further afield, as Tom Pidcock and Pinarello-Q36.5 have done in heading to Chile.
While the top male pro cyclists are better known, and therefore must receive more attention, female pro cyclists, training in their kit, must face a tiring barrage of amateur riders attempting to prove their speed. That’s not even to speak of the low-level harassment all female cyclists often endure.
I understand why Vingegaard would try to escape from a rider following him, especially approaching a descent, where he would want space to take the corners in safety and not have to worry about a rider too close behind. It’s weird, and as one of the most famous cyclists in the world, it must be tiring. Avoiding crashes, ironically, is probably one reason to try and ride alone, and keep everything within your control.
I don’t like someone I don’t know riding on my wheel, and I’m not a Tour de France winner trying to train alone. Think about your actions, be polite. Feel free to say hi to someone, to ask for a photo, if it’s possible, but don’t be annoying, and definitely don’t put another rider, pro or amateur in danger. That’s all that’s needed.
Anyway, I’m about to leave my house. Please respect my space.
This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.
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