Cycling Weekly – July 25, 2019

42 | July 25, 2019 | Cycling Weekly

allowed. With a combined social media

following of more than 13 million, this can

add up to some serious traction, with the

right bit of footage.

Jumbo-Visma manager R ichard

Plugge says that while ASO and Velon

represent slightly different concerns,

they are still ultimately fighting for the

same cause. “It ’s needed to make cycling

more attractive to the spectators. The

fans will look into it, but to bring along

the spectators or the less involved people

sitting on the couch watching the T V, it ’s

really necessary,” he says.

“Bringing the fan into the heart of the

peloton, that ’s more or less our tag line,”

Plugge adds.

Even without wattages and heart rates,

when you consider the Tour de France

JAN TRATNIK’S BUNNYHOP

Overnight video star

If Bahrain-Merida rider

Jan Tratnik provided some

compulsive footage last

Saturday, as his deft high-

speed bunnyhop took off

on social media.

Taken looking backwards

from a bike-mounted

camera, the footage shows

the incident that brought

down Astana’s Jakob

Fuglsang 20km from the

finish. Exactly what caused

the crash isn’t shown, but

as an unnamed Bahrain

rider skittles down the

road his team-mate Tratnik

avoids him with a neat

flick. Immediately behind,

Fuglsang has no time to

react and goes down, over

the bars, like a sack of spuds.

The 29-year-old Slovenian

Tratnik, who you may

recognise as the winner

of the Tour de Romandie

prologue earlier this year,

showed that he’s not only

got the power, he’s also got

the skills.

“Ah, it was nothing,” said

Tratnik of his high-speed

cameo, which he said took

place at between 50 and

60kph. “It was just a reaction

— I didn’t think, I saw that

there would be a crash so I

reacted fast, I decided to go

on the left side and then I

saw the sidewalk and yeah, I

need to jump there.”

Plenty of people had

already asked him about the

video already, said the new

star of social media.

“The next day I just saw

my phone and there were

so many messages. Then I

saw this video. It was really

like... I don’t know, that I got

a result, not that I jumped on

the sidewalk!”

only got live cameras on motos in 1960,

it ’s come a long way. A nd as bike racing

teams live and die by their sponsors,

exploiting every opportunity to get more

fans engaged is a necessity, not an option.

“Technology can play a big role,”

says Dimension Data team manager

Doug Ryder. “Look at Formula 1, how

amazing it is when you can get in-car

commentary, what ’s being said, so

when the racing is dull and not a lot ’s

happening, what are the conversations

that are happening in the team cars so

they can open that side of it up. I think

that would be quite interesting for

people to engage with.”

From a galax y far, far away to the

modern pro peloton, data and technology

could be key to accelerating cycling’s

viewership into hyperspace.

TOUR 20 19

“Technology

could be key to

acclerating

viewership”

The future promises to bring

the WorldTour experience alive

Tratnik‘s bunnyhop

set social media alight