Bike Racing Reinvented? | The GCN Show Ep. 216

Could Velon re-invent bike racing? Plus, we've got news, we round up the first round of Belgian Classic and the disc brake controversy won't stop. Ahem. It's The GCN Show!

Can Velon reinvent pro cycling? You'll know that cycling is a rich team sport, with different team roles for riders and usually only one successful rider at the finish. But, if the team is so central to individual success, shouldn't the teams be rewarded as well? That's where Velon's latest race series comes in – it's all about the team.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this one – let us know below.

We also have some very exciting news of our own as we'll be teaming up with Eurosport. The team will remain, but we'll working together to share our joint love of cycling and to bring bigger and better videos to you.

The opening couple of Belgian cobbled classics saw world champion Peter Sagan, Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet and Lucinda Brand at the head of affairs. No great surprises there, but it is going to be interesting to see how the bigger races pan out in a few weeks time.

The e-bike controversy kept going in the comments last week. We really enjoyed reading your thoughts – keep them coming. This week, following Owain Doull's crash – where he claimed that his shoe was cut by Marcel Kittel's disc brake rotor at the Abu Dhabi Tour – we've got another controversy on our hands. Should disc brakes really be back in the peloton? Tell us what you think. 👇

As always, we have your usual favourites; Hack/Bodge of the week, Wattage Bazooka and tweet of the week.

Watch more on GCN...

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Leave us a comment below!

[gcn]

Can you beat Dan's caption competition effort?

(Oh, and let us know what you think of Velon's new series and disc brakes in the peloton, too – we'd love to hear your thoughts...)

[timgarland]

The racers need disc brake covers. And chair ring covers. And spoke covers. And fenders. And fender covers. And fender cover covers.

[sattvavasavadasengupta]

Hey everyone, the guys at GCN are putting in so much hard work for us (2285 videos till now), and I think we have to reward them. I read on google that youtubers earn money when viewers click on the ads. So how about just clicking on whatever ad pops up, and reward the guys for all the hard work they are putting in for making cycling better..
Also, this means that they will have more money, which equals to more red GCN Camelbak bottles!!

[NielsHeldens]

Caption: Caleb Ewan doing his most accurate reenactment of the Oscars.

[christianburrell]

Love the new format for a team event. So many guys race for others every time they line up. They have to experience "victory" by proxy. But with this format it allows them to legitimately win as a group. Great idea.

[jpinnillago]

Greetings from South America ... you have a growing group of GCN fans over here.

[jaythepuertorican]

Caption: Little did Caleb know, Moonlight took 1st.

[maxoconnor]

with the help of eurosport does this mean you can use part of their footage? tour de france gcn highlights would be great!

[GordonMoat]

I really like what Velon are doing, and especially like their app. Great improvements to make cycling even more enjoyable. Now if only someone could do something about pinned on numbers.

[gileseanes]

What, no love for the newly crowned Colombian national RR champ Sergio Henao? Come on GCN, I know this is an English show, but Colombia finished in the world tour rankings last year as a nation and the national RR should at least deserve some attention, especially since a Sky boy won! Plus Colombia is an awesome cycling county. You gotta check it out!

[sparx]

I am so excited for the new race format. Taking the best of track racing and putting it into a road format we can all relate to. Bring it!

[MrFornicater]

Want to make races more exiting? Get rid of race radios

[Toastybear]

that new team chase format sounds absolutely incredible, i cant wait to see that, it'll be so exciting!!

[wodstalker]

A front chainring is hundrends times more dangerous than a disc rotor....

[Maxmaxz]

Caption: "No Caleb! When we discussed "using the force" on the bus, that meant pedal harder! Not summon your inner Jedi!"

[sharkyrol]

Caption comp:

♫ Hold the line ♫
♫ Love isn't always on time! ♫

[jamesnickless]

Team up with Eurosport sounds brilliant, congrats to all who negotiated that. Presumably we now can have more of those lovely moving picture race highlight reels with the silky tones of John?

[patriciomenesesmerino]

Thank you guys for that Cerro Abajo mention. It Is an amazing ride to watch. We have lots of excelent routes here in Chile, because of the Andes. Hope to see you soon at Valle Nevado's climb or at El Toyo training route at Santiago.

[MHDIMN]

For the new Velon series its actually a lot more entertaining to watch something we know the format of. Like football a.k.a soccer. Before this riders were only told to sprint for the line. New rules would be a heap of fun for us audiences, at least.
As for the disc brakes, that was a complete no-no right when it emerges into roadbike environment. Adding them into the peloton was just waiting for something bad to happen and it did. Kittel was lucky enough to keep his foot intact.

[jevon]

Thanks for the mention on the World Airline Cycling Championships. 👍🏼👍🏼