I’m going to say something that I’m guessing many people will disagree with. I grew up playing team sports, particularly hockey, where losing would hit you like a kick to the gut. When the buzzer went and you’d been beaten, there was no congratulating the opposition or pretending you were happy for them. You’d put everything into winning, and the fact that someone else had beaten you stung. To me, that’s a big part of competitive sport. The stakes are so high because the want to win is so great.
I love that cycling is a ‘gentleman’s’ sport. Its unwritten rules, mutual respect and sportsmanship are part of what make it unique and great. That said, there’s another side of cycling’s etiquette that I’ve always found a unsatisfying: the hugs and congratulations at the finish line, even when someone has just lost the biggest race of their life. The disappointment is usually swallowed up by good manners.
That’s why Florian Vermeersch’s reaction after finishing second at the Gravel World Championships made me smile. As the defending champion crossed the line, his first response was to scream “FUCK!!!”. There was no attempt to hide what he was feeling. He’d come to win, he’d given everything to do so, and he was devastated that he hadn’t.
Still, I dind’t feel like his raw emotion didn’t come across as sour grapes or poor sportmanship. He could be furious about losing and still respect the winner, Magnus Bak Klaris. I loved it. Fierce competitiveness, genuine sportsmanship and no pretending that losing didn’t hurt Vermeersch.
I’d say the courtesy of a simple handshake shows a level of respect for the sport, the contest and your opponent. The fact that it’s uncomfortable is part of the cost of loosing. I guess that it’s appreciated when you win.
Wade, fellow hockey guy! I sometimes discuss the lack of hate for your opponent in sports these days..
So I coach hockey and I guess my message for the kids, because some of them HATE losing, is that it’s ok to hate losing and be mad about it, but at the same time you have to respect your opponent and recognize they were better. It’s a fine line. We shake hands after every game but I know one day some kid is going to punch another because not only do they not always lose with grace, they also don’t always win with grace.
There’s a campaign going around about being opponents not enemies. I think that’s a good message.
Yes, you remind me of how out of control hockey could get and I was embarrassed by that. Embarrassed for my team as well as the sport. “Opponents not enemies” is a good message.
Isn’t this basically the popular old-school opinion that everyone over the age of 35 holds? I feel like I’ve heard a number of retired racers complain about this. Lance definitely has, I think I heard Jens Voigt complain about this as well. It’s the same in other sports. In triathlon, this has been one of Jan Frodeno’s gripes with the new generation.
No offence, Wade, but this really strikes me as one of these things where people think they hold an outdated or unpopular opinion, but it’s really just what a huge majority of their age-group/peer group think. It’s a bit like complaining about participation prizes for kids
I’ve always thought road racers fight to win and express frustration with anything less moreso than other cycling/running sports. Dudes bashing bars in frustration because they were so close or won the sprint for second behind a break is pretty common. The last time I watched XCO the dudes coming third were high-fiving the crowd.
I’m fine with the post-finish vibes. We’ve all seen how much Tadej, MVDP, MVA, and Mads all want to win. They’re not there for vibes. If after the race they can be friends again I think that’s admirable… I appreciate knowing the sport isn’t full of psychopaths.
The surge of adrenaline going through these guy’s veins after so many hours and an ending sprint where they literally put every ounce of energy into their sprint? And to just miss their goal? That scream must have unleashed a lot of emotion and frustration! And there are so many tiny things that can make the difference on that particular day. Still, they can congratulate the other riders and say, “They beat me!” Usually.
Hot take: Michael Schumacher may have been a psychopath. I think he’s an example of stepping over the line. Among the examples, driving Barichello off the track at 300kmh because he couldn’t stand to be passed. He was great and worked hard and was very competitive, but if thoughts like that creep in, you need to see a specialist before you kill someone.
Yeah, I think missing a sprint finish elicits a much more emotional response than when the riders come in solo. There’s much more of a split second moment to react to in a sprint that says, ‘I almost had it’
In TT’s, mountain top finishes, and as you say XCO, these are very different finish types that don’t seem to carry that emotion.
Ahh, the good old days of the post-cricket match line of handshakes. Performative, gentlemanly sportsmanship while smiling and telling your opponent, “Good game. Fuck you” whether you won or lost. Something you meant everything and nothing by.
Personally, I agree with Caley on this. I want to see personalities and feuds. More heels and faces in the sport.
But I also understand that they are, themselves, the advertising medium and too much personality could cost them a contract the following year (except Moscon.. somehow he persists through it all).
Maybe a little more venom in the post-ride handshake/hug would go a long way?
I played Rugby growing up and you had to clap each other off the pitch after the game. You had been knocking the shit out of each other and then you had to realize that a: it was over, and b: it was a game and not a fight to the death. My soccer playing friends did not do this and seemed way more emotionally upset days after losing.
Sport is a great way to learn valuable life lessons. If the lesson you learn is that you should hate your opponent then my feeling is that you are learning the wrong lesson.
I love the part in the Last Lecture by Randy Pousch, where he is sent along to play Grid iron by his Mom. He asks the coach where the ball is and the coach points out that there are 22 players on the field and only 1 of them has the ball, “so we’ll be learning what the other 21 should be doing”.
p.s. If you haven’t see the last lecture then it’s 75 mins of investment that you really will love watching.
I also grew up a ball sport athlete. I was also intensely competitive. I was D.1 scholarship athlete at a top 10 college in my sport. I have had Florian’s response after every event in which I for some reason (or ‘the team collectively’) didn’t perform as expected. What I disagree with is the normalizing of the unsportsmanlike behavior of not at least pretending to be civil after the game/match/etc. If the team or opponent obviously cheated or played outside acceptable limits of the sport, sure, walk away, no handshakes, whatever. But, in endurance sports, generally you each give your all and if you didn’t win, that’s generally on you. Beat yourself up, sure. Say fuck, for sure. Give your competition some form of a kudos, that’s just being not an a-hole. You wanna be a Lance, go for it. But well not respect you like you want to be respected as you’re unable to show respect for others trying as hard as you.
Not bragging, it certainly wasn’t my great coaching, but one of the most important moments I think for me and one of my teams was winning 13-0, then getting the boys to take a knee after the handshakes and explaining that today they won 13-0 but one day they’ll lose 13-0 and that they needed to remember how great their opponent had been in losing that night. And they should be so lucky as to be as gracious and sportsmanlike when they did lose. I honestly think that was the most thoughtful they’d been all year. Moments like that make coaching worthwhile.
I sometimes discuss the lack of hate for your opponent in sports these days..