# Pro cycling's long season



## InfiniteLoop (Mar 20, 2010)

Does any other sport have as long a season as pro road cycling? The closest I can think of is F1 that runs late March thru mid November. Football (either variety), baseball, track, and a long list of others have much shorter seasons.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Swimming. Pretty much year round.. but seasons are based around certain competitions and/or worlds. Swimming is also one of the longest college/high school seasons too.


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## tjeepdrv (Sep 15, 2008)

NASCAR runs from February through the end of November, 38 weeks with races, plus a couple of off weekends puts it around 41 weekends.


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## The Weasel (Jul 20, 2006)

Baseball goes from...oh that's right, it's not a sport.


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## gamara (May 20, 2002)

Cycling is long but its a team sport of around 30 with different programs so some riders on the same team don't get to race with each other that often. Even then there are long breaks between events. 

Tennis on the other hand has 4 major monuments along with all the other tune up events & smaller tournaments that run through out the entire year around the world which makes it truly global. If you compare the amount of travel that an athlete has to do to get to the events, then tennis has them all beat.


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## The Weasel (Jul 20, 2006)

gamara said:


> Tennis on the other hand has 4 major monuments along with all the other tune up events & smaller tournaments that run through out the entire year around the world which makes it truly global.


Great point about tennis (as well as a great sport).

Golf also involves a lot of...oh yeah, that's not a sport either.


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## qatarbhoy (Aug 17, 2009)

Yup, the tennis pros wrapped up the year in December and were back on court in January. I saw a soon-to-be-crocked Nadal and a soon-to-be-beaten-by-the-crocked-Nadal Federer play just a couple of weeks back. At least it's not a contact sport or they'd never walk again after thirty.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

InfiniteLoop said:


> Does any other sport have as long a season as pro road cycling? The closest I can think of is F1 that runs late March thru mid November. Football (either variety), baseball, track, and a long list of others have much shorter seasons.


The FA cup final closes the football league in Britain, typically in May (13th last year) and the first day of the season will be around August time (14 last year), so June and July are the off season. The premier league teams play 38 games, plus games in two other cup competitions (1 more if they have qualified for Europe) so the players will typically play weekly or more frequently in that period. That is a very difficult schedule.


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

PhatTalc said:


> The FA cup final closes the football league in Britain, typically in May (13th last year) and the first day of the season will be around August time (14 last year), so June and July are the off season. The premier league teams play 38 games, plus games in two other cup competitions (1 more if they have qualified for Europe) so the players will typically play weekly or more frequently in that period. That is a very difficult schedule.


Very difficult? The frequency I'll give you, but the off season is 3 months not 2 and that once or occasionally more a week is for 90 minutes, A player might be on the pitch for perhaps 120 maximum allowing for injury time, if he's played for the full game.

So to compare it to cycling is banal, unless you're only looking at criteriums. Tennis is also a sport that eclipses football in its duration and intensity. 

The training that the Premiership players "endure" is laughable in comparison to that of their cycling counterparts.


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## foto (Feb 7, 2005)

ultimobici said:


> Very difficult? The frequency I'll give you, but the off season is 3 months not 2 and that once or occasionally more a week is for 90 minutes, A player might be on the pitch for perhaps 120 maximum allowing for injury time, if he's played for the full game.
> 
> So to compare it to cycling is banal, unless you're only looking at criteriums. *Tennis is also a sport that eclipses football in its duration and intensity. *
> 
> The training that the Premiership players "endure" is laughable in comparison to that of their cycling counterparts.


And isolation. Tennis players spend hours in their own heads, trying not to psyche themselves out.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

ultimobici said:


> Very difficult? The frequency I'll give you, but the off season is 3 months not 2 and that once or occasionally more a week is for 90 minutes, A player might be on the pitch for perhaps 120 maximum allowing for injury time, if he's played for the full game.


Many teams are playing matches before the home season begins, and some teams have games just after the FA cup final (e.g. the play offs), which is why I put June and July as the off season. In any case, football, even for 90 minutes is extremely punishing.



ultimobici said:


> So to compare it to cycling is banal, unless you're only looking at criteriums. Tennis is also a sport that eclipses football in its duration and intensity.


I don't think so. I seriously doubt many people would agree with you on tennis versus football. An elite tennis player covers about 3.5km each hour for an average match, which would be about 7-11km for an average match (the grand slam events are longer, I grant you). A football player covers about 9-11 km in 90 minutes, so endurance and intensity I give to football and duration (in terms of distance) would be similar. Besides, in football players are getting knocked around by each other, so I put football ahead of tennis.



ultimobici said:


> The training that the Premiership players "endure" is laughable in comparison to that of their cycling counterparts.


Maybe so, but I doubt it. Cyclists do almost 100% endurance work, footballers a larger proportion of strength work, and of course lots and lots of skills training.


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

I don't know of a sport that can compare with cycling in hours trained and competed. The typical pro road race is 4+ hours and many pros race 60+ days a year. Many of the top sprinters were at Tour Down Under and will continue through to the Olympics and Worlds in October, taking breaks from racing to train. Add to that an off season training load from 15-30 hours a week of actual training time. I can't think of anything else that comes close.


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

PhatTalc said:


> Many teams are playing matches before the home season begins, and some teams have games just after the FA cup final (e.g. the play offs), which is why I put June and July as the off season. In any case, football, even for 90 minutes is extremely punishing.


22 light perms/bad tattoos running round a pitch chasing a bag of wind!




> I don't think so. I seriously doubt many people would agree with you on tennis versus football. An elite tennis player covers about 3.5km each hour for an average match, which would be about 7-11km for an average match (the grand slam events are longer, I grant you). A football player covers about 9-11 km in 90 minutes, so endurance and intensity I give to football and duration (in terms of distance) would be similar. Besides, in football players are getting knocked around by each other, so I put football ahead of tennis.


That 9-11km is mostly at a jog, with the odd sprint thrown in. Tennis, a sport I cannot abide, is all on one player. So that 3.5km is all intense. There is no place to hide.





> Maybe so, but I doubt it. Cyclists do almost 100% endurance work, footballers a larger proportion of strength work, and of course lots and lots of skills training.


A footballer trains for how long per day? 3-4 hours max, then it's shopping & clubbing. Contrast that with Garmin's recent training camp with a 6 hour session! It's big news when a rider stays up late too, let alone drinks a beer or two!


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## qatarbhoy (Aug 17, 2009)

I think today's Australian open final may nudge the argument in tennis's favour over football... 6 hours...


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## foto (Feb 7, 2005)

I think boxers work pretty hard, too. They train a shitton even though they only compete 1-2 times a year, but talk about a punishing competition.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

ultimobici said:


> 22 light perms/bad tattoos running round a pitch chasing a bag of wind!


Fair enough. I love football, but it does have bad hair and tattoos... like pro cycling! 



ultimobici said:


> That 9-11km is mostly at a jog, with the odd sprint thrown in. Tennis, a sport I cannot abide, is all on one player. So that 3.5km is all intense. There is no place to hide.


Bot true. Football is mostly very intense running. Tennis is lots of standing around or sitting eating bananas.




ultimobici said:


> A footballer trains for how long per day? 3-4 hours max, then it's shopping & clubbing. Contrast that with Garmin's recent training camp with a 6 hour session! It's big news when a rider stays up late too, let alone drinks a beer or two!


Most team camps are just endurance work - not wearing themselves out. I have played football, cycled and run competitively (not at such high levels though) and football is harder to recover from than cycling or running. Cycling wears you out, and long term can be really hard, but football causes all sorts of injuries and aches. After a match it would take me 3 days to recover, which included walking with muscle soreness. I never get muscle soureness from cycling, even after races.


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## foto (Feb 7, 2005)

PhatTalc said:


> Fair enough. I love football, but it does have bad hair and tattoos... like pro cycling!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


fixed it for you.


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## qatarbhoy (Aug 17, 2009)

foto said:


> I think boxers work pretty hard, too. They train a shitton even though they only compete 1-2 times a year, but talk about a punishing competition.


Even when they're in the ring, boxers take breaks every three minutes and get towelled down by other people. Easy!


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

PhatTalc said:


> Most team camps are just endurance work - not wearing themselves out. I have played football, cycled and run competitively (not at such high levels though) and football is harder to recover from than cycling or running. Cycling wears you out, and long term can be really hard, but football causes all sorts of injuries and aches. After a match it would take me 3 days to recover, which included walking with muscle soreness. I never get muscle soureness from cycling, even after races.


I think that's more about the level you're playing & riding at.

Professional cycle race - 4-7 hours long in all conditions. Occasionally cancelled, more often rerouted due to adverse conditions.
Professional football match - 90 minutes long with a break in the middle. Possibility of extra time after another break. Very often played under cover or at least sheltered. Matches called off due to frost!

Many players don't even play a full match, and how often does a player get a tiny tiny tap and roll around in agony? Then they get stretchered off!

Name one Jonny Hoogerland character in Football. There isn't one and there hasn't been one, ever.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

ultimobici said:


> I think that's more about the level you're playing & riding at.


Maybe. Its not a convincing argument though is it?
[/QUOTE]



ultimobici said:


> Professional cycle race - 4-7 hours long in all conditions. Occasionally cancelled, more often rerouted due to adverse conditions.
> Professional football match - 90 minutes long with a break in the middle. Possibility of extra time after another break. Very often played under cover or at least sheltered. Matches called off due to frost!


So what? A cycle race is long but intense only at the end, a football match is short but intense throughout. One beats up on your endurance, the other beats up on your joints. In cycling a stage race is feasible. In football, you can't play back to back games for 7 days - everyone would end up in hospital. Think there are no breaks in cycling? So how is it pros get time to grab a lunch bag and eat from it? Must be on the rivet if you can eat ham sandwiches. 



ultimobici said:


> Many players don't even play a full match, and how often does a player get a tiny tiny tap and roll around in agony? Then they get stretchered off!
> 
> Name one Jonny Hoogerland character in Football. There isn't one and there hasn't been one, ever.


Terry butcher:


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## foto (Feb 7, 2005)

Yeah, Larsson didn't get back up and keep playing, even let them take him off on a stretcher that wimp.


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## qatarbhoy (Aug 17, 2009)

foto said:


> Yeah, Larsson didn't get back up and keep playing, even let them take him off on a stretcher that wimp.


Larsson = Legend. That is all.


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## chase196126 (Jan 4, 2008)

PhatTalc said:


> So what? A cycle race is long but intense only at the end, a football match is short but intense throughout. One beats up on your endurance, the other beats up on your joints. In cycling a stage race is feasible. In football, you can't play back to back games for 7 days - everyone would end up in hospital. Think there are no breaks in cycling? So how is it pros get time to grab a lunch bag and eat from it? Must be on the rivet if you can eat ham sandwiches.
> 
> Terry butcher:


No race in existence is only intense at the end of the race. The coverage of cycling on Versus rarely shows just how hard the field goes at the beginning of a race to establish a breakaway. Sometime this takes 30 minutes or less and sometimes a breakaway wont get away for 2 hours or more which means 2 hours of *extremely* hard racing. If things go to plan there might be a bit of a lull in the pace until a team decides to bring the break back, leading to another 1-2 hours of hard pace into the finish. The "breaks" in cycling are no where near as easy as sitting on a bench during half time. 

As far as injuries go, I think cycling will still beat out football. In football if you are injured you are generally encouraged or forced to sit out for fear of making an injury worse. In cycling unless your injury makes you physically incapable of riding your bike you are *expected* to continue racing. Getting medical attention while going 60 Kph while holding onto a doctors car is a bit different than getting checked out while safe on the sidelines.


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## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

Id say US Baseball is a really long grind. Esentially, ball players are playing a game virtually every single day from March though end of September. For night games, their day starts around noon and ends around midnight. 

Yeah, I suppose you could argue that the game, itself is not terrible taxing, physically. But the day to day schedule for seven months straight is pretty tough.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

chase196126 said:


> No race in existence is only intense at the end of the race. The coverage of cycling on Versus rarely shows just how hard the field goes at the beginning of a race to establish a breakaway. Sometime this takes 30 minutes or less and sometimes a breakaway wont get away for 2 hours or more which means 2 hours of *extremely* hard racing. If things go to plan there might be a bit of a lull in the pace until a team decides to bring the break back, leading to another 1-2 hours of hard pace into the finish. The "breaks" in cycling are no where near as easy as sitting on a bench during half time.


I know how bike racing works, thanks. I haven't raced at your level, but I've done enough to know my comment was not completely true. My point is not to dissect a race into all its gory detail, but to answer the claim that just because a sport is only 90 minutes, with a break in the middle, it must be easy. There are, for sure, periods in a bike race where it is easy, especially for the team leaders.

I'm not arguing that cycling is not hard, but ultimobici's contention that football is not extremely demanding is specious. It doesn't last 6 hours, but you get totally beat up, by the running and the contact. It takes days to recover from a football match, even for the fittest. When a team plays three times in a week, the third game is carnage and if they end up playing a rested team they get walked all over. This is part of the reason why Greece won a huge tournament in 2004.



chase196126 said:


> N
> As far as injuries go, I think cycling will still beat out football. In football if you are injured you are generally encouraged or forced to sit out for fear of making an injury worse. In cycling unless your injury makes you physically incapable of riding your bike you are *expected* to continue racing. Getting medical attention while going 60 Kph while holding onto a doctors car is a bit different than getting checked out while safe on the sidelines.


There are three substitutions allowed in football, most of the time they will be tactical. If you are physically capable of playing, you are *expected *to continue, just like in cycling. No difference. And in any case, if you agree that an injury would get worse, such that one could actually risk your season, or a large part of it, are you not agreeing that football is demanding?


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## ultimobici (Jul 16, 2005)

PhatTalc said:


> Maybe. Its not a convincing argument though is it?



So what? A cycle race is long but intense only at the end, a football match is short but intense throughout. One beats up on your endurance, the other beats up on your joints. In cycling a stage race is feasible. In football, you can't play back to back games for 7 days - everyone would end up in hospital. Think there are no breaks in cycling? So how is it pros get time to grab a lunch bag and eat from it? Must be on the rivet if you can eat ham sandwiches. 



Terry butcher:[/QUOTE]How about a current player, rather than a player from 20 years ago playing in an international.

My contention is that football is not as demanding as road racing. To suggest that a race is piano until the end is ignorant to say the least. Flanders requires a rider to fight for position before every berg or be eliminated, Milan San Remo is 300km long, Roubaix is a whole different ball game. Then there's stage races with 180-240km a day for 5-21 days in all manner of conditions, sometimes all in one day! 

Even supposedly staged criteriums are not easy. A colleague of mine was a recently retired pro. He recounted his experience of racing in Belgium where the organiser's preferred winner was a local rider, trouble was a certain Mr Eckout wasn't happy about this. Suffice it to say, the whole bunch was "in the 11 and 12 for the whole race" That's an hour plus 5 laps at full gas, 45-50kmh, all for €200! Hardest day's work he's ever done. 

i don't doubt football is demanding, I just dispute it's anywhere near cycling in its level. Players won't play day in day out for a week, at worst they'll play twice, maybe three times in a week once in a while. rest of the time they'll be out on the lash, shopping or breaking the law.
List of professional sportspeople convicted of crimes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

Im thinking its pretty demanding and takes a _massive _level of talent, work and dedication to play ANY sport on a professional level.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

ultimobici said:


> How about a current player, rather than a player from 20 years ago playing in an international.


I was responding to:
"Name one Jonny Hoogerland character in Football. There isn't one and there hasn't been one, ever."

Clearly, there has been at least one. In fact, football has many examples of this - but I only needed one.



ultimobici said:


> My contention is that football is not as demanding as road racing.


You said to compare football to tennis and cycling is banal. This is an exagerration.



ultimobici said:


> To suggest that a race is piano until the end is ignorant to say the least. Flanders requires a rider to fight for position before every berg or be eliminated, Milan San Remo is 300km long, Roubaix is a whole different ball game. Then there's stage races with 180-240km a day for 5-21 days in all manner of conditions, sometimes all in one day!


Cycling is my absolute favourite sport - has been for over 20 years, during which I have followed it and taken part in it. I am not ignorant, I merely exagerrated in the same way you did about footballers going shopping and diving. 



ultimobici said:


> i don't doubt football is demanding, I just dispute it's anywhere near cycling in its level. Players won't play day in day out for a week, at worst they'll play twice, maybe three times in a week once in a while. rest of the time they'll be out on the lash, shopping or breaking the law.
> List of professional sportspeople convicted of crimes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Maybe on the lash they'll snort a few lines with Tom Boonen, or go out on the town with Andy Schleck and Stuey during the Vuelta. 

Football is not the same kind of endurance load, but it beats up the body, and as a result the modern schedule is demanding. My friend was a pro football player, in the second tier league and scored against liverpool in the F.A. cup, so very high level player. He retired at 28 because his knees were shot. Not an unusual story for the pros.
In my experience: two years ago, I played with my works team and got injured in a training game, I needed four months to get over the injury. Another guy on the same team broke his leg the first game of the season in a seemingly innocuous challenge. The same month another guy (same department) ended up in hostpital (ankle damaged in a tackle), whilst another (same team) has justed started playing again after a knee operation, due to football. All four of us are fit guys -except when we play football! I'm not playing football this year, it screws up my cycling season everytime I do it, even when I think I am ready. I never have problems cycling.


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## PhatTalc (Jul 21, 2004)

I wouldn't want to face this weekly! Vinnie jones (the angry looking guy, not the shocked one) would make anyone reconsider football as an easy sport.


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