#michael albasini

After a mediated handshake, not much seems open for discussion regarding the incident in which Michael Albasini used a racial slur against Kévin Reza. Albasini clarified his unrepeatable remark as a misunderstanding under duress of being in a breakaway. Alas, the Albasini test for racism would be: work your heart rate up to Zone 4 or 5, say some ethnic slurs, then figure out if you mean it or if you are just stressed. What a crock of bullshit! That the almighty ASO actually involved itself to resolve the situation indicates how the Tour de France org feared the incident may blow up and tarnish the event.

I skimmed through the English language coverage of l’affaire Albasini by a few big cycling media outlets and found most to be cursory at best. Cycling Weekly has the most detailed article focusing on the incident and its resolution. Cyclingnews, as of now, has posted nothing about the incident. VeloNews writes about it and provides context by referencing Nairo Quintana’s experience with racism from his interview with Solo CIclismo, excerpted and translated on Cycling Inquisition, though neither source was cited in the article. VN also, curiously, got a comment from Robbie Hunter, a white South African, who insists professional cycling is a “very tolerant place.” If anyone knows about being on the shitty end of institutional racism, it’s definitely a white man from South Africa, right? Looking at huge non-English (i.e., not my first nor second language) outlets that cover pro cycling, L’Equipe has a paragraph, lifted mostly from Sud Ouest, and La Gazzetta dello Sport has nothing so far. I’m curious about coverage in other areas of the world, considering Tour de France is the biggest cycling event.

It’s discomforting to think about how much Andrew Talansky’s grueling Stage 11 solo ride was written up compared to this l’affaire Albasini. One kind of suffering is glorified and eaten up, while another kind of suffering—suffering that has consequences way beyond the Tour—gets little press. As far as media attention goes, I’m not quite sure which is worse: zero coverage, or coverage that only makes an effort to interview a subject speaking from a completely opposite end of societal privilege. The Tour includes riders from Colombia, China, Japan, etc. If those riders could’t be reached there with a dictaphone, why not reach out for a comment via e-mail from riders on MTN Qhubeka, a team racing in Europe with a focus on riders from Africa? When it comes to divisive topics, I’d rather read a story with more depth later than a story filed quickly.

Race and racism in pro cycling is a topic that’s more taboo than doping in a lot of ways. It’s ridiculous that an incident like this has to happen at all, but I’m also disappointed enormously that I only see reporting on this story done by white bike race reporters uncomfortable with racism, yet none by people of color who write from the perspective of having experienced its ugliness. It’s not that there’s a concerted effort to exclude other voices in cycling media (not citing a Colombian site for their interview counts as exclusion, actually) but their lack contributes to status quo of professional cycling’s hegemony as a traditionally European male sport. In 2014, “traditional European male sport” sounds like the most boring thing you can follow.

#TOUR_DE_FRANCE. Le coureur Michael Albasini a-til traité Kevin Reza de sale nègre ?

Par Marco

  Kevin Reza

Que se passe-t-il au tour de France ? Racisme ? Info ou intox ? Ah, tiens, il y a un coureur noir dans ce tour ! Alors que Jean-René Bernaudeau, le directeur sportif de l’équipe Europcar, accusait Michael Albasini d’avoir tenu des propos racistes envers son coureur Kevin Reza, le coureur suisse de la formation Orica-GreenEdge s’est excusé mercredi matin auprès du Français…

自転車ブログ更新！－ツール・ド・ロマンディ2014（UCI WorldTour）－Review

春のスイスを舞台となるツール・ド・ロマンディは、例年クラシックからステージレースシーズンへの移行を告げる大会に。

そして、今年もやはりステージレーサーがその期待に違わないレースを展開しました。

約2ヶ月後のツール・ド・フランスを見据えた選手たちの競演を振り返ってみます。

  ———-

  ツール・ド・ロマンディ2014（UCI WorldTour）－4月29日～5月4日

  プロローグ　｜　第1ステージ　｜　第2ステージ　｜　第3ステージ　｜　 第4ステージ　｜　第5ステージ　｜　最終成績  

●プロローグ（アスコナ、5.57kmITT）－4月29日

  【結果】

1.ミカル・クウィアトコウスキ（ポーランド、オメガファルマ・クイックステップ）　6:22