Cycling: Olympic cycling suits will have to be burnt

Friday, February 06, 2009 - 04:28 PM

All but a few of the scientifically pioneered racesuits worn by Sir Chris Hoy and his fellow cyclists in the Beijing Olympics last year will soon be incinerated.

The suits were the product of a four-year programme of design and development that used input from Formula One technology. The value of the suit - or rather the risk of foreign competitors getting their hands on one and learning from the design - is such that these suits can never be seen again.

They are now back in storage at British Cycling's headquarters in Manchester. A few will be retained for testing purposes and when storage space runs out, the others will be destroyed.

The riders were not even allowed to keep their own suits for the sake of golden memories. The cost of each suit is not the point - they were produced for less than £100 each, considerably cheaper than many racesuits that can be bought off the peg. However, the intellectual property value is huge.

The fact that British cyclists will not be allowed to wear these suits - or anything as good as them - in leading events this year is another example of British Cycling's no-compromise approach to the sport. Next week, a strong team will be sent to the World Cup event in Copenhagen, a warm-up for the World Championships a month later in Pruszkow, Poland, but Chris Boardman, British Cycling's director of research and development, said: “It will be hard for the athletes because they want every advantage they can have, but they will just use stock equipment.”

The reason, Boardman said, is to preserve for the British riders that “extra gear” that research and development will give them on the start line at the London 2012 Games. “Officially, we don't care about World Championships,” Boardman said. “Our remit is to win Olympic medals. If we win every Olympic gold and lose every World Championship medal, we're successful. That said, because we are competitive people, we all strive to win the World Championships, too.”

Boardman, who has made a successful transfer from Olympic athlete to coach and design pioneer, is as excited about the old technology, locked away, as he is about the work being done on the future. His coterie of sports scientists is known as the Secret Squirrel Club and he said: “We are already up and running.” Any clues? “No, but numerous tests are being done.”

Frederiek Nolf, a 21-year-old Belgian rider, was found dead in his hotel room in Doha yesterday morning, hours after completing the third stage of the Tour of Qatar. Nolf, who rode for the Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator team, was suspected to have had a heart attack during the night and his body was discovered by his team manager, Jean-Pierre Heynderickx. “There was no sign that he might have a health problem,” Heynderickx said.