road.cc live blog: Olympic BMX hopefuls wanted, hidden messages on Zwift, poll says cycling 8th most boring sport and much more

Track racing is boring, just going round and round the same oval. But I realise I'm not typical, because I think athletics is boring, and this surveys shows most people disagree with me.

Stage racing is very much like test match cricket, in that if you follow it closely the tactics make it interesting, and sometimes exciting, but it demands a certain amount of commitment to follow the whole thing. Otherwise you're just watching people on bikes. Which, don't get me wrong, I could happily do all day, but I understand why not everyone would want that.

The problem with cycling is you mostly only get stage racing on terrestial TV and this is really only appreciated by the hardened follower - like test match cricket.  I bet if there was more crit and track racing people would change their view.  My wife hates TdF when its on but loves coming to the velodrome when I go.

There is a need for 125+mile 'boring' days because if you try to have balls out racing over three weeks then you don't have a three week race. Unless you want to bring in blood doping and all that. There has to be something in it for all teams who prioritise different things.
A flat stage can often turn out to be a deciding factor, just look at what happened in the TDF a couple of years ago when the time gained on a flat stage that was meant to be a 'boring' stage. The time gained by Froome was virtually the difference over Quintana at the end of three weeks.
As for F1, used to love it, now it's an utter snoozefest. Gone the way of soccer in that it's purely about business and is corrupt as fuck, at least F1 doesn't steal as much money out of the UK as soccer does.
American Football is tedious for the most part, 8minutes of highlights includes multiple replays, test match cricket must be up there though and I did used to play limited overs BITD alongside playing rugby league and squeezing a bit of cycling in too.
I guess followers of each sport like parts of it and loathe some of it also.
I think one of the worst sports is beach volleyball but watching a 10,000m, 20/50k walk or marathon is about the most boring at the olympics.

Obviously an insular list to UK. That said, the big issue with cycling is the incredibly long and boring flat stages...sometimes there's four or five hours of absolutely nothing before the final sprint. I can start the feed, go to the gym, do grocery shopping, and still make it back home before it's over. It's just hard to make cycling spectator friendly for people who haven't participated and know what it's like. This is where cyclocross and mountain biking have the leg-up. Unfortunately, every time there is discussion about whether there's need for 200km long stages, everyone acts like their cereal just got pissed in.

Cycling is the new golf. Or is it the other way round?

Why isn't buzkashi on the list? 

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perhaps most perplexing of all... just who on earth finds F1 more interesting than cycling?? We're keen to hear your thoughts, in defence or against the order of this poll!

WEell F1 can be interesting (note "can be", not "is") due to the technical aspects of it and certain (usually weather or crash-related) situations. Don't get me wrong, I've turned off some proper bore-fest F1 events and if you asked me I'd struggle to even remember what happened at any one circuit or indeed which circuits were "best" but then I'd struggle to describe to you what happened in any given stage of this year's Tour or Vuelta as well so maybe I just don't concentrate.

If you had half as much data and camera angles available in road racing as you do in F1, it might liven things up a bit. Some of it comes down to the commentary as well; the F1 commentary onf Sky SPorts F1 is generally excellent and knowledgeable but there are some dire cycle race commentators. Millar and Boulting are excellent but even they can struggle through a 6hr TdF stage.