Tour of Walla Walla. A Tale of Soooo Close and Yet, So Far

I am back at the ToWW for the fifth year in a row. I did 3 as a rider and am now on my 2nd as a team director.  This is a race that comes really, really close to being a really good (maybe even great) race and yet every year it just falls short. Now I mean this as a constructive commentary in the hopes that the last few pieces can fall into place. Everything I mention is what the really successful NRC events are doing.  Some things that would take this race from a B- to an A include:

• Better Tech Guide. The stage maps look like an outline of a coffee spill. There are no turn by turn instructions or even cross roads named on the map. 
• True Neutral Wheel Support (at least for the Pro 1-2 men and women). Each rider here is paying a pretty hefty entry fee.  Spend a few hundred bucks to have a pro like Joe S come and do neutral tech support.  If not that then use the old "wheels in, wheels out" system.  They are using a "wheel lottery" system here. They randomly choose riders from teams and if chosen that team has to provide a set of wheels to the neutral follow vehicle for the use of any and all riders. All I know is that if I go to the trouble of bringing a spare set of wheels to put in the wheel car then I want to be able to use my wheels.  Why should I have to provide for somebody else if they can't go to the trouble?  And why if a team goes to the trouble of getting the resources to support their riders (car in the caravan) should they also have to provide for everyone else?  So: hire someone or use wheels in wheels out. 
• Have a start sheet with all the teams listed with their riders and numbers. And for god's sakes provide the riders on the same team with sequential numbers.  There was nothing provided at the manager's meeting with this sort of information so when Com 1 came on tour radio telling us riders 34, 78, 108 and 121 had 35 seconds on the field...well, you pretty much had to guess who they were.
• Tweak the schedule.  I said it before, but having a 7PM start time for a crit (second stage on the same day after a TT in the morning) and then a 9:25 start time for the RR the next morning is not Pro.  If this race ever takes the next step it just does not provide enough time for a team meeting, dinner, massage and then getting ready for the next day.
• Email the results in the evening or at least upload them to the website. It is the year 2010.  I heard the  internet is on computers now.  It is not hard to load an excel sheet with the results onto a site or attach it as an email to team directors or the riders. 
• Provide a little training to your volunteers who are driving vehicles in the caravan. Last year was a little touch and go and so was stage 1 this year.  A race caravan is not for the timid.  It makes an airport drop off at LAX during the holidays look tame.  It can also be down right dangerous for the riders.  Even saying simple things like don't leave too large of gaps in between cars and honk your horn when riders are advancing through the caravan would go a long way.

The Tour of Walla Walla is not a bad race.  The courses are good.  In fact, I love the downtown crit and the road courses are quite challenging.  Walla Walla itself is a great town and the host housing is top notch.  And the townsfolk love the race.  So, while being a good race, it could get better and it wouldn't take much.  With that said I also want to say thanks to all the people that make it possible.  A stage race is a huge undertaking and is one I would not want to attempt.  It's why I only promote crits-way easier.  So, my hat is off to the entire race staff.  Remember, this is just one racer's/ team manger's opinion.

Kudos.

A Brief Note to Stage Race Promoters:

Having a 9:25am start time for a road race the day after a double day which includes a morning TT and a criterium with a 7PM start time is probably not the best idea.  In fact, it is a really bad idea.  Especially when you consider that the Cat 3 men have an earlier crit start time (5:20PM) and a later RR start time the next day (10:45). 

Radio Bans

From Velonews:
Riis carefully directed Cancellara during the race from the passenger seat of the Saxo Bank team car. He revealed that he told Cancellara to attack when he did, after noticing that Tom Boonen was too far down the line of riders.Cancellara trusted his boss, didn't look back and opened up the after-burners, even though there was still 50 kilometres left to race. Before Boonen even realised what had happened and moved out of the line to look up the road, Cancellara had already opened a gap that would have been impossible for him to close."I told him to attack on the radio. As soon as I saw that Boonen was not on his wheel, I said: 'Now you go' ," Riis explained

So the UCI bans radios at all levels below class 1 to make racing more intuitive and less predictable, putting the onus on riders rather than their team directors to decide tactics.

I see that is working out well. Have they thought about banning televisions in the director's cars instead?