Data. It’s a big, all-encompassing buzzword that is everywhere you turn in cycling nowadays, controlling the narrative and generating discussion. Power passports, GPS trackers, and even Tadej Pogačar inadvertently – or deliberately? – sharing his power files on Strava. Numbers are everywhere.
But this proliferation of data is causing a problem. Or better said, numerous problems, spawning ever more political footballs. Something that ought to be relatively uncomplex – harvest the data, crunch it into something digestible, and then use it to enhance understanding of performance or the storytelling of a race – is being bogged down by concerns over ownership, privacy and fears over who would profit from monetising it. Data is now even being used to find possible dopers.
