Road Worlds

Now we have something / quite-a-lot to discuss and celebrate.
Brucey
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Brucey »

Trentin and Moscon must be gutted; Moscon turned himself inside out on behalf of Trentin. I wondered if Pedersen had shot his bolt; when Kung was putting on the pressure in the last lap Pedersen looked like he was going out the back, but he recovered well. It was a very hard race and a worthy winner emerged. Sagan was phlegmatic; he said he expected Belgium and Germany to control the race more in the final stages, but they had nothing left. Boardman noted early on in commentary that near the end of the race the riders were liable to 'go empty' very quickly and he was dead right; MvdP blew spectacularly.

I noticed that the final three riders all had disc brakes, but at least one of them had the 'wet disc noise' going; you could hear it quite clearly on the coverage. They discussed disc brakes earlier on in the BBC commentary, but made no mention of this 'orrible noise (which is IME quite common, especially in the wet) or that disc brakes put more load on the spokes in a racing wheel. The latter point would have been germane when a rider (Simon Clarke?) was later seen to need a wheel/bike change because of a broken spoke on a disc brake wheel.

It must be hard to know how to dress for TV; on the BBC Clare Balding looks like she is expecting to be at different event (something to do with horses, probably), Chris Boardman looks like he has been asked to stand in at the last minute, having planned to spend the day tending the allotment, and Rochelle Gilmore looks as if she is ready for a girl's night out. Good eggs all, but a mixed bag indeed!

cheers
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Norman H
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Norman H »

I've really enjoyed these World Championships. The Yorkshire terrain and often challenging conditions have really animated the racing.

One expects world class performances at the World Championship but there have been some truly exceptional individual performances. Difficult to single out any single rider, and given the challenging nature of the course any winners deserve credit, but Chloe Dygert's gold in the Womens TT was a class above everyone else as was Rohan Dennis in the men's event. Annemeik Van Vleuten's effort in Saturday's RR was special on so many levels.

There were also some encouraging standout performances amongst the juniors, in particular the Italian Antonio Tiberi who lost a chunk of time when he appeared to suffer a broken BB axle as he came off the starting ramp in the Junior TT. The consequent bike change must have cost him a good half a minute as his team car had yet to join the course and he had to freewheel to the first corner. Despite this he won by 20'.
Jamesh
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Jamesh »

It was micturating it down for most of the afternoon the only relief was the village hall in beckwithshaw with a great range of cakes and tea and coffee chapeau.

As they came round we all emptied to watch live then back to watch the TV!

We brought the house down when the underdog won!!

Only regret was not cycling the lap route.

Cheers James
Jezrant
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Jezrant »

I bet the Worlds won't be coming back to Yorkshire for a very long time. Was the limited tellie coverage today deliberate?
Samuel D
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Samuel D »

How so deliberate? Helicopters couldn’t get under the low cloud without the risk of running into terrain. They were therefore useless for most of the afternoon. The motorcycles relay their high-bitrate footage up to a loitering fixed-wing plane. The weather prevented the second of these from taking off. That meant there was no motorcycle footage while the single loitering plane left station to refuel, leaving only footage from six fixed cameras around the course.

Footage was organised by the EBU that covers other races. Not Yorkshire’s fault. The weather was Yorkshire’s fault, but was it deliberate?
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mjr
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by mjr »

Florence was also wet. I don't remember what the weather was like when the championships was there, but Plouay isn't famous for its sunshine either. I don't think some rain means UCI won't be back.
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jezer
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by jezer »

We were walking around the town centre circuit today, and on the finish line at the end. Many of the riders looked totally wrecked, some having to be helped back to the team coaches with the appearance of hypothermia. A truly epic race, with the majority abandoning before the finish.
Power to the pedals
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The utility cyclist
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by The utility cyclist »

Brucey wrote:Trentin and Moscon must be gutted; Moscon turned himself inside out on behalf of Trentin. I wondered if Pedersen had shot his bolt; when Kung was putting on the pressure in the last lap Pedersen looked like he was going out the back, but he recovered well. It was a very hard race and a worthy winner emerged. Sagan was phlegmatic; he said he expected Belgium and Germany to control the race more in the final stages, but they had nothing left. Boardman noted early on in commentary that near the end of the race the riders were liable to 'go empty' very quickly and he was dead right; MvdP blew spectacularly.

I noticed that the final three riders all had disc brakes, but at least one of them had the 'wet disc noise' going; you could hear it quite clearly on the coverage. They discussed disc brakes earlier on in the BBC commentary, but made no mention of this 'orrible noise (which is IME quite common, especially in the wet) or that disc brakes put more load on the spokes in a racing wheel. The latter point would have been germane when a rider (Simon Clarke?) was later seen to need a wheel/bike change because of a broken spoke on a disc brake wheel.

It must be hard to know how to dress for TV; on the BBC Clare Balding looks like she is expecting to be at different event (something to do with horses, probably), Chris Boardman looks like he has been asked to stand in at the last minute, having planned to spend the day tending the allotment, and Rochelle Gilmore looks as if she is ready for a girl's night out. Good eggs all, but a mixed bag indeed!

cheers

Why is even relevant, it's got zero to do with cycling or ability to commentate/present? If you want strictly come dancing type chat keep it in the tea shop section.
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The utility cyclist
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by The utility cyclist »

Jezrant wrote:I bet the Worlds won't be coming back to Yorkshire for a very long time. Was the limited tellie coverage today deliberate?

It will be back to Yorkshire before anywhere else in England, a very successful event where the chaff fell into puddles/crashed and the cream of the crop overcame the challenges of both weather and terrain.
The coverage was excellent.
iandriver
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by iandriver »

To win you have to be prepared to lose a few in action for the mens and womens races me thinks. The main contenders not prepared to work together to bring it back in either race.

Fair play to the ones brave enough to go out on the front.
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Sounds a bit like war :?
Pedersen, I had never heard of him, is he the best rider in the world? He managed to win a punishing race held on a level playing field where conditions were the same for all, Plus One!

Where was froomedog?
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Mike Sales
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Mike Sales »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Where was froomedog?


I believe he had a nasty crash not long ago. Here is some news.

The four-time Tour de France champ's remarkable recovery continues as he shares a snap of himself out on the road. He's announced his first race back will be the Criterium de Saitama in Japan on the 27th October.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Brucey
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Brucey »

the World's has always been an interesting event; moreso than in many other one-day professional cycle races, it can be won by someone who is flying under nearly everyone's radar. There are plenty of riders who are physically in good condition (or can be on a given day, late on in the season) and haven't had a chance to shine e.g. because they are young or they are normally used as a domestique by their pro team. Late season form is a tricky thing; some riders have raced themselves fit, and others are exhausted, more than ready for a break from racing.

In addition the usual team orders don't apply in the same way, so the race is notoriously difficult to read. There are no team radios, either, so this reduces the chances of a powerful team (country) controlling the race. When it is wet, race numbers are obscured, and rain jackets are as likely to be plain or from a trade team as anything else, so identifying other riders is trickier than usual. There are also friendships and alliances that extend past national boundaries; contracts for the next season have been (or might yet be) signed, so past/present/future team mates can occasionally be seen to react in ways that don't only favour their national interests.

The whole character of the race can be different from one year to the next, too. Sometimes you have late summer weather in southern latitudes, on good roads; other times (like yesterday) you have foul weather on tricky roads with 'heavy' surfaces. This type of race is more like a spring classic than anything else so it adds a further tactical element; more than usual the race is liable to be hard enough that only the fittest riders survive to the finish, but those who are good sprinters will still be amongst the main group. Many of the other riders (who don't sprint so well) know that their only chance to win is from a breakaway, and (for them) the shackles are off too, so if the sprinter's teams are not strong (or willing) enough to control the race a series of attacks and breakaways is sure to happen.

Yesterday's race fell almost exactly into a 'spring classic' pattern; only 46 (mostly utterly shattered) finishers, won by a relative outsider with a whole bunch of favoured riders/sprinters stuck, frustrated, in the main bunch. No accident then, that Sagan, Valgren, Kristoff, Van Avermaet, Izagirre, Costa, Cobrelli took places 5-11; they had been keeping their powder dry all race, just waiting for the finish. Kung's desperately hard turns on the final lap were in fear of a late attack such as Sagan's from the main bunch; he knew that a mere handful of minutes could soon be eaten up by fresher legs behind him. [edit; Kung was right to worry too; three minutes soon shrank and in the end, Sagan was only 43" down on the winner.] Had the race come back together more, Sagan would probably have won it; he knew it too, and was remarkably sanguine about his near miss when interviewed at the finish. As it was, those riders were racing to the finish mainly for pride, and a fistful of UCI points too I suppose.

If it were entirely predictable, would we bother watching? -I guess maybe not. Overall, despite -or maybe because of- the weather, I'd rate it as one of the better world championships.

cheers
Last edited by Brucey on 30 Sep 2019, 4:33pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Hobbs1951
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by Hobbs1951 »

It may have been a record: 46 finishers from 196 starters in the men's road race (yesterday) !?

John.
mattheus
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Re: Road Worlds

Post by mattheus »

(a pretty good summary!)

What was the wet worlds where none of the Brits finished the men's race? (have a feeling it was 6-8 years ago, maybe southern Europe?)

I never have any hope of a decent British showing, despite our high status in other forms of the sport. Of course an on-form Cav on a sprinters course was the (magnificent) exception!
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