Men's Road Race *SPOILER*

FJS

Not a complete surprise, but still: The full top-10 in Mendrisio did the Vuelta!
1. Cadel Evans
2. Aleksandr Kolobnev
3. Joaquin Rodriguez
4. Samuel Sanchez
5. Fabian Cancellara
6. Philippe Gilbert
7. Matti Breschel
8. Damiano Cunego
9. Alejandro Valverde
10. Simon Gerrans

Non-Vuelta-riding podium:
Wegmann (11)
Sorensen (13)
Cardoso (17)

Cav up for (finishing) two grand tours next year?

Kléber

It's different for a sprinter, there's less need to get in shape for all those hills, all you need is a team to close down any moves - they need to do the Vuelta - and then to be delivered to the final 300m, not easy.

But 2010 in Geelong won't be too easy, doing a small hill often is different from waiting for the Cipressa and Poggio. I suspect Cav can look forward to Copenhagen though.

frenchfighter

Very interesting observation FJS. So leaving the Vuelta early or riding it easy isn't the best way to prepare. Andy take note.

iainf72

In the last 8 Worlds, there have only been 3 medalists who didn't do the Vuelta.

But most people leave early.

Gary Marshall

Millar was quoted on the early eurosport studio stuff that the winner would have ridden the vuelta, he wasn't wrong.

FJS

Kléber wrote:

It's different for a sprinter, there's less need to get in shape for all those hills, all you need is a team to close down any moves - they need to do the Vuelta - and then to be delivered to the final 300m, not easy.

But 2010 in Geelong won't be too easy, doing a small hill often is different from waiting for the Cipressa and Poggio. I suspect Cav can look forward to Copenhagen though.

I agree that this year in Mendrisio, with a very tough course, might be extreme, and probably next year with a less demanding route won't have a full top ten of Vuelta riders.

I'm not sure I agree that it's different for sprinters per se. A World Championship is always going to be a long hard race. Australia and even Copenhagen are still hilly. If Cav competes all the other teams will do all they can to drop him on those little hills. He'd better be in top shape, and the Vuelta is the way to get there.

Cipollini did the Vuelta in 2002. Hushovd is thinking about not doing the TdF but the Vuelta instead to prepare for Melbourne

frenchfighter

Look at the last 700m of the Aussie course. Sprinters dream.

iainf72

FJS wrote:

I agree that this year in Mendrisio, with a very tough course, might be extreme, and probably next year with a less demanding route won't have a full top ten of Vuelta riders.

Stuttgart Elite Race 2007

14 laps – 267.4 km - elevation gain: 5679,8m

Mendrisio 2009

19 laps 262.2 km, 4,655 m elevation gain

Interesting stats, eh?

stagehopper

iainf72 wrote:

FJS wrote:

I agree that this year in Mendrisio, with a very tough course, might be extreme, and probably next year with a less demanding route won't have a full top ten of Vuelta riders.

Stuttgart Elite Race 2007

14 laps – 267.4 km - elevation gain: 5679,8m

Mendrisio 2009

19 laps 262.2 km, 4,655 m elevation gain

Interesting stats, eh?

have you got the stats for Varese iain?

iainf72

stagehopper wrote:

have you got the stats for Varese iain?

15 laps, 260km, 3,632m elevation gain

Salzburg

12 laps, 262km, 2796m elevation gain

disgruntledgoat

I've been banging my head against the claims it's a spritners prize with those courses for a week or more. Good to see some back up!

Kléber

5000m of vertical gain is worthy of Liege-Bastogne-Liege or an Alpine stage of the Tour de France, even if the gain is gradual as opposed to hour-long mountain passes or steep 15% climbs for five minutes at a time, both of which can think a bunch in minutes.

iainf72

Kléber wrote:

5000m of vertical gain is worthy of Liege-Bastogne-Liege or an Alpine stage of the Tour de France, even if the gain is gradual as opposed to hour-long mountain passes or steep 15% climbs for five minutes at a time, both of which can think a bunch in minutes.

If you look at the Olympic race lasy year it wasn't terribly steep but long drags which wore everyone down.

I definately remember Salzburg and Stuttgart being very lumpy. And the Cricket, a man for the LBL type of races took them.

andyp

Salzburg wasn't lumpy, it came within 400 metres of a bunch sprint after all.

FJS

iainf72 wrote:

FJS wrote:

I agree that this year in Mendrisio, with a very tough course, might be extreme, and probably next year with a less demanding route won't have a full top ten of Vuelta riders.

Stuttgart Elite Race 2007

14 laps – 267.4 km - elevation gain: 5679,8m

Mendrisio 2009

19 laps 262.2 km, 4,655 m elevation gain

Interesting stats, eh?

Yes, Stuttgart and Mendrisio were both tough, Salzbrug and Varese less so. But it doesn't really seem to matter that much in terms of the Vuelta-effect.
2009: 10 out of top-10 did Vuelta
2008: 8 out of top-10 did Vuelta
2007: 7 out of top-10 did Vuelta
2006: 8 out of top-10 did Vuelta

Only Frank Schleck in 2007 finished in the top-5 without the Vuelta; no medals at all without Vuelta.
(Considering how hard it apparently is Fabian Wegmann deserves a medal for finishing in the top 10 three (!) times in four years without riding the Vuelta! Or to put it another way, for anyone but Fabian Wegmann it's almost impossible to finish in the top 10 without riding the Vuelta nowadays)

BTW, do you have the stats for Duitama, Iain?

frenchfighter

I'm afraid that if the elevation gain was 15,000m and a sprinter won from a big bunch then it is a pure sprinters race.

You can check the profile of the sprinters race last year here:
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/200 ... /worlds086

Let me re-iterate that I don't consider this year a sprinter's race.

disgruntledgoat

Ballan's a sprinter now?

afx237vi

frenchfighter wrote:

I'm afraid that if the elevation gain was 15,000m and a sprinter won from a big bunch then it is a pure sprinters race.

You can check the profile of the sprinters race last year here:
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/200 ... /worlds086

Let me re-iterate that I don't consider this year a sprinter's race.

If that's a sprinter's race, why did the first sprinter across the line finish in 29th place?

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/200 ... /worlds086

frenchfighter

Not enough finishers to bring back the breakers for a bunch sprint. It can happen on a pan flat stage.

redddraggon

frenchfighter wrote:

Not enough finishers to bring back the breakers for a bunch sprint. It can happen on a pan flat stage.

Wasn't a sprinters race then was it.

frenchfighter

Is MSR a sprinters race? How come Cancellara won it then?

iainf72

frenchfighter wrote:

I'm afraid that if the elevation gain was 15,000m and a sprinter won from a big bunch then it is a pure sprinters race.

Did you actually watch the race? Ballan didn't win from a sprint but attacked 3km out.

Small gap at the end but it wasn't a bunch gallop.

Admit you're wrong. Move on. It's the heavyweight thing to do.

redddraggon

frenchfighter wrote:

Is MSR a sprinters race? How come Cancellara won it then?

Cancellara has form for winning races that have been set up as bunch sprints.

FF you really do seem full crap.

disgruntledgoat

So hang on FF... It's a sprinters race, with 5000m of climbing won by a non-sprinter from an attack from a small group? So how's it a sprinters race?

afx237vi

frenchfighter wrote:

Not enough finishers to bring back the breakers for a bunch sprint. It can happen on a pan flat stage.

So, by that definition, not a sprinters' race. Glad we sorted that one out.

MSR is a race that sprinters sometimes win, and sometimes don't. Races don't have to be pigeonholed into one particular category, you know.

frenchfighter

afx237vi wrote:

MSR is a race that sprinters sometimes win, and sometimes don't.

9 out of the last 10 were won by sprinters.

redddraggon

frenchfighter wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

MSR is a race that sprinters sometimes win, and sometimes don't.

9 out of the last 10 were won by sprinters.

so?

iainf72

frenchfighter wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

MSR is a race that sprinters sometimes win, and sometimes don't.

9 out of the last 10 were won by sprinters.

Lets get back on topic.

Since Madrid the Worlds haven't been won by a "sprinter" - Agreed? They've been tough, selective courses which tended to favour a rouler / hilly classics man, agreed?

frenchfighter

My point still stands that the Worlds say in the last 10 years are predominently geared for sprinters pure or semi-pure.

Maybe if I elaborate: Essentially, if the parcours is such that a sprint could occur if the peloton rode at a typical tempo for that terrain then I would consider it a sprinters race.

If the parcours was hard enough that the sprinters had no chance of getting to the finish such as in a mountain stage or a stage like this year's Worlds then it isn't a sprinter's race.

redddraggon

Stop digging