Men's Worlds Road Race **Spoilers**

FJS

frenchfighter wrote:

FJS wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I guess we now have a World Champion that will show the jersey in the Classics and Grand Tours which is good.

+1
looking back at the three road races it's a strong sprinters lap, and if it has to go to a sprinter, Thor must be your kind of sprinter, right?

Yes. I desperately wanted Gilbert to take it. But if it has to be a 'sprinter', hands down Thor, or Boonen. Aggressive riders who can mix it up all year in different races. Thor more so and from what I read, he isn't too interested in the sprints anymore, preferring to focus on the Classics and such.

He might go for the double next year - it's uphill finish again

Kléber

Thor did well and FF, look on the bright side, it could have been Puerto-weasel Allan Davis, Van Avermaet or Assan Bazayev. Decent riders but not quite up to having the rainbow jersey for a year.

ratsbeyfus

I'm delighted for Thor... I had him in the PTP... if no one else chose him do I get to put the rainbow bands on my avatar for a year?

top_bhoy

frenchfighter wrote:

I guess we now have a World Champion that will show the jersey in the Classics and Grand Tours which is good.

You can't be serious, do you not think that Cadel did a good job wearing the WC jersey all this year?....I think he did a superb job, exceeding all expectations.That he did such a great job today in trying to defend it shows what it meant to him.

Anonymous

frenchfighter wrote:

FJS wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I guess we now have a World Champion that will show the jersey in the Classics and Grand Tours which is good.

+1
looking back at the three road races it's a strong sprinters lap, and if it has to go to a sprinter, Thor must be your kind of sprinter, right?

Yes. I desperately wanted Gilbert to take it. But if it has to be a 'sprinter', hands down Thor, or Boonen. Aggressive riders who can mix it up all year in different races. Thor more so and from what I read, he isn't too interested in the sprints anymore, preferring to focus on the Classics and such.

WTF?!?

Evans was awesome this year, winning a classic and the best GT stage (IMO) of recent years (St.7 of the Giro). He's also a GC contender and defended the jersey in sterling fashion today!

JesseD

Well done Thor, great race, stayed in the front group despite the savage attacks on the climbs, looking forward to seeing him show off the jersey in the classics next year.

Cadel "cuddles" Evans, was brilliant today, he showed true grit and determination, and really tried to defend the jersey like a true WC.

Chapeau 8)

ratsbeyfus

Top_Bhoy wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I guess we now have a World Champion that will show the jersey in the Classics and Grand Tours which is good.

You can't be serious, do you not think that Cadel did a good job wearing the WC jersey all this year?....I think he did a superb job, exceeding all expectations.That he did such a great job today in trying to defend it shows what it meant to him.

Poor old Frenchie... he's not having a good week!

rick_chasey

Mad Roadie wrote:

sickening - off back to the cake shop for some quality pi$$taking

Er, why is it sickening?

rick_chasey

Ja, with hindsight, predictable. Canc was a disappointment naturally, especially after the spring he had. Was expecting a Boonen ala 2005.

Felt the Italians took it up too early so that there was too much chaff in the break not willing to work.

NervexProf

See here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 055313.stm

10 minutes of the finale - and note at 5.29mins where Gilbert gets swept up - unseen by the experts!

alan_a

Wonder if for the highlights at 1pm the Beeb will edit out all Porter's Gilbert cock ups and make him do a different commentary for the final 2ks?

ratsbeyfus

NervexProf wrote:

See here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 055313.stm

10 minutes of the finale - and note at 5.29mins where Gilbert gets swept up - unseen by the experts!

I can't believe they both missed it! Glad I watched it on Eurosport now. Loved seeing Thor kiss his bike at the end... I always find it frustrating when you see a winner cast their bike to one side at the end of a race.

takethehighroad

OK so it screwed with my body clock, and I've only just woken up, but that was well worth staying up for.

I was convinced Gilbert had it, until the clock came up saying he still had 3k to go and the Ukranian (?!) team came drilling the peloton through.

deejay

Top_Bhoy wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

I guess we now have a World Champion that will show the jersey in the Classics and Grand Tours which is good.

You can't be serious, do you not think that Cadel did a good job wearing the WC jersey all this year?....I think he did a superb job, exceeding all expectations.That he did such a great job today in trying to defend it shows what it meant to him.

Certainly made a man of him by wearing the jersey this year. The boy done good.

I'm chuffed that Thor won from a team of only three and as he said that with EBH up the road he only had limited expectations but when they gave him a clear sight of the finish he was able to use his power to finish the job.
He is at that time of his career where he is changing from the sprinter to an all round Rouler that can read a race and he did by watching the big teams tatics to benefit his solo effort.

I think Gilbert should have watched the Ladies road race because he did the same as Nicole Cooke. What a wasted effort being used too early. :roll:

luckao

In all fairness to FF, I doubt his implication was that Cadel hadn't rode well in the Rainbow jersey. Seems he's simply looking at what it means to have Thor wearing it.

dcj

anyone know what happened with team GB car?

early on the laps, where they were handing up bidons, a guy in a GB team shirt held up a sign that said 'no following car', then later there were some firemen pouring sand on spilt oil, when david harmon mentioned it was due to a collision involving team cars.

putting two and two together, i assume one of them was the GB following car?

kcass

Alan A wrote:

Wonder if for the highlights at 1pm the Beeb will edit out all Porter's Gilbert fool ups and make him do a different commentary for the final 2ks?

I really thought they would but what did they do - switch to a helicopter shot for the catch so that it's less obvious instead of the moto shot from the live broadcast. Hope no one notices

Cumulonimbus

dcj wrote:

anyone know what happened with team GB car?

early on the laps, where they were handing up bidons, a guy in a GB team shirt held up a sign that said 'no following car', then later there were some firemen pouring sand on spilt oil, when david harmon mentioned it was due to a collision involving team cars.

putting two and two together, i assume one of them was the GB following car?

According to the cyclingnews live report it was the slovenian and french cars that crashed (1415), maybe they were wrong?

http://live.cyclingnews.com/complete.html

Alternatively it could be because the leading group of 6 was only just under a lap ahead meaning that they could be among the cars following the peloton. The officials decided to avoid this by putting the team cars after the leaders, ie several minutes behind the peloton.

dcj

makes sense to me, thanks for the insight.

ilm_zero7

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ja, with hindsight, predictable. Canc was a disappointment naturally, especially after the spring he had. Was expecting a Boonen ala 2005.

Felt the Italians took it up too early so that there was too much chaff in the break not willing to work.

Sickening because I'd love to have seen one of the early attackers hold out and take it - as several said - Thor sat in and we saw him with 50m to go...... funny how we all watch the same race and have different views.... Evans was brilliant, I agree with a few of the other posts, it showed what it meant to him, and he has worn it with pride and in some great races and stages this last year - yet other slated him ????

Personally, I think Gilbert's performances over the year would have been justly rewarded by a win today, more so than Thor, but then again I'd have been jumping out of my seat if Cav had pulled it off too

sherer

well done to Thor.

Any ideas what happened to Cancellara ? He was with the bunch then as they started the last lap he was 30 seconds down ?

Did Cav pull out or finish well back ? Shame it ended in a sprint and he wasnt't there but good race and pleased for Thor to get the win

greasedscotsman

So what were people's throughts on the bit of the course from Melbourne, before they got to the circuit? Seemed a bit pointless and boring to me. Think it would have been better to have done the whole thing on the Geelong circuit, in that way there would be a bit more climbing...

dcj

agreed, and it nearly completely screwed up the race when the bunch joined the circuit all but 50 seconds from being lapped as has already been mentioned on this forum.

OffTheBackAdam

A good race and a good winner.
Hush did exactly what he needed to, no real team to haul him around, so follow the right wheels, conserve energy and give it all when the line appears.
I look forwards to watching him wear L'Arc en Ciel at Roubaix.
Gilbert rode well, if the chasing group wasn't so well organised, he'd have got it, but since the Italians were prepared to work together and other big teams had several riders still there, he didn't make it.
Great to see Arashiro in 9th, must be the best Japanese finisher ever.
Results show Chinny coming in 50th @ 7-22, none of our trio finished.

afx237vi

greasedscotsman wrote:

So what were people's throughts on the bit of the course from Melbourne, before they got to the circuit? Seemed a bit pointless and boring to me. Think it would have been better to have done the whole thing on the Geelong circuit, in that way there would be a bit more climbing...

Agreed, but if the Victoria regional authorities were paying for the race, then they'd want to advertise their big attractions (and Melbourne did look nice... unlike Geelong [sorry Aussies]). Same as Beijing last year - start where the sights are, then take the race to an out of the way place so you can keep the city open.

Moomaloid

Thought it was an ok race. So happy to see Thor pull it off. Such a great rider. Pip should've waited until the second climb on the last circuit, you could see that he wasn't sure whether to completely commit initially. Gutted for him.

Italians must be gutted, but HA HA!!

Vaughters must be well chuffed!

frenchfighter

ratsbeyfus wrote:

I'm delighted for Thor... I had him in the PTP... if no one else chose him do I get to put the rainbow bands on my avatar for a year?

And a very nice avatar!

frenchfighter

Luckao wrote:

In all fairness to FF, I doubt his implication was that Cadel hadn't rode well in the Rainbow jersey. Seems he's simply looking at what it means to have Thor wearing it.

Absolutely. I always liked Evans and, like every one else, even more so after this year. A top quality rider who can and does perform all season. I should post up a ton of the photos I have of him...

frenchfighter

Gilbert would have probably had that in the bag even with the long, flat, open exposed roads making it all odds against him. However it looked like he lost all power at one point, just ran out of gas, rather than going all out and the others going faster. I mean he wasn't even on the drops and aero.

frenchfighter