Ride London Classic **Spoiler**

argyllflyer

MrTapir wrote:

I think John Herety will be pleased with his young lad in the break Mike Cuming. And La Pomme Marseille rider in close third place, I like that team. FDJ played a blinder too. I think it was said before (FF maybe), Offredo looks classy on a bike.

Yannick Martinez of LPM did a superb job on the sprinters at 4 Days of Dunkirk (stage 5) but unfortunately youtube evidence of this has been removed. Demare won almost everything else that Tour.

mididoctors

Of the domestic riders ian bibby looked a class above. when millar pulled a small group away on boxhill the only non WT rider in that initial split group was bibby and he pulled

ToB team selection anyone?

MrTapir

argyllflyer wrote:

MrTapir wrote:

I think John Herety will be pleased with his young lad in the break Mike Cuming. And La Pomme Marseille rider in close third place, I like that team. FDJ played a blinder too. I think it was said before (FF maybe), Offredo looks classy on a bike.

Yannick Martinez of LPM did a superb job on the sprinters at 4 Days of Dunkirk (stage 5) but unfortunately youtube evidence of this has been removed. Demare won almost everything else that Tour.

Yes I remember Demare from 4 days, he gave some good interviews after the stage wins, and that must be where I've heard of Martinez then as I thought i recognised the name.

Is Simon Yates the brother of the other Yates chap from GB squad?

Richmond Racer

MrTapir wrote:

argyllflyer wrote:

MrTapir wrote:

I think John Herety will be pleased with his young lad in the break Mike Cuming. And La Pomme Marseille rider in close third place, I like that team. FDJ played a blinder too. I think it was said before (FF maybe), Offredo looks classy on a bike.

Yannick Martinez of LPM did a superb job on the sprinters at 4 Days of Dunkirk (stage 5) but unfortunately youtube evidence of this has been removed. Demare won almost everything else that Tour.

Yes I remember Demare from 4 days, he gave some good interviews after the stage wins, and that must be where I've heard of Martinez then as I thought i recognised the name.

Is Simon Yates the brother of the other Yates chap from GB squad?

Adam Yates, yep. Just seen where he placed yesterday - 16th, v impressive. He's been having a decent season - rides for a French amateur team, CC Etupes

frenchfighter

mididoctors wrote:

Of the domestic riders ian bibby looked a class above. when millar pulled a small group away on boxhill the only non WT rider in that initial split group was bibby and he pulled

ToB team selection anyone?

Yeah he was looking pretty easy at that point albeit for a short period of time.

frenchfighter

If anyone has links to photos please post up. Looking for hi-res photo of this classy salute (in memory of his coach that died in June).

MrTapir

Frenchfighter are there particular websites that have the photos you post, or do you just do general internet searching? I know Inner Ring has name checked a few of the photographers before.

gsvbagpuss

Where does everyone stand on the choice of route? There are no intersting hills or cobbles in that area (i don't think) so it's always likely to be set up for a "boring" breakaway hauled back with 10k to go type race.

Otherwise, we should be happy the race happened and let's just hope it continues for a few years, gets some prestige and then the big teams will come.

frenchfighter

MrTapir wrote:

Frenchfighter are there particular websites that have the photos you post, or do you just do general internet searching? I know Inner Ring has name checked a few of the photographers before.

steephill.tv and cyclingtips.com.au regularly have photos of the races and are pretty good. There are a handful of other sites, a few tumblrs and a few other places.

MrTapir

GSVBagpuss wrote:

Where does everyone stand on the choice of route? There are no intersting hills or cobbles in that area (i don't think) so it's always likely to be set up for a "boring" breakaway hauled back with 10k to go type race.

Otherwise, we should be happy the race happened and let's just hope it continues for a few years, gets some prestige and then the big teams will come.

I think they are a bit tied down in a certain way with the route, they have to start and end in London, and to get from Surrey hills its a bit of a long flat way. But I think it was fairly good. They could go up White Down which is a bit of a killer but again its a bit far from the finish to have much impact. Maybe they could do two laps of the Leith Hill Circuit and two laps of a Box hill circuit, but I think its always going to have to be the 30k flattish run in unless they want to finish outside London which they won't.

MrTapir

MrTapir wrote:

GSVBagpuss wrote:

Where does everyone stand on the choice of route? There are no intersting hills or cobbles in that area (i don't think) so it's always likely to be set up for a "boring" breakaway hauled back with 10k to go type race.

Otherwise, we should be happy the race happened and let's just hope it continues for a few years, gets some prestige and then the big teams will come.

I think they are a bit tied down in a certain way with the route, they have to start and end in London, and to get from Surrey hills its a bit of a long flat way. But I think it was fairly good. They could go up White Down which is a bit of a killer but again its a bit far from the finish to have much impact. Maybe they could do two laps of the Leith Hill Circuit and two laps of a Box hill circuit, but I think its always going to have to be the 30k flattish run in unless they want to finish outside London which they won't.

Also I think the race was definitely a case of the riders making the race, plenty of animation after Millar and Bauer did some damage on Box Hill.

AchillesLeftKnee

GSVBagpuss wrote:

Where does everyone stand on the choice of route?

As others have said, having the race finish in London rather nullifies the hills, which is a shame IMHO because finishing it in Dorking (easy to get to) or even on top of Newlands Corner (harder for fans to get to) and arranging the last 20km or so to run through the Blackheath to Leith Hill area would, I reckon, end up with some superb opportunities for riders to get off the front with a chance of taking it. The very tight and twisty nature of many of the roads through the hills (which would be lethal as part of RideLondon, but excellent for a pro race) combined with the sharper climbs and descents on offer would be very entertaining for the final stages of a classic.

In terms of very minor tweaks, I reckon they could do worse than to change the classic-only part of the loop so as to approach Leith Hill (Abinger Road) via Mole Street as opposed to via Ockley. The Ockley approach is utterly benign, whereas Mole Street's a twisty single track road that would offer those who might fancy a dig up Leith Hill a bit more of a shot by virtue of stringing out the peloton. It would also have the rather boring but practical side benefits of no longer needing a closure for the A29, and also making Abinger Road a bit more accessible for fans. Swapping out the southward crossing of the hills through Holmbury St. Mary for a run through Peaslake then over Pitch or Holmbury and it would start looking tastier, although this would clearly need to be a race-only change as sending the sportive down the south side of either would be absolute carnage.

gpreeves

MrTapir wrote:

GSVBagpuss wrote:

Where does everyone stand on the choice of route? There are no intersting hills or cobbles in that area (i don't think) so it's always likely to be set up for a "boring" breakaway hauled back with 10k to go type race.

Otherwise, we should be happy the race happened and let's just hope it continues for a few years, gets some prestige and then the big teams will come.

I think they are a bit tied down in a certain way with the route, they have to start and end in London, and to get from Surrey hills its a bit of a long flat way. But I think it was fairly good. They could go up White Down which is a bit of a killer but again its a bit far from the finish to have much impact. Maybe they could do two laps of the Leith Hill Circuit and two laps of a Box hill circuit, but I think its always going to have to be the 30k flattish run in unless they want to finish outside London which they won't.

I can't see how they could make it more selective while still finishing in London, a few more repeats of Box Hill and Leith Hill might thin things out slightly but it's always going to be set up for a group to pull back the break on the run into London.

It all depends what the organisers want really. They might be happy to stick with the current route, while we're probably keen to see an ersatz Ardennes race near London.

FJS

I don't think the solution for keeping it an entertaining race with finish in central London (and The Mall is a great stage for a finish) would be in the route. It would be keeping teams small, even in case the race moves up the category ranks. Teams of 5 (Olympics) or 6 (yesterday) works - bigger team would make it a controlled Vattenfalls-style sprint-fest. I don't mind a one day race finishing with a sprint, as long as there is some entertaining racing before the sprint. And there's room for a hilly one day (or multi-day) race elsewhere in the UK (some hope for a TdF-legacy race in Yorkshire if 2014 is successful....)

gpreeves

FJS wrote:

The Mall is a great stage for a finish

Wholeheartedly agree with you on this one, although something about the finish set up yesterday didn't quite work for me. It might have just been the camera angle, but it all seemed slightly cramped.

argyllflyer

MrTapir wrote:

Yes I remember Demare from 4 days, he gave some good interviews after the stage wins, and that must be where I've heard of Martinez then as I thought i recognised the name.

Yeah, Martinez was the guy who threw the spanner in the works of yet another bunch sprint at 4 Days... when he broke away from the pack and soloed in.

mroli

FJS wrote:

And there's room for a hilly one day (or multi-day) race elsewhere in the UK (some hope for a TdF-legacy race in Yorkshire if 2014 is successful....)

It'd be great if they could do that on the Saturday and then this race on the Sunday. Make it a "classic" double header - more incentives for teams to get over here, knacker some legs out on the hillier route on the Sat and give the break more of a chance on the Sun....

Richmond Racer

mroli wrote:

FJS wrote:

And there's room for a hilly one day (or multi-day) race elsewhere in the UK (some hope for a TdF-legacy race in Yorkshire if 2014 is successful....)

It'd be great if they could do that on the Saturday and then this race on the Sunday. Make it a "classic" double header - more incentives for teams to get over here, knacker some legs out on the hillier route on the Sat and give the break more of a chance on the Sun....

Just possible that Prudential might figure that they're sinking enough money into the sponsorship of the whole shooting match (including the womens GP, the sportive and the Sat Free Cycle) as it is....

Pross

Doesn't have to be sponsored by Prudential though does it? They'd be better off having something in South Wales on the Saturday though I reckon

pomtarr

gpreeves wrote:

I can't see how they could make it more selective while still finishing in London

Summit finish at the top of Swain's Lane</impractical>

frenchfighter

Rollin says it could be WT:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rollin- ... -worldtour

jonomc4

for me the biggest disappointment was the cameras- I found it quite hard to figure what was going on in the peleton.

dave milne

I don't like that last corner, makes it too much of a lottery with only 500m to the finish line. There are going to brashes there for sure

afx237vi

dave milne wrote:

I don't like that last corner, makes it too much of a lottery with only 500m to the finish line. There are going to brashes there for sure

Less sketchy than the Champs Elysees, though...

argyllflyer

frenchfighter wrote:

Rollin says it could be WT:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rollin- ... -worldtour

I wasn't aware of this but apparently a 1.1 race can only have 40% of its competitors being WT level (which was a max of 10 for the 25 team field), so just going back to what was said earlier in the thread, to get a better field it will take an upgrade to .HC or as Rollin suggests, WT.

Richmond Racer

argyllflyer wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Rollin says it could be WT:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rollin- ... -worldtour

I wasn't aware of this but apparently a 1.1 race can only have 40% of its competitors being WT level (which was a max of 10 for the 25 team field), so just going back to what was said earlier in the thread, to get a better field it will take an upgrade to .HC or as Rollin suggests, WT.

The comic's saying today that the organisers are going to apply for it to be HC. Mike Bennett's also quoted as saying that they might consider making the parcours harder in future - 100-odd riders made up the front group as they approached the finish on Sun

argyllflyer

Richmond Racer wrote:

The comic's saying today that the organisers are going to apply for it to be HC. Mike Bennett's also quoted as saying that they might consider making the parcours harder in future - 100-odd riders made up the front group as they approached the finish on Sun

Interesting development - this could become a great race if developed the right way. One thing they could consider is the start. I know there's Olympic legacy, but does it need to start in the East End?

rebs

Whats wrong with East London?:P

AchillesLeftKnee

Richmond Racer wrote:

Mike Bennett's also quoted as saying that they might consider making the parcours harder in future

Well, that's a positive development. Sticking to the sportive route (plus the utterly benign extension south) is always going to be limiting, and there are plenty of twisty, blind, single track three-riders-wide-tops, climby-descendy bits in the area to make the transit through the hills a lot more entertaining.

argyllflyer

rebs wrote:

Whats wrong with East London?:P

hehe nothing as such. But a start outside London that still finishes up there might allow for the more challenging route required.