World Championship - ***SPOILERS***

frenchfighter

Taylor Phinney ‏@taylorphinney 18h
Rodriguez is a great guy, would be a very worthy world champion. Been podium in every grand tour but never won. Deserves a win like this.

ddraver

I appear to be in a cynical mood this morning but I'd say the man on the street couldnt give a monkeys about what happened...

gsvbagpuss

Isn't is better that it was atleast being mentioned on the news - I can't imagine it would have made bulletins 5 years ago

adr82

MajorMantra wrote:

I'm not sure this attitude will change in the UK until the general public takes a more active interest in cycling and learns more about it, but currently there is what media types might call a presentational problem. :roll:

I thought this sort of thing would start to happen after Wiggins and then Froome won the TdF. For people who are new to cycling or only follow it casually, it'll seem a bit weird that we have cyclists who can win this famously difficult 3 week race but apparently fall apart completely in a one day championship. I don't think the media do a good job of explaining things like the way different courses suit different types of rider or how training/form/preparation/Wiggo moping around all influence things on the day. The fact that GB are currently so dominant on the track doesn't help either, especially as there's some overlap with the riders that are involved on the road (eg Thomas and Kennaugh). Not to sound too much like Frenchie but the track is a far more controlled (or controllable) environment than road racing, which suits the approach BC/Sky take down to the ground. It would be nice to see some more in-depth analysis than "Froome won the TdF back in July, therefore he is a top contender in this totally different type of race!".

blazing_saddles

ddraver wrote:

I appear to be in a cynical mood this morning but I'd say the man on the street couldnt give a monkeys about what happened...

I too appear to be in a similar mood.
I'd say that some on here and the man in the street would be expressing the same sentiments.

MartinB2444

Quitting prematurely can become a habit. There are so many reasons for calling it a day during a bike race, your form doesn't feel good, the prize isn't worth it, it's too dangerous, save yourself for another day, niggly pain somewhere. Does the threshold for packing in come down a notch? Does the ruthless hard edge get blunted? These are elite pro athletes who are used to enduring pain and incredibly arduous training routines but so are their opponents. Some races come down to who is hardest.

EPO Delivery Man

I'm in a cynical mood too, despite my knowledge of road cycling, i thought it was a p*ss poor showing by the Brits.

Cav always says he loves the wet weather of the Isle of Man but pulls out. Wiggo pulls out, probably because 'he couldnt be bothered and wanted to see his kids'.
JTL looks like hes been on the 'red eggs and Edgar'...
And Froomey battles on but knows hes screwed with no team mates around him.

Yes yes yes...you can throw at me all the usual, they got dropped, there were crashes, no point continuing...blah blah blah...but we are 'supposed' to be a nation used to this kind of weather with experience of dealing with it, hell, most of those riders had just finished the Tour of Britain so they should be bloody weather experts. Instead they all wuss out to the comfort of the team bus. But the fact is, the riders battling at the front all came from warm countries!! it didnt stop them, so theres no bloody excuses.

if i didnt know any better, it was almost like Cav and Wiggo both said 'f*ck it..its only Froomey..and we dont like him much anyway so lets bug off and get a cuppa and play on the Playstation..'

Sh*t performance in my book. And i dont care what any of you so called armchair pros think either, you know it was sh*te.

1/10. Must do better. :evil:

frenchfighter

Seen very little criticism of Fabu, Gilbert, Sagan and similar riders. Is the consensus that they rode a fine race?

Richmond Racer

Out of curiosity and in the interest of balance: what does everyone make of the Irish team's performance?

All abandoned but dont see much comment about them here

frenchfighter

IN CYCLING, THERE ARE DAYS SOMETIMES WHERE YOU HAVE TO TAKE RISKS. TODAY I TOOK ONE TOO MANY, BUT THAT'S THE SPORT, THAT'S CYCLING. LUCKILY, I'M FINE.


“I was just unlucky to have crashed in the first lap. I roughed up my left side and had trouble re-entering afterwards,” Sagan said. “The Italians were going strong in the first two laps, they broke up the group. I was lucky to have re-entered.”

EPO Delivery Man

Richmond Racer wrote:

Out of curiosity and in the interest of balance: what does everyone make of the Irish team's performance?

All abandoned but dont see much comment about them here

Thats because they are f*cking rubbish. :roll:

frenchfighter

Richmond Racer wrote:

Out of curiosity and in the interest of balance: what does everyone make of the Irish team's performance?

All abandoned but dont see much comment about them here

Martin crashed hard lost 3mins and then chased taking back one before dropping out
Bennett crashed hard
Brammier was helping Martin
Roche crashed

Yellow Peril

EPO Delivery Man wrote:

I'm in a cynical mood too, despite my knowledge of road cycling, i thought it was a p*ss poor showing by the Brits.

Cav always says he loves the wet weather of the Isle of Man but pulls out. Wiggo pulls out, probably because 'he couldnt be bothered and wanted to see his kids'.
JTL looks like hes been on the 'red eggs and Edgar'...And Froomey battles on but knows hes screwed with no team mates around him.

Yes yes yes...you can throw at me all the usual, they got dropped, there were crashes, no point continuing...blah blah blah...but we are 'supposed' to be a nation used to this kind of weather with experience of dealing with it, hell, most of those riders had just finished the Tour of Britain so they should be bloody weather experts. Instead they all wuss out to the comfort of the team bus. But the fact is, the riders battling at the front all came from warm countries!! it didnt stop them, so theres no bloody excuses.

if i didnt know any better, it was almost like Cav and Wiggo both said 'f*ck it..its only Froomey..and we dont like him much anyway so lets bug off and get a cuppa and play on the Playstation..'

Sh*t performance in my book. And i dont care what any of you so called armchair pros think either, you know it was sh*te.

1/10. Must do better. :evil:

Cav did his turn and pulled out as expected.

JTL's performance was particularly sh1te as he wasn't even racing.

frenchfighter

Nicholas Roche ‏@nicholasroche 19h
@PuritoRodriguez Noooooo!!!! Grande numero hoy!! What a ride!!! Well done

rickyrider

Phew - what a sh*tstorm... bad weekend to be away from all comms but nevermind. Reading the fall out appears to be as much fun as watching the actual race.

I've defended Wiggins in the past, but people like FF will be delighted to hear me say that I've seen enough now. Selfish tw*t.

mechanism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOl2OPjewOE

Video of the carnage from Shimano service car point-of-view.

Richmond Racer

EPO Delivery Man wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Out of curiosity and in the interest of balance: what does everyone make of the Irish team's performance?

All abandoned but dont see much comment about them here

Thats because they are f*cking rubbish. :roll:

Dont be a fool. This year's winner of LBL/a Tour stage/ Volta a Catalunya, and the rider who finished 5th on GC at the Vuelta, are far from, as you so charmingly and erroneously put it, 'f*cking rubbish'

salsiccia1

rickyrider wrote:

I've defended Wiggins in the past, but people like FF will be delighted to hear me say that I've seen enough now. Selfish tw*t.

I'm finding it hard not to come to the same conclusion. He hasn't covered himself in glory this year.

frenchfighter

rick_chasey

frenchfighter wrote:

Seen very little criticism of Fabu, Gilbert, Sagan and similar riders. Is the consensus that they rode a fine race?

Fair. Mostly.

Sagan - was always going to struggle on that course.

Fab - didn't roll the dice really.

Gilbert - found wanting.

salsiccia1

Mechanism wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOl2OPjewOE

Video of the carnage from Shimano service car point-of-view.

I just cannot imagine how hard those guys are. And I cannot imagine going through that, making the best attack and then coming second. Poor Purito *blub*.

Paul 8v

frenchfighter wrote:

IN CYCLING, THERE ARE DAYS SOMETIMES WHERE YOU HAVE TO TAKE RISKS. TODAY I TOOK ONE TOO MANY, BUT THAT'S THE SPORT, THAT'S CYCLING. LUCKILY, I'M FINE.

Fair play to him for carrying on after that crash!

majormantra

Mechanism wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOl2OPjewOE

Video of the carnage from Shimano service car point-of-view.

Nice.

Daz555

plectrum wrote:

absolutely no respect left for Bradley Wiggins - couldn't give a shoot about anyone else bar himself. Did it to Cav back in the Olympic Madison back in Beijing 2008 and did it again to Froome today.

The Madison in Beijing was a different matter entirely. Wiggo was wrecked by the time he came to race with Cav having raced in the IP and TP for 3 straight days before entering the Madison - with no rest day. Besides, I think Wiggo has made up for that somewhat with Cav with his ride for him in the 2011 Worlds and with his lead-outs in the 2012 Tour.

As for yesterday - Wiggo was invisible. I really can't see him doing much on the road in 2014 to be honest so it may be that he's finished on the road whether he's riding for himself or not.

frenchfighter

Deleted

Richmond Racer

Daz555 wrote:

plectrum wrote:

absolutely no respect left for Bradley Wiggins - couldn't give a shoot about anyone else bar himself. Did it to Cav back in the Olympic Madison back in Beijing 2008 and did it again to Froome today.

The Madison in Beijing was a different matter entirely. Wiggo was wrecked by the time he came to race with Cav having raced in the IP and TP for 3 straight days before entering the Madison - with no rest day. Besides, I think Wiggo has made up for that somewhat with Cav with his ride for him in the 2011 Worlds and with his lead-outs in the 2012 Tour.

As for yesterday - Wiggo was invisible. I really can't see him doing much on the road in 2014 to be honest so it may be that he's finished on the road whether he's riding for himself or not.

I usually defend Wiggins to the hilt but I cant go with the weather thing. He was perfectly fine and up at the front of the peloton at all times including descents in the pouring rain during the first few stages of ToB. The bizarre thing re his relationship with Froome is that apparently they were getting on amicably enough at the team hotel between Fri and race day.

Brailsford has a big call to make here re next year, I think.

ddraver

Daz555 wrote:

plectrum wrote:

absolutely no respect left for Bradley Wiggins - couldn't give a shoot about anyone else bar himself. Did it to Cav back in the Olympic Madison back in Beijing 2008 and did it again to Froome today.

The Madison in Beijing was a different matter entirely. Wiggo was wrecked by the time he came to race with Cav having raced in the IP and TP for 3 straight days before entering the Madison - with no rest day. Besides, I think Wiggo has made up for that somewhat with Cav with his ride for him in the 2011 Worlds and with his lead-outs in the 2012 Tour.

As for yesterday - Wiggo was invisible. I really can't see him doing much on the road in 2014 to be honest so it may be that he's finished on the road whether he's riding for himself or not.

They had the rest of the world riding against them too, which to be honest I think was the main problem...

ddraver

Daz555 wrote:

plectrum wrote:

absolutely no respect left for Bradley Wiggins - couldn't give a shoot about anyone else bar himself. Did it to Cav back in the Olympic Madison back in Beijing 2008 and did it again to Froome today.

The Madison in Beijing was a different matter entirely. Wiggo was wrecked by the time he came to race with Cav having raced in the IP and TP for 3 straight days before entering the Madison - with no rest day. Besides, I think Wiggo has made up for that somewhat with Cav with his ride for him in the 2011 Worlds and with his lead-outs in the 2012 Tour.

As for yesterday - Wiggo was invisible. I really can't see him doing much on the road in 2014 to be honest so it may be that he's finished on the road whether he's riding for himself or not.

They had the rest of the world riding against them too, which to be honest I think was the main problem...

dsoutar

Leaping off the GB love / hate bandwagon for a mo, what happened to Belgium ? They looked almost as good as Italy at one point (i.e. 5 on the front) then the next time I looked (had some unexpected visitors which diverted my attention for 15 mins or so) there were none except Gilbert IIRC

Edit: By the way, what's the Belgium press making of their performance ? Again, another team you'd have thought would have revelled in the conditions ?

adr82

Mechanism wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOl2OPjewOE

Video of the carnage from Shimano service car point-of-view.

Is that Wiggo showing his wet weather cornering skills at around 25s?