World Championship - ***SPOILERS***

cal_stewart

Think there's a good point being made about Froomes leadership ability, maybe nobody in Team GB likes him, I for one would dislike him for his missus's tweets alone. I think weather you like him or not, cav always rides as he's told in a GB vest.

Mad_Malx

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Funny stuff

*applause*

*more applause*

frenchfighter

Gee all this chat is boring. Why cant you lot post pictures, links or something interesting rather than 20 people saying essentially the same thing for the last 10 pages.

above_the_cows

Peter Power wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

To take this seriously for a moment, I think the issue for some is that these riders who as you rightly point out have busted a gut in other situations or never really stood an iceberg in hells chance of winning were wearing the National Colours yesterday and therefore should be expected to give 150% for queen and country. Thomas might have ridden the Tour with a broken Pedro but he did that for Sky, not for his country!

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to sing God Save the Queen.

Tall thin people who have accepted knighthoods should give more than a little ponce about in the rain for queen and country.

British riders were worried about getting their power meters wet.

What about those short fat non-knighted people? Are they expected to ponce about in the rain for queen and country too?

Coach H

frenchfighter wrote:

Totally unimportant, but when did Wiggins go back to Di2?

Mikey23

Well I wimped out of a 50 charity ride yesterday and did 30 instead because of 'a minor technical issue' and my shoulder was 'still a little bit achy'. Also it was quite windy and I wanted to get home to see the Worlds. I've not done a full press conference yet but I'm sorry to have let down queen and country...

frenchfighter

Cal_Stewart wrote:

Think there's a good point being made about Froomes leadership ability, maybe nobody in Team GB likes him, I for one would dislike him for his missus's tweets alone. I think weather you like him or not, cav always rides as he's told in a GB vest.

Yes he is disliked within the team.

The only person who likes him is Porte.

They are like best friends and like to do everything together...one of the reasons he went home as Porte wasnt there for company (even tho they are in different teams).

Thick as thieves with both having huge upticks in improvement about the same time. Both training incognito in sunny Monaco.

frenchfighter

FYI Costa and Valverde are two of the riders that provide some data to SRMs to be published:
http://www.srm.de/news/road-cycling
Costa`s values are strong.

Interesting to see Mohoric`s data for the U23 win:
http://www.srm.de/news/road-cycling/uci ... road-race/

Mohoric on descending: "You keep pedaling when you are sitting on the bars. It is fast because you are low but still pedaling. You can't put out 400W like you can when you are in the saddle but you can do 200W. It is so aerodynamic that you can go much faster."

greasedscotsman

Coach H wrote:

Totally unimportant, but when did Wiggins go back to Di2?

What do you mean? He's been using it for years. Uses mechanical on his TT bike though.

iainf72

frenchfighter wrote:

Yes he is disliked within the team.

The only person who likes him is Porte.

They are like best friends and like to do everything together...one of the reasons he went home as Porte wasnt there for company (even tho they are in different teams).

He's not disliked in the team as far as I know.

I can't believe this is such a big deal. Froome got dropped on a climb, should he have just carried on riding til he was eliminated? He doesn't need to prove anything, the other GB riders ain't looking for a contract so don't need to market themselves.

Coach H

greasedscotsman wrote:

Coach H wrote:

Totally unimportant, but when did Wiggins go back to Di2?

What do you mean? He's been using it for years. Uses mechanical on his TT bike though.

I was sure he dropped it on his road bike as well after the Giro bike parking incident??

Perhaps it was something I made up in my own head :?

greasedscotsman

Coach H wrote:

I was sure he dropped it on his road bike as well after the Giro bike parking incident??

Perhaps it was something I made up in my own head :?

There was this article that suggested just what your saying.

http://inrng.com/2013/04/who-will-win-the-giro/

But he used Di2 on his road bike during the Giro. Such as here...



http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... seven.html

Pretty sure he hasn't switched since.

ocdupalais

DeVlaeminck wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

A collective poor performance from the GB team yesterday...stuff

Oh please, it was a poor performance and people are going to say so, including the riders and team management themselves.

So we're all agreed then?

trek_dan

On the plus side at least Rui Costa won't suffer the indignity of wearing a horrible fluro pink and lime green Lampre jersey next year.

vinnymarsden

I can live with 1 or 2 simply "packing in" but the entire team!!
That almost sounds like instructions to me...and why??
Because they weren't in a position to win...so whats the use......
It's disappointing, and somewhat frustrating to see the whole team out of the race so far from the finish, the winner/contenders were up there at the front, and had ridden in the same, admittidley horrendous conditions, but they put their heads down and saw it out.
I'm no racing god but given the exalted position our GB cycling team have put themselves in with LOTS of hard work it was extremely difficult to work out wht went wrong..maybe the power meters are calibrated for warm Mallorca sunshine training......it was telling that when Cancellara got dropped he didnt give in...he rode to the finish, as did Gilbert......maybe they train in "real" conditions and not in sunshine and laboratories!!! My twopennorth...and frankly, it's just an opinion....please fell free to discuss but don't try to make me change my mind so it suits your take on it....

Macaloon

Above The Cows wrote:

To take this seriously for a moment, I think the issue for some is that these riders who as you rightly point out have busted a gut in other situations or never really stood an iceberg in hells chance of winning were wearing the National Colours yesterday and therefore should be expected to give 150% for queen and country. Thomas might have ridden the Tour with a broken Pedro but he did that for Sky, not for his country!

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to sing God Save the Queen.

If only they had a Stuart Pierce in the car to provide the missing motivation. Then they could avoid being gapped for the same reasons that they were dropped all year in one day races: not expecting, or physically capable of responding to, repeated intense surges. Not following the wheel of the Italian detailed to take a few with him as he artfully lets the wheels in front go on the steepest ramps would also help. (Not saying this specific event happened, but there must be 100s of little stunts that force selections beyond mere power).

I thought the riders suited to course and distance served up a fine race with special mention to Nibali being in contention after a belting season and a late crash, and Cancellara while not showing finishing top 10 after a stupendous time trial.

Coach H

VinnyMarsden wrote:

it was telling that when Cancellara got dropped he didnt give in...he rode to the finish, as did Gilbert

The only thing this tells you is that by the time they got dropped the quickest way back to the bus was via the finish :roll:

ddraver

trek_dan wrote:

On the plus side at least Rui Costa won't suffer the indignity of wearing a horrible fluro pink and lime green Lampre jersey next year.

Seen rumours for next year...

above_the_cows

Macaloon wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

To take this seriously for a moment, I think the issue for some is that these riders who as you rightly point out have busted a gut in other situations or never really stood an iceberg in hells chance of winning were wearing the National Colours yesterday and therefore should be expected to give 150% for queen and country. Thomas might have ridden the Tour with a broken Pedro but he did that for Sky, not for his country!

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to sing God Save the Queen.

If only they had a Stuart Pierce in the car to provide the missing motivation. Then they could avoid being gapped for the same reasons that they were dropped all year in one day races: not expecting, or physically capable of responding to, repeated intense surges. Not following the wheel of the Italian detailed to take a few with him as he artfully lets the wheels in front go on the steepest ramps would also help. (Not saying this specific event happened, but there must be 100s of little stunts that force selections beyond mere power).

I thought the riders suited to course and distance served up a fine race with special mention to Nibali being in contention after a belting season and a late crash, and Cancellara while not showing finishing top 10 after a stupendous time trial.

So's what we are saying is that actually Sky or team GB's poor form in one day race type thingys is perhaps symptomatic of the relatively young age of cycling expertise in the UK? The sort of tactical nous that enables one to be able to force selections, know when someone is about to let the wheel go etc. etc. comes from years and years of accumulated knowledge passed down from generation to generation like an old pair of clogs or a chart of what way the wind blows across that particular field on the second Tuesday in February. It is not the type of thing that can be calibrated in a bar chart.

One day racing is about lots of things, form is only one of them, then there's tactical knowledge which takes a lot longer to develop and can only be tested for in race conditions and then of course there's the most ubiquitous woman in cycling to consider, good old lady luck.

Froome is a relative tactical newbie, he didn't grow up with any of this. Most of the GB team were developed on the track and don't have so much of this. The best tactical brain in the team yesterday was arguably Cav.

Interestingly the ones that survived the best in the Sky team during the one dayers this year (not all of them Brits) were not those who were said to have the best form in the run-up to the event but had the most experience.

Coach H

Brian Palmer not a fan for Team GB performance either
http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/

Paul 8v

ddraver wrote:

trek_dan wrote:

On the plus side at least Rui Costa won't suffer the indignity of wearing a horrible fluro pink and lime green Lampre jersey next year.

Seen rumours for next year...

Actually better than the Lampre kit...

above_the_cows

Paul 8v wrote:

ddraver wrote:

trek_dan wrote:

On the plus side at least Rui Costa won't suffer the indignity of wearing a horrible fluro pink and lime green Lampre jersey next year.

Seen rumours for next year...

Actually better than the Lampre kit...

Really easy for Pippo to customize as well. Change the e to an i and the a to an o...

mechanism

Isn't the Mantova investigation going to prevent any of them from having to wear the Lampre kit?

cesco

Since I spotted a couple of Dutch speakers here; I really enjoyed reading these articles about Rodriguez v. Valverde:
http://hetiskoers.nl/2013/het-hoofd-van ... -valverde/
http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1018/Wielrennen/ ... n-bv.dhtml

Macaloon

Above The Cows wrote:

...
Interestingly the ones that survived the best in the Sky team during the one dayers this year (not all of them Brits) were not those who were said to have the best form in the run-up to the event but had the most experience.

Yep. Dan Lloyd co-commentated one of the Spring Classics (Flanders?) for Eurosport this year, delivering a masterclass on the differences between classics and stage races. He talked about his shock at the constant need to sprint to hold wheels at seemingly random points in the race. GB (and Sky) have nobody, bar Millar possibly, adept at the subtle brutality used to unhitch a GC climber. This is a much more likely explanation for the dismal performance than the 'wrong kind of rain'.

And, when you're dropped with 100kms to go in the Worlds, it really is all over.

RichN95.

Macaloon wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

...
Interestingly the ones that survived the best in the Sky team during the one dayers this year (not all of them Brits) were not those who were said to have the best form in the run-up to the event but had the most experience.

Yep. Dan Lloyd co-commentated one of the Spring Classics (Flanders?) for Eurosport this year, delivering a masterclass on the differences between classics and stage races. He talked about his shock at the constant need to sprint to hold wheels at seemingly random points in the race. GB (and Sky) have nobody, bar Millar possibly, adept at the subtle brutality used to unhitch a GC climber. This is a much more likely explanation for the dismal performance than the 'wrong kind of rain'.

And, when you're dropped with 100kms to go in the Worlds, it really is all over.

Rui Costa did as many one day races (5) in the month leading up to the Worlds than than Froome has done in the last three years

yaya

Imagine a final world cup football match where England is playing against, say, Italy, OK? It is raining hard and the Italians are leading 5-2 with 30 minutes left to play. Italy is playing better and is looking like the favourite for the win...Can the English players just quit, one by one and go home? Would they?

Yeah I know 90 minutes with a break and 7 hours in the rain & wind and on descents are not the same, but...

Just saying...(and I don't particularly like riding in the rain...it ruins my wheels!)

Maybe they should introduce some rules like in motor racing (e.g. MotoGP or Superbike) where the race leaders (or ex. world champions etc.) can put a hand up if they think that the conditions are too dangerous and the race stops and then restarted (or not) ???

RichN95.

Good god, you would have thought that the GB riders were the first riders ever to drop out of a race. :roll:

DeVlaeminck

OCDuPalais wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

A collective poor performance from the GB team yesterday...stuff

Oh please, it was a poor performance and people are going to say so, including the riders and team management themselves.

So we're all agreed then?

And you include yourself amongst your "reactionary armchair critics on the internet" ?

There is a tendency on this thread to prefix any post that disagrees with the criticism of the GB team with "have some of you even watched a bike race" or the equivalent. Presumably Rod Ellingworth hasn't watched a bike race either.

johnboy183

Apologies if this has been commentated on elsewhere in this thread, but I wasn't aware of any of the GB riders wearing wet weather gear. Those that I saw in the early parts of the race when the weather appeared to be at its most foul, they all appeared to have short sleeves. Surely riding like this for 100km would have had a detrimental effect on their performance? I know when I go out occasionally in wet weather, I like to try and stay warm and dry.vwhy didn't they? Marginal gains and all that...