World Championship - ***SPOILERS***
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The problem for people watching a road race on the 'tele' is that, usually, only the last hour or two is shown. There are lots of queries about the status/worth of the domestique riders who appear seldom in the latter part of the stage but have performed sterling efforts earlier.
The main transmission of the World Championship Road Race missed the horrible conditions of the first four hours and may have left the impression, with some, that faint hearts had let the teams down. Also the idea of 'doing your bit and going home' is rather unusual for the stage races most people are introduced to by British broadcasters but standard practice in the one-day races such as the Spring Classics. Hopes were stupidly high thanks to the media hype. Britain hasn't got a set of riders to compete on this course, whatever the weather. As 'professional riders' with a living to make on other days, the team should be allowed the grace to recognize when the game was over and it was time to quit.
On the other hand Mr Froome seems to display few 'leadership qualities' of the conventional kind, although pleasant and personable in public life. He also appears to lack a tactical awareness that we have come to associate with the top-flight Spanish and Italian riders and now the French! A "hard day in the saddle" for everyone, with the possible exception of Ruiz Costa?'fool'0 -
Correlation is not causation.0
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lol exactly! What a ridiculous comparison.Above The Cows wrote:0 -
confused@BR wrote:
The main transmission of the World Championship Road Race missed the horrible conditions of the first four hours
I'll take your warm Florentine rain and raise you a snowstorm on top of an alpine pass
Still my wife backs Wiggo in all this, she say's it takes hours to get your hair right again after cycling in a rain storm.BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
Instagramme0 -
And free of hysteria and carping....William Fotheringham calmly and rationally dissects yesterday's performance by GB
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2 ... ships-flop0 -
Froome's red glasses were a huge mistake.0
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Mechanism wrote:Froome's red glasses were a huge mistake.
He should have worn his lucky white goggles. No need for any more discussion folks. I have solved it. It was the lack of lucky white goggles that was the problem.Correlation is not causation.0 -
The Irish team contained the one British rider that had a chance of winning. Shame he crashed but he didn't look to be in the best form in the Tour of Britain anyway.TheBigBean wrote:
It took two riders to win that list, hence the way it is written. Two constitutes a team and it is fair question. Both Martin and Roche were tipped as contenders, but as someone pointed out upthread - they crashed.EPO Delivery Man wrote:
You said 'The Irish Team'. So by team you actually mean one rider?Richmond Racer wrote: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'
Im not being a fool, im simply stating fact. The Irish 'TEAM' are f*cking rubbish. oh hang on...i meant fekin rubbish.0 -
There's a bit of disappointment in Gilbert being unable to follow the decisive break, but not much blame. Most seem to accept that it turned out a bit more of a climbers selection in the end than many had expected, too much for Gilbert and Van Amermaet, as Cancellara and Sagan were also unable to follow. Lots of respect for Van Summeren and co for their work.dsoutar wrote: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 ?
Interesting analysis by Wuyts was that 275 km is too far for a Worlds, and the fear of the distance might have stifled the race0 -
dwanes wrote:These Sky boys remind of those Over-paid footballers who are only up for a big game, and as soon as they have to play a lower league club in a cup game they think they are above it.
I think their luxury bus and lives in general are becoming too cosy and It is becoming too much about the money.
Really? So did I imagine Uran taking a heavy crash giving his all on the final descent to make it back to the front two or EBH digging deep up the hills to stay in the front group lap after lap despite having been out of form all season.
I wonder how many people moaning on here would have dragged themselves out training in those conditions?0 -
OMG, how many more pages can there be about team GB not performing well in a type race none of them is any good at?
I might have missed it, but has there actually been any discussion here of what really mattered in the end - dynamics between Purito, Valverde and Rui Costa? So much more interesting intrigue there...0 -
RichN95 wrote:
Yeah, those GT riders had just done the Vuelta. You know how many Tour winners have even turned up for the Worlds since they moved to September in 1995? Four - Indurain and Riis in the first two years and then nobody for 16 years until Wiggins last year.Bo Duke wrote:There were some senior GT riders still there at the end - the usual gritty suspects so I find strange our lads couldn't have competed better.
A Tour winner has commercial demands which are not conducive to preparing properly for the Worlds.
The voice of common sense as usual!0 -
Absolutely. (although it does contradict Rich's earlier point that riding the Vuelta doesn't really matter, but is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would disagree with that - the make-up of the final break would be too much coincidencePross wrote:RichN95 wrote:
Yeah, those GT riders had just done the Vuelta. You know how many Tour winners have even turned up for the Worlds since they moved to September in 1995? Four - Indurain and Riis in the first two years and then nobody for 16 years until Wiggins last year.Bo Duke wrote:There were some senior GT riders still there at the end - the usual gritty suspects so I find strange our lads couldn't have competed better.
A Tour winner has commercial demands which are not conducive to preparing properly for the Worlds.
The voice of common sense as usual!0 -
FJS wrote:I might have missed it, but has there actually been any discussion here of what really mattered in the end - dynamics between Purito, Valverde and Rui Costa? So much more interesting intrigue there...
No stick to the Dutch (language) news for that...We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
FJS wrote:OMG, how many more pages can there be about team GB not performing well in a type race none of them is any good at?
I might have missed it, but has there actually been any discussion here of what really mattered in the end - dynamics between Purito, Valverde and Rui Costa? So much more interesting intrigue there...
Agreed.
Valverde owes Costa from the Tour and doesn't get on with J Rod...0 -
iainf72 wrote: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.
I thought this had been covered. Yes, he should have carried on - he was riding for Queen and country, bedecked in the Union Jack and therefore should have displayed a stiff upper lip and never say die attitude. Instead he and the rest of the team have shamed our wonderful nation in front of Johnny Foreigner and made us a laughing stock. Wiggins should be stripped of his knighthood and sent to the Tower (can he be executed for treason?), the others should be put in the stocks. British cycling is at its lowest point ever due to these self centred wimps! :evil:0 -
I think the GB team just turned up to take as many free gels from the first feed station as possible with no intention of finishing the ride.0
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FJS wrote:OMG, how many more pages can there be about team GB not performing well in a type race none of them is any good at?
I might have missed it, but has there actually been any discussion here of what really mattered in the end - dynamics between Purito, Valverde and Rui Costa? So much more interesting intrigue there...
I did try, along with many others, but then the outraged patriots turned up. What it showed to me was that pro team loyalties are stronger than national loyalties which is hardly a surprise as it is the pro team that benefits from the publicity of the rainbow jersey. Nibali shouldn't have been there, he should have been DQd for being paced back by his team car and as said previously had Uran stayed upright the dynamics in the last couple of kms would have changed completely.
I thought it was a good race, the weather increased the attrition rate but even without it 10 laps of that circuit would have whittled things down and there may have even been more damage as riders would have attacked more. I also thought the two Net App riders did a great job in the break, who would have expected them to last so long?0 -
Of the last four, I think the only person Valverde would truly have liked to win would have been himself. Costa is off to another team so the rainbow jersey would have been no benefit to Valverde if Costa won. Ultimately, he didn't have the legs to follow Costa or attack when J-Rod was first caught. Both of those actions would have looked fine politically.0
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I really don't buy that. Valverde had just sat in the wheels the last 10 kms with J-Rod away and watch Rui Costa. He didn;t need to attack, as he had by far the fastest sprint of that group.TheBigBean wrote:Of the last four, I think the only person Valverde would truly have liked to win would have been himself. Costa is off to another team so the rainbow jersey would have been no benefit to Valverde if Costa won. Ultimately, he didn't have the legs to follow Costa or attack when J-Rod was first caught.
Rick's explanation is the only one that makes sense, but I can imagine some people in Spain not being too keen on Valverde getting more invitations to ride in the worlds.0 -
Nice to see Scott Davies picking up 7th in the junior men's race. Future star in the making according to an ex clubmate of mine who has been helping him out / following his progress for a while.0
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Hmmmm. Not sure if that worked. It was supposed to link to a very moving photo from Uran's twitter...0
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nic_77 wrote:I think the GB team just turned up to take as many free gels from the first feed station as possible with no intention of finishing the ride.
If they were Dutch I would believe that. Have you seen the price of gels over here? €2.50 a gel. €2.50! Praise be to Wiggle
As to the Costa/J-Rod dynamic. I desperately want to know what they said to each other 250m from the line. There were some proper death stares going on there. Someone should slow down the footage and make something with it. Short of doing a sort of 'I'm looking at you motion followed by a slow throat slit' it couldn't have been more entertaining.Pross wrote:What it showed to me was that pro team loyalties are stronger than national loyalties which is hardly a surprise as it is the pro team that benefits from the publicity of the rainbow jersey.
But Costa is leaving for Team Pink Highlighter Pen next year.
I reckon Valverde is just a sh*t. He says he couldn't follow, but nah, the man has shifty piggy eyes and that's the level of my analysis for tonight.Correlation is not causation.0 -
ddraver wrote:What if my auntie had balls..
She'd be a juggler?
Sorry the strain of this thread has got to me.Correlation is not causation.0
