Hardest National Champs

ozzzyosborn206
ozzzyosborn206 Posts: 1,340
edited January 2014 in Pro race
With it being National Champs week the other side of the World it got me thinking, which country has the hardest National stripes to win?

When you look at the number of pro conti and world tour riders in the races in Belgium, France, Italy etc compared to UK and Oz how much harder would they be? I guess the fact that some countries have enough pros so they have have a pro and a amateur National Champs shows the difference.

Comments

  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    Based on nothing except perceived pride I would say winning the Belgium National Champs.
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  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    I don't think I could win any of them, to be fair
  • poppit
    poppit Posts: 926
    Must be the national cyclocross champs happening in Derby this weekend :wink:
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  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    I'd say either the French or Italian as both have several fairly evenly matched teams.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Art Vandelay
    Art Vandelay Posts: 1,982
    Not a coincidence that two of the best races last year were the Italian and the French RR Champs.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Spain, surely?
    _
  • Art Vandelay
    Art Vandelay Posts: 1,982
    Over the last few years it's been dominated by Movistar/Caisse/Banesto. Loads more fans at the Italian, French and Belgian champs too.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Art Vandelay wrote:
    Over the last few years it's been dominated by Movistar/Caisse/Banesto. Loads more fans at the Italian, French and Belgian champs too.

    Ah fair enough.


    Fans at the French race? seriously?
    _
  • Art Vandelay
    Art Vandelay Posts: 1,982
    Well, more than in Spain usually - if it's up in the Basque country/Galicia/Asturias there'll be more.
  • Art Vandelay
    Art Vandelay Posts: 1,982
    Thinking about it you should probably have Colombia in there too, especially in light of the current state in the domestic scene. Good report from a few months back on Cycling Inquisition if you've not read it.
    http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2013/ ... ssion.html
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    This is off-topic but that entry on Cycling Inquisition makes for scary reading. It is hard to believe that the problems in the domestic scene in Colombia are still going on today. It is incredible too that the current crop of European-based Colombian Pro riders are effectively locked out of the big races in their own country. I wondered why the European teams haven't had a presence at the RCN or Vuelta A Colombia either and I guess this explains it.

    Brian Cookson needs to get things in gear at the UCI and at least attempt to sort out the problems there. The current Colombian contingent are one of the jewels in the crown of the European Pro scene.

    DD.
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    Dolan Driver wrote:
    This is off-topic but that entry on Cycling Inquisition makes for scary reading. It is hard to believe that the problems in the domestic scene in Colombia are still going on today. It is incredible too that the current crop of European-based Colombian Pro riders are effectively locked out of the big races in their own country. I wondered why the European teams haven't had a presence at the RCN or Vuelta A Colombia either and I guess this explains it.

    Brian Cookson needs to get things in gear at the UCI and at least attempt to sort out the problems there. The current Colombian contingent are one of the jewels in the crown of the European Pro scene.

    DD.


    There's a problem with doping in South America. The Costa Rica Cycling Fed with the testing at the Vuelta a Costa Rica in 2012 and last Dec, seem to be a rare instance of a South American fed taking AD seriously. It's been noted that despite a lot of Colombian riders and teams success at that race in previous years, after the Costa Rican and Colombian riders got done for testing positive at the 2012 race and it was seen that AD controls were in place, only a handful of Colombian riders rode the Dec 2013 race and had their worst results for years.

    In Colombia it's very political and it's difficult to know what Cookson and the UCI can do immediately to change things. Colombia's cycling fed has govt links. As that article in Cycling Inquisition notes, 'refugees' from Operation Puerto have roles within the domestic scene, some quite influential. Rujano may become the new President of the cycling fed - he certainly wants to.

    The 2 men behind 4-72 - Ignacio Velez and Luis Saldarriaga- who nurtured the likes of Quintana, Sergio Henao, Duarte, Atapuma and Chalapud, are fiercely anti-doping, and are very vocal about the problems of doping in the Colombian scene, which makes them very unpopular, taking to the extreme of receiving death threats in Velez's case.
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,436
    I 'imagine' the Irish title is a hard one to win. None of the favourites have any team support, a clatter of decent lower level pros who are good enough to make a race of it and a peloton of amateurs. My impression is that the flag drops and it's the Charge of the Light Brigade. None of this let the break go and cruise for 150km.

    Apparently the Ras is the same.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    TailWindHome wrote:
    I 'imagine' the Irish title is a hard one to win. None of the favourites have any team support, a clatter of decent lower level pros who are good enough to make a race of it and a peloton of amateurs. My impression is that the flag drops and it's the Charge of the Light Brigade. None of this let the break go and cruise for 150km.

    Apparently the Ras is the same.


    In which case all kudos to Matt Brammeier for his wins
  • ozzzyosborn206
    ozzzyosborn206 Posts: 1,340
    Agree I think the Belgian Nats must be pretty solid just in Gilbert and Boonen you have two of the best one day racers in the world and thats before you even think about the likes of Van Avermeat, DEvolder, Vanmarcke, Meersman list goes on..
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    I suppose one way of seeing would be to go back and look at the list of wins. Belgium is tough and France is always a banger. Not sure about Italy...not seen much of Spanish ones but a strong list of winners. Some of these races have few people that can win as the big teams dominate everyone else and ride for one or two people. OPQS vs Lotto for instance and then Devolder still manages to win somehow...solo last year.

    Anyone know how prevelant drug testing is at these Nats?
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Art Vandelay wrote:
    Thinking about it you should probably have Colombia in there too, especially in light of the current state in the domestic scene. Good report from a few months back on Cycling Inquisition if you've not read it.
    http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2013/ ... ssion.html

    Thanks for this. Lot of respect for this writer - his site is super. In Cycling Anthology 2 his piece is really great reading...surprised me to hear Hinault and Fignon were among the racist ones especially as Hinault raced in Colombia.
    Contador is the Greatest

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