2014 Worlds - Elite Men RR *SPOILERS*

RichN95.

Gerrans's biggest talent is that he is more prepared to lose than anyone else. The other guys will always blink first.

Mad_Malx

Once he got the gap having Gerrans and Valverde in the chase group was perfect for Kwia. Just as the chase was coming back the group all started looking at each other.

frenchfighter

RichN95 wrote:

Gerrans's biggest talent is that he is more prepared to lose than anyone else. The other guys will always blink first.

Fine and I understand this. His MO is thus: do nothing all race to advance towards the goal of winning and leave my fate to the other riders. Follow the right moves towards the end but under no circumstance take a turn, hoping that your fellow riders are dumb enough to take you to the finish without screaming at you or trying to push you off the bike. If you reach the end, sprint (never before 150m as more than that will give you wind-burn) and take the win. Celebrate but do not stick your neck out and say you won because you were the strongest as others will get you next time.

It is a method. It is a despised method for the majority of cycling fans (especially those outside UK). It garners no respect or accolades, is uber-defensive and classless and leaves no positive mentions in the history of cycling.

Under no circumstances can he complain about not winning.

Crocodile tears.

above_the_cows

frenchfighter wrote:

Celebrate but do not stick your neck out...

Oh ho ho ho!

RichN95.

In this particular race I don't think, looking back at it, that there many opportunities to take a pull anyway. By the time the chase group was formed they were on the descent and by the time they got to the flat and Gilbert was on the front, I think they knew that they had left it too late.

frenchfighter

shockedsoshocked

frenchfighter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Gerrans's biggest talent is that he is more prepared to lose than anyone else. The other guys will always blink first.

Fine and I understand this. His MO is thus: do nothing all race to advance towards the goal of winning and leave my fate to the other riders. Follow the right moves towards the end but under no circumstance take a turn, hoping that your fellow riders are dumb enough to take you to the finish without screaming at you or trying to push you off the bike. If you reach the end, sprint (never before 150m as more than that will give you wind-burn) and take the win. Celebrate but do not stick your neck out and say you won because you were the strongest as others will get you next time.

It is a method. It is a despised method for the majority of cycling fans (especially those outside UK). It garners no respect or accolades, is uber-defensive and classless and leaves no positive mentions in the history of cycling.

Under no circumstances can he complain about not winning.

Crocodile tears.

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

adr82

RichN95 wrote:

In this particular race I don't think, looking back at it, that there many opportunities to take a pull anyway. By the time the chase group was formed they were on the descent and by the time they got to the flat and Gilbert was on the front, I think they knew that they had left it too late.

I'm not so sure about that... the last ~1.5k were flat and straight apart from the single corner at 4-500m and the gap was a handful of seconds at most. Gilbert was stuck on the front for the whole time and was visibly tiring long before the last couple of hundred metres while the guys behind were occasionally coasting (ie not flat out trying to hold his wheel which would have been different). Kwia might still have made it, but he definitely wouldn't have had time to ease up at the end if the chasers had worked together instead of hoping Gilbert could drag him back solo.

frenchfighter

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

Majority of his career is before my time so hard for me to comment.

dish_dash

adr82 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

In this particular race I don't think, looking back at it, that there many opportunities to take a pull anyway. By the time the chase group was formed they were on the descent and by the time they got to the flat and Gilbert was on the front, I think they knew that they had left it too late.

I'm not so sure about that... the last ~1.5k were flat and straight apart from the single corner at 4-500m and the gap was a handful of seconds at most. Gilbert was stuck on the front for the whole time and was visibly tiring long before the last couple of hundred metres while the guys behind were occasionally coasting (ie not flat out trying to hold his wheel which would have been different). Kwia might still have made it, but he definitely wouldn't have had time to ease up at the end if the chasers had worked together instead of hoping Gilbert could drag him back solo.

I seem to recall Gilbert flicking his elbow several times as well as moving over to try to get someone else on the front. To be honest watching it live I thought they would catch Kwiato.

But that's cycling right? Who works for who at which moment. It wasn't that different a scenario from the WRR was it? Both had a strong small group not working together to deliver a result, with the exception that for the men there was a rider up the road while for the women the bunch caught them.

RichN95.

adr82 wrote:

I'm not so sure about that... the last ~1.5k were flat and straight apart from the single corner at 4-500m and the gap was a handful of seconds at most. Gilbert was stuck on the front for the whole time and was visibly tiring long before the last couple of hundred metres while the guys behind were occasionally coasting (ie not flat out trying to hold his wheel which would have been different). Kwia might still have made it, but he definitely wouldn't have had time to ease up at the end if the chasers had worked together instead of hoping Gilbert could drag him back solo.

But at 1.5k it was too late - unless miraculously they all worked together, something they knew wouldn't happen, thereby ensuring it wouldn't happen. Anyone working would be giving away their own chances of a medal and they don't care who wins if it's not them.

shockedsoshocked

frenchfighter wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

Majority of his career is before my time so hard for me to comment.

That's fair enough, but I always find it odd some riders get labelled with having good racing nouse, whilst others are considered wheel suckers.

My opinion is that's just racing. Not that i'm a fan of Gerrans mind, I can't get over the shape of his head.

FoldingJoe

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

Majority of his career is before my time so hard for me to comment.

That's fair enough, but I always find it odd some riders get labelled with having good racing nouse, whilst others are considered wheel suckers.

My opinion is that's just racing. Not that i'm a fan of Gerrans mind, I can't get over the shape of his head.

You live in Middlesbrough - I thought you'd be used to weird shaped people? :P

salsiccia1

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

Majority of his career is before my time so hard for me to comment.

That's fair enough, but I always find it odd some riders get labelled with having good racing nouse, whilst others are considered wheel suckers.

My opinion is that's just racing. Not that i'm a fan of Gerrans mind, I can't get over the shape of his head.

I quite admire Gerrans, he knows what he's got and makes the best of it. He's not going to win a lot of races by going on the attack, so plays it canny. That being said, he only had to put one decent pull along with the others and they'd have caught Kwiatowski, and I reckon he'd have still won the sprint.

shockedsoshocked

FoldingJoe wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

Majority of his career is before my time so hard for me to comment.

That's fair enough, but I always find it odd some riders get labelled with having good racing nouse, whilst others are considered wheel suckers.

My opinion is that's just racing. Not that i'm a fan of Gerrans mind, I can't get over the shape of his head.

You live in Middlesbrough - I thought you'd be used to weird shaped people? :P

Gerrans has more jaw line than half the population of this town

adr82

RichN95 wrote:

adr82 wrote:

I'm not so sure about that... the last ~1.5k were flat and straight apart from the single corner at 4-500m and the gap was a handful of seconds at most. Gilbert was stuck on the front for the whole time and was visibly tiring long before the last couple of hundred metres while the guys behind were occasionally coasting (ie not flat out trying to hold his wheel which would have been different). Kwia might still have made it, but he definitely wouldn't have had time to ease up at the end if the chasers had worked together instead of hoping Gilbert could drag him back solo.

But at 1.5k it was too late - unless miraculously they all worked together, something they knew wouldn't happen, thereby ensuring it wouldn't happen. Anyone working would be giving away their own chances of a medal and they don't care who wins if it's not them.

I'm not arguing about the willingness to work, what I was responding to in the first place was you saying there weren't many opportunities for the chasers to take a pull. That final stretch was made up of two long flat wide straights with a single corner, nothing technical at all, so they had loads of time to take a pull if they'd wanted to.

adr82

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

FoldingJoe wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Out of interest, how do you feel about Oscar Friere? I half expected him to pop out at the end

Seemingly loads of people I've spoken to love Friere but dislike Gerrans, which is odd.

Majority of his career is before my time so hard for me to comment.

That's fair enough, but I always find it odd some riders get labelled with having good racing nouse, whilst others are considered wheel suckers.

My opinion is that's just racing. Not that i'm a fan of Gerrans mind, I can't get over the shape of his head.

You live in Middlesbrough - I thought you'd be used to weird shaped people? :P

Gerrans has more jaw line than half the population of this town

David Coulthard has him beat I think!

FocusZing

What's all this immature talk directed at Simon Gerrans appearance about? He's bike racer not an actor. I think half of you want a dressage as a stage!

Paulie W

frenchfighter wrote:

“To be honest with you, I felt like I wanted to cry when I crossed the finish line,” Gerrans admitted in the press room afterwards, a silver medal around his neck. “To be so close to the world title and to see it slip away in the final few kilometers ... I knew I had good legs. If things had unfolded a little bit differently in the final I could have been racing for the victory.”

LOL. Why didn't you try and help with the chase then you little toad? :roll:

Do you really think it's appropriate for you to characterise a rider in this way? This says a lot about what kind of person you are. You dont have to like his riding style. You dont have to like him - although you have little or no idea what kind of a person he is, I assume, and this cant be inferred from how he rides by the way. You can find fault with his approach to racing. But at what point do you get the right to call someone a 'little toad'?

frenchfighter

Whenever I want. There is no censure on it that I am aware of?

Paulie W

frenchfighter wrote:

Whenever I want. There is no censure on it that I am aware of?

Yeah do you what you like you spineless little creep.

maddog 2

the way I saw it, once Belgium had two in the chase pack it was, somewhat ironically, over for the chase pack. It became a Kwiatkowski versus Gilbert drag race, as no one else was going to do a turn. And there wasn't much between them so the gap stayed as it was, and they couldn't catch him.

The whole point is that a group is only faster than one man if they take it in turns! Otherwise it's just one man against one man.

frenchfighter

Paulie W wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Whenever I want. There is no censure on it that I am aware of?

Yeah do you what you like you spineless little creep.

I think you need to go back to bed.

andyp

For someone who watches so much bike racing, FF has very little idea of how it actually works.

frenchfighter

andyp wrote:

For someone who watches so much bike racing, FF has very little idea of how it actually works.

Still banging the same drum?
Just because you like Gerrans and think there is honour and class in sucking wheels to achieve a win, it doesn't mean I do not understand bike racing.
If you saw what I replied to Rich you would understand I understand completely what he does and it is a valid MO but a totally sh*t one imo. That is all.

salsiccia1

Come on you lot, put your cocks away and stick to talking about the race :roll:

Too many threads going this way

thomthom

Just saw the last 5km again where the groups formed. Gerrans didn't wheelsuck more than any of the others in that group.

Le Commentateur

Boring race with a good ending. Nice to see the chancer take it.

frenchfighter

ThomThom wrote:

Just saw the last 5km again where the groups formed. Gerrans didn't wheelsuck more than any of the others in that group.

In the interest of fairness I would say that Gallopin also rode like a b*tch in those last 5km but he has shown numerous times in the past that he is not afraid to attack and take it to them solo or take his turns in small groups.

above_the_cows

dish_dash wrote:

adr82 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

In this particular race I don't think, looking back at it, that there many opportunities to take a pull anyway. By the time the chase group was formed they were on the descent and by the time they got to the flat and Gilbert was on the front, I think they knew that they had left it too late.

I'm not so sure about that... the last ~1.5k were flat and straight apart from the single corner at 4-500m and the gap was a handful of seconds at most. Gilbert was stuck on the front for the whole time and was visibly tiring long before the last couple of hundred metres while the guys behind were occasionally coasting (ie not flat out trying to hold his wheel which would have been different). Kwia might still have made it, but he definitely wouldn't have had time to ease up at the end if the chasers had worked together instead of hoping Gilbert could drag him back solo.

I seem to recall Gilbert ******* his elbow several times as well as moving over to try to get someone else on the front. To be honest watching it live I thought they would catch Kwiato.

But that's cycling right? Who works for who at which moment. It wasn't that different a scenario from the WRR was it? Both had a strong small group not working together to deliver a result, with the exception that for the men there was a rider up the road while for the women the bunch caught them.

Yep dish_dash that pretty much sums it up for me.