2014 Worlds - Elite Men RR *SPOILERS*

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

One now rides for Lampre, so he was obviously never going to win anything.

haha.

Also, gets less space now he's won the worlds. Which will be the same for MK next year

phreak

frenchfighter wrote:

He didn't even finish...Swift had to do everything himself to place where he did. PK even finished (6 mins down) despite going on the attack.

Thoroughly shameful year from a performance perspective from Mr Millar.

He's supposed to be doing the Bec Hill Climb in a fortnight. He might win that one (if I have an off day and all that)

frenchfighter

thegibdog wrote:

I hope the commentators who were saying that the Polish team must have been paid to do all the work on the front are eating their words now.

ugo.santalucia

RichN95 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

He's still only 27. He's won three Tours de Suisse, three Tour de France stages, GP Montreal, Four Days of Dunkirk, and had seven other podiums at World Tour level. He's not the chump you think he is

We'll see... Winning at Lampre is not easy... yet Cunego managed to win 3 monuments in a crap team... I don't think Rui Costa is anywhere near as good as Cunego was 6 years ago... I might be wrong... certainly the hideous Merida commercial certainly has done nothing to make him more likeable!

rick_chasey

Rinsed. Bahaha

tailwindhome

David Millar ‏@millarmind · 21m
Serious question. We (GB) are on a bus (private, of course), on our way to Madrid. Venue for tonight? We're clueless (ish). #vengabus



David Millar ‏@millarmind · 1m
We're killing it. Ice creams.

specialgueststar

ResPecKt Bohanni

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

David Millar ‏@millarmind · 21m
Serious question. We (GB) are on a bus (private, of course), on our way to Madrid. Venue for tonight? We're clueless (ish). #vengabus

If only one of the riders had gone to school with a big shot Madrid celebrity, maybe they could've helped.

(It is a bloody big school mind)

tailwindhome

RichN95 wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

David Millar ‏@millarmind · 21m
Serious question. We (GB) are on a bus (private, of course), on our way to Madrid. Venue for tonight? We're clueless (ish). #vengabus

If only one of the riders had gone to school with a big shot Madrid celebrity, maybe they could've helped.

(It is a bloody big school mind)

This guy?

Geraint Thomas ‏@GeraintThomas86 · 39m
Madrid the #vengabus is coming!! Where do we get off?

blazing_saddles

TailWindHome wrote:

David Millar ‏@millarmind · 21m
Serious question. We (GB) are on a bus (private, of course), on our way to Madrid. Venue for tonight? We're clueless (ish). #vengabus



David Millar ‏@millarmind · 1m
We're killing it. Ice creams.

What a dump.

Vengasbus away.

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

This guy?

Geraint Thomas ‏@GeraintThomas86 · 39m
Madrid the #vengabus is coming!! Where do we get off?

Yes. Geraint Thomas - the third most successful recent sporting alumni from Whitchurch HS.

hammerite

Nice deserved win by Kwia.

There were a couple of good performances from GB (Swift, Little Pete and Rowe) and I guess few of us expected Swift to win anyway. But on a course that wasn't massively attritional, why didn't they have more riders left in the race to assist Swift? Belgium, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Portugal (and others) all finished with a good number of riders left in the race. They didn't even sit on the front for the first 100km like the last couple of years.

I have no problem with riders getting off and dropping out of the Worlds when they get dropped, but on this course 7 out of the 9 riders shouldn't really get dropped until a lot later in the race.

DeVlaeminck

frenchfighter wrote:

He didn't even finish...Swift had to do everything himself to place where he did. PK even finished (6 mins down) despite going on the attack.

Thoroughly shameful year from a performance perspective from Mr Millar.

I'm sure the women (was it ok to call them women?) TTers will be pleased they stuck to their hard nosed policy of only selecting people on merit ! No idea why they didn't stick Wiggins in unless they asked and he refused.

joelsim

I think that caps a 'super' season for Kwia, he deserves it, he is great to watch, always willing to attack, talented, albeit big ears.

Valverde has also had an outstanding season, like him or loathe him, he delivers on almost every parcours.

Gerrans has also had an impressive season. To be honest I think this race has been a mini summary of the year as far as who has done well. GvA, Gallopin, Kristoff as well as those above, Degenkolb, Bouhanni, Matthews and Swift in the mix too.

Shame it's all so near the end of the season.

RichN95.

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I'm sure the women (was it ok to call them women?) TTers will be pleased they stuck to their hard nosed policy of only selecting people on merit ! No idea why they didn't stick Wiggins in unless they asked and he refused.

I think GB said to Wiggins and Dowsett - just focus on the TT. And it worked for Wiggins.
GB have limited resources and have to manage them appropriately - they have few WT riders. Let's face it, Swift was their best option and he was an outsider. If they had a genuine challenger, they would put more people behind it.

I think that because GB has massively overachieved with the dozen or so World Tour riders that they have, that it inflates expectations.

joelsim

DeVlaeminck wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

He didn't even finish...Swift had to do everything himself to place where he did. PK even finished (6 mins down) despite going on the attack.

Thoroughly shameful year from a performance perspective from Mr Millar.

I'm sure the women (was it ok to call them women?) TTers will be pleased they stuck to their hard nosed policy of only selecting people on merit ! No idea why they didn't stick Wiggins in unless they asked and he refused.

Not sure there will ever be another race with both Wiggins and Froome in the same team.

mm1

No idea why they didn't stick Wiggins in unless they asked and he refused.[/quote]

Or Froome refused to sit next to him on the bus.

According to Hayles during commentary Brailsford was apparently surprised when he was told how quick Brad was on Wednesday, which sounds weird and as if all is not well to me.

rick_chasey

For those who use strava:

Kiwa's World Champ winning ride: http://www.strava.com/activities/200661439

joelsim

mm1 wrote:

No idea why they didn't stick Wiggins in unless they asked and he refused.

Or Froome refused to sit next to him on the bus.

According to Hayles during commentary Brailsford was apparently surprised when he was told how quick Brad was on Wednesday, which sounds weird and as if all is not well to me.[/quote]

DB wants to be boss, BW wants to be boss, CF wants to be boss.

BW has the biggest following (public/sponsor) and legend status, difficult for DB and CF to counter. BW knows this and is probably not going to ever give an inch.

mm1

Nor should he!

Crampeur

Maximum heartrate 185 according to his Strava! Not even trying...

type:epyt

Ignoring the Brit wonk nonsense in the past few posts, turns out Kwia beat Phinney in the U23 WCTT back in 2008 ... The peleton were given 6 years notice the dude could lay down the power (never mind the results in between) ...

RichN95.

type:epyt wrote:

Ignoring the Brit wonk nonsense in the past few posts, turns out Kwia beat Phinney in the U23 WCTT back in 2008 ... The peloton were given 6 years notice the dude could lay down the power (never mind the results in between) ...

I think several of us on this forum have noted that the TTs are better indicators of talent at the Junior/u23 Worlds than the RR. You can't fluke power. (You can fluke hype due to who your parents are though).

type:epyt

RichN95 wrote:

type:epyt wrote:

Ignoring the Brit wonk nonsense in the past few posts, turns out Kwia beat Phinney in the U23 WCTT back in 2008 ... The peloton were given 6 years notice the dude could lay down the power (never mind the results in between) ...

I think several of us on this forum have noted that the TTs are better indicators of talent at the Junior/u23 Worlds than the RR. You can't fluke power. (You can fluke hype due to who your parents are though).

I'm not saying folks didn't notice, more those racing against him assumed he was a racer rather than a guy that could make it stick.

Would Sagan swap 2 Green Jerseys for Rainbow?

frenchfighter

Thorstad blows your mind with his photos:


You know this guy lives and trains in a cold climate - look at where his tan line is!

ugo.santalucia

frenchfighter wrote:

You know this guy lives and trains in a cold climate - look at where his tan line is!

Ukraine in summer is roasting! :shock:

jimmythecuckoo

Amazing pics... sorry for the stupid question coming up Frenchie but does the guy have a website?

frenchfighter

http://www.zuper.no/

jimmythecuckoo

Thank you

frenchfighter

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/worlds- ... d-lefevere

"I'm very proud. Michal is a loyal rider and a super class act. On Wednesday he trained 240 kilometers with the Belgians and did another hour after. He was convinced that he could win."