2016 Worlds *spoilers*

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Geraint flatted as echelons formed.

    Viviani dropped...didn't even contest the sprint
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    edited October 2016
    Cu5QY_1XgAIy-gA.jpg:large

    Cu5LqVVWEAAv1gP.jpg:large


    Cu5bQz2WAAAD86E.jpg:large
  • RoadPainter
    RoadPainter Posts: 375
    Salsiccia1 wrote:
    ddraver wrote:
    Look I'm sorry Sausage but that wasn't too bad a race that...

    Don't get me wrong, the race was okay, but the atmosphere all week was completely non-existant.
    True, Bergen will be good - but at about £40 a pint a trip next year will likely be even more expensive than Doha would've been this year!
  • Richmond Racer 2
    Richmond Racer 2 Posts: 4,698
    RoadPainter wrote:
    Salsiccia1 wrote:
    ddraver wrote:
    Look I'm sorry Sausage but that wasn't too bad a race that...

    Don't get me wrong, the race was okay, but the atmosphere all week was completely non-existant.
    True, Bergen will be good - but at about £40 a pint a trip next year will likely be even more expensive than Doha would've been this year!


    Will be a cracking atmosphere, though

    And when I say cracking, I mean exuberant, boisterous and boozy
  • RoadPainter
    RoadPainter Posts: 375
    Richmond Racer 2 wrote:
    RoadPainter wrote:
    Salsiccia1 wrote:
    ddraver wrote:
    Look I'm sorry Sausage but that wasn't too bad a race that...

    Don't get me wrong, the race was okay, but the atmosphere all week was completely non-existant.
    True, Bergen will be good - but at about £40 a pint a trip next year will likely be even more expensive than Doha would've been this year!


    Will be a cracking atmosphere, though

    And when I say cracking, I mean exuberant, boisterous and boozy
    I completely agree. So much so that I've just booked my flights! Cheap as chips at the moment. Hotels looking far less so but hopefully that'll change over time. Given likely alcohol cost, I'll be making a duty free booze purchase on arrival.
  • Vino'sGhost
    Vino'sGhost Posts: 4,129
    worthy winner but pleaaase no more giant crits for a while.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    So the 2 time winner of the World's Road Champs finds Road cycling boring! :lol::lol:
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    ddraver wrote:
    So the 2 time winner of the World's Road Champs finds Road cycling boring! :lol::lol:

    "I find road cycling boring!". We will create you a bike which changes colour with temperature. "Sagan Like magic bike!"
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    Hee hee
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • salsiccia1
    salsiccia1 Posts: 3,725
    Vino'sGhost wrote:
    worthy winner but pleaaase no more giant crits for a while.

    Amen, brother
    It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,310
    ddraver wrote:
    So the 2 time winner of the World's Road Champs finds Road cycling boring! :lol::lol:

    He'll be grand when the cobbles start
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    In terms of a weeks racing it was as good as could be expected I guess.

    OHN in around 4 months then. I guess the dopage conspiracy chat will start up soon. Oh, hang on ...
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Great result, Sagan was the right man. The race turned out to be much, much more watchable than it could have been.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 21,533
    Thought with the riders in that front group they might have tried a few attacks a bit earlier. It was a comfortable ride for a Cav and Sagan.

    Still, Gilbert/Belgium were the beneficiaries a few years ago.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,159
    My recording on the red button ended with 6km to go. Both the Belgians and Italians made a complete hash of the numbers game. Why waste that advantage using your resources on the front once the danger from the second group was over letting riders like Cav, Sagan, Kristoff etc. sit in for 150km? Even the Moroccan from the original break managed to sit in until the final few kms.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 21,533
    Pross wrote:
    My recording on the red button ended with 6km to go. Both the Belgians and Italians made a complete hash of the numbers game. Why waste that advantage using your resources on the front once the danger from the second group was over letting riders like Cav, Sagan, Kristoff etc. sit in for 150km? Even the Moroccan from the original break managed to sit in until the final few kms.

    I had the same annoying red button experience. After a few moments of irritation I noticed it was being reshown on BBC2, so rejoined the race with 30km. Sadly, it really wasn't 25 km worth rewatching.

    In general, I was more hopeful than most that this would be a good race, but I ended somewhat disappointed as there was only really about 4km worth watching.
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,382
    coriordan wrote:
    Geraint flatted as echelons formed.

    Viviani dropped...didn't even contest the sprint

    Luke Rowe said he also flatted, which is why he dropped out of the front echelon.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,159
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    My recording on the red button ended with 6km to go. Both the Belgians and Italians made a complete hash of the numbers game. Why waste that advantage using your resources on the front once the danger from the second group was over letting riders like Cav, Sagan, Kristoff etc. sit in for 150km? Even the Moroccan from the original break managed to sit in until the final few kms.

    I had the same annoying red button experience. After a few moments of irritation I noticed it was being reshown on BBC2, so rejoined the race with 30km. Sadly, it really wasn't 25 km worth rewatching.

    In general, I was more hopeful than most that this would be a good race, but I ended somewhat disappointed as there was only really about 4km worth watching.

    Yep, the crosswinds brought some brief excitement but once it was obvious group 2 weren't coming back it effectively became the race everyone had been anticipating but with fewer contenders and no-one prepared to give it a go before the sprint.
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,160
    FocusZing wrote:
    [img][/img]Cu5bQz2WAAAD86E.jpg:large

    That picture is great. Podium step, disappointment and hair length in alignment.
  • philwint
    philwint Posts: 763
    I had to pause it when i went out just after the split, and just watched the rest.

    I would have liked Cav to win it from a purely partisan position, but I do think the best man won.
    Phil

    www.philwinterbourne.co.uk
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,310
    Is Boonen riding next year?
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    TailWindHome wrote:
    Is Boonen riding next year?
    Up to Paris-Roubaix he says
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 27,760
    ddraver wrote:
    Look I'm sorry Sausage but that wasn't too bad a race that...
    The race was good, but it would have been nice to think that someone there cared.
  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    I was going to ask two questions, but realised I could easily look up the first one myself

    1. How many riders have won back-to-back road world championships, and who are they?

    According to wikipedia:

    Georges Ronsse (BEL) 1928 & 1929
    Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL) 1956 & 1957
    Rik van Looy (BEL) 1960 & 1961
    Gianni Bugno (ITA) 1991 & 1992
    Paolo Bettini (ITA) 2006 & 2007
    Peter Sagan (SLO) 2015 & 2016

    2. When was the last time the road world champs podium was made up entirely of previous WC winners?
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,449
    The answer to number 2 is never.
  • tonyf34
    tonyf34 Posts: 194
    Cav went to his natural thing of taking a favourites wheel when he doesn't have a traditional lead out, IF he had got onto Blythe's wheel and trusted in him more AB had enough gas/speed to get Cav to the line and they would have pissed it.
    lots of criticism of the other GB lads but when you get a puncture in those circumstances you're pretty much done, that it was LR that was on the front at the perfect time that led to the start of that break and with 2 riders right in it at the death with a 2nd place that criticism is totally unjustified IMHO.
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,031
    Sagan always looked like a dodgy wheel to be on - the way he can carve through other riders late on makes him difficult to follow - I thought at the time someone like Boonen might have been more likely to open it up early and give more chance of coming off and having a clear sprint. Mind you I suppose the same might have been said of Kristoff and being on his wheel would have been worse.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    Sounds like there was a rather angry discussion on the Norwegian bus post race. Kristoff being very forthright...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    Yeah, in hindsight Cav should've gone with Blythe, clearly that was part of his frustration. By the time Sagan had made his move Cav couldn't follow him, as he wouldn't have had time to come around him, and was always going to be up against it trying to fight his way through on the other side. As he pretty much said in his post race interview he was the fastest rider there, he just got it wrong.

    As for GB's performance they'd have been in great shape if they'd had four riders in the group, but having the two they had there was close to ideal. The obviously get a lot if stick for working too early as per, not sure how long they were on the front? I was out at my local CX race so only caught the highlights. Put them on expecting to fast forward most of it so was glad to find it surprisingly entertaining.

    As mentioned above, I thought the Belgian, Norwegian and Italian teams might have held it more stead, rather than burning their riders relatively early on the run in. Although, thinking about it, I guess there would've been more attacks if they hadn't. Am I thinking of Ettix/Quickstep rather than the Belgians when I think of them going all-in for a Boonen who had a very slim chance of winning?
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,653
    Greg didn't have the legs. He was the best bet to take a late flyer with 5km to go with Boonen sitting in. He even took with him Terpstra, the best accomplice to go with him but too many people were wise to it and I think it was a headwind towards the final.

    Belgium's best bet was to take responsibility and they had the riders to do so. So they did.

    People over emphasise the advantage of a good team in one day races. With great numbers comes the responsibility to shape the race.

    Ultimately you still need your man to have the legs to finish it off.


    Perhaps Roelandts should have gone for an earlier flyer. Who knows.
    _

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