The Official UCI 2019 Yorkshire road World Championships ***Spoilers***

andyp

For those of you criticising Battistella; it's a bike race not a club run, of course he's going to do the bare minimum in the closing kilometres. I don't see much criticism of Pidcock who was also soft pedalling as much as he could. That's how you win bike races.

thegibdog

andyp wrote:

For those of you criticising Battistella; it's a bike race not a club run, of course he's going to do the bare minimum in the closing kilometres. I don't see much criticism of Pidcock who was also soft pedalling as much as he could. That's how you win bike races.

Absolutely. I never really understand people who criticise racers purely for trying to maximise their chance of winning. As I commented during the race, Pidcock was riding smartly but looked like he didn’t have the legs. Battistella was riding in a similar way but looked strong. So I guess you could say he could’ve worked more, kept the front four away and still have had the best chance of winning. Ultimately though he messed up the finish by mistiming his sprint.

As far as the DQ is concerned it’s far from ideal that it happened after the race. But if it was only flagged up to the commissaries after the race and there is clear evidence of Eekhoff physically using the cars to get back on, then I guess they didn’t have much choice. If it was for actually holding on to the car/sticky bottle though then the UCI haven’t done themselves any favours by saying it was for drafting. There are a lot of unhappy people on Twitter (yes, I know that’s Twitter!).

gweeds

There’s getting a little bit of help from a car and then there’s absolutely taking the piss including holding on whilst the car accelerates. That was a ridiculous amount of motorpacing. Obviously if that hadn’t happened he never gets back on to be in a position to win.

Tough on the lad. But even tougher on the people that didn’t motorpace back up if he was allowed to win.

shirley_basso

Its more that he almost threw the whole thing away. Luckily the 2 legal chasers were so tired they ultimately had.no.impsxt on the finish.

The Italian screamed cazzo and whacked hos bars as be crossed the line so you can tell he thought it was all well worth the silly games.

webboo

The bit of film I watched showed him taking a drink while coming along side the team car, he then reaches out with his bottle towards his team car and they appear to grab it and off they go.

shirley_basso

That's the second offense after a lot of drafting and an alleged prior slingshot.

ShutupJens

Big love for Lizzy at the start of the Women's as you might expect. And they're off, Bratfud looking resplendent in the sunshine

There is some savage climbing early doors in this

shirley_basso

Fuck me I can't stand Clare balding. I was stuck at a dinner where she was the after dinner entertainment. She is just useless, unless equestrian.

shirley_basso

And they're off on the beeb and no Clare balding any more. Weather looks absolutely superb...for now, although forecast is pretty good.

simon_e

ShutupJens wrote:

Big love for Lizzy at the start of the Women's as you might expect. And they're off, Bratfud looking resplendent in the sunshine

There is some savage climbing early doors in this

Boardman has just been outlining the profile and character of the circuit. All the climbs look much steeper than previous race footage led me to believe. So, so tough. :shock:

I wonder what the other broadcasters find to talk about without dissecting Lizzie's career (I'm not complaining, it's good that BBC viewers get a top local rider to hear about).

shirley_basso

Very sad to see two riders being shelled on the first climb. Kuwaiti rider and Macau.

Fabulous that the Kuwaiti is able to compete, however.

shirley_basso

Boardman recceing on an ebike as he was so farked from yesterday's recce on a normal bike!

ShutupJens

Simon E wrote:

ShutupJens wrote:

Big love for Lizzy at the start of the Women's as you might expect. And they're off, Bratfud looking resplendent in the sunshine

There is some savage climbing early doors in this

Boardman has just been outlining the profile and character of the circuit. All the climbs look much steeper than previous race footage led me to believe. So, so tough. :shock:

I wonder what the other broadcasters find to talk about without dissecting Lizzie's career (I'm not complaining, it's good that BBC viewers get a top local rider to hear about).

They are all horrible. I've had the pleasure of racing on both Pennypot Circuit and around Harrogate town centre. The hill where the finish is goes on for ever

ShutupJens

Lizzie on the front through Otley. Goosebumps

Mad_Malx

Shirley Basso wrote:

Very sad to see two riders being shelled on the first climb. Kuwaiti rider and Macau.

Fabulous that the Kuwaiti is able to compete, however.

Was thinking the same. Not keen on Eric the Eel competitors but for women from Arab countries it's really important.

rick_chasey

Anyone got advice on where to park tomorrow? In Harrogate.

ShutupJens

Rick Chasey wrote:

Anyone got advice on where to park tomorrow? In Harrogate.

Yes. Not in Harrogate

ShutupJens

Lizzy Banks having a lie down. Relaxed pace this

shirley_basso

Dutch taking it up. Have 8 riders as get +1 as reigning WC. More riders going out the back. Peloton practically split in half.

Fabulous course. Brutally attritional. What's amazing is how Lizzie was saying - you never actually feel 'good' as it's so gruelling.

ShutupJens

Up Norwood Edge and a lot of riders go out the back. Hard AF this climb, huge crowds though. Big splits over the top and it's dead windy so it won't be getting any easier

simon_e

ShutupJens wrote:

Up Norwood Edge and a lot of riders go out the back. Hard AF this climb, huge crowds though. Big splits over the top and it's dead windy so it won't be getting any easier

For a nation that is generally hostile to cyclists it's heartening to see the roadside support. And fair play to BBC for putting many hours of coverage on TV and iplayer.

I wonder how many of those dropped riders might get back on and how many will be climbing into a team car within minutes. Very short day for them.

Boardman suggesting that the front group could be just 20 riders by the time they reach the circuit!!

gweeds

What time are we expecting this to finish?

shirley_basso

2k to climb. Stand by!

shirley_basso

Finish 4/4.30 I think. 107k to go.

RichN95.

Gweeds wrote:

What time are we expecting this to finish?

Around 4.

Ugly scenes in the Fan Park as the.music has been commandeered by the Dutch

gweeds

Thank you

shirley_basso

Huge split as AvV takes a minute on the climb

shirley_basso

AvB and deignan, borghini and others in chase group 1

blazing_saddles

Just stuck the tv in my hotel room on to find van Vlueten already miles ahead with 100kms to go.
Having one woman, not that much younger than Valverde, being so utterly dominant is not great for women’s cycling.


With any luck this post should have the desired effect and have me eating my words. :P

shirley_basso

AvB holds biggest or second biggest winning margin with over 3 min win last year.

Dutch are 100% taking gold unless they do an OPQS Vs Stannard.