The Worlds.........an explanation.....????
redddraggon
Posts: 10,862
I'm new to this sport, so don't yet fully grasp how everything works.
Do the riders wear their team strips, or their national colours?
TBH to me team strips would look funny at the world championships, with riders being from different teams.
Can anyone offer explanations on the dress codes, how GB doesn't seem to have as many other riders as other countries and other stuff thats not so obvious.........??
Do the riders wear their team strips, or their national colours?
TBH to me team strips would look funny at the world championships, with riders being from different teams.
Can anyone offer explanations on the dress codes, how GB doesn't seem to have as many other riders as other countries and other stuff thats not so obvious.........??
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Worlds are contested as national teams and they wear national strips. For the elite guys, this is the only time aside from the Olympics where it happens.
You will see loads of trade team stuff though - From shorts to helmets on the riders. And they generally ride their trade team bikes too.
The amount of riders in the elite race is determined by the UCI points of the riders from the countries have etc. This explains why countries like Italy or Spain who have a lot of pro's would end up with a full team while smaller countries can end up with little teams. That's really over simplifying it but you get the idea.
U23 is similar but I'm not sure how it works exactly.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
They wear their national colours although I did notice riders today displaying their team logos..Mainly Rabobank and Tinkoff
The number of riders per team is dependant on that countries riders UCI rankings in the current year. I think :?:0 -
Phew.
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Isn't having fewer riders a disadvantage? Less support, etc, for your riders, makes it slightly unfair.
It's a bit like (but not entirely) saying to Manchester United "You can play 11 players" but to someone like fulham "you can only have 5 players, because you're not playing aswell". I know it's not a perfect analogy, but surely having less team mates makes it hard to win even if you are one of the best riders in the world, and widens the gap between the better and not so good?0 -
ha ha!
Don't forget that what also makes The Worlds so interesting is that riders of different nationalities but who are members of the same pro team sometimes ride for each other and vice versa!
Ask Charly about this
Craig0 -
redddraggon wrote:I know it's not a perfect analogy, but surely having less team mates makes it hard to win even if you are one of the best riders in the world, and widens the gap between the better and not so good?
Yes and no really.
You need a system and while it's not perfect, it sort of works. The bigger cycling nations should have bigger teams. If you didn't have some bigger teams it would be chaos, and if everyone was allowed a big team it would also be chaos.
If a country doesn't have a lot of UCI points, then they're more of a lower division team. But, you can get lots of points in the Asia Tour and I think it was Iran got quite a few places a while ago.
Stephen Roche won the worlds when he was on a team of 4 (was it 4? Kelly, Early and Kimmage?) You certainly need to ride with your head and have friends, but it's possible.Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
iainf72 wrote:Stephen Roche won the worlds when he was on a team of 4 (was it 4? Kelly, Early and Kimmage?) You certainly need to ride with your head and have friends, but it's possible.
5 - the four you've named plus Alan McCormack who was a US based pro.'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'0
