Centennial Road World Championships, Flanders - 19-26 September 2021 *SPOILERS*

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Comments

  • Ladies race making for good watching.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Haven't been able to follow too closely but sounds like the race may not be decided on the Dutch Bus for some time.

    So Vollering to win then....
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Newiadoma and Longo Borghini attack over the final climb, get a gap and stop working...

    How do you say Deja vu in Italian..?
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    edited September 2021
    Forza Italia

    (how do you say "Shut up raver" in Italian?)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Dutch fail to use their options wisely, opt to go all in for Vos in the sprint who gets beaten by Balsamo.

    Great lead out by Longo Borghini before Balsamo went long and Vos just couldn't get around her. Niewiadoma takes third

    Italians far better tactically than the Dutch.
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,163
    Dutch had loads of riders in the front then didn't really do anything in the last km apart from Vos following the Italians.

    GB rode well, much stronger team than in last few years, but ran out of legs at the end
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    No YOLO last 2km attack from Anna Henderson... :(

    Shame, she was doing well at those last spring
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    r0bh said:

    Dutch had loads of riders in the front then didn't really do anything in the last km apart from Vos following the Italians.

    GB rode well, much stronger team than in last few years, but ran out of legs at the end

    Several times the Dutch had a rider in a potentially dangerous small break but another of their riders pulled it back, presumably as they didn't fancy the odds. You would have thought they could have at least forced other teams into doing more of the work in those situations.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    ddraver said:

    No YOLO last 2km attack from Anna Henderson... :(

    Shame, she was doing well at those last spring

    She got dropped after closing the break on the penultimate climb. Looked really strong up until that point but possibly did too much as she seemed to try to go with every break that gained a small gap.
  • What's that the Dutch women not riding as a team?

    I am shocked.

    Well done Balsamo and the Italian team.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Pross said:

    ddraver said:

    No YOLO last 2km attack from Anna Henderson... :(

    Shame, she was doing well at those last spring

    She got dropped after closing the break on the penultimate climb. Looked really strong up until that point but possibly did too much as she seemed to try to go with every break that gained a small gap.
    She is gonna pull it off one day!
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Fair play the women's race was all put attacking for about the last hour.

    Seeing that course has led to me putting a bet on Tom P at 25/1.

    It will definitely suit the cyclocrossers as its lots of changes of direction and lots of accelerations out of corners.

    The Flandrien part of the circuit looked great, too
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Was the winner the one who won in Qatar and then had her 3 team mates singing the Italian anthem really loudly. That was especially joyous!

    (Or actually normally but given the there was no one watching in Qatar it was all you could hear.)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    ddraver said:

    Was the winner the one who won in Qatar and then had her 3 team mates singing the Italian anthem really loudly. That was especially joyous!

    (Or actually normally but given the there was no one watching in Qatar it was all you could hear.)

    The very same. She's off to Trek-Segafredo next season on a three year deal.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    edited September 2021
    There it is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMQiecvmlXM&ab_channel=EricAdair

    (appalling quality but you get the gist)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,439
    Pross said:

    r0bh said:

    Dutch had loads of riders in the front then didn't really do anything in the last km apart from Vos following the Italians.

    GB rode well, much stronger team than in last few years, but ran out of legs at the end

    Several times the Dutch had a rider in a potentially dangerous small break but another of their riders pulled it back, presumably as they didn't fancy the odds. You would have thought they could have at least forced other teams into doing more of the work in those situations.
    With a few k to go they had van dijk and vos off the front in a group of 5. Van dijk should've turned herself inside out to keep that group away, but she didn't. The Dutch seemed more interested in their own attacks as always. They might learn to pick a team eventually.
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • I'm half Dutch and was delighted to see the Italians win.
  • Any idea when the men's race is expected to finish? I'm out and about most of the day so may sit down for 10 mins to see the finale
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,602
    edited September 2021

    Any idea when the men's race is expected to finish? I'm out and about most of the day so may sit down for 10 mins to see the finale

    Race forecast is the finish around 4pm British time
    Weather forecast is for possible rain over Leueven from 3pm British time
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,602
    edited September 2021
    My random thought this morning:

    One of WVA and MVDP will crash out
  • Cesare Benedetti riding for Poland

    He's married to a Polish lady
  • Hayter down 😢 Might be out
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  • A quick word about the Danes...
    They're riding with black armbands in memory of Chris Anker Sørensen. It's impossible to overestimate how well liked and respected he was, and how close to the riders. Expect them to be extremely highly motivated, and to ride cohesively as a team, with no ego. They'll turn themselves inside out for any Danish teammate
    #ForChris
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  • gregster04
    gregster04 Posts: 1,675
    That was a very pleasing roar of excitement from the crowd, and that’s with 200km still to go.

    The atmosphere on the course looks pretty damn good.
  • A quick word about the Danes...
    They're riding with black armbands in memory of Chris Anker Sørensen. It's impossible to overestimate how well liked and respected he was, and how close to the riders. Expect them to be extremely highly motivated, and to ride cohesively as a team, with no ego. They'll turn themselves inside out for any Danish teammate
    #ForChris

    His death is really awful. It makes me feel sick.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • Nasty chute with Pedersen, Ballerini and Trentin.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Ballerini looks out. Trentin and Petersen should get back.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Italians Self-Sabotaging to take out Pederson
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Blythe thinks Ballerini may have got back on his bike which would surprise me. Turgis having a dig and the Belgians look up for getting someone in a long move.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Nice pad that, wouldn't mind living there