2011 Copenhagen World Championships: Elite Men Road Race

[spanky wanderlust]

On this course where it was 99% sure that the race would en up in a bunchsprint there isn't anyone as deserving to win the world championship as Cavendish. Since he's been the best sprint for atleast 4 years now.

Besides that GB worked their *** off for this win so he/they fully deserve it.

edit: Incredibly strong performance by the brittish team as well, but looking at their lineup I must say they have a very very strong team atm.

this is testament to what a federation can accomplish when they realize an opportunity and put all of their strongest riders towards the goal for the whole year. great stuff.

this is a win not just for cav but for the gb team and all of british cycling.

really great to see britain having the strongest national team in a wc.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

does the cricket get fired now?

 

[El Pistolero]

He beat Goss by 50cm.

To try and pretend this was a prefect course for Cav when the final sprint was up a hill and Cancellara beat several sprinters to 4th place, is an insult to your intelligence.

Cancellara got close at the final stage of the Tour this year as well. If you want anymore proof about how weak the sprinter competition is you just gave it.

 

[erader]

good to see wigans do the right thing for a change and help the right guy win. All Hail Cav!

erader

 

[GroupDK]

*** edited by mod ***

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Australia, good job leaving home the best lead-out man in the business. If ****ing stupid decisions won the WC's, you would be wearing the rings for the next year. As it stands, Goss got a silver. Ridiculous.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

He beat Goss by 50cm.

To try and pretend this was a prefect course for Cav when the final sprint was up a hill and Cancellara beat several sprinters to 4th place, is an insult to your intelligence.

It was the perfect course for a sprint, in that there was pretty much nothing that would stop it being a sprint.

The sprint wasn't ideal for Cavendish, but he is the best sprinter in the world, and that ability came through.

But while you can argue that the finish wasn't perfect for Cavendish, it was still guaranteed to be a sprint, and the course was not conducive to good racing prior to the last 500m, thus rendered most of the race utterly meaningless and irrelevant. You could watch the last five minutes and get the total gist of the race. That's why it's not good enough as a Worlds course.

But you can only win on the course in front of you, and whether the course sucked or not, Cav was still the best sprinter on it and that's why he's World champion.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Hey Australia, good job leaving home the best lead-out man in the business. If ****ing stupid decisions won the WC's, you would be wearing the rings for the next year. As it stands, Goss got a silver. Ridiculous.

Yes. It's very clear from the race that Renshaw would have been there in the end, and if Goss was coming off his wheel he'd have had a shout at winning.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yes. It's very clear from the race that Renshaw would have been there in the end, and if Goss was coming off his wheel he'd have had a shout at winning.

Goss did a Poels.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

Hey Australia, good job leaving home the best lead-out man in the business. If ****ing stupid decisions won the WC's, you would be wearing the rings for the next year. As it stands, Goss got a silver. Ridiculous.

yup. ****ing stupid is right.

 

[taiwan]

With the benefit of hindsight, the Dutch team selection looks even more inexplicable. Why didn't they take Bos or Van Hummel?

The result is the one I'd expect from a GT sprint stage: placing a simple function of your sprinter's speed and your team's strength. Cancellara was an anomaly though, so that's impressive from him. Impressed by Roelandts' placing too.

 

[Epicycle]

What's disgraceful is not that there was a course where the best sprinter CAN win, but that there was a course where the best sprinter WOULD win, and there wasn't really any other option unless Cavendish or his team blew the sprint. Why make it 260km long in that case? There were 107 riders who were part of the front group coming into the final km. That's more than Vattenfall (86, even if we count the second group on the road), and that's seen as a bit of a pointless sprinter's race.

I think it's necessary to have a sprinter oriented RR at least once a decade. Cipo deserved his win in Hamilton just like Cav deserved his win today. Both of those guys are stars of the sport who will be remembered long after they've retired so giving them the chance to win the rainbow jersey makes perfect sense. Bunch sprints have become a huge part of modern cycling so the discipline needs to rewarded. I'm always happy to see the WC go to a truly worthy rider and no sprinter is better than Cav so it was nice to see him come through. He's obviously not the most likeable guy but he's the best at what he does.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think it's necessary to have a sprinter oriented RR at least once a decade. Cipo deserved his win in Hamilton just like Cav deserved his win today. Both of those guys are stars of the sport who will be remembered long after they've retired so giving them the chance to win the rainbow jersey makes perfect sense. Bunch sprints have become a huge part of modern cycling so the discipline needs to rewarded. I'm always happy to see the WC go to a truly worthy rider and no sprinter is better than Cav so it was nice to see him come through. He's obviously not the most likeable guy but he's the best at what he does.

Sprinters already get their reward in the form of FAR, FAR more chances to win than anybody else, even before they start modifying points jersey systems to give them more achievements.

Climbers have become a huge part of modern cycling, so the discipline needs to be rewarded by giving them a chance of winning the WCs, so let's put them going up and down a cat.1 climb so Contador can win and the UCI can have a self-congratulatory circle jerk for getting a great rider into the rainbow stripes, I mean after all it's not like he wins that much anyway.

 

[El Pistolero]

I think it's necessary to have a sprinter oriented RR at least once a decade. Cipo deserved his win in Hamilton just like Cav deserved his win today. Both of those guys are stars of the sport who will be remembered long after they've retired so giving them the chance to win the rainbow jersey makes perfect sense. Bunch sprints have become a huge part of modern cycling so the discipline needs to rewarded. I'm always happy to see the WC go to a truly worthy rider and no sprinter is better than Cav so it was nice to see him come through. He's obviously not the most likeable guy but he's the best at what he does.

Cipo won in Zolder. Igor Astarloa in Hamilton.

Last year was a sprinter oriented RR!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

What's disgraceful is not that there was a course where the best sprinter CAN win, but that there was a course where the best sprinter WOULD win, and there wasn't really any other option unless Cavendish or his team blew the sprint.

What you really seem to be saying is that it's fine if the best sprinter wins a big race, but only if he wins it by some method that doesn't simply come down to him being the best sprinter in the world. I disagree, and I don't think that anyone would make the same sort of argument about some other type of specialist winning some race perfectly geared towards their specialty. Sprinting is part of the sport. Having a sprinters WC course every once in a while is perfectly reasonable.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Sprinters already get their reward in the form of FAR, FAR more chances to win than anybody else, even before they start modifying points jersey systems to give them more achievements.

Climbers have become a huge part of modern cycling, so the discipline needs to be rewarded by giving them a chance of winning the WCs, so let's put them going up and down a cat.1 climb so Contador can win and the UCI can have a self-congratulatory circle jerk for getting a great rider into the rainbow stripes, I mean after all it's not like he wins that much anyway.

Don't start on the old chestnut of their being too many flat stages. If you set up google maps to randomly generate a 14km loop on tarmac'd roads each year, Cav would win 6 or 7 worlds in his career. Getting a proper chance at 1 is not unreasonable.

 

[El Pistolero]

Sprinters already get their reward in the form of FAR, FAR more chances to win than anybody else, even before they start modifying points jersey systems to give them more achievements.

Climbers have become a huge part of modern cycling, so the discipline needs to be rewarded by giving them a chance of winning the WCs, so let's put them going up and down a cat.1 climb so Contador can win and the UCI can have a self-congratulatory circle jerk for getting a great rider into the rainbow stripes, I mean after all it's not like he wins that much anyway.

I'd like to see a true mountainous WC though. It's not like Andy wouldn't be a favorite as well. And the winner wouldn't have wheelsucked till the final 200m. But the problem is Spain would have the strongest squad by far.

 

[Ferminal]

Having a sprinters WC course every once in a while is perfectly reasonable.

Just give us a cobbled one too!

Muur on a Worlds circuit...

 

[hfer07]

I just bothered watching the last 5K.......................
no splits, no attacks, no selection , no nothing
and I thought the women's race was boring

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

good to see wigans do the right thing for a change and help the right guy win. All Hail Cav!

It was the perfect course for a sprint, in that there was pretty much nothing that would stop it being a sprint.

The sprint wasn't ideal for Cavendish, but he is the best sprinter in the world, and that ability came through.

+1 for both of you.
Plus it is nice to see Cav earn the stripes and have his shot at sporting them next season.

 

[El Pistolero]

Why with all these people complaing about sprinters never getting a chance, what about climbers and cobbled specialists?

 

[hatcher]

I just bothered watching the last 5K.......................
no splits, no attacks, no selection , no nothing
and I thought the women's race was boring

Well nobody can say you didn't give it a fair chance.

 

[BillytheKid]

Congratulations to Mark Cavendish and GB team that kept it all together. A nod to countryman Ben King for doing his job well. Farrar, again, could not get it done. I have no idea what happened with the Aussie selection.

 

[sublimit]

Hey Australia, good job leaving home the best lead-out man in the business. If ****ing stupid decisions won the WC's, you would be wearing the rings for the next year. As it stands, Goss got a silver. Ridiculous.

Clearly Renshaw should of rode that was a big blunder leaving him out. He would of been big asset in the last 5 K but as a Brit I want to thank the Australian selectors for leaving the man out.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Don't start on the old chestnut of their being too many flat stages. If you set up google maps to randomly generate a 14km loop on tarmac'd roads each year, Cav would win 6 or 7 worlds in his career. Getting a proper chance at 1 is not unreasonable.

He has a proper chance at ones that would be more interesting than this one. Cav isn't a mug. He won San Remo and he won into Aubenas in 2009. He could win a more selective Worlds than this one. He doesn't need it to be dumbed down totally.

If he had been in his 2009 form he could have won last year's. Last year's was a sprinter's worlds.

What you really seem to be saying is that it's fine if the best sprinter wins a big race, but only if he wins it by some method that doesn't simply come down to him being the best sprinter in the world. I disagree, and I don't think that anyone would make the same sort of argument about some other type of specialist winning some race perfectly geared towards their specialty. Sprinting is part of the sport. Having a sprinters WC course every once in a while is perfectly reasonable.

Last year's course was a sprinter's course. It's fine if the best sprinter wins a big race, but they ought to make the guys work to make it to the end. If it's set up with the express purpose of JUST being a sprint, then why bother with the 260km of window dressing?