2011 Copenhagen World Championships: Elite Men Road Race

[mancsyboy]

The problem is that no one holds value to the UCI World Tour. If it had a rainbow jersey with vertical stripes than it would suggest the number one cyclist of the world. But it doesn't sadly.

I'm sorry, but it was a foregone conclusion as long as he didn't have any bad luck.

You think its foregone because he is the best sprinter which he is but he still had to do it. I can understand any none brit not enjoying the race, but it was up to the other teams to make it hard and they failed. Last year in the Commonwealths the Aussies made a flat course hard and Davis won. The Gb team and Cav were in the top 20 all day. They made their own luck

 

[El Pistolero]

You think its foregone because he is the best sprinter which he is but he still had to do it. I can understand any none brit not enjoying the race, but it was up to the other teams to make it hard and they failed. Last year in the Commonwealths the Aussies made a flat course hard and Davis won. The Gb team and Cav were in the top 20 all day. They made their own luck

Commonwealth games: weak competition and 5 man teams. And correct me if I'm wrong, but Cav rides for the Isle of Man team during the Commonwealth games, no?

It's a bad comparison to be made...

 

[mancsyboy]

Commonwealth games: weak competition and 5 man teams. And correct me if I'm wrong, but Cav rides for the Isle of Man team during the Commonwealth games, no?

It's a bad comparison to be made...

Its about making a race hard. And no countries did that. Australia made it hard in Delhi. What i am saying if it was a foregone conclusion then the other teams should have had a plan to make it hard. Everyone knew GB's plan

 

[El Pistolero]

Its about making a race hard. And no countries did that. Australia made it hard in Delhi. What i am saying if it was a foregone conclusion then the other teams should have had a plan to make it hard. Everyone knew GB's plan

It's a flat stage. You can't make it hard in modern day cycling. How many flat stages in the Tour have been won by a breakaway or non sprinter(and not because of crashes, bad weather, etc)

Everyone knows what flat stages do. Neutralize any decent race. If GB, Germany and Australia could only bring 5 man teams, we would have seen a totally different race.

 

[Catwhoorg]

He did.

Per wikipedia the IOM team was:

Mark Cavendish, Mark Christian, Graeme Hatcher, Peter Kennaugh, Tim Kennaugh, Andrew Roche, Chris Whorrall, Tom Black


I recall reading (I think in Racing through the Dark) about Cav acting as an impromtu DS and driving a team car during the time trial

 

[mancsyboy]

you can make it hard. What everyone was relying on was for GB to do all the work and then Swamp them in the end or attack them when they had tired.

What happened was that GB didn't tire and at the end when they did swamp Cavendish was a lot better then them. Cavendish is a worthy champion as he and the team rode the smartest race.

 

[richardp]

Here's hoping Cav rides Paris-Tours and shows the jersey off. Shame if he hangs up his wheels till the spring now.

 

[Ragerod]

Here's hoping Cav rides Paris-Tours and shows the jersey off. Shame if he hangs up his wheels till the spring now.

I expect HTC and Cav will want to do at least one race in a HTC WC jersey before moving on. Will be the final hurrah.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

yes, because believe it or not some of other posters are hyperbolic and naive as well. Disagree with me or not, I will argue and ebate my point of view and I can admit when I am wrong or somebody knows more than me. saying that I would cry for a thousand years is totally false and hyperbolic which is quite ironic after you criticised me for being hyperbolic. Many who had seen the U23 RR and women's road race saw it was inevitable that it was going to be a sprint. Very few people thought it was possible for an attacking rider to get away. It is totally incorrect to say that many thought an attacking rider could get away. Also look at the poll about would a sprinter win the WC. Most said it would come down to a bunch sprint. And it did. On such a course it is easy to control the raceJust ride tempo on the front. Eventutally the escape rider will be brought back in because they can only sustain such a speed to stay away for a little while and the chase riders have an advantage of sa slipstream.Of course Wiggins did a very good ride but carrying on like it was something we have never seen before is hyperbolic. btw, my opinions about the course have been the same before and after the race. Go through my post history. It was an average race no matter who won. I have always maintained that it was an ordinary course.

lol. i have too much love for myself to go sifting through your 500+ posts/day to find what you actually said. but it was pretty much this. except i may have hyperbolized it up for you. i did not think it was up to your usual standards for histrionics. but it was still pretty awesome, whatever you said.

 

[BroDeal]

yCavendish is a worthy champion as he and the team rode the smartest race.

It is a sad state of affairs for cycling when people praise a rider for riding smart when all he did was sit in the peloton for the entire race.

 

[bridgeman]

It is a sad state of affairs for cycling when people praise a rider for riding smart when all he did was sit in the peloton for the entire race.

Did you expect Cav to take pulls in that race?

 

[mancsyboy]

It is a sad state of affairs for cycling when people praise a rider for riding smart when all he did was sit in the peloton for the entire race.

I cant remember Gilbert, Goss Greipel or any of the other top 20 going on the front.

Did you expect him to go for a solo Break. I praised the rider and "the team" who did spend most of the race on the front of the peloton. He also led for the last 150m which is a very important part which you missed out. I think he deserves praise because he constantly wins. If it was that easy they would all do it

 

[Tangled Tango]

In my opinion it was a boring race on a boring course, with a boring sprint finish. Much like any flat stage of the Tour. A couple of decent hills would of made all the difference in the race, perhaps not a different winner, but for one year a pure sprinter has rainbow.

My 2 cents.

 

[Boardslide]

Here's hoping Cav rides Paris-Tours and shows the jersey off. Shame if he hangs up his wheels till the spring now.

He will

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-to-ride-paris-tours

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

It is a sad state of affairs for cycling when people praise a rider for riding smart when all he did was sit in the peloton for the entire race.

Read his post again. That's not what he said.

 

[Escarabajo]

Any chance that Cav will be more visible hanging onto cars with his new shirt??

 

[BroDeal]

Did you expect Cav to take pulls in that race?

I am not the one praising him for riding a smart race when he didn't do anything.

 

[Basecase]

Queries:

What gear was Cav in at finish?

What watts?

What watts was Wiggo producing on last lap? Any links to power data anyone?

Didn't the GB team (Cav, DM, Rob Hayles etc) have a training camp a few weeks back? Was that organised by BC or by the guys themselves?!?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think this discussion will never end. We have had it since the course was announced and it was discussed alot back in the Zolder-days aswell. It really just boils down to preference:

Some ppl think that a WC race should never suit pure sprinter, but always be more like an ardenne classic, while others think its perfectly fine that every now and then there is a route favoring sprinters. Its a matter of preference and something ppl will never agree on. UCI seem to support the latter sentiment though.

I think it's fine to have the occasional WC race that suits pure sprinters.

I don't, however, think it's fine to have a WC race that suits pure sprinters to the exclusion of absolutely everybody else.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Queries:

What gear was Cav in at finish?

What watts?

What watts was Wiggo producing on last lap? Any links to power data anyone?

Didn't the GB team (Cav, DM, Rob Hayles etc) have a training camp a few weeks back? Was that organised by BC or by the guys themselves?!?

Cav, DM, Hayles and Jeremy Hunt. It looked like it was organised by the guys themselves, judging by the photos and tweets, rather than something that had Brailsford's air of meticulous planning.

Cav's power output generally isn't that impressive compared to, say, Griepel. He's a small guy whom, when he sprints, only cuts a very small hole.

I'm with you on the Wiggo effort. Would love to see some stats from that one.

 

[Four Winds]

I'd be interested to know what peoples feelings would have been if Goss pipped Cav at the end. Obviously those who don't like Cav would be pleased whatever but I think it would have been a bit of an injustice given that GB did all the work and Cav did everything expected of him to maximise his chances of winning. Can't fault him for that. When he got duffed in Gent-Wevelgem he got stick for being too near the back (Hushovd???) but this time he was in the top 20-30 riders every timecheck all day. I think the other "sprinter" nations ploy of just riding the last 3 km was negative to say the least, but then they obviously thought that was their best chance, it just didn't work. I don't think I saw Goss or Greipel all day till the run in?

The fact that anyone would think that any bike race is a foregone conclusion, with all the variables involved, is surely a massive backhanded complement to Cav, but a complement nonetheless.

 

[mancsyboy]

I am not the one praising him for riding a smart race when he didn't do anything.

apart from winning it.

and what i said was Cavendish is a worthy champion as he and the team rode the smartest race.

It may have been a boring course but it was down to others to beat him if it was going to be so easy for him

 

[Angliru]

I'd be interested to know what peoples feelings would have been if Goss pipped Cav at the end. Obviously those who don't like Cav would be pleased whatever but I think it would have been a bit of an injustice given that GB did all the work and Cav did everything expected of him to maximise his chances of winning. Can't fault him for that. When he got duffed in Gent-Wevelgem he got stick for being too near the back (Hushovd???) but this time he was in the top 20-30 riders every timecheck all day. I think the other "sprinter" nations ploy of just riding the last 3 km was negative to say the least, but then they obviously thought that was their best chance, it just didn't work. I don't think I saw Goss or Greipel all day till the run in?

The fact that anyone would think that any bike race is a foregone conclusion, with all the variables involved, is surely a massive backhanded complement to Cav, but a complement nonetheless.

I think it is a slight bit of an exaggeration to say that GB did all the work. I saw Australia up there and recall Italy on the front for a time but yes GB was doing a large portion of the work. Of course when you have a sprinter that is as dominant as Cavendish it would be wise for the other nations to make GB do as much work as possible. Why play into their hands and give them an escort to the 200 meter point?

 

[WorldsGreatest]

Queries:

What gear was Cav in at finish?

What watts?

What watts was Wiggo producing on last lap? Any links to power data anyone?
Didn't the GB team (Cav, DM, Rob Hayles etc) have a training camp a few weeks back? Was that organised by BC or by the guys themselves?!?

"You do this by riding very fast for almost six hours," explained Brailsford.

"Everybody played their part but special credit must go to team captain David Millar for keeping it all together and that final lap by Bradley Wiggins was just incredible.

"He rode at about 55kph (34mph) and nobody could go anywhere - they just couldn't get past him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cycling/15066004.stm

 

[auscyclefan94]

lol. i have too much love for myself to go sifting through your 500+ posts/day to find what you actually said. but it was pretty much this. except i may have hyperbolized it up for you. i did not think it was up to your usual standards for histrionics. but it was still pretty awesome, whatever you said.

Continual hyperbole. Good on you... Why don't you debate the actual arguments instead of trying to have a go at me?