2016 Worlds in October, Flat Course

[MatParker117]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2016-qatar-world-championships-set-for-october-date

On current form Kittel has to be favourite to win Germany's second Road title with Cav and probably by then Ewan just behind him.

 

[pastronef]

October 9 or 16 says CN

so we'll have a longer season. if the WC are on Oct 16, Beijing will not begin until at least Oct 20. Japan Cup on Oct 30
riders will be thrilled

 

[barmaher]

Guess what is the least windy month in Qatar?

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_doha.htm

 

[the asian]

Guess what is the least windy month in Qatar?

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_doha.htm

Oh dear....

The Course is mostly through the city too, isn't it?

Though a Sprinters WC every five years isn't too bad.

 

[Lanark]

I still have nightmares from the Zolder WC. This could be even worse. But I'm sure they payed well, that will be a consolation when we watch a couple of hours of boredom.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Oh dear....

The Course is mostly through the city too, isn't it?

Though a Sprinters WC every five years isn't too bad.

Can we have a pure climbers' WC every five years too then? When was the last one of those, Duitama?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Guess what is the least windy month in Qatar?

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_doha.htm

Pathetic.

Add 30-40km of gravel road to the parcours and it might work well.

 

[Der Effe]

Horrible, just horrible.

 

[the asian]

Can we have a pure climbers' WC every five years too then? When was the last one of those, Duitama?

Both Firenze and Mendrisio were quite hard even though not a Pure Climbers' course. And in both instances two of the podium finishers were GC contenders.
So the climbers (ofc the more explosive ones) have had their chances recently.

2010 was a reduced bunch sprint (more for the Rouleur types and sprinters who can get over a hill) while 2012 and 2014 were/are ideal for puncheurs.
2015 Course is also rumored to have some short steep hills and certainly won't be a large bunch sprint.

So different types of riders have had/will have their chances in the preceding years before Qatar, and therefore
even though I don't quite like it, I wouldn't begrudge a sprinter having a chance to be the World Champion.
After all, there will be some WC Courses that will end in a sprint finish and I wouldn't mind having them like once in five years.

 

[GP Blanco]

Both Firenze and Mendrisio were quite hard even though not a Pure Climbers' course. And in both instances two of the podium finishers were GC contenders.
So the climbers (ofc the more explosive ones) have had their chances recently.

2010 was a reduced bunch sprint (more for the Rouleur types and sprinters who can get over a hill) while 2012 and 2014 were/are ideal for puncheurs.
2015 Course is also rumored to have some short steep hills and certainly won't be a large bunch sprint.

So different types of riders have had/will have their chances in the preceding years before Qatar, and therefore
even though I don't quite like it, I wouldn't begrudge a sprinter having a chance to be the World Champion.
After all, there will be some WC Courses that will end in a sprint finish and I wouldn't mind having them like once in five years.

Indeed, also sprinters should have their chance. Luckily, they are not building an artificial hill.

 

[Lanark]

It's not a terrible thing if a race ends in a sprint, it is a terrible thing if a race can only end in a sprint. Geelong ended in a sprint, few people had a big problem with that, because it was a pretty exciting race that happened to end in a sprint, same as in 2005 for example (although it can be a bit of an anti-climax to see a guy win who you barely knew was in the race for the first 250km).

It's a different story if a route is so easy that it is almost impossible to not end in a sprint, which has the further downside that most countries will take their sprinters and sprint domestiques to such a WC. That made 2002 and 2011 so unbearable. This could be exactly the same. I guess we can hope for some wind, but to hope for some unplanned event to make a race exciting isn't a good start.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Best news all day.

Not a hard competition, alas.

 

[MatParker117]

It's not a terrible thing if a race ends in a sprint, it is a terrible thing if a race can only end in a sprint. Geelong ended in a sprint, few people had a big problem with that, because it was a pretty exciting race that happened to end in a sprint, same as in 2005 for example (although it can be a bit of an anti-climax to see a guy win who you barely knew was in the race for the first 250km).

It's a different story if a route is so easy that it is almost impossible to not end in a sprint, which has the further downside that most countries will take their sprinters and sprint domestiques to such a WC. That made 2002 and 2011 so unbearable. This could be exactly the same. I guess we can hope for some wind, but to hope for some unplanned event to make a race exciting isn't a good start.

How happy are Germany, Britain and Australia right now?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

To me, the Worlds are like a 6th monument. Each type of rider is capable of winning a monument as long as they're good enough. Sprinters can win Milan-San Remo, pure climbers can win Lombardia. Rouleurs have RVV and Roubaix, puncheurs have LBL, and therefore so it should be with the Worlds. Nothing more immediately mountainous than Lombardia (after all, puncheurs can - and do - still win that) and nothing more obviously sprinty than San Remo (after all, people like Cancellara and Gerrans have won that in recent memory).

The Worlds are also usually 250+km, too add to the difficulty and give a sense of elite competition. They are theoretically to judge the best cyclist in the world. Therefore it is ridiculous if the competition is less challenging than your average Tour de France flat stage, and unless the wind really takes the competition apart, we end up with an even longer Scheldeprijs, the race that only exists to injure people.

To be "the best cyclist in the world" I expect a bit of versatility. Cavendish, for all the criticism he takes, has that, he just didn't need to use much of it to win in København. But Doha is going to be even easier. What if somebody who climbs like Guardini, Napolitano or van Hummel were to win it, which is always a possibility with the potential for crashes late on? How embarrassing would it be to see the rainbow jersey going off the back in a 1km climb in the Tour of Turkey?

Geelong was an example of how to get a sprinters' worlds absolutely right. Zolder was an example of how not to.

 

[Bakhjulet]

I'll tune in when it's 2k left.

 

[trevim]

It can get interesting with 5 men teams and if some of the big sprinters don't show up.....nah, it'll be boring as hell!...At least we got the landscape...oh wait

 

[icefire]

They might as well race on an indoor track with air conditioning

 

[Der Effe]

To me, the Worlds are like a 6th monument. Each type of rider is capable of winning a monument as long as they're good enough. Sprinters can win Milan-San Remo, pure climbers can win Lombardia. Rouleurs have RVV and Roubaix, puncheurs have LBL, and therefore so it should be with the Worlds. Nothing more immediately mountainous than Lombardia (after all, puncheurs can - and do - still win that) and nothing more obviously sprinty than San Remo (after all, people like Cancellara and Gerrans have won that in recent memory).

The Worlds are also usually 250+km, too add to the difficulty and give a sense of elite competition. They are theoretically to judge the best cyclist in the world. Therefore it is ridiculous if the competition is less challenging than your average Tour de France flat stage, and unless the wind really takes the competition apart, we end up with an even longer Scheldeprijs, the race that only exists to injure people.

To be "the best cyclist in the world" I expect a bit of versatility. Cavendish, for all the criticism he takes, has that, he just didn't need to use much of it to win in København. But Doha is going to be even easier. What if somebody who climbs like Guardini, Napolitano or van Hummel were to win it, which is always a possibility with the potential for crashes late on? How embarrassing would it be to see the rainbow jersey going off the back in a 1km climb in the Tour of Turkey?

Geelong was an example of how to get a sprinters' worlds absolutely right. Zolder was an example of how not to.

Amen. Please - dear 'dollar signs are all we see' - UCI read this and stop this atrocity. Also, it's not just the parcours that will totally suck but If these Qatari and such have so much money (basically be exploiting people, but that's a different subject) let them start a project to develop some decent cyclists first.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Happy to have a sprint WC every few years but I also agree a pure climbers WC with a MTF every 5 years would be great too.

 

[jsem94]

To me, the Worlds are like a 6th monument. Each type of rider is capable of winning a monument as long as they're good enough. Sprinters can win Milan-San Remo, pure climbers can win Lombardia. Rouleurs have RVV and Roubaix, puncheurs have LBL, and therefore so it should be with the Worlds. Nothing more immediately mountainous than Lombardia (after all, puncheurs can - and do - still win that) and nothing more obviously sprinty than San Remo (after all, people like Cancellara and Gerrans have won that in recent memory).

The Worlds are also usually 250+km, too add to the difficulty and give a sense of elite competition. They are theoretically to judge the best cyclist in the world. Therefore it is ridiculous if the competition is less challenging than your average Tour de France flat stage, and unless the wind really takes the competition apart, we end up with an even longer Scheldeprijs, the race that only exists to injure people.

To be "the best cyclist in the world" I expect a bit of versatility. Cavendish, for all the criticism he takes, has that, he just didn't need to use much of it to win in København. But Doha is going to be even easier. What if somebody who climbs like Guardini, Napolitano or van Hummel were to win it, which is always a possibility with the potential for crashes late on? How embarrassing would it be to see the rainbow jersey going off the back in a 1km climb in the Tour of Turkey?

Geelong was an example of how to get a sprinters' worlds absolutely right. Zolder was an example of how not to.

Spot on. We can at least hope for some echelons, otherwise I'm going to take a nap and schedule a wake-up for 5km remaining.

 

[manafana]

got have one for sprinters every once in while but it won't be as interesting someone like kittels best chance too.

Wondering should we get a world crit championship built into the week too?

 

[Afrank]

On current form Kittel has to be favourite to win Germany's second Road title with Cav and probably by then Ewan just behind him.

Current form in 2014 will mean nothing in 2016.

 

[Afrank]

Can we have a pure climbers' WC every five years too then? When was the last one of those, Duitama?

+1, I want to see a world championships circuit that goes over Monte Zoncolan and finishes at the top. With many many climbs before in the 200+ km's before the circuit of course.

I agree, world championships are definitely like the 6th monument. I also think every rider type should have their chance to win it. But it should always be a difficult enough course to make the rider have to work for it. Hopefully we can get that for 2016 through cross winds, but we'll see.

 

[karlboss]

Lanark and Libertine are spot on. I guess we can hope for wind.

If a race is destined to end in a sprint, about 3 guys have a realistic chance, one or two more some years one or two less others. It's the same if you were to end on a HC climb. The worlds deserve better, all the top riders on form should have a shot. I think Australia and Italy were pretty much spot on, if someone cooperated with Gilbert we could easily have seen a small break or solo winner, but as it was no one did and we finished in a reduced sprint. Last year we still see Sagan, Gilbert and Cancellara in the front group. If they had some teammates in that final selection maybe the front 4 would have come back for a 16 man sprint. Sagan is arguably the 4th best sprinter in the world, do we really need a course that favours the 3 infront of him to the exclusion of the others behind?
To have a course where Cav/Kittel/Greipel can take on Valverde/rodriguez/Froome. Maybe a course "like" the olympic road race, where the challenge is in the middle and would serve as an opportunity for climbers to build their advantage and then the teams of the sprinters to try and bring them back. We saw at the olympics with only one team of 5 willing to take it on the break didn't come back. Maybe if another team helped or with larger teams it would have. Of course you run the risk of the break never really getting away and having a snoozy race.

 

[42x16ss]

Utterly pathetic. Qatar has:

Zero hills (the country's highest point is at around 100m!)
Zero wind (at that time of the year)
Zero established professional riders
Zero scenery (apart from the Doha CBD there's not much other than white dust EVERYWHERE)
Nothing but very wide, straight, well maintained roads unless it is held in the Doha CBD
Very warm temps (35C + at that time of the year)

The TT will be flat and non technical and the road race will be a snoozefest. The crowds will be average and there will need to be heightened security.

World sporting organisations need to stop and consider if the end product is worth selling their souls for

Give them the world tracks champs to start with, to see if they can host a championships and work from there.