2017 Worlds BERGEN, NORWAY, RR ELITE, SUN 24th 277KM!

[Monte]

Men Elite Road Race SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
Place: Øygarden, Fjell, Bergen sentrum


Video of Full course with GO PRO fast forward.. (New Asphalt now so its like floor tiles..) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrD64zDNYI

The final event – The Men Elite Road Race

Start in Øygarden and Fjell with a “Tour de region” before the world’s best cyclist shall battle it out in the City of Bergen for the rainbow jersey.

The wild and authentic coastal landscape of Western Norway will mark the start of the final event – the Men Elite Road Race.

Departure will be from from Kollsnes to Blomvåg (home of the former Norwegian swim star Alexander Dale Oen). The teams will have a rolling 10 km towards the spectacular Rognesund Bridge. We can expect to see a major gathering of the locals, boats and vessels that will wish to celebrate the riders once they get there.

After the bridge the teams have a flat 20 km towards Kolltveit. The beautiful coastal landscape will give the riders small chances to rest before they face a small climb (400 m) at Kolltveit. After a quick descent the teams face another flat 3 km before they cross the magnificent Sotra Bridge. The suspension bridge is 1236 metres long, and has a free span of 468 metres with 50 metres of clearance. For both the riders and the TV-audience, this will be something to remember.

Then the riders will race towards the circuit in Bergen. It departs from Festplassen and takes the riders up to Mount Ulriken where the riders will have a fantastic view over the city. Then the circuit goes around the old wooden housing in Sandviken, before the final stretch along Bryggen and the finish at Festplassen.

The circuit starts out with a flat 200m in a well-lit tunnel before entering the Puddefjords Bridge. After 2 km the first climb awaits at Solheimsviken. It’s about 500 metres long, but will be crowded with lots of fans and spectators. The second climb comes after about 5 km, and now the riders will face 1 km with 5 %. With a light rail stop in the middle of the climb, this will be another popular fan zone.

For the first part of the race, the race will take it gentle at this part of the circuit. The flat section will see the teams and riders preparing for the last and main climb up to Mount Ulriken. The 1.4 km ascend is beautifully carved into the mountainside with houses wooden surrounding the road. Together with the city centre, this will be the most popular fan zone with massive amounts of people. With 6.5 % in average, the climb will offer a good chance for a break away. This gives a tactical dimension to the race, the battle will be immense, and the riders will have to perform their very best.

After the majestic sight at Mount Ulriken there is a descent with intermediate technical turns for about 1 km, then it is flat towards the city centre where the final parts of the circuit is identical as for the other races. The last 2.5 km is flat with gentle curves and no roundabouts.

We can expect to see several hundred thousands of spectators for this final event. It will be a “Race to Celebrate”!

Profile and Course

42km before entering the circuit with 11 rounds https://d2o9doy8pqmlel.cloudfront.net/media/l/1170x1170/1504441212/bergen2017-3-rrcircuit-v6.jpg

https://d2o9doy8pqmlel.cloudfront.net/media/l/1170x1170/1504441217/bergen2017-2-rr-v4.jpg

Will update this with correct startlists later.

FAvourites are:

Sagan,Greg Van Avermat, Alaphillipe
BOasson Hagen,Tim Wellens ... And more.

Will be edited until start . Plz give input.

 

[Monte]

Re: 2017 Worlds BERGEN, NORWAY, Men ELITE RR 277KM!

John Degenkolb is out for Germany, i wonder who their front man is now.. Tony Martin for doing a Vino 3km before end maybe?

 

[Laplaz]

Can't wait for this one. Hopefully it will be carnage.

 

[Monte]

Re:

Can't wait for this one. Hopefully it will be carnage.

Well France surely wont wait for a sprint it seems, and when Viviani drops .. Its on..

 

[jsem94]

Hopefully we get rain.

 

[Monte]

Re:

Hopefully we get rain.

Nah, dont say that. And it dont look like it..

But i dont think we will get the usual Ethiophian break away, cause to much interests of making it hard..

 

[Valv.Piti]

Unfortunately it seems to be quite good weather. I have a hard time really judging this parcours, all I know it will be an extremely hard race if its raced in tough conditions. If it won't I fear a 40-50 man sprint, but I really don't know, I look forward to the first couple of laps before really judging it.

 

[Monte]

Re:

Unfortunately it seems to be quite good weather. I have a hard time really judging this parcours, all I know it will be an extremely hard race if its raced in tough conditions. If it won't I fear a 40-50 man sprint, but I really don't know, I look forward to the first couple of laps before really judging it.

Its much harder than people think, we will see in the Junior and U23 races.. But over 270km it will be the old ones ruling the roast..

 

[fauniera]

Looks like a bunch sprint to me. Lets wait for the U23 race, maybe its not so bad.

 

[May0maniac]

The thing is, how many teams want a bunch sprint and how many have a team to control the race?
Sagan lacks a team, so it will probably up to Australia and Norway to control the race, Italy will send riders on the attack and Belgium is bringing a team that has the firepower to make the race really hard.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Oh I completely forgot about the U-23 race, yeah, that should give a good indicator. At least just to see it for yourself. Seems like a slightly easier version of Ponferrada, but that could be totally wrong and we may get a great race.

 

[Monte]

Re:

Oh I completely forgot about the U-23 race, yeah, that should give a good indicator. At least just to see it for yourself. Seems like a slightly easier version of Ponferrada, but that could be totally wrong and we may get a great race.

NO favourite has won this far, so lets hope it stays this way (MInus Women Junior)

 

[tomorrow]

Well, I think Belgium will decide if it's tough race or not. And judging from last years, they won't wait for the final lap. I expect Gilbert/Wellens attack from far. GvA obviously will be where he always is and that will be the reason why he won't be the winner, and the others will either help them or attacked somewhere in the middle. Their squad is just crazy strong, maybe even too strong to be successful.
I have a feeling this year it might be the time for some "underdogs" with big engine as a result of an attack in the second from last lap. Somebody like Dumoulin, Galopin or Trentin, even though it's very bold to say underdog about Trentin.

 

[fauniera]

Re:

Italy will send riders on the attack

But they won't contribute to the attack i think. Big difference to the Belgian approach.

Mount Ulriken. The 1.4 km ascend is beautifully carved into the mountainside with houses wooden surrounding the road. Together with the city centre, this will be the most popular fan zone with massive amounts of people. With 6.5 % in average, the climb will offer a good chance for a break away.

Not sure those numbers are correct. Openrunner gives me 1,4 km at 5,5%, with the steepest part 0,8 km at 6,75%. Ponferrada was harder than that and there were only 4,4 km from the last climb to the finish. This time it is more than 10 km, which is a huge difference.

 

[The Hegelian]

Well, I think Belgium will decide if it's tough race or not. And judging from last years, they won't wait for the final lap. I expect Gilbert/Wellens attack from far. GvA obviously will be where he always is and that will be the reason why he won't be the winner, and the others will either help them or attacked somewhere in the middle. Their squad is just crazy strong, maybe even too strong to be successful.
I have a feeling this year it might be the time for some "underdogs" with big engine as a result of an attack in the second from last lap. Somebody like Dumoulin, Galopin or Trentin, even though it's very bold to say underdog about Trentin.

Trentin is in such red hot form, I reckon he's just a peg below GVA/Sagan/Kwia as a top favorite. Maybe on par with Matthews, EBH et al.

 

[jsem94]

1.5km @ 6.2% at La Flamme Rouge. It will also be 267.5km according to UCI, not 277km. Circuit is ~19.2km with 263m of ascent. Firenze was much harder, 17km with 310+ m of ascent. Ponferrada was also harder.

 

[Red Rick]

Ponferrada had the majority of the altitude gain at a 5% climb that didn't do anything and all action happened on the very short steep hill or before it. Now they have to make the race on the one climb there is. Totally different.

 

[fauniera]

The hill in Ponferrada (which wasn't really steep) is very similar to the one in Bergen. The difference is the distance to the finish.

 

[AQETUYIOI]

Technical last 5k in Bergen:

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Can't wait for this one. Hopefully it will be carnage.

Well France surely wont wait for a sprint it seems, and when Viviani drops .. Its on..

Matthews and the Australians will also want a hard race to isolate Sagan and drop the less versatile sprinters like Viviani.

If Belgium, Italy, France and Australia all want a hard race, it will be one hard race.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Hm I think it will be a group sprint of 30/40

 

[Netserk]

In '14 only Italy tried to toughen the race. As the hill was so close to the finish, more wasn't needed. This year however, I think it'll be raced much harder and sprinters on the level of Kristoff, Degenkolb and Bouhanni won't end in the top-10 only 7'' after the winner.

 

[tomorrow]

Re: Re:

Can't wait for this one. Hopefully it will be carnage.

Well France surely wont wait for a sprint it seems, and when Viviani drops .. Its on..

Matthews and the Australians will also want a hard race to isolate Sagan and drop the less versatile sprinters like Viviani.

If Belgium, Italy, France and Australia all want a hard race, it will be one hard race.

Why would they need to isolate Sagan? In the Slovak team there's literally nobody that can survive the hill and the length. And they won't drop him if he's isolated, unless the illness is more serious than communicated. With tough race, they would only give Sagan and others possibility to drop Mathews or it could allow some late break to stick. Actually Aussies are the best ally for Sagan to do the hattrick, no matter what they do.

But as I said earlier, this year, it will be reduced sprint of a small group, where neither GvA, Sagan or Mathews won't be.

 

[The Barb]

Possible late attack (Alaphilippe a good prospect on this scenario) but more likely a group of roughly 20 sprinting for it. Matthews the one to beat in my view ... at least as fast as any of the others likely to be there (except maybe EBH) and has a team solely dedicated to him.

 

[SKSemtex]

Contador will win this bike race.

Wait. He is not riding. Well, then I do not know.

One thing is sure, I will be drunk like Brits in Bulgaria if my fellow countryman pulls this hattrick.