2019 UCI Road World Championships Men's Road Race : 284.5km

[Squire]

So weve reacherld



So weve reached a new depth in humanity. People should be kept safe from a cold... Oh my dear....a cold.... You sound like someone who is a week ill at home because you got a bad cough.

Since when are people afraid to get an cold..

I'd be so happy if this topic could just be left alone for about... ...two weeks.

 

[Kwibus]

I'd be so happy if this topic could just be left alone for about... ...two weeks.

Yeah sorry, i cant keep up with all these posts. So i was still a few pages back.

How much I disagreed with Koronin I dont think she deserved a ban. She is entitled to her opinion and stayed very civilised.

End of the eeather topic!

 

[GuntherL]

Do you not think Moscon would have been allowed to win if he had had the legs? I know Trentin was supposed to be the man, but in those conditions he had his chance to stay with the break. He clearly couldn't hold the pace on the uphill bits towards the end but it's not as if he spent all the time leading. He was really determined to get back when he was dropped the first time and I was very impressed when he did so, but I didn't see his situation as a sacrifice.

I had the impression nobody knew what they were capable of. MvdP overestimated himself and so did Trentin to a certain extent. I'm sure most viewers were fooled too, including me.
I should have known better when I saw that Evenepoel couldn't get back to the peloton and Gilbert retired.

That's the beauty of this race. There's no 250+ km stages in Grand Tours any more and the classics with a strong field in such bad weather, are rare. The tour of Lombardy of 2010 leaps to mind, a gruelling ride of 260 km, completed only by 33 riders out of 194. It was won by Gilbert. Although his prime is some time behind him, it may explain why he was in tears when he had to retire yesterday.

 

[Breezy1985]

Moscow did all that work for nothing. He’s probably looking for somebody to punch right about now.

Yeah, but imagine he had cramped up 50 meters sooner.

My point was, he managed his strength perfectly, to the line.

Maybe he cramped up at that point because it was when he stopped spinning his legs?

 

[RedheadDane]

(I like weird statistics.)

The only country with a finish-percentage of 100 was Costa Rica. Well, it was either that or a dropout-percentage of 100, which a not insignificant amount of countries got.

 

[MarkTusa]

I had the impression nobody knew what they were capable of. MvdP overestimated himself and so did Trentin to a certain extent. I'm sure most viewers were fooled too, including me.
I should have known better when I saw that Evenepoel couldn't get back to the peloton and Gilbert retired.

That's the beauty of this race. There's no 250+ km stages in Grand Tours any more and the classics with a strong field in such bad weather, are rare. The tour of Lombardy of 2010 leaps to mind, a gruelling ride of 260 km, completed only by 33 riders out of 194. It was won by Gilbert. Although his prime is some time behind him, it may explain why he was in tears when he had to retire yesterday.

It's interesting though, we know that Milan to Sanremo almost always delivers as an exciting race that approximates this distance in miles for the Worlds. Is a similar course in Europe that hard to find?

 

[Singularitarian]

But that's cycling!


So in the future we'll only race with temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius because what if riders get hypothermia or heat stroke or dehydrated, no wind gusts above 25 kph because that might cause crashes, no rain as that might cause crashes, no UV index above 4 as that might cause skin cancer in the future. Sounds like a great idea!

don't worry, Zwift will solve it

 

[MarkTusa]

don't worry, Zwift will solve it

Nice!

 

[tobydawq]

He is cool as a cucumber

It's generally being reported as the Danish sports achievement of the year, and as having similar significance to the mens football Euro title in 1992 and mens olympic handball gold medal in 2016.

Incidentally, Mads Pedersen is leading a new trend amongst danish pro riders (those not focused on climbing), in that he has moved back to Denmark and is doing all his training at home, as opposed to most pro riders living in Italy or Spain due to the weather.

Imagine being out riding, seeing a guy wearing the rainbow stripes, rolling your eyes over him because it should only be the world champion who wears that jersey, and then come to the realisation that it in fact is the freaking elite male world champion who is just training at home.

I almost have to move to Zealand for the chance to experience that.

 

[Bolder]

He is cool as a cucumber

It's generally being reported as the Danish sports achievement of the year, and as having similar significance to the mens football Euro title in 1992 and mens olympic handball gold medal in 2016.

Incidentally, Mads Pedersen is leading a new trend amongst danish pro riders (those not focused on climbing), in that he has moved back to Denmark and is doing all his training at home, as opposed to most pro riders living in Italy or Spain due to the weather.

Just out of curiosity, how much good training can you actually get in Denmark? I've spent a total of about two weeks there on various work trips, and I just didn't see much challenging terrain. It looked like a nice place to ride, but I'd imagine you'd have to go somewhere warm and hilly starting right about now. (Lovely country, wonderful food and no-nonsense people. I particularly liked Aarhus)

 

[RedheadDane]

Just out of curiosity, how much good training can you actually get in Denmark? I've spent a total of about two weeks there on various work trips, and I just didn't see much challenging terrain. It looked like a nice place to ride, but I'd imagine you'd have to go somewhere warm and hilly starting right about now. (Lovely country, wonderful food and no-nonsense people. I particularly liked Aarhus)

Pedersen clearly doesn't care about warm! And he's not a climber, so... probably doesn't care much about hilly either.

(Århus is a lovely city, though… kinda hilly, for Danish standards.)

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Just out of curiosity, how much good training can you actually get in Denmark? I've spent a total of about two weeks there on various work trips, and I just didn't see much challenging terrain. It looked like a nice place to ride, but I'd imagine you'd have to go somewhere warm and hilly starting right about now. (Lovely country, wonderful food and no-nonsense people. I particularly liked Aarhus)

From a weather perspective, it's pretty similar to northern England, though we get a little more snow in winter.
In terms of terrain, it's like Surrey, with fewer/smaller woods - pretty flat, some places with rolling hills and the occasional steep, but short hill

Any pro cyclist would call Denmark "soft terrain", which is why it is significant he trains at home.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Maybe he cramped up at that point because it was when he stopped spinning his legs?

Mads P said in an interview after the race that he had basically no clue if he would cramp up when he started the sprint. He didn't cramp up so he won, but it seems it was a lottery - after so many kilometers and in those conditions.

 

[hayneplane]

Morley and Wakefield. I do claim my roots and played rugby league when I was younger

Small world. I live in Morley and it would be so cool if the pro peloton was ever brought to Churwell Hill that I regularly grind up and they would probably fly in comparison.

 

[Oldermanish]

"I chose that it would go to the final sprint, but I was wrong. Never mind, that's how cycling is, and that's why it's nice, "
Nice quote from Sagan.
He just simply overestimated a lot of elite riders and their willingness to sacriface for team leaders. WCRR is so special race. Logic from WT classics often does not work here, And that is why this race is so special. For me the best race of the year.
Regarding the weather. If I want to see "primadonas" I switch to football, but I want to see the fighters on wheels.

I would guess Sagan had little choice but to wait after he gave VdP 20 seconds. Everyone would just sit on him.
Every time I saw him in the field he seemed relaxed and was eating. Long cold races like that can be challenging to remember to do the simple things to get you to the end like drinking, eating, eating...Breaks are always a safer bet in my experience.

 

[King Boonen]

Small world. I live in Morley and it would be so cool if the pro peloton was ever brought to Churwell Hill that I regularly grind up and they would probably fly in comparison.

Very small world. My family are off Scatcherd Lane and I'm pretty sure we drove up Churwell Hill last time I was across. It's Elland Road isn't it?

 

[hayneplane]

Very small world. My family are off Scatcherd Lane and I'm pretty sure we drove up Churwell Hill last time I was across. It's Elland Road isn't it?

Yes it is. Head out of Leeds past Elland Road stadium then turn upwards. A bit like the Mir de Huy in that it’s about 1.5km, steepest in the middle section then flattens out to a false flat at the top.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

seeing as vdp at 2 plates of french fries after the race it does seem like a hunger knock. He just never experienced it so didnt know what it was. And he did say he was well prepared in eating/drinking the whole day. But I guess the amount of energy such a race costs with the extra heating needed for the body took it's toll.

I really don't think he overestimated himself. This was pretty conservative racing for VDP standards. Remember in Amstel he went 12km earlier. in tour of flanders his first attempt was even earlier yet.

 

[Escarabajo]

Looking at the results I can see that the IZAGIRRE brothers like rainy cold weather. Remember Morzine and Paris Nice.

 

[Rollthedice]

Looking at the results I can see that the IZAGIRRE brothers like rainy cold weather. Remember Morzine and Paris Nice.

Heard that it rains a lot in the Basque country.

 

[RedheadDane]

Just realised something.
Remember all the talk about how all the DQ riders - who were spread out over multiple different national teams - might influence the finale? Turns out the best-placed DQ rider was Stybar, in 13th.