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2020 World Championships - now confirmed for Imola, Italy.

Page 85 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Haven't read the thread post race due to an evening ride (or rather 'a cool down lap' speaking the automotive sports related WC).
Had to pedal out the dissapointment of anticlimax world's to me, which suddenly late yesterday evening came up in me as the full joy of anticipation.
I think I really jinxed it, stating 'that this would NOT be another AVdB snooze fest' - but it turned out to be, more or less, until the very last climb (OK, kudos to Pogacar).
I'm convinced it was due to the national teams being afraid of dropping their domestics too early.
Though I think expecially Belgium had several cards to play for early escapes as we witnessed dark horse riders do last year. But I think they settled all in for WvA.

BUT that mentioned, I will not take a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g from a well deserved winner.
The rainbow jersey will suit Loulou very well on wednesday :hearteyes:
 
Haven't read the thread post race due to an evening ride (or rather 'a cool down lap' speaking the automotive sports related WC).
Had to pedal out the dissapointment of anticlimax world's to me, which suddenly late yesterday evening came up in me as the full joy of anticipation.
I think I really jinxed it, stating 'that this would NOT be another AVdB snooze fest' - but it turned out to be, more or less, until the very last climb (OK, kudos to Pogacar).
I'm convinced it was due to the national teams being afraid of dropping their domestics too early.
Though I think expecially Belgium had several cards to play for early escapes as we witnessed dark horse riders do last year. But I think they settled all in for WvA.

BUT that mentioned, I will not take a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g from a well deserved winner.
The rainbow jersey will suit Loulou very well on wednesday :hearteyes:
I got my ride in early (home for the last 40ish km). I thought it was a good race, certainly not a snooze fest. Obviously Belgium tried to control, and WvA getting silver showed that at the very least that was the right tactic for them in this race. Other teams (Spain, Italy) tried to impose themselves, some riders from smaller teams tried to get into the mix, and it took a very serious attack from a top notch racer on the final climb to get the win.
 
So you compare a sunny dry and snoozy Madrid sprint WC with the hardman wet Harrogate spectacle?
Think Pedersen was a very deserved winner in a World's where he took the initiative early while several favourites couldn't eat up and were exposed.
I think he means Boonen was already established as one of the worlds best classic riders when he became World Champion, whilst Pedersen may have the talent to follow up his world title with a few monuments, but it's not a given.
 
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I got my ride in early (home for the last 40ish km). I thought it was a good race, certainly not a snooze fest. Obviously Belgium tried to control, and WvA getting silver showed that at the very least that was the right tactic for them in this race. Other teams (Spain, Italy) tried to impose themselves, some riders from smaller teams tried to get into the mix, and it took a very serious attack from a top notch racer on the final climb to get the win.

Well I think it was very risky for Belgium going all in for WvA knowing that several other nations would have stronger riders on the last climb. In fact he could be all dropped if some of the real climbers like Carapaz, Uran, Fuglsang, etc. pulled off right at the buttom of the last climb and Belgium would have to settle with nothing. But saved by the bell that Ala jumped relatively late on the climb.

And yes, maybe my expectations were too high for today's race.
Recent years have shown a clear tendency towards restraint, the harder the course is designed. This applies for both WC's and GT stages.
 
I think he means Boonen was already established as one of the worlds best classic riders when he became World Champion, whilst Pedersen may have the talent to follow up his world title with a few monuments, but it's not a given.

OK might be. In general I like a good race and judge the rider by the day, not his palmares :)
But I clearly remember I did a lot of that some decades ago, leaving too many dissapointments, so from then on I've just been looking forward to a good race ;) And today I think we had to wait way too long for that.
 
I must admit, I get annoyed by Alaphilippe as well at times. I don't really enjoy his theatrics, it gets on my nerves. For what it's worth, that is also the reason why I like Sagan less now than I did 6-7 years ago. Of course both are still excellent riders and I can enjoy their performances.

I think these guys will fit you:
:p
Apart from that I don't see anything theatrical about Alaphillipe, or I must have been blind.
To me it's natural showing feelings having lost your dad recently and an enormous national pressure on your shoulders on top of that.
 
Story of three different hairstyles

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I feel bad for Pederson, barely got to wear the jersey and was on GC domestique duty for most of the time when he did wear it.

Worthy winner, and someone who's going to take that jersey to a bunch of Classics and GT stage podiums, hopefully. Glad to see France back on top in Worlds too.



e) also Voeckler comparisons are absurd. Voeckler mugged for the camera and painfaced and put in absurd, senseless attacks to compensate for a talent deficit. Alaphilippe is one of the best one-dayers in the peloton. Unlike Voeckler, people actually take it seriously when he attacks.
 
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I feel bad for Pederson, barely got to wear the jersey and was on GC domestique duty for most of the time when he did wear it.

Worthy winner, and someone who's going to take that jersey to a bunch of Classics and GT stage podiums, hopefully. Glad to see France back on top in Worlds too.
I really hope Pedersen has a great classics season. It's a shame he didn't get to wear the jersey in his best turf. Even to wear it in the Binkbank would have been something.
 
I really hope Pedersen has a great classics season. It's a shame he didn't get to wear the jersey in his best turf. Even to wear it in the Binkbank would have been something.
I feel like he would have gotten the chance to race for himself in the semi-classics, E3/DDV/etc. Not sure if he would have been the leader in the major classics but certainly would have been in a major role.
 
I think that, if that group of 5 would've caught Alaphilippe immediately after the top (so if Alaphilippe had been slightly less good than he was), chances would've been quite high the bigger peloton would've caught back on and Matthews could've been world champion.

I much prefer this outcome, even if I bet a few cents on Matthews to win (odd 40 or something).
 
I think that, if that group of 5 would've caught Alaphilippe immediately after the top (so if Alaphilippe had been slightly less good than he was), chances would've been quite high the bigger peloton would've caught back on and Matthews could've been world champion.

I much prefer this outcome, even if I bet a few cents on Matthews to win (odd 40 or something).
Matthews is one of the least tactical riders out there. How many times has he "won" the garbageman sprint for 9th, after the winning break went up the road 10K earlier?
 
Matthews is one of the least tactical riders out there. How many times has he "won" the garbageman sprint for 9th, after the winning break went up the road 10K earlier?

that’s not him lacking tactical understanding, that’s him understanding exactly what his best chance of winning is. He’s not as strong as the kind of elite attackers who go with 10km to go in a major race, but he is faster than anyone likely to be in the shattered remnants of a peloton if it catches those attackers,
 
I think that, if that group of 5 would've caught Alaphilippe immediately after the top (so if Alaphilippe had been slightly less good than he was), chances would've been quite high the bigger peloton would've caught back on and Matthews could've been world champion.

I much prefer this outcome, even if I bet a few cents on Matthews to win (odd 40 or something).
Very much doubt Matthews was gonna beat van Aert in the sprint after this race.
 
Matthews is one of the least tactical riders out there. How many times has he "won" the garbageman sprint for 9th, after the winning break went up the road 10K earlier?
That's not bad tactics. Matthew couldn't follow the attacks on the last climb. He's an ok climber for a fast guy, but he can't match a big acceleration the true puncheurs over even a small climb like the Poggio.

That said, I think even if that group of 6 comes together, there was enough quality in that group behind (Matthews, Valverde, Dumoulin, Valgren) to scare the others into doing some work. Fuglsang and Roglic for 2 would both know that if the other group catches them, they fall out of the top 10. Most of the work would still fall on vanAert, as the true sprinter, but that goes with the territory.
 
also this is obviously far easier said than done but WVA should have known that a group with him in it had virtually no chance of cohering enough to bring back a strong chaser, not after the form he's shown. he absolutely needed to attack that group, maybe one guy comes with for the "well, i'm guaranteed a medal if this sticks" factor.

the sprint for second showed why it was silly for any other rider in that group to put in a single hard pedal rev on the front, anyway.
 
I think these guys will fit you:
:p
Apart from that I don't see anything theatrical about Alaphillipe, or I must have been blind.
To me it's natural showing feelings having lost your dad recently and an enormous national pressure on your shoulders on top of that.
Obviously his emotions at the finish aren't what I'm referring to, but rather his agitated gestures during races when something goes wrong, the faces he's making, attacking from a group that's working together only to get dropped 2 minutes later, fannying about at the back of the group, etc.
 

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