2023 National Championships

[Eagle_Alps]

For me, the French men's NC race was one of the best race I have watched for a long time.

A real race of attrition and test of endurance. Everybody going full gas. Great breakaway. Favorites attacking and failing. Breakaway getting caught and still going further. Team tactics as over the place as strategies were ruined because of the heat and lack of radios. Lots of twists. Several times you thought you knew how it would end, everything changed again. Non stop action. And a deserving winner!

One day racing can be so much fun to watch, because everyone can race "as if" there is no tomorrow.

 

[RedheadDane]

For me, the French men's NC race was one of the best race I have watched for a long time.

A real race of attrition and test of endurance. Everybody going full gas. Great breakaway. Favorites attacking and failing. Breakaway getting caught and still going further. Team tactics as over the place as strategies were ruined because of the heat and lack of radios. Lots of twists. Several times you thought you knew how it would end, everything changed again. Non stop action. And a deserving winner!

One day racing can be so much fun to watch, because everyone can race "as if" there is no tomorrow.

It probably says something about the race that the only two riders who finished together were the two that finished last. Or, to put it differently, the ones who finished 22nd and 23rd respectively.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

All by myself...


Of course there may have been favours from friends and informal pacts, but the following (and probably others) have defied the mantra that "it's a team sport" by winning while being the only member of their team present:
Plapp (Aus)
Zukowski (Canada)
Dygert (US)
Simmons (US)
Lippert (Germany)
Muhlberger (Austria)
Sainbayar (Mongolia)
Vacek (Czechia)
Rajovic (Serbia)
Kopecky (Belgium)
Vas (Hungary)
Valter (Hungary)
Gillespie (Ireland)
Healy (Ireland)
Wright (GB)
Georgi (GB)
Garcia (Spain)

In some cases, they are simply that much better than the local competition, in some, there were few of their competitors who had team-mates either. But in some cases at least, they overthrew the apparent team advantage.