2023 World Championships team selections

[Boehmand]

Pogacar will be a favourite too specially if it is raining.

Disagree.

The route is not hard enough for him, and if it rains it becomes for all the big northern European classics guys, who grew up riding in the rain (and wind).

I'd say Mohoric before Pogacar in such conditions.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I wonder if they bring Jakobsen, on that route they should, if he is in shape for it.

they don't, selection is already known. That's why i mentioned van baarle (co leader) and Kooij (backup plan)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Disagree.

The route is not hard enough for him, and if it rains it becomes for all the big northern European classics guys, who grew up riding in the rain (and wind).

I'd say Mohoric before Pogacar in such conditions.

they did a very similar route in EC 2018 when Trentin won ahead of VD Poel (not even a full time rr at that point) and Van Aert. It's a lot easier than for instance RVV but harder than any sprint classic. For Pogacar not hard enough to drop either of them. He'll have to do something surprising.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Detailed profile of the circuit which I posted in the general news thread earlier:

 

[DNP-Old]

Tijdrit U23 mannen: Alec Segaert en Jonathan Vervenne
Wegrit U23 mannen: Gil Gelders, Thibau Nys, Alec Segaert, Warre Vangheluwe, Jonathan Vervenne
Tijdrit junioren mannen: Duarte Marivoet Scholiers en Sente Sentjens
Wegrit junioren mannen: Steffen De Schuyteneer, Sente Sentjens, Lars Vanden Heede, Victor Vaneeckhoutte, Jarno Widar

Segaert may try his luck against Tarling, Thibau might be the favorite for gold in the road race. Sentjens is the best junior in the ITT, and the tridente of Sentjens, De Schuyteneer en Widar is insane. Belgium could legitimately win every category.

 

[Boehmand]

they don't, selection is already known. That's why i mentioned van baarle (co leader) and Kooij (backup plan)

Dude, post up the Dutch team to the thread then

 

[DNP-Old]

Elite Men
Lawson Craddock (Houston; Team BikeExchange-Jayco) – Road Race
Matteo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho; Movistar Team) – Road Race
Brandon McNulty (Phoenix; UAE Team Emirates) – Time Trial
Neilson Powless (Roseville, Calif.; EF Education-EasyPost) – Road Race
Sean Quinn (Sherman Oaks, Calif.; EF Education-EasyPost) – Road Race
Magnus Sheffield (Pittsford, N.Y.; Ineos Grenadiers) – Time Trial & Road Race
Quinn Simmons (Durango, Colo.; Lidl-Trek) – Road Race

U23 Men
Evan Boyle (Niskayuna, N.Y.) – Time Trial
Owen Cole (Chapel Hill, N.C.; Velocious Sport) – Road Race
Luke Lamperti (Sebastopol, Calif.; Trinity Racing) – Road Race
Brody McDonald (Escondido, Calif.; Aevolo Cycling) – Road Race
Viggo Moore (Feldberg, Ger.; Israel Premier Tech) – Time Trial
Artem Shmidt (Cumming, Ga.; Hagens Berman Axeon) – Road Race
Colby Simmons (Durango, Colo.; Jumbo-Visma Development Team) – Road Race

Junior Men
AJ (Andrew) August (Pittsford, N.Y.; Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) – Time Trial & Road Race
Luke Fetzer (Laguna Beach, Calif.; Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) – Road Race
Henry Neff (Arlington, Va.; Kelly Benefits Strategies Cycling) – Road Race
Darren Parham (Yucaipa, Calif.; Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) – Road Race
David Thompson (New Canaan, Conn.; Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) – Time Trial & Road Race

The first selection to be made public for Glasgow? Do not really see who of the elite is able to win the race, but they have got some big chances for the medals with the U23 and juniors. Luke Lamperti is probably the quickest of anyone who is yet to turn pro (will go to QuickStep next year though), but it will depend on the competition coming in from the pro's to see whether he has a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing. Belgium for instance is taking Thibau Nys, that's already a problem.

AJ August will have a crack at winning both the time trial and the road race with the juniors, though I think he's a step behind on Jorgen Nordhagen and Sente Sentjens when it comes to being the main favorite for the rainbow jersey in the time trial. Most likely scenario is he's in a group with Oscar Chamberlain amongst others to fight for bronze, but the margins are small and the gear restrictions ultimately make this race impossible to predict.

Dutch selections for the Worlds:

Men:

• Mathieu van der Poel
• Dylan van Baarle
• Pascal Eenkhoorn
• Olav Kooij
• Daan Hoole
• Jan Maas
• Oscar Riesebeek
• Mick van Dijke

Women:

• Demi Vollering
• Lorena Wiebes
• Annemiek van Vleuten
• Marianne Vos
• Riejanne Markus
• Mischa Bredewold
• Shirin van Anrooij
• Loes Adegeest

Marianne Vos isn't even a protected rider. This tells you enough about the strength of this women's team. The men's team is okay-ish, with two strong leaders and a wildcard in Olav Kooij.

 

[Trofonios]

With that lap profile and 40-50 turns, seems quite hard to control. Could be chaos in the last couple of laps. And teams with no strong sprinter will surely want it to be chaos.

 

[Trofonios]

Noticed there are few really short but steep climbs. Do we know if they will enter any of them with low speed?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Noticed there are few really short but steep climbs. Do we know if they will enter any of them with low speed?

Most, including the two steepest ones, have a 90° turn at the bottom.

 

[Pantani_lives]

The Belgian selection looks okay. I'm glad Nathan Van Hooydonck is selected, because he can be a big help for Van Aert. Frison is a surprise. One name I'm missing is Tim Declercq. Such a hard worker could be useful.

 

[Riek s]

Parcour seems to be a wet dream for VDP though. technical, lots of small accelerations. Basically every uphil section is the length of a (long) sprint. Especially the last climb in the circuit.. if you can sprint over that... you will get 10-20seconds on a peleton who will most likely struggle through it. (or loose the workers).

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I see two outcomes on this route: Evenepoel making the decisive move at >50k to go, or Van der Poel making the decisive move at <50k to go. The latter is definitely likelier.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Danish national team coach Anders Lund says about the route (from Feltet.dk):

On the finishing circuit there are 45-50 turns in only 14.3 km plus some steep hills you hit without speed.

90 degree turns are generally underestimated by the average viewer of cycling. That's because the professional pelotons are normally large, and large pelotons even out the speed differences. But in most other races - on all levels - the turns are what creates the splits on routes with no big climbs.

 

[Boehmand]

I see two outcomes on this route: Evenepoel making the decisive move at >50k to go, or Van der Poel making the decisive move at <50k to go. The latter is definitely likelier.

I think neither will happen.

I think because it's a route which is close to impossible to control, the move goes earlier and we may get a world champion who is not in the top 10 on the betting order.

I'd be looking at guys like Cosnefroy, Mezgec, Cort, Van Baarle, Politt, Healy, Bagioli, Hirchi, Wright, Nizzolo, Hofstetter, Clarke, Benoot, Garcia Cortina, Simmons, etc. (not knowing if they are all selected obviously, just a reference for type).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I question if all the turns are to his advantage, to my mind he is unbeatable in a straight line, but not so much when it gets technical.

As proven by his 40+ career wins all on straight roads.

Seriously though, he may not be the most technical rider, but he is more than capable of steering his bike into a regular corner on wide roads. Circuit is 14.3km, still plenty of straight.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I think neither will happen.

I think because it's a route which is close to impossible to control, the move goes earlier and we may get a world champion who is not in the top 10 on the betting order.

I'd be looking at guys like Cosnefroy, Mezgec, Cort, Van Baarle, Politt, Healy, Bagioli, Hirchi, Wright, Nizzolo, Hofstetter, Clarke, Benoot, Garcia Cortina, Simmons, etc. (not knowing if they are all selected obviously, just a reference for type).

I think you have this backwards. Precisely because it's impossible to control, it's even easier for the big guns to get and hold a gap, in a year where they've been unstoppable in the big races in the first place. And in any case, it's highly unlikely Evenepoel misses an earlier move.

 

[Red Rick]

I think you have this backwards. Precisely because it's impossible to control, it's even easier for the big guns to get and hold a gap, in a year where they've been unstoppable in the big races in the first place. And in any case, it's highly unlikely Evenepoel misses an earlier move.

For all these reasons WvA should Selfishly make the first move.

 

[Tim Cahill]

It's Scotland so it will probably be pissing it down in August. Wouldn't even rule out snow. Riders might want to be careful going down Argyle street too as there is a likelihood of sharp paraphernalia on the road.

 

[Boehmand]

he may not be the most technical rider

Agreed

 

[Danskebjerge]

The route looks a bit different from the one they used in 2018, but there are definitely similarities. Back then, young guns like van Aert and van der Poel sprinted for victory. It rained, and there were numerous crashes.

View: https://youtu.be/glgSkNRIDaA

 

[Boehmand]

I think you have this backwards. Precisely because it's impossible to control, it's even easier for the big guns to get and hold a gap, in a year where they've been unstoppable in the big races in the first place. And in any case, it's highly unlikely Evenepoel misses an earlier move.

My thinking is, that because the last 151 K is on the circuit, the deciding move may go earlier than many expect.

I hope I am wrong - I hope we see the big guns fighting it out the last 70-80 K - but I think because of the route design making it hard to control the peloton and bring back moves, we may be in for a surprise, where a very early move (100 K+) may take it.

Looking at the route map posted above I count 55 corners, that's roughly a corner every 260 meters non-stop for 151 K, and 45 of those corners are 90 degrees or worse, on narrow city roads with road furniture all over the place, which will string out a peloton immensely and constantly create gaps whenever someone makes a technical mistake.

 

[Danskebjerge]

I'd say the route suits van der Poel, van Aert, Pidcock - because of the twist and turns and the resulting repeated accelerations. It doesn't suit Mads Pedersen as much as the Harrogate route did, and as far as I remember, Pedersen didn't do well in Glasgow in 2018.

 

[Boehmand]

The route looks a bit different from the one they used in 2018, but there are definitely similarities. Back then, young guns like van Aert and van der Poel sprinted for victory. It rained, and there were numerous crashes.

View: https://youtu.be/glgSkNRIDaA

If it rains it will be mayhem, so here's hoping it rains

 

[wansteadimp]

If it rains it will be mayhem, so here's hoping it rains

It rained in 2014 for the Commonwealth Games road race too - Geraint Thomas won (when he was still a classics rider), only 12 out of 140 finished - a certain C Ewan could be bothered to finish this one - last 11.22 down.