When I came on here all the comments were frustration about bad tactics. There was very little talk about the leaders and eventual winners.
When I came on here all the comments were frustration about bad tactics. There was very little talk about the leaders and eventual winners.
well they also have the grand tours throughout the season. If for instance on a rider were to win the tour and giro and didn't win the worlds no one would think any less of them.
- Apr 13, 2021
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You couldn't do a proper season long championship without completely revamping the way the cycling calendar looks. Otherwise, how would you account for the fact that the top riders often do completely different combinations of races? As it stands, we have ways of calculating the best season - i.e. most UCI points (which no-one really cares about, sorry Pog) or who wins the Velo d'Or.
Also, shock winners aren't common enough for it to be a problem. If you look back at the last decade of the men's edition, those are all pretty big names! The fact that the last three male world champions have been Pogacar, van der Poel and Evenepoel, and the last three women (before 2025) were Kopecky x 2 and van Vleuten shows that often the world champion is one of the best riders in the world.
Armchair Cyclist
Moderator
- Mar 22, 2010
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"Best in the world" is a strange claim, usually based on selective data.
Cycling is a sport of races: the only thing that matters is who gets the result on the day, based on condition, tactics, luck, and suitability to the parcours.
- Jul 9, 2009
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Couple of observations on the day. One, Vallieres looked a whole lot more self-assured when she blasted of at the start of the final cobbled climb than she did on the podium. And two, if they ever do another remake of Lord of the Rings Paula Ostiz would be an excellent choice to play the lead.
She's an Elle Kildunne lookalike, or vice versa. And Kildunne also won today.
Congratulations to Magdeleine Vallieres, a well deserved winner.
Could just be the kickstart for further greatness.
Could just be the kickstart for further greatness.
- Mar 26, 2023
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Congrats to Caroline Andersson for a very nice 11th place!
Swedish commentators endearingly excited when they realized she was crossing the line with the Vollering group.
Swedish commentators endearingly excited when they realized she was crossing the line with the Vollering group.
Vallieres may do well at next year's WCs on another attrition-type course and Canada should have a stronger team (and on home turf) assuming the Holmgren's move up to the elite level.
For the women, I think Jackson's Roubaix win is bigger but could be a toss-up.
The portion of the race I watched--from about 50 km out, France did have a rider or rider leading the peloton, so they made at least at attempt to control it. As with Belgian's in the men's U-23, all the helpers were exhausted and dropped by the time the race got to its final stages.
True, which is why winning other races (Roubaix, RVV, le Tour) sometimes carry more cache than winning the world's.
- Oct 21, 2020
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Well it was a little surprising as she was dropped from that group before the pave climb but made it up to them during that part. So I can understand they where surprised.
- Feb 20, 2010
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Is that any different from most other sports that hold World Championships?
I mean, the recent Athletics World Championships were full of surprise winners, from Oblique Seville, Jimmy Gressier, Cole Hocker, Isaac Nader, Geordie Beamish, Lilian Odira, Ditaji Kambundji and Juleisy Angulo - all athletes that performed on the day when it counted.
Flyaway events far from the regular hosts do seem to see a higher probability of surprise results, perhaps, but otherwise the course is the same for everybody. The World Championships in cycling are more like a 6th Monument than anything else, and the course varies year on year. A rider may have several Worlds that they can target in their career, or they may only get two or three. That's part of the fun. Some World titles are worth more in the eyes of the audience than others, but the same goes for monuments. I can tell you all about the Mendrisio Worlds off the top of my head, but I can't even remember who was on the podium behind Cavendish in Copenhagen - but they both get to call themselves World Champion.
And when you go back through the annals of world champions, there really aren't that many "who?" figures that appear (although in Doha we did almost have Tom Leezer in the rainbow jersey). I mean, the only winners in the last 20 years to not have also won a Monument are Cadel Evans, Thor Hushovd, Rui Costa and Mads Pedersen. And Evans has won the Tour de France. So the format isn't exactly churning out undeserving champions. Besides, often somebody that wins in something of a surprise goes on to become a major factor in the future too - Óscar Freire in 1999 and Marta Bastianelli in 2007 spring to mind - whereas somebody who burns brightly but briefly seems like a shock champion but in reality was not at the time - Romans Vainsteins being the most obvious example.
- Mar 22, 2024
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I watched this morning, but didn't comment 'til now.
I'll keep it simple - I love that Vallieres won. She took her shot and it paid off. Kudos to the new world champ!
I'll keep it simple - I love that Vallieres won. She took her shot and it paid off. Kudos to the new world champ!
The profile is fairly tough and not suited to the current crop of UK riders. henderson is an outside chance to make the final, while I would back in Georgi. However, riders will not ride if the course is unsuitable or if they do not have a defined leader to support.
The Netherlands always take responsibility, always try to control the race. This year they didn't, and you can see it just disrupt the whole order of things. I don't know how many times Vollering has been the "overwhelming" favourite, but usually when she is she's very much not the wheelsucking type... almost to a ridiculous extent, as we've seen last year.
BC were awarded a record 39million pounds for the 2025-2029 Olympic/Paralympic cycle
they are the best funded of all the "Olympic" sports, that UKsports funds, taking over 11% of the whole budget.
they are recognised as the best funded national cycling team in the entire world.
its an absolute disgrace that they are allowed to withold what is tax payer money, not oil company money, not bankers money, not sponsors money, tax payers money in this way from funding and placing riders into World championships or European championships, regardless of whether we expect them to medal, and I hate thats become verbage.
this will be the fourth time in 5 years they havent sent anyone to the Elite road races at the ECs.
thats not ooh the races are too close to the WC, which we didnt bother sending any Elite women road racers too for the first time in 30 years, or ooh we dont have any riders who suit this course.
thats we dont give a fig for the riders, for the sport, or anything, we only care about guaranteeing we get bucket loads of money that gets spent doing what ? what is their purpose if not to compete at major championships ?
if we arent producing the riders or developing the riders to fill those gaps we think are there, what really is the point of them as a national body tasked with looking after the sport.
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so what though, we saw yesterday, one day races can be won by anyone, did anyone think Vallieres was particularly suited to that course ? did anyone think Kiesenhofer was suited to the Tokyo Olympic course ?
no, but you have to be on the start line to compete, sitting at home and saying but weve got no medal prospects so wont even try is just stupid.
honestly from the current crop of UK riders, I dont see any of them as medal prospects in these kinds of races if the Dutch, Belgians and Italians actually rode them properly for a change, anyway, and thats both Men and Womens. So why even bother pretending anymore, just never bother sending anyone if medals are the only thing that matter.
we know BC only really focus on track cycling, the reason why the current crop of UK road riders arent suited to these races is we arent developing them, because we dont have an Elite road pathway for them. all the riders who come into Elite road racing do so in spite of BC help, not because of it, because frankly we know if BC found a super talented rider, theyd be forcing them onto the track instead.
Overall its been a disappointing season for the women's peleton. I go back to the first two race days of 2025 the Aussie Women's RR and stage one of the TDU set the scene for the season.
I saw she was quoted at 400-1, but sports betting no longer really follows the formbook, so odds like that can be misleading
basically it follows where the market is placing money much more because of the whole kind of insta betting/accas etc etc going on, so she was long odds because no one was backing her, it doesnt mean she was necessarily such an outside bet at winning, it means the market were backing the favourites more.
Unfortunately, a few countries pump too much money into track cycling, at the expense of road cycling. Its just a part in the cycle that Britain does not have elite women riders suited to hillier courses at the moment , yet, the men have many of this type. I'll also add that you may not have many women who put their hand up to ride these races and I have not heard any complaints i n the media.
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