Cav - imho, not lookin' good for the Worlds

[hrotha]

The US might put somewhere in the break, and they should, but ultimately Farrar is their best choice if the course turns out to not be that tough. If Farrar has a chance, USA will chase. Assuming it is a sprinters course, if I were the American DS and I had Zabriskie or Van Garderen in the break, I wouldn't really trust their chances even against the second-tier leaders like say Wegmann or Visconti who managed to get in too.

Now if it was Danielson of course I wouldn't chase.

I still think we won't know what kind of course this is until we see the u23 race.

 

[The Hitch]

with only 3 riders the brits will be eaten alive by the big boys. who will chase when the spanish and italians get into the break?

cancellara will not be there. and if he is, he will be focusing on defending the time trial and could only be considered a very long shot for the road race.

In another thread i asked if Cance is doing tt/ rr/ or both and i was told both. He woulod be stupid to not go for the road race this year. This might just be his terrain.

Cancellara nor Cavendish have raced since the TdF; hence they lack competition. They're just slowly building form. Cav is good when he needs to be; when the vuelta is ending he'll be sprinting as in France and he'll be good at the worlds don't worry. I'm not so sure about Cancellara though as he already had a monsterpeak in the spring classics and another peak at the TdF. But we'll see when the TT comes about him.
Conclusion: Cavendish will, imo, be at his best at the worlds; about Cancellara I'm not so sure

Cancellara during the tdf was no peak. A cancellara on peak beats Tony Matin over a 50k course by more than 17 seconds. Maybe not the 3 minutes he took last year, but more than 17 seconds for sure.

Also he was absolutely hopeless in the hills. I know hes no superclimber, but last year he finished top 30 while working for AS. THis year he finished bottom 30 working for AS. And he showed in Mendrisio last year he can climb slightly better than what we saw in the tour.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

In another thread i asked if Cance is doing tt/ rr/ or both and i was told both. He woulod be stupid to not go for the road race this year. This might just be his terrain.

he is doing both, but Cancellara is not sure if he really wants to go for the TT. He says that he really wants to win the RR, and that his fourth TT title does not matter that much to him. I think that's a shame, I really hope he does the TT and wins it! It would be the record as well, by the way, as he would take his fourth title, and nobody has ever achieved that.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Yea, he was on such good form for defending his MSR title.

he had a bad winter with his teethproblem; he couldn't be as good as he wanted that early in the season

 

[Beech Mtn]

Hamster man? Thats a new one. Did you make it up yourself?

No. The NY Velocity guys do a satirical review of each day's TdF stage. In their made-up interviews with Thor, that's what he always caled Cav. "Thor will SMASH Hamster Man" etc.

It was such a perfect nickname, that it just stuck in my mind and became automatic. Take a look at Cav sprinting - tiny little guy hunched over a bike, quick, beady little eyes, big teeth. Looks like a hamster riding a bike.

 

[hiero2]

3rd choice? Not at the moment. I don't know, that might change, cuz in truth, I don't think Cancellara would be my top odds for this worlds.

As for national teams working together against the 3 Brits? For some reason, I can't seem to recall a World's where the national teams didn't beat up on each other because they DIDN'T work together. Nationalism's an old historical kinda thing, anyway.

Cipo - now there was some smack-talking, but, man, he had style!

As for who this lumpy course does favor? Oddly, I would think it would favor Evans, even tho he has said the opposite. Somebody who will be savvy enough to stay close to the front in the first couple of laps, a good enough climber to power over those lumps - and man, they are going to burn some legs - and still with enough left in the tank at the end to sprint a little.

How about Thor? He can climb a little.

 

[sublimit]

3rd choice? Not at the moment. I don't know, that might change, cuz in truth, I don't think Cancellara would be my top odds for this worlds.

As for national teams working together against the 3 Brits? For some reason, I can't seem to recall a World's where the national teams didn't beat up on each other because they DIDN'T work together. Nationalism's an old historical kinda thing, anyway.

Cipo - now there was some smack-talking, but, man, he had style!

As for who this lumpy course does favor? Oddly, I would think it would favor Evans, even tho he has said the opposite. Somebody who will be savvy enough to stay close to the front in the first couple of laps, a good enough climber to power over those lumps - and man, they are going to burn some legs - and still with enough left in the tank at the end to sprint a little.

How about Thor? He can climb a little.

Britains Jeremy Hunt can help out the Norway national team and their go-to rider and Cervelo teamate Thor Hushovd, I'm easy with that because the common goal is a bunch gallop for Thor or Hagen and Britains Cav.
Picking Hunt is a clever move by Brailsford.

Obviously the Italians will start launching riders up the road from 200 K on so it will be very difficult for everybody though.

 

[maltiv]

Britains Jeremy Hunt can help out the Norway national team and their go-to rider and Cervelo teamate Thor Hushovd, I'm easy with that because the common goal is a bunch gallop for Thor or Hagen and Britains Cav.
Picking Hunt is a clever move by Brailsford.

Obviously the Italians will start launching riders up the road from 200 K on so it will be very difficult for everybody though.

Norway doesn't have anyone to help pull back the breakway. The guy who picked the team (Steffen Kjærgaard) is a completely ignorant genius who only checked results when choosing the 3. cyclist, so he chose Kristoff, a sprinter who can't climb at all and definitely can't stand the distance, instead of Arvesen or Nordhaug. He still thinks the course is flat, so he wanted to have a good leadout train... So basically that means Norway has 3 sprinters who will work for themselves only and not a single domestique.

 

[hrotha]

Norway doesn't have anyone to help pull back the breakway. The guy who picked the team (Steffen Kjærgaard) is a completely ignorant genius who only checked results when choosing the 3. cyclist, so he chose Kristoff, a sprinter who can't climb at all and definitely can't stand the distance, instead of Arvesen or Nordhaug. He still thinks the course is flat, so he wanted to have a good leadout train... So basically that means Norway has 3 sprinters who will work for themselves only and not a single domestique.

As an ex-pro at the highest level, I would assume Kjærgaard knows a thing or two about cycling. You can bring Nordhaug and hope he comes in 20th, or you can try to win the only way you can - in a reduced-group sprint. Norway only has three riders so they can't choose what kind of race there's going to be, but that's hardly Kjærgaard's fault.

 

[sublimit]

Norway doesn't have anyone to help pull back the breakway. The guy who picked the team (Steffen Kjærgaard) is a completely ignorant genius who only checked results when choosing the 3. cyclist, so he chose Kristoff, a sprinter who can't climb at all and definitely can't stand the distance, instead of Arvesen or Nordhaug. He still thinks the course is flat, so he wanted to have a good leadout train... So basically that means Norway has 3 sprinters who will work for themselves only and not a single domestique.

Yes i was a surprised Arvesen isnt there, also Nordhaug is a very solid rider and I would of picked one of those 2 if I was in charge of the Norwegian team.

Kristoff is wasting his time, maybe next year on a flatter coarse he can do something perhaps.

 

[maltiv]

As an ex-pro at the highest level, I would assume Kjærgaard knows a thing or two about cycling. You can bring Nordhaug and hope he comes in 20th, or you can try to win the only way you can - in a reduced-group sprint. Norway only has three riders so they can't choose what kind of race there's going to be, but that's hardly Kjærgaard's fault.

Exactly, that's why we should have brought Arvesen or Nordhaug, to increase the chances, if only a little, of making it a sprint. Kristoff, while being a talented sprinter, wouldn't even be able to follow the peloton in a completely flat 260 km course, simply because it is far too long for him.

Kjærgaard doesn't really know a lot about cycling. For example, Kjærgaard tried to call Arvesen while he was doing Eneco tour, to ask him how he was doing. Arvesen, who at that time was trying to prove that he deserved a spot in the worlds team by doing a great job for his team, was fairly annoyed to find out that Kjærgaard didn't even know he was racing the eneco tour. The following day Kjærgaard called him again, to ask him if he were home yet, although there was 3 days left of the race...

 

[Awolpe]

Im also a great cavendish fan- fact is when hes on form no 1 can touch him Dunno wats happening in vuelta but dont write him off for the worlds

First, I'm a Cav fan. I think the guy is humble, not arrogant - remember it ain't braggin' when its true, ya? Ok. He always thanks the team first. And, he's a kid, and just learning how to deal with fame - and fame is NOT easy. We have so many examples of fame being deadly, I won't list examples.

Now, I really hoped that he might stand a chance at the world's this year - just like the Milan San Remo where he shocked. But I gotta admit, seeing how he is suffering in the Vuelta - even tho I'm pretty sure the heat is taking as much toll as the mountains - I just can't think he really stands a chance over all those lumps in Oz.

So, I guess I'm gonna root for Cancellara. Not really his "type" of course, either, but I'm not currently "fanning" any riders the course suits.

Cheers;
Hiero