The worlds is my favorite race but it's lost so much prestige in the past 2 decades with the copy/paste courses that favor the same type of rider over and over and over
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Have to agree with the earlier comments: this is such a lazy course design and such a hugely wasted opportunity. Even with the constraint of the Harrogate finish it did not take much imagination to come up with a vastly more interesting and testing route. They should have approached Harrogate from the west via Otley/Ilkley after a route out Halifax way. Once in a lifetime opportunity and they blow it. Idiots!
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It is about as bad as you could achieve in most of Yorkshire, though. Only if they put the circuit in York itself or Hull could it be less impressive. Even if they didn't want to go all cobbled mayhem in Halifax or Bradford and didn't want to go all puncheur-favouring, they could have had a circuit in Sheffield that was akin to the Krylatskoye Ring, because while it would be a shame to forgo all of the climbs around there that could make a really selective course, there's lots of short digs and steep repechos in the city where you could have a course where none of the climbs are more than 500m long but there's six or seven of them in a circuit, making it a war of attrition without explicitly favouring the puncheurs and also offering multiple platforms for attacking.Laplaz said:
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Glasgow had a much steeper shortish ramp to trouble the pure sprinters and both the European Games and Commonwealth road races benefited from bad weather that toughened the race which is a variable that cannot be relied upon.
Laplaz said:
This is the parcours. It's not sooo bad, a Classic specialist like Sagan or GVA to win. It's also similar to Glasgow this year.
Glasgow had a much steeper shortish ramp to trouble the pure sprinters and both the European Games and Commonwealth road races benefited from bad weather that toughened the race which is a variable that cannot be relied upon.
^ I just read that as "Glasgow had a much steeper Scottish ramp…"
Well... it was (still is) a Scottish ramp.
Well... it was (still is) a Scottish ramp.
Yeah, it sucks, but the distance is nice. I think only bad weather can safe this from being a mediocre Bergen-esque WC.
No worries, Belgium will rip the race apart, they can't wait for the sprint. With GVA, Naesen, Gilbert, Van Aert, Lampaert, Stuyven they have a brutal team for this course.
Slightly disappointed, but with narrow roads and tight turns on the final circuit, it’ll be interesting should the weather get bad.
At least Cavendish has declined enough to not tempt the organisers to give him an opportunity of a second title in his hometown.
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I know, but this course suits the classic riders better than Bergen, with many little bumps and turns. In Bergen they had bad luck with the weather and apart from that climb there was no point to put the hammer down. Oh, and I forgot Benoot, Wellens and Vanmarcke (and maybe De Gendt and Teuns).Gigs_98 said:
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They brought Boonen, who hadn't won a sprint in ages, to the sprint with Cavendish, who had dominated the Tour sprints.
Yeah, nah, I don't trust the Belgians to rip it up
Like how they happily went along to the slaughter in 2016?Laplaz said:
They brought Boonen, who hadn't won a sprint in ages, to the sprint with Cavendish, who had dominated the Tour sprints.
Yeah, nah, I don't trust the Belgians to rip it up
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Yeah, the Belgians weren't responsible for any sort of selection in 2016 at all...
I get the point regarding the finale, though, but without them, not much would have happened in the cross-winds (one of the most under-rated episodes of a WC of recent times).
But they must have learned a bit from that. And it was probably in order to appease Boonen in his last appearance.
Red Rick said:
Yeah, the Belgians weren't responsible for any sort of selection in 2016 at all...
I get the point regarding the finale, though, but without them, not much would have happened in the cross-winds (one of the most under-rated episodes of a WC of recent times).
But they must have learned a bit from that. And it was probably in order to appease Boonen in his last appearance.
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Mendrisio had a short circuit, and that was a great race. The problem is that 4 of 5 routes fits Sagan-ish riders, the classic riders with top sprinter qualities or the top sprinters with some classics skills. Sagan and Freire as the best examples. Hushovd, Kristoff, Boonen and Matthews other. This route next year will see Sagan, Kristoff, Viviani and Matthews as huge favorites.
Red Rick said:
Mendrisio had a short circuit, and that was a great race. The problem is that 4 of 5 routes fits Sagan-ish riders, the classic riders with top sprinter qualities or the top sprinters with some classics skills. Sagan and Freire as the best examples. Hushovd, Kristoff, Boonen and Matthews other. This route next year will see Sagan, Kristoff, Viviani and Matthews as huge favorites.
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Sagan would also have had a chance in Mendrisio. He was almost among the best in Firenze.
You can't label him like most others. He's just perfect for a race like the worlds almost no matter how it is constructed. Except that he doesn't have a team.
OlavEH said:
Sagan would also have had a chance in Mendrisio. He was almost among the best in Firenze.
You can't label him like most others. He's just perfect for a race like the worlds almost no matter how it is constructed. Except that he doesn't have a team.
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Sagan can't do everything.
It seems seems that way cause 80% of races fit his qualities.
Then why is Sagan nowhere to be seen in Liege?tobydawq said:
Sagan can't do everything.
It seems seems that way cause 80% of races fit his qualities.
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That's more a question of season planning than ability. He doesn't think he can maintain a decent level through to Liège and he wants to rest before going to California.
But if Greg and Matthews can get to the bottom of the climb in Ans, so can he, and if he can get there, he would be more difficult to beat than those two - if he is at his absolute best.
And now with a flat finish, it might be even better for him, since I definitely would not rule out Bala and Ala beating him in Ans.
Red Rick said:
That's more a question of season planning than ability. He doesn't think he can maintain a decent level through to Liège and he wants to rest before going to California.
But if Greg and Matthews can get to the bottom of the climb in Ans, so can he, and if he can get there, he would be more difficult to beat than those two - if he is at his absolute best.
And now with a flat finish, it might be even better for him, since I definitely would not rule out Bala and Ala beating him in Ans.
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Matthews couldn't finish s.t. as the winner in the sprint in Ans.
Sagan has shown he can do one 3 minute effort and be near the best. But he can't do 5 in one race.
Van Avermaet has made it to the first group in Ans once and got wrecked on the final hill.tobydawq said:
Matthews couldn't finish s.t. as the winner in the sprint in Ans.
Sagan has shown he can do one 3 minute effort and be near the best. But he can't do 5 in one race.
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