Hot racing coming up in Australia

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

So the little midget collected total of 425 CQ points ... the Giro winner will get 500

BTW my Aussie friends, if this race is so great, why only about 10% of the Top 50 riders showed up?

What a disgrace this race is. Riding in circles around some crap-hole in the middle of nowhere. Awful coverage, boring scenery, ... absolutely the worst event on the UCI calender for sure.

Complain, moan, whine...we get it, you don't like the race. Why do you feel the need to make multiple posts saying the same thing every year? And of course the Aussie fans are excited to see some of the top riders race in their country. Why the need for such negativity?

Not saying the points scale couldn't be tweaked a bit but your CQ point is completely misleading. You get 500 points just for the win but if you win stages and have the lead for some time (like Porte did) you can score WAY more points than that for a GT. Most GT winners wind up scoring much more than just the points for the win. I'd bet Froome scored well over 1000 at the Tour last year. Nairo probably scored something similar at the Vuelta. Nibs wasn't great til the end so he would have had far fewer.

Nibali has the record with 1520 points since Hinault. That was of course the Tour. Contador scored 1153 points in the Giro in 2011.

 

[Red Rick]

Still completely ridiculous distribution

 

[rehy90]

What do you guys think about Ondrej Cink? It was his first world tour road race, last year he was still a full-time mtb racer. 22nd overall, showed himself in the breakaway and he was the only one from Bahrain team who was able to be with his leader Visconti in the end of the hard stages.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

What do you guys think about Ondrej Cink? It was his first world tour road race, last year he was still a full-time mtb racer. 22nd overall, showed himself in the breakaway and he was the only one from Bahrain team who was able to be with his leader Visconti in the end of the hard stages.

Didn't realise that Ondrej Cink signed for Bahrain, because he was a very decent mtb rider, never the best but often in and around the top 10. Don't ever follow the tdu very much because of time zones, so didn't see him either.

He should be very good this year. I'd love to see him in Itzulia and the Ardennes, probably where he'll excel the most along with the early season cobbled classics and Strade Bianche. He'll probably be a dom most races, but useful nonetheless. Do you reckon Nino will ever make the switch

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re: Re:

What do you guys think about Ondrej Cink? It was his first world tour road race, last year he was still a full-time mtb racer. 22nd overall, showed himself in the breakaway and he was the only one from Bahrain team who was able to be with his leader Visconti in the end of the hard stages.

Didn't realise that Ondrej Cink signed for Bahrain, because he was a very decent mtb rider, never the best but often in and around the top 10. Don't ever follow the tdu very much because of time zones, so didn't see him either.

He should be very good this year. I'd love to see him in Itzulia and the Ardennes, probably where he'll excel the most along with the early season cobbled classics and Strade Bianche. He'll probably be a dom most races, but useful nonetheless. Do you reckon Nino will ever make the switch

Nino once did, he tried in 2014 while riding for Orica and rode the tour of Suisse and the tour of Romandie. Iirc his best result was eight in a stage in Suisse.

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

What do you guys think about Ondrej Cink? It was his first world tour road race, last year he was still a full-time mtb racer. 22nd overall, showed himself in the breakaway and he was the only one from Bahrain team who was able to be with his leader Visconti in the end of the hard stages.

One of my favorite moments of the race was when he got dropped from the break. It was funny how he got schooled by the big boys.

Otherwise good performance. Still not super convinced as those climbs were short and majority of the top climbers were missing.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

What do you guys think about Ondrej Cink? It was his first world tour road race, last year he was still a full-time mtb racer. 22nd overall, showed himself in the breakaway and he was the only one from Bahrain team who was able to be with his leader Visconti in the end of the hard stages.

Didn't realise that Ondrej Cink signed for Bahrain, because he was a very decent mtb rider, never the best but often in and around the top 10. Don't ever follow the tdu very much because of time zones, so didn't see him either.

He should be very good this year. I'd love to see him in Itzulia and the Ardennes, probably where he'll excel the most along with the early season cobbled classics and Strade Bianche. He'll probably be a dom most races, but useful nonetheless. Do you reckon Nino will ever make the switch

Nino once did, he tried in 2014 while riding for Orica and rode the tour of Suisse and the tour of Romandie. Iirc his best result was eight in a stage in Suisse.

Nino finished 8th on a hard stage with a reduced sprint behind the fron group and 9th in a bunch sprint, that was actually impressive.
The other MTBer who impressed me durning the last few years was Hermann Pernsteiner, a Marathon/MTB stage race specialist who was born in 1990, who finished 6th on gc in the 2016 Österreichrundfahrt, his 2nd stage race on the road after the Tour de Slovénie, a few seconds ahead of Brendan Canty. There are a few strong Marathon MTBers who could make it on the road.
Back to Ondrej Cink, he should be good in the kind of races that Brullnux mentioned, maybe he's a bit too light for the cobbled classics.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

the race budget was blown on Sagan's appearance fee to give it a veneer of prestige, otherwise it would've been Ewan, daylight

I don't think they paid him much.

IMO he was forced by Specialized, as a part of his new mega contract to show up.

It's just a vacation for him and his wife.

https://www.facebook.com/SBSCyclingCentral/videos/10154876166388427/

Specialized are an American company. What do they have to gain by sending him to the end of the earth?

Specialized sells pretty darn well over here. Australia isn't so cut off from the rest of the world that we don't know who the major brands are

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

Well, it's pretty obvious this race is the WT race most favourable towards riders from its own country. Not purposely, but it's gotta be the WT race with the least competition. It just so happens that Australia is a country with plenty of quality riders that would help them get a high country rank, but if not this event would almost solely guarantee them more riders for the World Championships.

Bingo. This, IMO is key. If the UCI got their act together and rewarded Colombian cyclings contribution with a WT race then the two could work together to create a block of well coordinated racing that more riders would peak for.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Based on what I have seen around here, the Aussies seems to be easily manipulated into believing the TdU is the greatest race therefore, it must be also very easy to brainwash them into buying the junk made by Specialized

What cycling fans from Australia on this forum is claiming that this is the greatest race on the calendar? I know I certainly don't but I don't understand the need to constantly can the race and claim it's the worst on the calendar which even you should know is false. I fully agree that the points awarded for the race is ridiculous but I also think the way the WT points system is set up is a complete shambles anyway and needs a complete overhaul. Its not the TDU's fault that the UCI decided to set up the points distribution they way it did so you can't blame the race for that, as a race it isn't a bad one but this years edition certainly was dull but tell me a stage race that delivers an exciting contest every year. The last couple of editions have been dominated by the local riders (most of them live overseas so can only really be described as locals thanks to an Aus passport) but this is only a recent thing and looking back over the stage winners and GC top 10 then the race has had a good mix of international riders winning stages and finishing top 10 in the GC since the race became WT. I do happen to be Australian but I'm far from nationalistic and don't get all excited when an Aussie wins a race nor to I feel attached to Orica-Scott, I don't feel the need to defend the TDU because it's an Australian WT race but will defend it on the grounds of it being a good early season race.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Still completely ridiculous distribution

Yeah like some of the comments on here that are repeated ad nauseum every January. Most people agree that the TDU is not the best stage race of the year and that the points system needs an overhaul but if it causes so much pain and suffering then people should watch CNN and listen to Trump if they think that is any better ! It seems the fact that Australians win in Australian races is like getting sand in the underwear for some people. I guess we are lucky that Gerrans didn't win again as some people may have started to self harm !

 

[sienna]

Re:

So the little midget collected total of 425 CQ points ... the Giro winner will get 500

BTW my Aussie friends, if this race is so great, why only about 10% of the Top 50 riders showed up?

What a disgrace this race is. Riding in circles around some crap-hole in the middle of nowhere. Awful coverage, boring scenery, ... absolutely the worst event on the UCI calender for sure.

Nice troll. 9/10

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

So the little midget collected total of 425 CQ points ... the Giro winner will get 500

BTW my Aussie friends, if this race is so great, why only about 10% of the Top 50 riders showed up?

What a disgrace this race is. Riding in circles around some crap-hole in the middle of nowhere. Awful coverage, boring scenery, ... absolutely the worst event on the UCI calender for sure.

Nice troll. 9/10

Recycling the material each year has robbed him of a perfect 10 IMO

 

[barmaher]

Who gives a sh!t about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

 

[vedrafjord]

You're not saying "let's fix the World Tour/points system", you're saying that a race that seems to be well run and attracts plenty of roadside fans and gets a couple of big names over every year and has no competition in the calendar shouldn't even exist.

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

You're not saying "let's fix the World Tour/points system", you're saying that a race that seems to be well run and attracts plenty of roadside fans and gets a couple of big names over every year and has no competition in the calendar shouldn't even exist.

Surely you know by now that the only elite level races should be in Europe

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

If this was the issue you have then why aren't you railing against the Asian and African races? You must be apoplectic that Eritrea got to send 6 riders to last years WC.

I do agree with 42x16ss, you would get a perfect 10 if the material you use wasn't so worn out, maybe next year you can step it up for us

 

[barmaher]

Re: Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

So complain about the UCI points then. And as mentioned by StryderHells, this race is not nearly the biggest problem when it comes to allocating places for the WC RR.

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

So complain about the UCI points then. And as mentioned by StryderHells, this race is not nearly the biggest problem when it comes to allocating places for the WC RR.

If you go a few pages back, or read any previous years threads, you will learn that I always said that this race should be downgraded to 2.1 instead of making this event a WT (or rather WT1 this year). Clearly, the only reason this race is a WT is to make it a mandatory race. The UCI and everyone else know that a very few teams would bother to show up if this was not a mandatory race. ... and that’s what I have been saying for years.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

So complain about the UCI points then. And as mentioned by StryderHells, this race is not nearly the biggest problem when it comes to allocating places for the WC RR.

If you go a few pages back, or read any previous years threads, you will learn that I always said that this race should be downgraded to 2.1 instead of making this event a WT (or rather WT1 this year). Clearly, the only reason this race is a WT is to make it a mandatory race. The UCI and everyone else know that a very few teams would bother to show up if this was not a mandatory race. ... and that’s what I have been saying for years.

Completely agree with this. I the main problems though is that it is too far apart from any other WT race. The next WT stage race is the end of february, and that's hardly a prestigious one. A top GC rider would have to be pretty stupid to peak for a race like this in mid-January so far apart from any other decent WT event, so the quality ends up being really poor. And they cant have it as a WT race at any other time of the year, because the logistics and travel demands on the riders, require a decent buffer around it.

The race would definitely be better scaling down and not being WT; it's the least competitive WT event by a long way and will always attract criticism as such. If it was a prestigious 2:1 race instead with the best local and Asian teams and with a few of the big budget WT teams it would be much more competitive - with much more riders actually targetting the event. And they could hold it in March or October then and get riders on a much better form curve. With some decent marketing it could be like an Australian version of Tour of California. Instead, you get a load of WT riders, who are all just there to get into shape. And you don't even get the best out of shape WT riders, just the out of shape B squad.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

So complain about the UCI points then. And as mentioned by StryderHells, this race is not nearly the biggest problem when it comes to allocating places for the WC RR.

If you go a few pages back, or read any previous years threads, you will learn that I always said that this race should be downgraded to 2.1 instead of making this event a WT (or rather WT1 this year). Clearly, the only reason this race is a WT is to make it a mandatory race. The UCI and everyone else know that a very few teams would bother to show up if this was not a mandatory race. ... and that’s what I have been saying for years.

Completely agree with this. I the main problems though is that it is too far apart from any other WT race. The next WT stage race is the end of february, and that's hardly a prestigious one. A top GC rider would have to be pretty stupid to peak for a race like this in mid-January so far apart from any other decent WT event, so the quality ends up being really poor. And they cant have it as a WT race at any other time of the year, because the logistics and travel demands on the riders, require a decent buffer around it.

The race would definitely be better scaling down and not being WT; it's the least competitive WT event by a long way and will always attract criticism as such. If it was a prestigious 2:1 race instead with the best local and Asian teams and with a few of the big budget WT teams it would be much more competitive - with much more riders actually targetting the event. And they could hold it in March or October then and get riders on a much better form curve. With some decent marketing it could be like an Australian version of Tour of California. Instead, you get a load of WT riders, who are all just there to get into shape. And you don't even get the best out of shape WT riders, just the out of shape B squad.

Well, the TDU was still getting the majority of Pro Tour teams when it was HC...

(Where it should be IMO)

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Who gives a **** about CQ points, why are they even part of an argument?

The CQ points are almost identical to UCI WorldTour points/rankings. As said before, WC participation is awarded based on UCI points.

So complain about the UCI points then. And as mentioned by StryderHells, this race is not nearly the biggest problem when it comes to allocating places for the WC RR.

If you go a few pages back, or read any previous years threads, you will learn that I always said that this race should be downgraded to 2.1 instead of making this event a WT (or rather WT1 this year). Clearly, the only reason this race is a WT is to make it a mandatory race. The UCI and everyone else know that a very few teams would bother to show up if this was not a mandatory race. ... and that’s what I have been saying for years.

Completely agree with this. I the main problems though is that it is too far apart from any other WT race. The next WT stage race is the end of february, and that's hardly a prestigious one. A top GC rider would have to be pretty stupid to peak for a race like this in mid-January so far apart from any other decent WT event, so the quality ends up being really poor. And they cant have it as a WT race at any other time of the year, because the logistics and travel demands on the riders, require a decent buffer around it.

The race would definitely be better scaling down and not being WT; it's the least competitive WT event by a long way and will always attract criticism as such. If it was a prestigious 2:1 race instead with the best local and Asian teams and with a few of the big budget WT teams it would be much more competitive - with much more riders actually targetting the event. And they could hold it in March or October then and get riders on a much better form curve. With some decent marketing it could be like an Australian version of Tour of California. Instead, you get a load of WT riders, who are all just there to get into shape. And you don't even get the best out of shape WT riders, just the out of shape B squad.

October wouldn't work as many riders finish their season in September or earlier, some don't even do the Worlds. March won't work either because of Paris-Nice, Tirreno and whatever plus the classics. No one is peaking in January even Porte obviously not Sagan and even Ewan is only so good now because Aussie riders use the Australian summer for a training block unless they want to train in the snow in Europe plus the National Road Championships are in January. I don't hear any team owners or managers grumbling about the travel to Australia or the riders for that matter even though some are surprised by the heat. The race needs some changes to mix it up course wise but if the UCI really wanted to dump it for a better race it would have happened already. It is a successful race unlike some of the races in China and other countries and it's the only time of the year it can realistically be held. School holidays, peak tourist season, off cycling season in Europe and it leads in to the harder races later in the season.

 

[swuzzlebubble]

Teams for Cadel's race - http://www.cadelevansgreatoceanroadrace.com.au/the-races/2017-mens-teams/

AUS: Lucas Hamilton (AUS)
Jai Hindley (AUS)
Michael Storer (AUS)
Cameron Meyer (AUS)
Cameron Bayly (AUS)
Scott Bowden (AUS)
Alexander Porter (AUS)

GreenEdge
Esteban Chaves (COL)
Simon Gerrans (AUS)
Mitch Docker (AUS)
Damien Howson (AUS)
Michael Hepburn (AUS)
Sam Bewley (NZL)
Luke Durbridge (AUS)

 

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Anyone going to watch Race Melbourne at Albert Park on Australia Day?

http://www.cadelevansgreatoceanroadrace.com.au/race-melbourne/race-information/