Hot racing coming up in Australia

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

"Just as the People’s Choice Classic criterium serves as a non-UCI-classified curtain-raiser to the Santos Tour Down Under, so Race Melbourne will be a non-UCI-classified curtain-raiser for Cadel’s Race. And just as the same teams that race the Tour Down Under are obliged to take part in the People’s Choice Classic, so the teams of Cadel’s Race will take part in Race Melbourne."

Again, the teams are OBLIGATED to participate. What a pure BS! Riders risking their health for some fu..ing parade ride that does not count for anything.

How are the Aussies even able to get this accomplished when by the UCI rules, the WT riders are not allowed to do any unsanctioned races?

The UCI is the most corrupt organization and way worst than all the Russian organized doping etc.

There is a difference between being obliged to take part and obligated to take part. Being Obligated carries a slightly different meaning, which is to force someone (or a team) to do something. Being obliged can be just a moral favour or request.

 

[RedheadDane]

Even if the teams are obligated it doesn't mean that each individual rider is being forced. After all, it is entirely possible that the teams make agreements with the riders about what races they want to ride. Besides, if the teams are being obligated to ride TDU, then they are also being obligated to ride the GTs or the Monuments.

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Even if the teams are obligated it doesn't mean that each individual rider is being forced. After all, it is entirely possible that the teams make agreements with the riders about what races they want to ride. Besides, if the teams are being obligated to ride TDU, then they are also being obligated to ride the GTs or the Monuments.

There is a big difference between being obligated to ride monuments or some joke race in early January on the other side of the planet.

How dare you to even compare monuments that every pro rider would give his left nut to win with some sh*t race with no history and no interest from the top riders.

Those two words "monument" and "TdU" should never even be used in a same sentence.

 

[yaco]

Cadel Evans RR - Have no idea who will win the race - It's one of the attractions of the race - Anyone have an idea.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Even if the teams are obligated it doesn't mean that each individual rider is being forced. After all, it is entirely possible that the teams make agreements with the riders about what races they want to ride. Besides, if the teams are being obligated to ride TDU, then they are also being obligated to ride the GTs or the Monuments.

There is a big difference between being obligated to ride monuments or some joke race in early January on the other side of the planet.

How dare you to even compare monuments that every pro rider would give his left nut to win with some sh*t race with no history and no interest from the top riders.

Those two words "monument" and "TdU" should never even be used in a same sentence.

You're the one using the fact that teams are obligated to ride TDU as a reason it's a bad race. Well... they are also obligated to ride the Monuments, and the GTs, and every other WT race. And just like with every other race the riders who are being sent to TDU are quite probably not being forced. After all, you don't see a rider like Quintana ride Paris-Roubaix, because it's not his type of race. Nairo Quintana that is, didn't Dayer ride P-R once?
Basically, the WT squads have to send riders to a number of races, and then they - on overall - pick those riders who wants to ride those races. Especially this early in the season, not like any teams are yet in a situation where they have to send riders who may not want to ride, or is simply not the correct rider type, to a race due to a large number of injured riders.

Of course you can't compare TDU and a Monument, just like you can't compare Milan-San Remo and Giro di Lombardia. However, it doesn't change the fact that the overall rules for those races are the same; each WT team is required to send a squad.

 

[The Hegelian]

Re:

Cadel Evans RR - Have no idea who will win the race - It's one of the attractions of the race - Anyone have an idea.

Has been impossible to predict in its first two editions.....but also, impossible to control. No race radios, small teams, interesting parcours.

Now that it's World Tour, I'm sure it will be raced differently. I reckon: Rowe, Gerrans, Machado, Vakoc, Haas, Bakelants or Wyss.

 

[sienna]

I don't think we should be taking advice from Americans about cycling - the place has little discernible cycling culture, it is underrepresented in the upper echelons of the sport and every major achievement has a cloud hanging over it. :razz:

 

[movingtarget]

I don't think we should be taking advice from Americans about cycling - the place has little discernible cycling culture, it is underrepresented in the upper echelons of the sport and every major achievement has a cloud hanging over it. :razz:

I think you should say what you really mean !

 

[klmorgan]

I've sat on the sides for a while, and opted not to comment, however I've finally come to a point that Jancouver's comments have become annoying.
While you are entitled to your opinion about cycling in Australia, and can express it, you do seem to need a little history lesson.
While Liege-Bastonge-Liege is the oldest one day cycling race in the world - do you know where the second oldest one-day race is? That's right, in Australia - the Melbourne to Warrnambool!
Australia has a long history of cycling racing, with even the Herald-Sun Tour's history stretching back to 1952, and while some races come and go, like in any country, there are mainstays, which now start to include the Tour Down Under, as well as other national races.
Yes, it may be the start of the season, and you may not like that there is racing outside your comfort zone, the reality is the UCI have it right to have the start of the season in a country with a rich cycling history, where people do come out to watch, even the non-cycling fans, which is what we need, more and more people getting interested in the sport.
Even more importantly, in Australia, we have multiple TV stations involved in broadcasting - SBS who are the mainstays of television coverage of cycling; Channel 9 and Channel 7 the two biggest Commercial Free to Air stations; and Pay Television, and most of it is live coverage. Again another plus for promotion of the sport, as it is not relegated to late hours highlight packages.

 

[RedheadDane]

Funny, coz the impression I get from looking around on social media is that the riders actually quite like riding the race. Especially - in part - because they're "riding around in circles", bit of an advantage being able to stay at the same hotel for the duration of a stage race, wouldn't you say? And even if there are individual riders who really don't want to ride, then I hardly think they'll get their arms twisted behind their backs and forced to go the Australia.
You're saying that we can keep our race, then let us keep it! Stay out of this thread and let the rest of us enjoy the racing with the great coverage being provided.

 

[Jancouver]

Re:

Funny, coz the impression I get from looking around on social media is that the riders actually quite like riding the race. Especially - in part - because they're "riding around in circles", bit of an advantage being able to stay at the same hotel for the duration of a stage race, wouldn't you say? And even if there are individual riders who really don't want to ride, then I hardly think they'll get their arms twisted behind their backs and forced to go the Australia.
You're saying that we can keep our race, then let us keep it! Stay out of this thread and let the rest of us enjoy the racing with the great coverage being provided.

Yeah, its a vacation and training camp for most, that’s why they want to stay at the same hotel. Keep your race, just don’t force anyone to participate. If the race is so great and so popular, you don’t have to worry. I'm sure all those WT teams would come back anyway even if this was a 2.1 race ... yeah right.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re:

Funny, coz the impression I get from looking around on social media is that the riders actually quite like riding the race. Especially - in part - because they're "riding around in circles", bit of an advantage being able to stay at the same hotel for the duration of a stage race, wouldn't you say? And even if there are individual riders who really don't want to ride, then I hardly think they'll get their arms twisted behind their backs and forced to go the Australia.
You're saying that we can keep our race, then let us keep it! Stay out of this thread and let the rest of us enjoy the racing with the great coverage being provided.

There's a difference between liking a race and taking it seriously.
I think that's the main complaint: very few riders save the Aussies take this seriously as it's way too early in the season, but still it's on the same level as Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico as far as the UCI is concerned, where you have many more riders seriously going for it. That's just off.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

Funny, coz the impression I get from looking around on social media is that the riders actually quite like riding the race. Especially - in part - because they're "riding around in circles", bit of an advantage being able to stay at the same hotel for the duration of a stage race, wouldn't you say? And even if there are individual riders who really don't want to ride, then I hardly think they'll get their arms twisted behind their backs and forced to go the Australia.
You're saying that we can keep our race, then let us keep it! Stay out of this thread and let the rest of us enjoy the racing with the great coverage being provided.

Stop it, you're making too much sense! Really, you're wasting your time. It's like Libertine with Sagan, though at least LS' rants were amusing and interesting to read. Hopefully he'll go that route and eventually stop spouting the same stuff over and over but until then maybe the best thing for anyone wanting to avoid all his negativity is to put him on ignore for the month of January.

 

[Ricco']

I've done a bit of statistic ahead of the first two WT races of the season (using CQ points), here's some of the results:

Average Rider (in CQ Points):
Tour Down Under: 298.34
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 242.28

"The Average Riders" (riders directly above and below the average rider in CQ points):
Tour Down Under: Luke Rowe (315) & Oscar Gatto (294)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Tom van Asbroeck (246) & Leigh Howard (242)

Number of riders above the average rider
Tour Down Under: 44
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 35

Average Team (in CQ Points):
Tour Down Under: 2088.37
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 1695.94

"The Average Teams" (teams directly above and below the average team in CQ points):
Tour Down Under: Team Katusha - Alpecin (2328) & Team Sunweb (1898)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Trek - Segafredo (1710) & AG2R La Mondiale (1556)

Number of teams above the average team:
Tour Down Under: 7
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 7

Best Teams (in total CQ Points):
Tour Down Under: Bora - Hansgrohe (4506), UAE Abu Dhabi (3676), Orica - Scott (3348)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Team Sky (5052), BMC Racing Team (3047), Quick-Step Floors (2703)

Worst WT Teams (in total CQ Points):
Tour Down Under: Team LottoNL-Jumbo (856), Dimension Data (1203), FDJ (1363)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Team LottoNL-Jumbo (966), Dimension Data (1331), Bora - Hansgrohe (1428)

Worst Teams (in total CQ Points):
Tour Down Under: UniSA-Australia (376), Team LottoNL-Jumbo (856), Dimension Data (1203)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Korda Mentha Real Estate Australia (453), Gazprom-RusVelo (513), UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team (634)

Total Points:
Tour Down Under: 39679
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 30527

Best Riders (in CQ Points):
Tour Down Under: Peter Sagan (3307), Diego Ulissi (1574), Johan Esteban Chaves (1314), Richie Porte (1079), Baptiste Planckaert (1074)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Christopher Froome (2552), Johan Esteban Chaves (1564), Richie Porte (1282), Baptiste Planckaert (1084), Gianluca Brambilla (945)

Number of Riders above 500 CQ Points:
Tour Down Under: 22
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 15

Number of Riders below 100 CQ Points:
Tour Down Under: 36
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: 44

I'm planning to do this sort of thing for all the WT races and maybe to the .HC races as well. Ranking adopted is the rolling CQ ranking, i.e., the ranking which counts the points of a full year until the day the race starts.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Funny, coz the impression I get from looking around on social media is that the riders actually quite like riding the race. Especially - in part - because they're "riding around in circles", bit of an advantage being able to stay at the same hotel for the duration of a stage race, wouldn't you say? And even if there are individual riders who really don't want to ride, then I hardly think they'll get their arms twisted behind their backs and forced to go the Australia.
You're saying that we can keep our race, then let us keep it! Stay out of this thread and let the rest of us enjoy the racing with the great coverage being provided.

Yeah, its a vacation and training camp for most, that’s why they want to stay at the same hotel. Keep your race, just don’t force anyone to participate. If the race is so great and so popular, you don’t have to worry. I'm sure all those WT teams would come back anyway even if this was a 2.1 race ... yeah right.

Division 1 teams at the TDU prior to WT status:

2007 (HC): AG2R, CSC, Pedictor-Lotto, Credit Agricole, Milram, Bouygues Telecom, Unibet all sent full teams.

2006 (HC): Astana, Credit Agricole, Davitamon-Lotto, AG2R, Milton, Liquigas, Bouygues Telecom all sent full teams.

2005 (HC): Quickstep, Cofidis, Davitamon-Lotto, Credit Agricole, Lampre, Liberty Seguros, FDJ, AG2R all sent full teams.

2004 (HC): Domina Vacanze, FDJ, AG2r, Lotto-Domo, Quickstep, Liberty Seguros, Acqua e Sapone - full teams.

2003: Telekom, CSC, ONCE, Credit Agricole, AG2R, FDJ, Quickstep, Lotto Domo, Saeco - full teams.

For a new race without compulsory attendance that's not bad.

 

[Ferminal]

Ya, not sure why anyone would turn down a free holiday/training camp. I know some might have training reasons to be in Andalucia or Gran Canaria or the Highveld but I'm sure most would prefer it to the opening weekend in France. Even Qatar for all its undesirables is a few hard days training in between enjoying five star living at not your expense.

 

[Ferminal]

15 to 20kmh southeasterly. Right direction but not very strong, maybe a couple of teams interested.

Looks more easterly at the moment too.

 

[HelloDolly]

Anyone got an English speaking stream that works without VPN

 

[CTQ]

@HelloDolly here http://tiz-cycling.racing/live-stream/

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

@HelloDolly here http://tiz-cycling.racing/live-stream/

Thank You

 

[Jspear]

Re:

@HelloDolly here http://tiz-cycling.racing/live-stream/

Aye aye thanks...hadn't found one yet.

 

[42x16ss]

Nice race so far, this is over delivering again. Getting very aggressive.

 

[42x16ss]

Durbridge laying on the pain

 

[Jspear]

No where near as selective as earlier years.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

No where near as selective as earlier years.

It's been raced differently. They gave the break too much rope, at least they're not letting this go to a bunch sprint without a fight. Nobody wants to go up against Gerrans ATM.