Mens Road Race: Suprises and dissapointments

[Anonymous]

Dissapointments:
- Spain: poor effort all being caught out like they were
- Cancellara: Not present att all in the race except when he was popped out the back
- Pozzato: yes he still came 4th but his tatics were average.
- Paolo Bettini: His selections were crap. not taking a sprinter was a big mistake.

Surprises:
- The aggression of the race
- Cadel Evans: He defended his title so well after injury, lsmall amount of race fitness and attacked so many times on a course which did not really suit him
- The Dutch: For a country who don't really have a sprinter or a real big leader like gesink here, I thought they rode an aggressive race, had riders in all the moves and caused some of the splits. Koos was amazing. Kroon was quite generous at the start by throwing some jerseys out to the crowd.

Ah yes, the ACF excuse machine cranking up. It was inevitable, and I am surprised it took you this long...

 

[hrotha]

Not to get in the way of some perfectly fine trolling, but Evans was great and certainly made things more interesting.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, now that I am done goading ACF, my real comment is that one should not be surprised that Thor won, nor the tactics he used to accomplish the feat. He had two other teammates. TWO. ONE of them was in a significant break that looked to be the winning break for some time. What was Thor to do, drop off of the back when the peloton came back because he didn't pull them up to a teammate? Not sprint for the win out of some stupid sense of fairness? Sorry a guy who worked hard from __________ didn't win. That is how racing a bike works many times. Thor deserved it as much as anyone.

 

[Anonymous]

Not to get in the way of some perfectly fine trolling, but Evans was great and certainly made things more interesting.

I agree completely...shhh...don't tell ACF.

 

[JA.Tri]

I was rapt with the effort that so many put into animating the race. I had hoped for Gilbert, Kolobnev, Evans, Sagan to feature. And most of them did, just not at the "paint".

It was exciting? to contemplate the possibility of the field being "lapped" before the race had even started. Gratifying to see that all riders were still in the race when the 2nd Geelong loop commenced. Great to see the escape survive for as long as it did.

The efforts were phenomenal! (Yeah just to repeat myself).

Had hoped to see more of FC animating...maybe later??

Disappointments were minor/bordering on petty, however the generator (for the giant screen) running out of fuel with a few laps to go was a downer. Fortunately refueling did eventuate a couple laps later!

 

[Anonymous]

Just watched it. Chuffed for Thor.

 

[theyoungest]

Best non-obvious performances: Van Avermaet, Hoste.

Disappointments: Spain. Freire deciding to follow Gilbert's wheel in the bunch sprint... Really? Didn't he know Gilbert had killed himself the last few laps? Of course he didn't.

Van Avermaet was great. How he still managed to get 5th in the sprint is beyond me. His work is certainly remarkable if you take into account his rather lukewarm relationship with Gilbert.

 

[sublimit]

I dont know what happened to The USA team, they seemed to fall apart. Van Garderen and Zabriskie early on were the only riders that turned up for them.

Goss, Sagan,The Velits brothers disappointing. The Italian team had so many great riders but fell over themselves.

The Japanese riders Beppu,and Arashiro and also Frank Schleck surprised how well they were going, they'll be dancing on the streets of Tokyo no doubt and they can now have a national holiday. Evans was impressive.

Obviously a few selection blunders in no McEwen, Bennati, Porte for their respective teams.

 

[joy118118]

TJVG and Poels surprised me. what happened to the Italian and Spanish? very disappointed.

 

[ultimobici]

Surprises
-Thor
-That it came back together

Disappointments
-That Gilbert was caught
-That Pozzato started his sprint too late
-That Cav didn't manage to make the selection

Bizarre that without radios the bunch caught the escapees. Had radios been allowed the Italians and Belgians would likely have thwarted the chase, perhaps?

 

[slcbiker]

Disappointments:
The US team...best they could do was 73rd? Why even bother.

 

[Parrot23]

Not really a surprise and maybe OT here, but Cadel's had a great year despite his grief at the Giro and Tour. He says:

"I get the feeling from (UCI president) Pat McQuaid and so on that they were really happy to have the rainbow jersey out in front in January at Tour Down Under, going for the pink jersey in the Giro or the yellow jersey in the Tour, and being there in the attacks in the final today – not that I was wearing the rainbow jersey today.

“But being up there in Classics and having a real presence with the jersey all year was, I think, a good way to honor it.”

Kudos to him! Rode a great race at WC. Hope he focuses on more one-day races.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010...he-rainbow-jersey-with-aggressive-ride_144414

 

[MadonePro]

Some people don't like watching 262 km races for a "sprinter" to win the race even though it was a darn good race.

I'd hardly call Thor a 'Sprinter', i'm sure we have all seen his abilities in the classics, and how he survives in the major tours and collects 'points'.

All the other events at WC 2010 ending up a similar way, everyone thought there would be a breakaway, and it wasn't for trying...

I think Thor was a little lucky, getting a lift back to the pack, but hey that's pro cycling, and you take the luck when you can. I'm surprised that Cadel didn't go for it after he caught Gilbert with 2 to go, but I guess he was as cooked as the others. It was interesting to say how the pack reacted when Cadel went there though, maybe if he'd left it another km he and Gilbert might have had a chance.

 

[Parrulo]

Surprise:

The Portuguese guy

i couldn't watch the race due to some problems.

what did a portuguese guy do?

 

[The Hitch]

i couldn't watch the race due to some problems.

what did a portuguese guy do?

Came 15th i think is all.

 

[hrotha]

Yep. It's like with the Japanese riders. "Whoooooo, Japan up there! Crazy!" Nevermind that Arashiro is a perfectly fine and established rider.

 

[hfer07]

as much i enjoyed the entire race, the only disappointment i could ever find was the sprint finish- which I knew it was the only possible outcome for the kind of parcours they were racing. Thor won it "his way" so be it and we'll see what impact has the rainbow jersey on him...

 

[Ferminal]

Spain and Italy the let downs. Sanchez x2 had to work to catch the 20 man split? Visconti and Nibali went all in at the wrong time...

I wish Gilbert won, he was the strongest. Is Evans in top form? He killed himself, but I'm not sure he's 100% race fit, lookout in Lombardy.

I would have preferred Breschel or someone similar to win in the sprint. I am indifferent towards Thor but he is a good cyclist... Not going to complain.

As an Aussie, Goss doesn't surprise me too much, Davis bronze is a good performance. If Haussler was here he would've eaten this race for breakfast...

 

[Old School]

I'm happy that Cavendich didn't win.

Its funny how I'm reading about how Thor didn't do anything but sit on, yet if Cav had won, he would have had the same strategy. Bias? Haha. Thor didn't need to attack or ride hard, he had a teammate in the break.

Geez people.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

I'm happy that Cavendich didn't win.

Its funny how I'm reading about how Thor didn't do anything but sit on, yet if Cav had won, he would have had the same strategy. Bias? Haha. Thor didn't need to attack or ride hard, he had a teammate in the break.

Geez people.

Well obviously if a sprinter was going to win, or a rouleur with a fast finish like Hushovd, they were not going to attack, but sit in the peloton!
No sprinter attacks four times and then sits up and then wins a sprint!
Welcome to pro cycling.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

i'm dissappointed with the overall result, that a rider who did so little for the entire race ends up winning

You are a Belgian right?
Remember Tom Boonen in 2005?

Hypocrite

 

[tgsgirl]

Van Avermaet was great. How he still managed to get 5th in the sprint is beyond me. His work is certainly remarkable if you take into account his rather lukewarm relationship with Gilbert.

Apparently they've kissed and made up. GVA says they'll never be best friends, but he realises there are races that he can never win but Gilbert can, and there's a mutual respect between the two.

 

[Praetor]

You are a Belgian right?
Remember Tom Boonen in 2005?

Hypocrite

Boonen doesn't win every race like that. Hushovd does.

The cobbles-stage in the Tour? Hushovd didn't do anything, that was all Cancellara, Schleck and Evans, Thor just hid in the back of the group.

Even his good results in Paris-Roubaix. He just follows Boonen, Cancellara or Flecha, Hushovd himself never attacks.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Hushovd himself never attacks.

Remember Tour 2009?
Remember how Hushovd secured the Green jersey?
Hm....Was that an attack? I believe it was...

 

[Praetor]

Remember Tour 2009?
Remember how Hushovd secured the Green jersey?
Hm....Was that an attack? I believe it was...

In what way was the Tour 2009 during Paris-Roubaix?

His wins are always in a sprint and his other significant results in big races (top 5 Paris-Roubaix) also don't involve a lot of offensive cycling.