Ponferrada 2014 World Championships, Sep. 21st-28th

[SafeBet]

I re-watched some of the race and honestly I can't fault the Spanish team much. They rode a solid race and wound up with a good result. Sure, they would have preferred a win and they may have played a few things a tad differently but you can pretty much say that after every race. Several riders played a role, they were active in crunch time and the race didn't end up in a sprint.

Say Kwiatkowski doesn't attack and there's the Valverde group with 7-8 seconds on the peloton on the descent.
Who works then? Gilbert?
Are we sure the peloton doesn't get back and it all ends in a bunch sprint?

My opinion is that Valverde has every reason to believe that with the hardest possible race he's the strongest on that final hill. And in that scenario Bouhanni, Degenkolb, Kristoff, even Gerrans are not gonna be able to get back after he attacks.

Spain once again not using its potential.

 

[hrotha]

Fortunately both Gerrans and Valverde are 34. Let's hope they don't find a successor.

 

[thrawn]

I re-watched some of the race and honestly I can't fault the Spanish team much. They rode a solid race and wound up with a good result. Sure, they would have preferred a win and they may have played a few things a tad differently but you can pretty much say that after every race. Several riders played a role, they were active in crunch time and the race didn't end up in a sprint.

Really? The only way Spain were ever going to win was to drop Gerrans. To do so, they needed to make the race difficult from a long way out.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Fortunately both Gerrans and Valverde are 34. Let's hope they don't find a successor.

There are plenty of candidates lined up, but they are still not quite as "good" at the defensive play as these two gents.

Modern race tactics caters for these type of riders.

 

[cineteq]

Really? The only way Spain were ever going to win was to drop Gerrans. To do so, they needed to make the race difficult from a long way out.

They didn't, yet they're happy the way they raced

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/worlds-rodriguez-puts-past-behind-him-and-allies-with-valverde

 

[jaylew]

Say Kwiatkowski doesn't attack and there's the Valverde group with 7-8 seconds on the peloton on the descent.
Who works then? Gilbert?
Are we sure the peloton doesn't get back and it all ends in a bunch sprint?

My opinion is that Valverde has every reason to believe that with the hardest possible race he's the strongest on that final hill. And in that scenario Bouhanni, Degenkolb, Kristoff, even Gerrans are not gonna be able to get back after he attacks.

Spain once again not using its potential.

Who works? Hopefully the same people that worked yesterday (no guarantee of course). We'll just have to disagree. I felt they rode a good race

Really? The only way Spain were ever going to win was to drop Gerrans. To do so, they needed to make the race difficult from a long way out.

There was no way Gerrans was ever going to be dropped on that parcours with the form he had.

They didn't, yet they're happy the way they raced

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/worlds-rodriguez-puts-past-behind-him-and-allies-with-valverde

As they should be. I think they rode a fine race. Not perfect, but solid.

 

[DFA123]

Fortunately both Gerrans and Valverde are 34. Let's hope they don't find a successor.

Why is Valverde lumped in with Gerrans? Valverde has lit up several races this year with aggressive racing (Roma Maxima, San Sebastian, a couple of Vuelta stages), which is more than the vast majority of riders on the world tour. Gerrans hasn't really animated a race in his whole career.

 

[BigMac]

Why is Valverde lumped in with Gerrans? Valverde has lit up several races this year with aggressive racing (Roma Maxima, San Sebastian, a couple of Vuelta stages), which is more than the vast majority of riders on the world tour. Gerrans hasn't really animated a race in his whole career.

When the hatred is so deep and inherent, it becomes difficult to see the light.

 

[Netserk]

Why is Valverde lumped in with Gerrans? Valverde has lit up several races this year with aggressive racing (Roma Maxima, San Sebastian, a couple of Vuelta stages), which is more than the vast majority of riders on the world tour. Gerrans hasn't really animated a race in his whole career.

How did he light up San Sebastian?

 

[Pentacycle]

Why is Valverde lumped in with Gerrans? Valverde has lit up several races this year with aggressive racing (Roma Maxima, San Sebastian, a couple of Vuelta stages), which is more than the vast majority of riders on the world tour. Gerrans hasn't really animated a race in his whole career.

This is not true. I remember he attacked on the Keutenberg in the 2009 Amstel Gold.

 

[hrotha]

Valverde is not quite as bad as Gerrans, that is true. My post still applies.

 

[MotorRouleur]

Kwiat's winning strategy was pretty simple, I'm surprised there weren't a few more who had thought of it: attack into the last "real' corner (onto the dam), which also happened to be wet. Most were thinking of Bystrom's (U-23) winning attack on the last climb with 5km to go, so they were in a waiting and looking mode. Many journalists also mentioned Kwiat's 'attack' came on the climb, at 6.8km remaining, but that's where he skipped past the weak, fading breakaway. The actual winning move came on the descent to the dam at about 8km to go (screen shows 7.8 for the breakaway). By the time the peloton was braking and backing up on the corner (led by a cautious Spainard), Kwiat was sprinting across the dam, launching towards the breakaway.

We'll never know how was the strongest, but we clearly know who was the smartest.

 

[Angliru]

Really? The only way Spain were ever going to win was to drop Gerrans. To do so, they needed to make the race difficult from a long way out.

With the form Gerrans has, how exactly were they to drop him? The route wasn't especially challenging enough to rid themselves of him. They put their leader in the best position they could have. Had he attacked at any time he would've been shadowed by everyone that had the legs to follow, that's what 4-5 podiums in the worlds will do. I'm quite sure he was one of a chosen few riders that was the focus of every team that had someone with a chance of winning.

 

[jens_attacks]

don't know if the smartest to be honest, he was just very strong and took huge risk

i've seen that turn on the descent and i really believed that the guy in red will overcook and crash for sure. what can you say, brave guy

 

[RedheadDane]

My overall reaction to this week:

"It's a good thing we have the girls!"

 

[DFA123]

How did he light up San Sebastian?

Well, he could have just stayed in the group of 4 and won a sprint at the line, but he attacked and went solo over the top of the final hill. Nothing massive, but more than nearly any other rider did in the classics this year.

 

[rantanplan]

Some nice photos of Ponferrada 2014

https://m.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.660786024041845.1073741844.459025150884601