Richmond 2015 World Championships, Sep 19-27

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

A Flanders-like course with Ardennes-like gaps. It's gonna be interesting.

Sagan ftw

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Ruined by the crashes due to rain on last lap

Maybe it wouldn't have been as good without rain.

Would have been better, too many hopes crushed by crashes in front of them

 

[ppanther92]

Großschartner finished 29th despite riding the whole last lap on the front, looks like Austria should have put their trust in him. Wachter finished 22nd and Gogl exploded when he tried to follow Ledanois.

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

A Flanders-like course with Ardennes-like gaps. It's gonna be interesting.

Sagan ftw

I'm fearing Matthews will take it. >_<

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

Wow what a finnish!

Horrible tactics by Kragh Andersen.

True, one lap too early, looked very strong and still finished 30th, but i think its a course where you have to go all in at the last hills.

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Wow what a finnish!

Horrible tactics by Kragh Andersen.

True, one lap too early, looked very strong and still finished 30th, but i think its a course where you have to go all in at the last hills.

You have to ride the last 4k as a hilly prologue. Sagan or GVA ftw. Maybe Stybar or Gilbert.

 

[JRanton]

GB with their usual tactic of using everyone up before the crucial point in the race which leaves your leader isolated for the most important moment.

 

[Avoriaz]

GB with their usual tactic of using everyone up before the crucial point in the race which leaves your leader isolated for the most important moment.

Doull was well placed, but got caught behind the fallen Belgian

 

[del1962]

Re:

Kudus is there but wt riders are not allowed. pretty lame

A few others pro conti including two of the podium

 

[JRanton]

What an absolute dump Richmond is btw. Those ridiculously long overhead camera shots on the final lap aren't doing the place any favours.

 

[JRanton]

GB with their usual tactic of using everyone up before the crucial point in the race which leaves your leader isolated for the most important moment.

Doull was well placed, but got caught behind the fallen Belgian

He still could have been placed much better, not to mention the fact that he'd have been outnumbered by the French and Italians even if he hadn't crashed.

 

[Fernandez]

If it rains it will be harder for the punchy kind of riders because they cant stand up on their bikes. If it rains the race can be for the Tour the Flanders kind of rider or for a sprinter. If it doesnt rain you can add the Ardennes kind of rider to the ecuation.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

A Flanders-like course with Ardennes-like gaps. It's gonna be interesting.

Sagan ftw

I'm fearing Matthews will take it. >_<

IMO Kristoff and Degenkolb can easily survive and they can beat Matthews in a sprint. The only way Matthews will win is if he follows of the stronger agressive roulers like GVA.

 

[Velolover2]

What an absolute dump Richmond is btw. Those ridiculously long overhead camera shots on the final lap aren't doing the place any favours.

It looked like an industrial wasteland. But it's at least more relieving to see that side of a city. Makes it more raw.

In the pronominal, they made Richmond look like a artificial, suburban hipster community.

 

[Flamin]

Thank god rain is predicted on Sunday. In dry conditions I expected Kristoff vs Degenkolb vs Matthews vs... but now anything can happen. Today just a few rain drops made the roads slippery so it could become very tricky if it actually rains.

 

[JRanton]

Just to continue my moan about GB, how on earth did Ellingworth et al think this course was suited to Cavendish and so much so that they built the team around him? FFS.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

A Flanders-like course with Ardennes-like gaps. It's gonna be interesting.

Sagan ftw

I'm fearing Matthews will take it. >_<

IMO Kristoff and Degenkolb can easily survive and they can beat Matthews in a sprint. The only way Matthews will win is if he follows of the stronger agressive roulers like GVA.

Matthews can definitely win, imo. Let's not forget he podiumed AGR this year.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

There is something funny about all this talk about getting "rid of" Degenkolb and Kristoff. It seems that people still don't get that these two guys are two of the toughest classics riders out there at the moment. They won in PR and RVV because they were the strongest rider in the race that day, not because they managed to barely hold on to a sprint.

Kristoff at RvV, yes. Degenkolb at PR, nope. He had no trouble following wheels, but that's all he did, and he didn't show to be the strongest. Still though, that's largely irrelevant; everybody else does HAVE to drop them if they want to have a chance, no matter how hard that actually is.

I have this the other way around, Kristoff was smart following Terpstra and got dragged to the line, without doing much but being smart, which is great, but still following a wheel. Degenkolb on the other hand was always in the perfect position on the cobbles at PR, which is in itself a strong achievement, and once he had to be active, attacked and closed down the essential gap alone. After that he didn't stop working, and after the group regained numbers played it smart. And rightly so.

Are you serious? lol
Just rewatch the last 30km and come back.

 

[Velolover2]

Anybody with a video of the U23 race? I'm so nerdy, I'd like to watch it on replay so I can study the course even further.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Re: Re:

There is something funny about all this talk about getting "rid of" Degenkolb and Kristoff. It seems that people still don't get that these two guys are two of the toughest classics riders out there at the moment. They won in PR and RVV because they were the strongest rider in the race that day, not because they managed to barely hold on to a sprint.

Kristoff at RvV, yes. Degenkolb at PR, nope. He had no trouble following wheels, but that's all he did, and he didn't show to be the strongest. Still though, that's largely irrelevant; everybody else does HAVE to drop them if they want to have a chance, no matter how hard that actually is.

I have this the other way around, Kristoff was smart following Terpstra and got dragged to the line, without doing much but being smart, which is great, but still following a wheel. Degenkolb on the other hand was always in the perfect position on the cobbles at PR, which is in itself a strong achievement, and once he had to be active, attacked and closed down the essential gap alone. After that he didn't stop working, and after the group regained numbers played it smart. And rightly so.

Are you serious? lol
Just rewatch the last 30km and come back.

Possible that I have it wrong, could be coincedent that I almost never saw him on the front when I looked at the screen. Was a little bit distracted back than, I almost never saw him working when I looked up. I'm not joking, it's just that my impression after that was that he didn't do much. If he was strong indeed, the better it is.

But my point on Degenkolb stands nonetheless. But that's a totally diffrent matter anyway.

 

[Pantani_lives]

It will probably be decided in the final 4K. A soloist would have a heavy disadvantage in those first 12K of the final lap. The parts between those three final climbs will be tactically important. The climbs by themselves are too short to create a meaningful gap.

I hope Emma Johansson wins the women's race. She would deserve it after two bronze medals and one silver in the past, and olympic silver too.

 

[TMP402]

I'd just like to take a moment to laugh at "Team GB". They never announced a ninth rider. They couldn't even give poor old Russell Downing or Adam Blythe a call. Why not be nice and call up a conti rider from a domestic team? I don't get the mentality. Wacky behaviour.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

A Flanders-like course with Ardennes-like gaps. It's gonna be interesting.

Sagan ftw

I'm fearing Matthews will take it. >_<

IMO Kristoff and Degenkolb can easily survive and they can beat Matthews in a sprint. The only way Matthews will win is if he follows of the stronger agressive roulers like GVA.

Matthews can definitely win, imo. Let's not forget he podiumed AGR this year.

Oh I definitely think he's a favorite. I personally just put him right behind the strong sprinters. I was pretty much saying I think Kristoff and Degenkolb are faster than Matthews, and I think Kristoff and Degenkolb will be there in the final, making Matthews just slightly less of a favorite.

Does anyone think I'm way off by saying the course is "relatively easy"? Watching the U23 race today, it just seemed like those hills were way to short. That's why I think it'll favor the strong sprinters.

 

[Velolover2]

That's why people are hoping for heavy rain, Jspear. It will make the course twice as hard and much more selective.

I was surprising that Governor Street looked like it was the hardest of the three. Boonen said so too.

 

[jaylew]

Watching that u23 race I'm thinking if it's dry and Kristoff is at or near Flanders form it's damn near a given.

Edit: Of course, that might be as rudimentary as 2+2=4