Richmond 2015 World Championships, Sep 19-27

[Taxus4a]

Van Avermaert is my favourite, he is the best clasicc rider i have seen last 15 years. he will be a good champion, but he need to ride with head

 

[Bushman]

Re:

Van Avermaert is my favourite, he is the best clasicc rider i have seen last 15 years. he will be a good champion, but he need to ride with head

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

Van Avermaert is my favourite, he is the best clasicc rider i have seen last 15 years. he will be a good champion, but he need to ride with head

Except Gilbert one year , Van Avermaet is the only one can be podium in the 5 monuments.

 

[hrotha]

he was unlucky too. Cofidis had money problems and he had to sign for Lampre during the season

Oh, they weren't money problems. The team stopped briefly due to Clinicky problems (stemming from Gaumont, if memory serves. They would later lead to Millar's bust).

Astarloa was allowed to leave and suck elsewhere.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

Rain forecast for the next days.
Especially hard on Saturday, but also quite good amounts on Sunday.

Yey!

Rain you said?

Let's hope Italy wouldn't ride for the sprinters alone.

 

[TMP402]

I like GVA and his style and I think he'd do better than most recent WCs in honouring the jersey for the following year, but I'm saying in a perfect world the next world champion ought to be someone with results that already make him absolutely world class. GVA has enough 2nds in cobbled classics, yes some wins in smaller races and a GT stage or two, but at the moment his palmares looks more van Marcke than Boonen. Basically I lament that Valverde, Nibali and Contador have never won, but Costa has. As for Kwia's palmares being less than GVA's, he has enormous potential and even in a terrible year this year won AGR.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Would they prefer a recognised rider who is visible in lots of races becoming WC so the Jersey is on show?
Or would they prefer a complete outsider to win? Even though the Jersey may not be visible
Or would everyone just prefer zubeldia to win?

I think there is almost no chance a nobody wins a race this long.
When was the last time that happened? Maybe 2000, with Romans Vainsteins? (although he's not really a nobody)

Romans had podiumed San Sebastián AND de Ronde that year, been top 5 at Amstel and Omloop, so he had proven himself adept at a range of classics. He was far from being a favourite, but he had a better Classics palmarès than Astarloa - though Astarloa having won Flèche perhaps made him more obvious to people.

If you'll allow the women, Marta Bastianelli is probably the last one you'd really consider. Otherwise, it's reasonable to say Óscar Freire when he surprised everybody by winning and even more by not doing it in a sprint in Verona in 1999; he was a 2nd year pro who'd spent most of the year injured. Of his 477 CQ points for 1999, 400 of them are for winning the Worlds, and he hadn't exactly set the world alight in 1998 either. Of course we now know Óscar was a big star and his name among the World Champions list is no surprise or shock to anybody... but in 1999 it was quite the surprise.

 

[hrotha]

But I feel the Flèche wasn't all that important at the time, as a non-World Cup classic that only bounced back when it was included in the Pro Tour. I mean, Astarloa beat Aitor Osa to that win.

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

A weakened Tony Martin is, while sad, a good thing for the Road Race if you want a break to survive.

He counts for having three extra helpers in the peloton for Degenkolb (and perhaps even Griepel)..

Oh god, don't remind me of the 2012 worlds where overwhelming favs Belgium had a super team and the German team decided to pull at the crucial stage to bring back the break so that Degenkolb could fight for a top 5

 

[BigMac]

Re:

I like GVA and his style and I think he'd do better than most recent WCs in honouring the jersey for the following year, but I'm saying in a perfect world the next world champion ought to be someone with results that already make him absolutely world class. GVA has enough 2nds in cobbled classics, yes some wins in smaller races and a GT stage or two, but at the moment his palmares looks more van Marcke than Boonen. Basically I lament that Valverde, Nibali and Contador have never won, but Costa has. As for Kwia's palmares being less than GVA's, he has enormous potential and even in a terrible year this year won AGR.

Purito would make more sense. I don't think Contador would be a deserving world champion. I'm not hating on him, but you have to have some respect for one-day racing to be worthy of the stripes.

 

[Sasquatch]

At the end of the day the rider that wins the World Championships deserves it. You can't fluke a win in a race like this. So it won't matter where the jersey is.

touché

 

[MotorRouleur]

U23 results - 2010 Australia

The Class of 2010 ...... scroll down, you'll recognize many current names.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-road-world-championships-cm/under-23-men-road-race/results/

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Rain forecast for the next days.
Especially hard on Saturday, but also quite good amounts on Sunday.

Yey!

Rain you said?

Let's hope Italy wouldn't ride for the sprinters alone.

Hopefully we get the crazy aggressive Nibbes - That'll bring lots of entertainment. Though if my some miracle he won, he'd better not ride the way he did this year.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Van Avermaert is my favourite, he is the best clasicc rider i have seen last 15 years. he will be a good champion, but he need to ride with head

Except Gilbert one year , Van Avermaet is the only one can be podium in the 5 monuments.

He is probably the most consistent and all-round classics rider in recent time but he hasn't won a single monument. Has he won a classic besides Paris-Tours? He is nowhere near Cancellara and Boonen for instance.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Van Avermaet's palmares is better than Kwiatkowski's was before last years race. Or Costa's before Firenze

Van Avermaet is everything that is so great about cycling: Fighting spirit, perseverance, determination, suffering, disappointment, coming back, never giving up, dedication.... Someone who races year round (you can count those on your 2 hands unfortunately) and gets a lot of smack when he loses but never complains and fully goes for it again the next race.
I don't really understand how one can be unhappy with him as a world champ.

Yes, well said. A Worlds victory would cap his best season ever beautifully.

Rain would be terrific - anything to help break the race apart. I'll be so disappointed if this comes down to a bunch sprint of 20+.

And to answer Happy Dude, I don't want to see a 2nd tier rider win unless he truly turns out to be the strongest rider on the day, which is unlikely.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

I like GVA and his style and I think he'd do better than most recent WCs in honouring the jersey for the following year, but I'm saying in a perfect world the next world champion ought to be someone with results that already make him absolutely world class. GVA has enough 2nds in cobbled classics, yes some wins in smaller races and a GT stage or two, but at the moment his palmares looks more van Marcke than Boonen. Basically I lament that Valverde, Nibali and Contador have never won, but Costa has. As for Kwia's palmares being less than GVA's, he has enormous potential and even in a terrible year this year won AGR.

Purito would make more sense. I don't think Contador would be a deserving world champion. I'm not hating on him, but you have to have some respect for one-day racing to be worthy of the stripes.

Indeed. Contador is no 1-day racer.
Allthough he will feature in Rio, no doubt.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Van Avermaert is my favourite, he is the best clasicc rider i have seen last 15 years. he will be a good champion, but he need to ride with head

Except Gilbert one year , Van Avermaet is the only one can be podium in the 5 monuments.

He is probably the most consistent and all-round classics rider in recent time but he hasn't won a single monument. Has he won a classic besides Paris-Tours? He is nowhere near Cancellara and Boonen for instance.

That's because he's more versatile. You can it with Sagan as well. Incredibly versatile and that in the makes them lose vs the specialist. Unfortunatey.
Gva is 1 of my favourite riders in the bunch because of all the reasons another poster said a few posts back. Always going for the win ....everywhere....anytime.

 

[jsem94]

Re: U23 results - 2010 Australia

The Class of 2010 ...... scroll down, you'll recognize many current names.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-road-world-championships-cm/under-23-men-road-race/results/

 

[Kwibus]

Forecast really looks fabulous

Exactly what this course needs. I'm afraid it's not hard enough to avoid a bunch sprint. Well atleast not to get rid of Kristoff, Matthews and Degenkolb. The climbs are nice, but simply way too short.
Rain and there will be a lot of it the upcoming 2 days if the forecast doesn't fool us will definately avoid a sprint. I'm convinced of that.

So cool! Too bad I got the night shift which means I have to leave for work when the final hour of the race starts....

 

[Jagartrott]

Saturday 45 mm rain expected (that's really a lot), 20 °C
Sunday 24 mm (still quite a lot), 21 °C

http://www.wunderground.com/us/va/richmond

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

This may or may not have had some influence on Tony Martin's performance:

https://igcdn-photos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/e35/11917868_1025664280830339_1147541849_n.jpg

Ouch.

 

[Kwibus]

This may or may not have had some influence on Tony Martin's performance:

https://igcdn-photos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/e35/11917868_1025664280830339_1147541849_n.jpg

Ouch.

He does that for every TT. He puts something on his sadle to prevent him moving out of his ideal TT position. It's crazy though

 

[Jagartrott]

I don't understand why he doesn't stitch the sandpaper to his pants (downwards) instead of like this. Seems way less painful with the same effect.

 

[jens_attacks]

freakin masochist. all my respect, crazy indeed.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Van Avermaert is my favourite, he is the best clasicc rider i have seen last 15 years. he will be a good champion, but he need to ride with head

Except Gilbert one year , Van Avermaet is the only one can be podium in the 5 monuments.

He is probably the most consistent and all-round classics rider in recent time but he hasn't won a single monument. Has he won a classic besides Paris-Tours? He is nowhere near Cancellara and Boonen for instance.

That's because he's more versatile. You can it with Sagan as well. Incredibly versatile and that in the makes them lose vs the specialist. Unfortunatey.
Gva is 1 of my favourite riders in the bunch because of all the reasons another poster said a few posts back. Always going for the win ....everywhere....anytime.

But then you mest agree that it's pretty ridiculous to call him the greatest classics rider in the last 15 years?