TDU race thread

[Gloin22]

If GE can't do a "Sky" at the Nats it will be extremely lol-worthy.

Porte says he is targetiing Aussie TT Nats early, and him being superior TT'er to the rest I don't think GE can get the TT win with Meyer or Bobridge. On Road yeah, though it will be hard, Sutton should be in good form, Haussler too. GE will be expected to do all the work, so I'd say the race will be open, not even comparable to Sky in UK.

 

[woodie]

What annoys me is that it isn't meant to be a team race so GE shouldn't be riding as a team, even though they will just as other teams have done in the past.

Hopefully the circuit plus hard racing will give us a worthy winner, whoever that may be

 

[Tuarts]

Not a team race? Have you seen any Nats before or the Nats of other countries?

 

[Richeypen]

Not a team race? Have you seen any Nats before or the Nats of other countries?

Did you read the post? He said its not meant to be a team race, even though the teams entering it treat it as such.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Did you read the post? He said its not meant to be a team race, even though the teams entering it treat it as such.

What is not meant to be and what is are two entirely different things. Anyway, I have no problems with riders working in teams. Makes the race more tatical and less of a 'free for all'. Only a handful of the field canreally win so having teams 'duke it out' tatically with teams divising plans is evidence of how cycling is a team sport and an aspect that makes cycling fun to watch.

 

[woodie]

Not a team race? Have you seen any Nats before or the Nats of other countries?

Read it again

Nationals is meant to be an individual competition but of course team mates help each other out. I have watched plenty of nationals and yes the teams race together, they just aren't meant to, its a rule that's overlooked, like no motor pacing

No need to be so condescending

What is not meant to be and what is are two entirely different things. Anyway, I have no problems with riders working in teams. Makes the race more tatical and less of a 'free for all'. Only a handful of the field canreally win so having teams 'duke it out' tatically with teams divising plans is evidence of how cycling is a team sport and an aspect that makes cycling fun to watch.

I agree with pretty much all of that but GE having something like 15 riders is crazy. Should be interesting to see how it pans out anyway

 

[will10]

Read it again

Nationals is meant to be an individual competition but of course team mates help each other out. I have watched plenty of nationals and yes the teams race together, they just aren't meant to, its a rule that's overlooked, like no motor pacing

No need to be so condescending




I agree with pretty much all of that but GE having something like 15 riders is crazy. Should be interesting to see how it pans out anyway

What planet are you on? I think you would struggle to name a single professional road race that doesn't involve team tactics.

 

[El Pistolero]

Read it again

Nationals is meant to be an individual competition but of course team mates help each other out. I have watched plenty of nationals and yes the teams race together, they just aren't meant to, its a rule that's overlooked, like no motor pacing

No need to be so condescending




I agree with pretty much all of that but GE having something like 15 riders is crazy. Should be interesting to see how it pans out anyway

That's not ridiculous, the ridiculous part is that there isn't another team out there that can field a team of at least 10 cyclists.

OPL had a team of more than 15 men this year at the Nationals and so did QS. But it's just the Nationals, it's not a big deal really.

 

[woodie]

What planet are you on? I think you would struggle to name a single professional road race that doesn't involve team tactics.

Ok, read my posts again where I say it's MEANT to be an individual competition but of course they race as a team. The point I am making, and read this carefully, is that the rules say its meant to be individual but I know that's not the case and that they race as a team.

Seriously people simple reading comprehension

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Not a team race? Have you seen any Nats before or the Nats of other countries?

to be fair he didn't say it wasn't a team race, just that it shouldn't be.

 

[El Pistolero]

to be fair he didn't say it wasn't a team race, just that it shouldn't be.

With one overly strong team, you might actually see people race as individuals. But with 2 or even 3 strong blocks team work will play a bigger role.

 

[Tank Engine]

I don't agree. They will be favourites, but it's not comparable with Sky. Sky have the best 10 english cyclists in their team, while GE doesn't have Haussler or Evans for example.
GE should win, but it's not the same as Sky in England.

Of the top three in the BRITISH nationals (I'm assuming that British is the appropriate term here, as e.g. in the Olympics UK citizens from N. Ireland are eligible for either the GB or Eire, but that might be a moot point), one was Welsh, one Manx and according to many here the winner was Belgian (although his claim to being English is reasonable to me).

Nationalistic rant over

As for national championships in general, the rule that says it is not a team race is obviously impossible to uphold.

 

[El Pistolero]

Of the top three in the BRITISH nationals (I'm assuming that British is the appropriate term here, as e.g. in the Olympics UK citizens from N. Ireland are eligible for either the GB or Eire, but that might be a moot point), one was Welsh, one Manx and according to many here the winner was Belgian (although his claim to being English is reasonable to me).

Nationalistic rant over

As for national championships in general, the rule that says it is not a team race is obviously impossible to uphold.

You can have him

 

[theyoungest]

You can have him

Yeah, there are more than enough great time trialists in Belgium...

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, there are more than enough great time trialists in Belgium...

You're only strengthening the argument that he's British you know.

How many Belgian talents ever train their time trialing in their U23 years? Practically no one because they don't care for time trialing. We just get more excited about one day racers and climbers. It's the way the cookie crumbles in Belgium.

 

[theyoungest]

You're only strengthening the argument that he's British you know.

How many Belgian talents ever train their time trialing in their U23 years? Practically no one because they don't care for time trialing. We just get more excited about one day racers and climbers. It's the way the cookie crumbles in Belgium.

Yeah, currently Belgium is literally teeming with great climbers... Vanendert and VDB are the only two I can think of. And the latter was mainly known in his youth as a... that's right. As a time trialist.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, currently Belgium is literally teeming with great climbers... Vanendert and VDB are the only two I can think of. And the latter was mainly known in his youth as a... that's right. As a time trialist.

Not saying we're teeming with great climbers, I said the Belgian crowds love climbers like the Schlecks(those especially for some reason), Contador, Pantani, etc

I would be lying if I said Belgians only care for the one day races.

 

[theyoungest]

Not saying we're teeming with great climbers, I said the Belgian crowds love climbers like the Schlecks(those especially for some reason), Contador, Pantani, etc

I would be lying if I said Belgians only care for the one day races.

But what's the difference with cycling fans in any of the other traditional cycling countries? Except for overrating cobbles riders, that is (a lot of whom are great time trialists, BTW).

 

[El Pistolero]

But what's the difference with cycling fans in any of the other traditional cycling countries? Except for overrating cobbles riders, that is (a lot of whom are great time trialists, BTW).

The training regiment of young cyclists in Great Britain and Australia is the big difference with traditional countries like Belgium. In Britain the average fan only cares about Olympic medals. The best place to get those medals for a country like GB is on the track. So, that's why a lot of young British cyclists are formed on the track which develops their time trial skills. Same goes for Australia.

In Spain, another traditional country, they don't care so much for sprinters and one day races. That's why most of their talent focuses on the climbing aspect of cycling. That's already a pretty big difference with Belgium.

Italy is the traditional country that resembles Belgium the most.

And if a lot of cobbled riders are great time trialists then why do Belgians suck so hard at time trials? Cobbled classics are practically dominated by Belgians.

And overrating the cobbles still beats ignoring every race except the Tour

 

[theyoungest]

I'm sure you see that the common denominator in those traditional cycling countries is that none of them cares much about time trialing. But on the whole, all of them are better at it than the Belgians.

So the fact that you don't care can't be it.

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm sure you see that the common denominator in those traditional cycling countries is that none of them cares much about time trialing. But on the whole, all of them are better at it than the Belgians.

So the fact that you don't care can't be it.

Does Spain have good time trialists? Does Italy? Spain has Contador and after that Lulu... He's so average that I can think of better Belgian time trialists.

And the reason why they might have better time trialists is because they're like 10 times bigger and have a bigger talent pool? Duh. Of course there's also a clinical denominator.

Actually, it's a fact that the best time trial specialists come from non-traditional cycling countries like Switzerland, Germany, Eastern-Europe, Great-Britain, Australia, etc

 

[Tank Engine]

Yeah, there are more than enough great time trialists in Belgium...

I'd take their TT champion any day though

 

[just some guy]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/de-gendt-tour-down-under-creates-platform-for-the-rest-of-the-season

Maybe reading to much into it but maybe 2 trains from V-DCM be cool seeing that in a single stage - sprinting could be fun to watch again next trains a plenty

 

[just some guy]

Don´t know if this has been posted

Santos Tour Down Under 2012 - Stage Previews with Race Director, Mike Turtur

 

[Cobblestoned]

How long ? 17th January
Oh man, thats more than a month. That'll be another hard month. I hate it.