Team GB worlds nightmare

[ferryman]

I remember the days when no-one cared....

Seriously, what was anyone expecting??

A lot and at least someone finishing. Ask Cavendish how he is feeling about his day out in the rain.

 

[MatParker117]

As I said, the pool of climbers is short but come on...Rowe and Cav.

GB's strongest team on paper:
Froome
Kennaugh
Thomas
Cummings
Wiggins
Stannard
Cav
Rowe


Of that lineup Froome, Kennaugh & Thomas would probably be GB's best climbers.

 

[JRanton]

Thomas definetely should be there. He can climb. He was 15th in Dauphine, 3rd in hilly Tour Down Under and 30th in TdF 2 years ago.

He'd had three race days since the Tour after recovering from a fractured pelvis. And no he isn't suited to getting a result in a hilly one day race. Doesn't have any punch on short climbs like pretty much every British rider (Froome included).

The GB performance just highlights the lack of depth that they have in road racing. They only have 15 world tour riders and 3 pro-continental riders. That stacks up extremely badly against the other major cycling nations (Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia).

 

[JRanton]

No need to overreact, they had no form and the course didn't suit them. Geraint Thomas's ride at the tour and Stannard's display at MSR show they are no softies but without a chance, either individually or collectively, they rightfully called it quits. Thomas' lips were blue by the end which shows how tough the conditions were. The other countries coped better because they knew they had a decent chance of victory.

All the pre-race hype was just to keep the media happy. They were hardly going to admit beforehand that they had no chance and didn't believe in Froome's chances.

That's pretty much it, yes.

 

[JRanton]

I know people love to talk about tactics, and how some people are clueless, but this really isn't the race to indulge in that ********* new and original thought.

The race just came down to the 4 strongest guys, with a Valverde fail in to the mix. That was it. Everyone in a group at the bottom, and then the 4 strongest pulled away.

GB were crap because they didn't have the legs and motivation.

And even when they do have the legs and motivation (Froome at L-B-L) they're relatively crap because they're not suited to the race.

 

[JRanton]

I remember the days when no-one cared....

Seriously, what was anyone expecting??

I think the only slight surprise is that it was even worse than predicted. I had Froome being all alone with 50km to go and then being distanced himself when the action kicked off on the final two laps. I'm not sure anyone imagined them all being sat on the warm and toasty bus with 100km to go.

 

[42x16ss]

I think the only slight surprise is that it was even worse than predicted. I had Froome being all alone with 50km to go and then being distanced himself when the action kicked off on the final two laps. I'm not sure anyone imagined them all being sat on the warm and toasty bus with 100km to go.

That's it, if the last GB riders pulled out on the last two laps when things started to get really hot then we probably wouldn't have this thread. When there's no one left out of a team of 9 with 100km to go it's a totally different story.

This thread isn't specifically to bash GB, it's out of amazement that a country strong enough to qualify for 9 riders can barely make it to the third lap of the finishing circuit. If I was manager of the GB team I'd be fuming - surely at least one of Froome, Wiggins and Stannard should have at least made it to the second last lap. Thomas could be excused after his pelvis fracture, surely Millar could have been picked instead of Rowe or Cav.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Errr, Uran may not be the best example for your argument...

Errrr, actually he's a great example. He finished the race. After crashing hard.

Unlike the entire british team.

Look, the Brits have arguably the best climber, best sprinter, and maybe the best time trialist (or 2nd best). And none even finished the race. Disgraceful.

 

[Jelantik]

maybe it's just a simple as 275km in hard rain wasn't really their cup of tea. Everyone has their weakness. Even Froome can just dream to just finishing it.

 

[IndianCyclist]

He'd had three race days since the Tour after recovering from a fractured pelvis. And no he isn't suited to getting a result in a hilly one day race. Doesn't have any punch on short climbs like pretty much every British rider (Froome included).

The GB performance just highlights the lack of depth that they have in road racing. They only have 15 world tour riders and 3 pro-continental riders. That stacks up extremely badly against the other major cycling nations (Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia).

The fact that they didn't figure in the pre WC races clearly showed what was on the cards. Froome missed turns in the TTT means he didn't have the form. Wiggins was too heavy to climb. When the pool of racers is pretty less, it is difficult to keep form at the end of the season. Unless they exclusively focus on this race they are not going to win it. But all in all it was not a bad performance with Bronze for Sky and silver of Wiggins.

 

[Jelantik]

Who was the master mind that chose a bunch of rouleurs / sprinters to the hardest WC of the last decades? I know they don't have a large pool of climbers and puncheurs to choose from but Thomas, Stannard, Cav, Rowe was probably a bit too much. Other than that, choosing Wiggins expecting he rides for Froome, now that's just hilarious.

even Yates said that sky management knew nothing about cycling. Well if it's not sky management who made the picked, at least some of them are the member of british cycling?

wiggins won silver, why does he care riding for Froome? so he can win the word champion? Now, I see why it's hillarious

 

[GreasyMonkey]

maybe it's just a simple as 275km in hard rain wasn't really their cup of tea. Everyone has their weakness. Even Froome can just dream to just finishing it.

Perhaps they should spend more time training in their home country (wet, windy and cold) instead of Teneriffe.....

 

[rainman]

I remember the days when no-one cared....

Seriously, what was anyone expecting??

Not much in that weather. Once Wiggo quit perhaps the others thought what the heck aswell. The dawg must have been p**d with him after all the lavish praise. Maybe it boils down to the money, if theres not much on offer what's the point of risking injury and getting half frozen? Still thought there'd be a few blue and red jerseys in there at the finish though. Credit to the race long break, they owned it for me.

 

[sublimit]

Looking on the bright side - Britain do have a few youngsters that could possibly turn into decent Ardennes style riders and hence do better at the Worlds in the future - Edmondson, Yates brothers, Kennaugh and Alistair Slater perhaps.. Thomas and Stannard are more for the flatter cobbled terrain, though Stannard rode well last time to be fair to him with dragging JTL to the finish and also the MSR ride. Wiggins should never have started once it started raining.

 

[VO2 Max]

Wiggins should never have started once it started raining.

This really. His heart was never in it anyway, this Worlds was all about the ITT for him and I doubt he ever wanted to flog himself for 270km just for Chris Froome to get the glory, let alone do it in miserable conditions.

 

[RownhamHill]

The thing I really don't understand isn't so much that they failed utterly - as lots of posters have already pointed out what did anyone expect with the riders at their disposal (Wiggins track record hilly Italian courses in the rain, even when riding for himself, is not exactly impressive for example)? - but it's more why the hell were they apparently riding hard on the front for the first 100kms? Why not tuck into the bunch and conserve as much energy and team unity as possible, and let someone else (someone with a proper chance of winning?) do the work.

It does really show up the shallowness of the GB talent pool though - there really aren't very many riders to call on.

 

[forkboy84]

It really was a pitiful performance. Wiggins dropping out so early was a surprise to nobody, really the bigger surprise was someone thinking he'd ride for Froome. The questions about the tactics of the British team are absolutely valid, they just cannot race one day events because tactically Team Sky/Team GB (the terms are almost interchangeable) are dismally naive. It's fair to say that the course didn't suit the British riders (especially with Kennaugh at home & JTL withdrawn), but when Luke Rowe is your best choice for a replacement to JTL, that's baffling.

They do not know how to train for the classics, & they don't know how to ride them. Which considering the financial power behind the team, is embarrassing. What works at a GT (& yeah, winning the TDF 2 years in a row is impressive from Sky) does not work at a one day race, trying to control the race from the front right from the off was just against all basic logic. They clearly need outside help to correct the serious issues they have with riding the classics.

 

[sublimit]

I suppose the reason Rowe was brought in was because he was one of the few British riders to have ridden the Vuelta and perhaps had some miles in his legs.

Apart from Dowsett I dont know who else would of stepped in, maybe Thwaites but he's only a kid.

 

[B_Ugli]

It really was a pitiful performance. Wiggins dropping out so early was a surprise to nobody, really the bigger surprise was someone thinking he'd ride for Froome. The questions about the tactics of the British team are absolutely valid, they just cannot race one day events because tactically Team Sky/Team GB (the terms are almost interchangeable) are dismally naive. It's fair to say that the course didn't suit the British riders (especially with Kennaugh at home & JTL withdrawn), but when Luke Rowe is your best choice for a replacement to JTL, that's baffling.

They do not know how to train for the classics, & they don't know how to ride them. Which considering the financial power behind the team, is embarrassing. What works at a GT (& yeah, winning the TDF 2 years in a row is impressive from Sky) does not work at a one day race, trying to control the race from the front right from the off was just against all basic logic. They clearly need outside help to correct the serious issues they have with riding the classics.

Well said.

Sky = Lab rats
Uncontrollable race variable = system malfunction
Multiple uncontrollable race variable = system crash

I think that they collectively have "crash ruined season" paranoia. Steve Peters needs to get on the case!

The other thing is I don't get this macho heroic riding on the front they feel they have to do. The only thing that matters is crossing the line first - all they had to do was keep as many riders in the hunt for as long as possible, mark the moves in the finale and let the course and weather do the rest.

Winter training to do list for Sky = Long rides in the wet behind a derny

 

[willbick]

Its not really surprising that Sky dont do well in classic type races. They were born from the GB track cycling programme and so their strength is in preparing in a very controlled and regimented fashion, with all the power numbers and marginal gains and blah. With the Tour de France they can apply all this pretty easily coz its a pretty predictable, ordered race. Wiggins basically rode the 2012 tour like a 4000k team pursuit!

However, of course when it comes to classic type races with all the chaos and unpredictability of bad weather, cobbles, tricky descents, kamikaze riders, steep ramps etc etc, its a lot harder to apply the sterile scientific Sky approach successfully. I think just to say they are 'tactically naive' is a rather simplistic criticism. The fact is the whole Sky method is simply unsuited to this type of racing.

But there is only so much a team can do, u cant excel at everything and, as long as Sky win le tour every year plus a few other races they will probably take that.

P.s. i wonder if in future years le tour will include more classics style medium mountain stages in place of the big mountains to shake things up a bit? Wouldnt surprise me. I think the big mountain set pieces are becoming increasingly sterile and predictable

 

[del1962]

Well said.

Sky = Lab rats
Uncontrollable race variable = system malfunction
Multiple uncontrollable race variable = system crash

I think that they collectively have "crash ruined season" paranoia. Steve Peters needs to get on the case!

The other thing is I don't get this macho heroic riding on the front they feel they have to do. The only thing that matters is crossing the line first - all they had to do was keep as many riders in the hunt for as long as possible, mark the moves in the finale and let the course and weather do the rest.

Winter training to do list for Sky = Long rides in the wet behind a derny

Where would they find anywhere to do that in the UK?

 

[sublimit]

It seems to rain as much in Italy than Britain by the looks of things this year. they need less of the Azores climbing stuff in the dry and more wet Tuscany training behind a car where they most of them are based.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Well said.

Sky = Lab rats
Uncontrollable race variable = system malfunction
Multiple uncontrollable race variable = system crash

You got it perfectly right. Adding a virus completes it

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

maybe it's just a simple as 275km in hard rain wasn't really their cup of tea. Everyone has their weakness. Even Froome can just dream to just finishing it.

They didn't make it anywhere near 275km.

If cycling in the rain is their weakness, I would suggest maybe track racing would be more suited to their talents.

Maybe that's why Britain is so good on the track. Fear of rain. Because it doesn't rain much in Brit....oh wait.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Just look at the TeamGB faces here, not totally a happy bunch.

http://www.steephill.tv/2013/road-cycling-world-championships/photos/page-12/140-PIC400596190.jpg

(lamb's to the slaughter?)