The Champion Of The World

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Generally quality riders win anyway .

 

[just some guy]

it is the title "world Champion". Winning Paris Roubaix does not carr the same weight universably as World Champion. in all sports world championships are competed in national teams You compete with your country men to acheive the goal. It is the history and the jersey.

Generally World Championships are very exciting races as it is the teams only compete together once a year on courses which are not familiar to most due to them being changed around a fair bit.

Not in all sports

many US team sports winners are called " World Champion " . ie baseball

 

[auscyclefan94]

Not in all sports

many US team sports winners are called " World Champion " . ie baseball

That's America. According to them they are the world. If they are not good at the sport they don't care about it so they don't really apply to my statement.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Well if you win that race, it means you've beaten all the best riders in the world.

Unlike other races, they will all be there unless injured.

nope, a lot of TdF GC riders don't give jack **** about it

 

[Rouetheday]

That's America. According to them they are the world. If they are not good at the sport they don't care about it so they don't really apply to my statement.

I followed the '91 Tour with a group of fellow Americans. After the stage into Aix-les-Bains, some of us rode around to the team hotels to see the mechanics at work, to marvel at the team buses, and, of course, to get a look at the riders coming in. At the ONCE hotel we all got excited when we saw the Aussie Stephen Hodge riding in- here was an English speaker we could maybe have a little chat with. He took one look at us and muttered to no one in particular but loud enough to be heard, "Bloody Americans".

.... and the horse you rode in on, Stephen!!

 

[auscyclefan94]

I followed the '91 Tour with a group of fellow Americans. After the stage into Aix-les-Bains, some of us rode around to the team hotels to see the mechanics at work, to marvel at the team buses, and, of course, to get a look at the riders coming in. At the ONCE hotel we all got excited when we saw the Aussie Stephen Hodge riding in- here was an English speaker we could maybe have a little chat with. He took one look at us and muttered to no one in particular but loud enough to be heard, "Bloody Americans".

.... and the horse you rode in on, Stephen!!

I shouldn't generalise about all Americans but I think it can often be like that in America. I found it amazing at the last olympics than the tv channels put America on top of China in the medal tally at the Beijing Olympics. Say no more!

 

[The Hitch]

Not in all sports

many US team sports winners are called " World Champion " . ie baseball

Also in wrestling the top dog is known as the world (heavyweight) champion

 

[Nielsa]

Not in all sports

many US team sports winners are called " World Champion " . ie baseball

Yes but that does not contradict what ACF94 said: " in all sports world championships are competed in national teams". Because being called World Champion is different from actually competing in a World Championship.

Not that this bothers me but this was pretty funny: I watch hockey and I once saw a US president congratulate the Pittsburgh Penguins as "World Champions" when they won the (NHL) Stanley Cup.

 

[abbaskip]

The nature of a final is that people have had to do something to get there. Of course I agree the world championship is special, but I don't think your counter arguments to the OP hold much water.

The point is, the final itself is just one match, this is just one race. What the best riders have had to do to be there is convince their national team - throughout the year - they're the best chance of victory.

Cycling is different than most sports because we don't do tournaments or leagues, so of course there is no Group stage, knockout stage etc in the World Championships. Just as there is no football match which goes for 21 days.

There is also no season long "League" in cycling. Yes, there is the Pro Tour, and ranking points etc, but it's not really a League where teams play each other or a Cup where teams knock each other out, like in other sports.

My point is simple: The World Championships is one race, like anything in cycling. The World Cup in those other sports comes down to one match (or to be even more comparable a series of 'one off' matches).

 

[abbaskip]

Since when do world championships crown world number 1s. In all sports, injuries, controversies, mistakes, other priorities come into play and the best might not win.

World Championship in most sports (and i stress the word sport before someone tries to tell me car driving has a world championship) is just a competition where individuals from around the world meet and represent their nations.

In competitions where there is a world ranking, the top dog does not always win the World Championship.

Exactly the point I was trying to make

 

[abbaskip]

Not in all sports

many US team sports winners are called " World Champion " . ie baseball

As someone has said above, being called "World Champions" isn't actually being a World Champion.

America have this habit of calling anyone that wins their major league a World Champion. eg. NBA World Champion, Stanley Cup World Champion, Superbowl World Champion, World Series Champion etc...

These titles aren't real world champions.

In basketball there is the FIBA World Championships where a national team wins the official World Championship title. In Ice Hockey, there is the IIHF World Championship. In Baseball there is the IBAF Baseball World Cup (as well as the World Baseball Classic which is more an equivalent of football's Confederations Cup), even in Gridrion there is the IFAF World Championship (which America didn't enter until the last two, which they won).

THESE are World Championships, and they're governed by the respective sport's international governing bodies.

 

[personal]

I really don't "get it". To me the "World Championship" just looks like another one day race done with National teams instead of trade teams. Why the hype? Its just a one day race, not a series, or true measure of any one rider's greatness.

Help me out please.

It differs to other races in a way that it is less professional in the sense that you do not race for a professional team in which you get sallary for it (it is not jour job), you (mostly) don't have team members picked by team owners to best fit in according to their abilities and you race for your country wearing national team jersey which is kinda special for almost everybody.

And, if you win, you get to wear realy cool jersey whole year afterwards.

 

[rickshaw]

Exactly!!

I assumed it was due to being heavily promoted by the UCI, as it was one of the few races organized by the UCI and their major source of revenue.

Now I feel smarter. The WC is a UCI race, of which there are not many. Getting it more amd more....

PS Ozi Ozi Ozi! Oi Oi Oi! did I say that right?

 

[jordan5000]

To those who are saying that the term "world champion" is an insult in many cases because that term is supposed to be used to describe the best riders overall, those who generally win the GTs and monuments should realize that there are plenty of awards given to the best cyclist for a year such as the velo d'or and UCI points champion.

 

[El Pistolero]

it is a bit of a spectacle, but a good one.

Most winners are deserved and usually hold up the honor as the worlds champ the following year. But that has not always been the case. Take for instance Igor Astarloa from 2003. He turned out to be a bust after his worlds title in the elite men's road race. Here's a list of the (about) past 20 Worlds elite men's RR winners:
1993 Lance Armstrong (USA)
1994 Luc Leblanc (FRA)
1995 Abraham Olano (ESP)
1996 Johan Museeuw (BEL)
1997 Laurent Brochard (FRA)
1998 Oscar Camenzind (SUI)
1999 Oscar Freire (ESP)
2000 Romans Vainsteins (LAT)
2001 Oscar Freire (ESP)
2002 Mario Cipollini (ITA)
2003 Igor Astarloa (ESP)
2004 Oscar Freire (ESP)
2005 Tom Boonen (BEL)
2006 Paolo Bettini (ITA)
2007 Paolo Bettini (ITA)
2008 Alessandro Ballan (ITA)
2009 Cadel Evans (AUS)
2010 Thor Hushovd (NOR)

Any others you see in that list who were not really deserving? Maybe Brochard.

Vainsteins, Olano and Oscar Freire(Italian feud thingie)

 

[El Pistolero]

Since when do world championships crown world number 1s. In all sports, injuries, controversies, mistakes, other priorities come into play and the best might not win.

World Championship in most sports (and i stress the word sport before someone tries to tell me car driving has a world championship) is just a competition where individuals from around the world meet and represent their nations.

In competitions where there is a world ranking, the top dog does not always win the World Championship.

Observe how Robles and Xiang the best 2 hurdlers in the world did not win the world championship because they took each-other out.

In cycling the world championship jersey is so prestigious because you get to wear the stripes for the next year. As such every race the world champion enters he is treated as a jersey holder.

an immense ammount of prestige in every race. To those who say its equal to Roubaix, i do not see this treatment given out to Johann Van Summeren.

In Athletics the best usually become WC(or they do a Usain Bolt) although the gap between the best usually isn't big except with Bolt, Sally Pearson and the Kenyan armada. You won't see many world records falling a year before London though. No surprise winners as well except in kogelstoten and tripple jump.