The Grand 2022 Wollongong UCI Road World Championships Thread, September 18th-25th

[Eeslliw]

Yes, it most of all about positioning. All favourites at that time let it happen yes, but good for Evenepoel that he seized that opportunity. It was perfect, but we never got to see the battle of the best riders. How could anyone deny that?

Stop all the bs that it was because Evenepoel dominated everyone and won that way. He never had to fight vs the best riders. It's as simple as that. That was most of all a failure of all the other best riders yes. Just like it was Evenepoel who earned the title because he saw an opportunity and took it.
Nobody is denying that Evenepoel deserved this title. It's just a shame it never was a real battle of the best and that made the race uninteresting and frustrating to watch for me personally. I'm sure if you are a Belgian it wasn't for obvious reasons, but so far only Belgians are claiming it was because of Evenepoels incredible power that he was in that group and that all other favourites were not able to follow him at that point. Come on.. please, don't lose reality.

Many of you are also underestimating lack of radios and impact it has on the race. For example most of the "sprinters"group that caught Tratnik even didn't know they are racing for medals. Remco was 2 minutes ahead when most of the riders in the peloton realised he is gone. It was game over at that moment.

 

[stekelegel]

Really surprised to see / read so many disapointed fans here. How many times have you see seen one rider dominate the worlds like this? I have watched the last 35/40 WC and can't remember another one.I have seen many where a favorite had his day and took a jump on the last climb and finished ahead of the bunch with some seconds. I have seen many where nobody was good enough to distance the other riders and some random fast finisher like frere got another title. Or where just some guy got lucky. On another day this could have been matthews, but is he anywhere near the rider Evenepoel is? Or Lutsenko? This was an incredible effort.
Also not everybody watched the first hours where the french rode real hard and murdered quite a few domestiques or just tired out a lot of riders early. Remco was not there. Van Aert and Pogacar were. But that attack was neutralised, so the french went again and Remco followed. I am sure many favorites and coaches realised the danger at once, but that no team had real forces to spare to organise a real coordinated chase knowing that they allready spent some forces and still had to keep something in the tank for the last tour. Still I saw the spanish, the germans, italians chasing but the other belgians kept up the tempo in the front group.
And if you listen to the interviews with other riders, active or retired, they are all in awe, amazed, baffled that he can do this. Nobody else does this on a regular base.

 

[Nick2413]

This was an outstanding performance by Remco. Scary actually. If he can bring this form to the next few seasons he’s going to dominate and can even challenge at the TdF.

Nobody else can come close to this level of dominance in these type of races. The 30 second gain other riders might be able to manage on high mountain stages in a GT is nothing compared to the 2-3 minutes he can gain on everyone on any classics style hilly or mid mountain stage, then add on the TTs, and he is going to be unstoppable. All comes down to being in this form at the right times and no bad luck. I was a bit skeptical of him prior to this year but I’m fully convinced he’s the man to beat at this point.

 

[dazaau]

things I missed during live coverage:

so going by that board, maybe the gaps weren't super accurate indeed

Frankly, that is all you really needed to know. They were doomed the minute they let him have a head start. Madness.

 

[The Hegelian]

Really surprised to see / read so many disapointed fans here. How many times have you see seen one rider dominate the worlds like this? I have watched the last 35/40 WC and can't remember another one.I have seen many where a favorite had his day and took a jump on the last climb and finished ahead of the bunch with some seconds. I have seen many where nobody was good enough to distance the other riders and some random fast finisher like frere got another title. Or where just some guy got lucky. On another day this could have been matthews, but is he anywhere near the rider Evenepoel is? Or Lutsenko? This was an incredible effort.
Also not everybody watched the first hours where the french rode real hard and murdered quite a few domestiques or just tired out a lot of riders early. Remco was not there. Van Aert and Pogacar were. But that attack was neutralised, so the french went again and Remco followed. I am sure many favorites and coaches realised the danger at once, but that no team had real forces to spare to organise a real coordinated chase knowing that they allready spent some forces and still had to keep something in the tank for the last tour. Still I saw the spanish, the germans, italians chasing but the other belgians kept up the tempo in the front group.
And if you listen to the interviews with other riders, active or retired, they are all in awe, amazed, baffled that he can do this. Nobody else does this on a regular base.

Yeah, I agree. To do it as a junior is one thing......

But to do it at the WC's is quite incredible; the Merckx-messiah has properly arrived, so it's good to appreciate this moment in history.

The writing was definitely on the wall after San Sebastian.

 

[tobydawq]

Really surprised to see / read so many disapointed fans here. How many times have you see seen one rider dominate the worlds like this?

I have no desire to see one rider dominate the worlds like this.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Haven't followed thread since medal ceremony. And holy moly, must be all time high in salty comments for a single race thread! Calm down, will you

I don't know if it's because this event has been my Christmas Eve since 1980 Sallanches that I'm more forgiving - it should really be the other way around, right?

It's probably more the fact that for worlds elite men road race, I enjoy every single detail, whether it's good or bad, whether there's havoc or whether nothing happens for an hour in-race. Then my nerves are electric anyway, and allways in a good way.

I'm a viewer since times before radio contact was introduced and enjoyed when every now and then there were tactical geniuses - in a time when patróns were patróns and water carriers were water carriers, it didn't happen that often, but actually I preferred the surprises, where the cunning tricked the less cunning.

Today, I can often laugh when today's riders have to act without radio contact once a year. Sometimes they are reduced to willful lemmings. Of which I react with laughter rather than resentment. The biggest laugh came when the 1st chasing group was caught up with 200 meters to go, even if it went beyond my countryman Skelmose, who himself thought he lost the silver medal (after the race, however, he didn't seem angry at all, but proud). Apparently laughed so loudly that both the wife and daughter came into the living room and thought I was watching a comedy. And I guess it really was.

Now I'm not nice to Skelmose and his companions, more of them stated that there was a miscommunication with the times, as they thought it was times down to the favorites and not up to Remco.

And so bad I don't think the favorites did it either. Given a contested route at crucial points and perhaps poor timings. In any case, it is the riders' responsibility to take the initiative themselves and not rely on the times as "radio contact".

But I am forgiving.
I dropped far too late into live broadcasting with 65km again after reading the news of MvdP's nightly 'pleasures'.

From there I enjoyed the race to the fullest and only with laughs and no frustrations.

It would have been a different case if no one took the initiative before 200 meters before the finish line.

But plenty of action for me in this years edition as what I've witnessed so far. Still lacks the first 190km part.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Did I not spend years reading people in these threads wishing someone would race and win with panache, rather than reducing the sport to a TV friendly dash in the last 500m?

Should all of those posts simply have said "I wish races could be won by someone from my nation/favourite team/preferred method of conducting interviews" ?

 

[tobydawq]

Did I not spend years reading people in these threads wishing someone would race and win with panache, rather than reducing the sport to a TV friendly dash in the last 500m?

Should all of those posts simply have said "I wish races could be won by someone from my nation/favourite team/preferred method of conducting interviews" ?

I never wanted that. I am a Valverde fan after all.

Remco is incredible but this is not a good trend for the sport in terms of entertainment value. If he can always do this, then cycling does not stand out from all other endurance-based, get-to-the-line-first sports.

 

[fox]

I never wanted that. I am a Valverde fan after all.

Remco is incredible but this is not a good trend for the sport in terms of entertainment value. If he can always do this, then cycling does not stand out from all other endurance-based, get-to-the-line-first sports.

I think it's great for the sport to have different kind of riders. It was also getting boring to see Roglic sprint away in the last 500meters to take the win and get some boni seconds. And you don't have to worry, Remco won't win everything he participates in. Far from it. They said the same about Pogacar last year and look at him now. He hasn't won anything significant since his amazing Strade win. Next year it probably will be different again. It was Evenepoels summer, but next spring there will be others on top.

 

[tobydawq]

I think it's great for the sport to have different kind of riders. It was also getting boring to see Roglic sprint away in the last 500meters to take the win and get some boni seconds. And you don't have to worry, Remco won't win everything he participates in. Far from it. They said the same about Pogacar last year and look at him now. He hasn't won anything significant since his amazing Strade win. Next year it probably will be different again. It was Evenepoels summer, but next spring there will be others on top.

If that's the case (and rationally, I think you're right), then it's fine. But man does he look invincible right now.

 

[Volderke]

Re-watching some decisive moments, it struck me that every time something was happening (something very decisive), the TV director suddenly switched to a heli-shot, a rock pool, the Wollongong watchtower, the back of the peloton where the lesser demi-gods were dropped while there was action in the front, switching to the peloton when Remco made his decisive attack, etcetera. (I must admit I loved the footage of the 2 humpback whales).

I have never seen worse decisions in a World's by a TV director, who clearly had no clue about bike racing.

 

[fox]

Re-watching some decisive moments, it struck me that every time something was happening (something very decisive), the TV director suddenly switched to a heli-shot, a rock pool, the Wollongong watchtower, the back of the peloton where the lesser demi-gods were dropped while there was action in the front, switching to the peloton when Remco made his decisive attack, etcetera. (I must admit I loved the footage of the 2 humpback whales).

I have never seen worse decisions in a World's by a TV director, who clearly had no clue about bike racing.

Vuelta was also really bad. It seems to me that only the French and Belgians know how to show a bike race.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

I have never seen worse decisions in a World's by a TV director, who clearly had no clue about bike racing.

I think it must be a Worlds issue; as the same has happened at MTB Worlds.....filmed/produced by the locals...and is usually worse. In an ideal world, the UCI would employ the people who cover TdF/Belgian classics to cover it. (FranceTV/ Sporza I think).

 

[search]

I think it must be a Worlds issue; as the same has happened at MTB Worlds.....filmed/produced by the locals

in the 2026 UCI bidding guide it says "The UCI will guarantee top level live television production at its own costs via its production partner. [...] some obligations related to TV production will remain the responsibility and costs of the Organiser and will be listed in the Organisation Guide (incl. power for Host Broadcaster, scaffolding, etc.)", so it don't seem to be the locals to blame (although they probably can make recommendations of how to show the country).

Earlier in this thread, someone said it was a Dutch company doing it in Wollongong.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I'm not sure that the race would be over so quickly if Masnada was there in top form. He knows Remco well

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think it must be a Worlds issue; as the same has happened at MTB Worlds.....filmed/produced by the locals...and is usually worse. In an ideal world, the UCI would employ the people who cover TdF/Belgian classics to cover it. (FranceTV/ Sporza I think).

Yes. These guys are by far the best at what they are doing. Guys that produced the Worlds, and even RCS, appear to be amateurs compared to these guys.

 

[Danskebjerge]

They said the same about Pogacar last year and look at him now.

Pogacar won a massive 500 UCI points in Canada just two weeks ago. That's like winning five Vuelta stages.

 

[Bolder]

I never wanted that. I am a Valverde fan after all.

Remco is incredible but this is not a good trend for the sport in terms of entertainment value. If he can always do this, then cycling does not stand out from all other endurance-based, get-to-the-line-first sports.

It's still a get to the line first sport...

To me long - range solos are just as exciting as a reduced sprint. I thought Moscon's doomed P-R escape was incredibly dramatic. Can you imagine if Remco ever does P-R and just rides away from Wout etc? We'd go bonkers.

Yesterday was a bit of a wet blanket because, as pointed out, he had a 2 minute head start on the big guns, but that's not his fault. If he had done that to Pog, Matthews, Wout etc it would have been thrilling.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Pogacar won a massive 500 UCI points in Canada just two weeks ago. That's like winning five Vuelta stages.

Canada races are fun but not that significant, please don't let UCI hipster points system fool you into thinking they are worth close to as much as a monument

 

[gregrowlerson]

That's the entire point. He goes so early and they all know he is able to follow through. So they all pee their pants and don't want to go with him so early because they don't know if they themselves will be able to follow through, so they wait hoping the bunch will hold him down. But when it turns out the bunch didn't/couldn't hold him down, they are screwed. But they all very well know the terms of the scenario. So the entire point of "they could have followed him" is completely moot. That's not what matters.

Logic is making a lot of sense.

"It is always logical for me to attack from long range at the very moment when my rivals domestiques are on their limit and their leaders still consider it too far from the finish to put their nose to the wind. It is logical for me to do that, and logic is my friend." - Remco Evenepoel, probably (hopefully one day in a press conference).

 

[tobydawq]

It's still a get to the line first sport...

To me long - range solos are just as exciting as a reduced sprint. I thought Moscon's doomed P-R escape was incredibly dramatic. Can you imagine if Remco ever does P-R and just rides away from Wout etc? We'd go bonkers.

Yesterday was a bit of a wet blanket because, as pointed out, he had a 2 minute head start on the big guns, but that's not his fault. If he had done that to Pog, Matthews, Wout etc it would have been thrilling.

I never said it was his fault.

And yes, I know it's a "get-to-the-line-first" sport, that's why I said that it usually stands out from other such sport due to drag resistance.

 

[Netserk]

So where does this edition rank?

I think it was far better than all the last lap editions. So that already puts it in the top-3 of the editions since the last time in Australia. I think last year was better. I should probably watch the Yorkshire edition again, as I don't recall much of what happened before Pedersen, Küng and Moscon went. Hmm, I do remember the troubles Gilbert had and that Evenepoel waited for him.

This is probably 8/10 then.

 

[tobydawq]

So where does this edition rank?

I think it was far better than all the last lap editions. So that already puts it in the top-3 of the editions since the last time in Australia. I think last year was better. I should probably watch the Yorkshire edition again, as I don't recall much of what happened before Pedersen, Küng and Moscon went. Hmm, I do remember the troubles Gilbert had and that Evenepoel waited for him.

This is probably 8/10 then.

In Yorkshire, you had the morning break with the likes of Roglic, Cort and Quintana (?).

You also had the plane who needed to get to the ground to fuel so there was an hour and a half with fixed cameras only. Please watch that too

 

[Netserk]

In Yorkshire, you had the morning break with the likes of Roglic, Cort and Quintana (?).

I remember that the part before the circuit was shortened with some climbs removed because of the weather (link), but it's from when they got to the circuit (which was when Gilbert had mechanical issues) and to the first successful attacks that I don't recall.