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

[movingtarget]

Actually, the pros rode like lazy and uninformed pros. Now we hear complaints that the time board on the moto was not exactly accurate and the gaps were bigger than expected.

Most amateur teams don't have the benefit of radios and a DS in a car to robotize their strategy. They know if a strong guy goes you'd best get on that train or regret missing out. Every contender plus a dedicated teammate should have responded or quit b*tching about getting beat. Fans that didn't like the race should think back on how it happened.

Worlds races because of the timing already have a lot of tired legs especially on the harder courses where the dropout rate is high. Quite a few riders didn't even make the journey for one reason or another but some admitted they were already burnt out. Riders coming straight out the Vuelta probablyy have ther best prep with the short turnaround in racing. Matthews rode the Canadian races. Ii enjoyed the race. Belgium were the favourites and that result was no surprise. Thankfully the weather improved for the final event.

 

[Red Rick]

How many sports rely on artifical lacks of information for supposed action?

There's no reason the biggest championships should be stuck in the mid 20th century.

 

[movingtarget]

Don't really remember this edition very fondly. The race itself was okay, maybe even above average, but I wasn't really that excited and that goes for the whole event. It being in Australia in a place called Wollongong, in the middle of the night in Europe, a random suburb close to Sydney with minimal crowds in many events certainly didn't help. The camera work was god awful as well, the many riders who didnt attend and Van der Poel forced to DNF cause of two stupid girls.

Overall, one of the worst Worlds I can remember. I will remember Remco's victory, but the competition rode like amateurs IMO

Mendrisio is a village or small town, Wollongong is a city not a suburb, its 80 kms from Sydney. Some fans seem more peeved about having to watch the race at an unusual time and VDP only had to show some maturity instead of letting a few teenagers get under his skin. How many grand tours had great camera work this season ? The excess of pretty pictures and poor camera work has been creeping into the racing for quite a while now and lots of people were complaining about the poor TV direction in all three GTs this season. They can't even film sprints properly anymore. The UCI needs to address it otherwise they are going to lose more viewers. As for riders not attending, there were many reasons for that not just the travel distance. Some were injured or ill, some burnt out or had family issues and for others it was the costs re Ireland and NZ but Monaco and The Vatican fielded competitors. Go figure....... obviously some countries want to participate at the Worlds more than others. Even the USA expected some riders to partially fund their costs. Make of that what you will.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Mendrisio is a village or small town, Wollongong is a city not a suburb, its 80 kms from Sydney. Some fans seem more peeved about having to watch the race at an unusual time and VDP only had to show some maturity instead of letting a few teenagers get under his skin. How many grand tours had great camera work this season ? The excess of pretty pictures and poor camera work has been creeping into the racing for quite a while now and lots of people were complaining about the poor TV direction in all three GTs this season. They can't even film sprints properly anymore. The UCI needs to address it otherwise they are going to lose more viewers. As for riders not attending, there were many reasons for that not just the travel distance. Some were injured or ill, some burnt out or had family issues and for others it was the costs re Ireland and NZ but Monaco and The Vatican fielded competitors. Go figure....... obviously some countries want to participate at the Worlds more than others. Even the USA expected some riders to partially fund their costs. Make of that what you will.

Quite rightly the worlds are not held exclusively in Europe, but the reality is that many federations are desperately short of cash.
Even GB, who benefit from lottery funding, did not send a team to the Europeans to save money to enable support for the worlds.
I could be flippant and say The Vatican and Monaco are two of the richest nations in the world, although I doubt much of it is directed to cycling.

 

[Big Doopie]

Listening again to the coverage, Brian Smith calls every tactic incorrectly in terms of how it ultimately plays out.

Pretty funny.

 

[Oldermanish]

How many sports rely on artifical lacks of information for supposed action?

There's no reason the biggest championships should be stuck in the mid 20th century.

I'm not sure if you meant that the lack of information was artificial and intended or accidental? The counter to the direct DS /rider radio coms is that it can make for very robotic racing; but fatigue, lack of information or not the riders just didn't react.
The WC shouldn't be an opportunity for the UCI to reduce rider safety on courses that are unfamiliar and still have traffic hazards, either.

 

[movingtarget]

Listening again to the coverage, Brian Smith calls every tactic incorrectly in terms of how it ultimately plays out.

Pretty funny.

He needed race radio...........