• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Page 97 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Cycling isn't any other sport ffs, stop comparing. If you honestly think Canada is as important as Flanders, Roubaix, Lombardia, LBL or MSR you're dumb.

And if you really want to compare, do you actually think that anyone in Football cares about the Fifa ranking for example? No, they care about winning prizes, winning cups (the prestigious ones cause noone cares about the Nations League for example), not about winning as much friendly's or qualification matches as you can to get that number one spot. So no ranking system isn't the best objective measurement of importance, not in cycling and not in every other sport either.

This whole relegation/promotion thing has made the cycling community go insane. Noone cared about points and it was perfectly fine, now there's actually people thinking the UCI ranking shows you how good a rider or a team actually is. What a joke.

On the one hand I'm thinking "Woah, this dus needs to chill".
On the other hand I'm thinking "He's completely right though". :laughing:
 
No, but I would have expected him to care less for winning the sprint so far back now that he had been a pre-race top favourite. On the other hand, he might have given up early and let other teams do the work. As mentioned, I probably didn't watch the race back then or if I did then only the final part.

Okay, but it just sounded a bit as if you had forgotten who he outsprinted to win his first world championship in Salzburg.
 
The big group up front after Mount Kiera ought to be kicking themselves for letting a small group go clear while they failed to attempt to ride hard enough to stay clear of a peloton led by an average German team and sub par Spanish.

In retrospect the likes of Pogacar and Wout could have buried Evenepoel there and then but you can understand their reticence with over 200km left to ride.

France rode a really strong and aggressive race and instigated everything up to a fatal hesitation in not trying to follow Lutsenko and Evenepoel until the clear gap had been made. I doubt any of their front group riders had the legs to survive any better than Lutsenko did in that position but they should at least have been there.

Chapeau to Remco for a monster ride and an amazing way to round off a huge season.
 
The big group up front after Mount Kiera ought to be kicking themselves for letting a small group go clear while they failed to attempt to ride hard enough to stay clear of a peloton led by an average German team and sub par Spanish.

In retrospect the likes of Pogacar and Wout could have buried Evenepoel there and then but you can understand their reticence with over 200km left to ride.

France rode a really strong and aggressive race and instigated everything up to a fatal hesitation in not trying to follow Lutsenko and Evenepoel until the clear gap had been made. I doubt any of their front group riders had the legs to survive any better than Lutsenko did in that position but they should at least have been there.

Chapeau to Remco for a monster ride and an amazing way to round off a huge season.
Yeah, if France had believed in their own project and also had Alaphilippe and Cosnefroy in the Mount Keira group, that would have been the race.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lui98
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
 
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

Wollongong is the same size as Aarhus.
 
The big group up front after Mount Kiera ought to be kicking themselves for letting a small group go clear while they failed to attempt to ride hard enough to stay clear of a peloton led by an average German team and sub par Spanish.

In retrospect the likes of Pogacar and Wout could have buried Evenepoel there and then but you can understand their reticence with over 200km left to ride.
I doubt that very much. It was an interesting break, one that would definitely have gone clear in case we were talking about 80km or less to go. But with 230km to go, it was just never gonna happen. At no point did i feel like the race was being decided with that group. First of all, they would need to keep riding and cooperating for 230km. It would mean half of that group would be useless and dropped 100km down the line, with then still 130km to go. You would then have a small group with Pogacar, Van Aert, Mollema, Sivakov... who had already been riding hard for 100km, to now do the last 130km on their own, with little support. While in the peloton, Cosnefroy, Evenepoel, Alaphilippe, Girmay, Bettiol... would just be cruising in the peloton, led by the designated idiots who missed the break. Be it Spain, Germany. The gap would be kept manageable and even in the last 100k it could easily have come back together as by then it would have been clear that France could not rely on Sivakov, so they would need to chase. Their team alone would have been strong enough to reel back whatever would be left at that point of a group with Van Aert, Pogacar and Mollema.

This is a WCC. Not a classic. Riders don't have exact info. Riders don't want to get blamed in their home nation for not having tried to get the most out of it, at least putting up a fight. Why was Germany riding? Why was Spain? They came with basically a c-team and no real threat for the title. Even if just to have an alibi on camera "we did everything we could to correct the situation" they keep riding. How many times at a WCC haven't we seen a big group come back out of nowhere, thought to be out of contention, as the finish drew closer?

Let's be real here, if you take Evenepoel out of the equation, the entire group that had 2m30s with 30km to go, was still caught by the peloton. There was no way in hell that group was going to stay in front with 230km to go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sciatic
I doubt that very much. It was an interesting break, one that would definitely have gone clear in case we were talking about 80km or less to go. But with 230km to go, it was just never gonna happen. At no point did i feel like the race was being decided with that group. First of all, they would need to keep riding and cooperating for 230km. It would mean half of that group would be useless and dropped 100km down the line, with then still 130km to go. You would then have a small group with Pogacar, Van Aert, Mollema, Sivakov... who had already been riding hard for 100km, to now do the last 130km on their own, with little support. While in the peloton, Cosnefroy, Evenepoel, Alaphilippe, Girmay, Bettiol... would just be cruising in the peloton, led by the designated idiots who missed the break. Be it Spain, Germany. The gap would be kept manageable and even in the last 100k it could easily have come back together as by then it would have been clear that France could not rely on Sivakov, so they would need to chase. Their team alone would have been strong enough to reel back whatever would be left at that point of a group with Van Aert, Pogacar and Mollema.

This is a WCC. Not a classic. Riders don't have exact info. Riders don't want to get blamed in their home nation for not having tried to get the most out of it, at least putting up a fight. Why was Germany riding? Why was Spain? They came with basically a c-team and no real threat for the title. Even if just to have an alibi on camera "we did everything we could to correct the situation" they keep riding. How many times at a WCC haven't we seen a big group come back out of nowhere, thought to be out of contention, as the finish drew closer?

Let's be real here, if you take Evenepoel out of the equation, the entire group that had 2m30s with 30km to go, was still caught by the peloton. There was no way in hell that group was going to stay in front with 230km to go.

I agree with a lot of what you said and I too didn’t ever truly expect hat group to stay clear but I do think that if they properly committed then everyone behind would have had to ride this be tired themselves not cruising in the wheels as you allude to.

Too many people were in the mindset of most WCs of nothing decisive happening before the last 2 laps. Had they grasped the nettle of the ‘new racing’ we could have seen something revolutionary where you need to be switched on fully from km 0 no matter how long the race.

Do you really think the Germans and Spanish B/C selections could have kept that group in check if the lead group had ridden at 95%.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sciatic
I agree with a lot of what you said and I too didn’t ever truly expect hat group to stay clear but I do think that if they properly committed then everyone behind would have had to ride this be tired themselves not cruising in the wheels as you allude to.

Too many people were in the mindset of most WCs of nothing decisive happening before the last 2 laps. Had they grasped the nettle of the ‘new racing’ we could have seen something revolutionary where you need to be switched on fully from km 0 no matter how long the race.

Do you really think the Germans and Spanish B/C selections could have kept that group in check if the lead group had ridden at 95%.
If they couldn't then another team would have joined. And i meant cruising in the peloton for the first part of the race, which the ones in front would be unable to do.
 
Watched the last 75 km again.

struck by how “ordinary” Pog was on the day.

his one acceleration to try and get on terms with three laps to go triggered a bunch of riders simply coming by him.

on the last two mt pleasant climbs he was then convincingly gapped by WvA and others. He did come back to that group but ultimately had no effect whatsoever on the race. This, I did not expect (particularly after Montreal and arguably a better than usual result in the ITT).
 
I agree with a lot of what you said and I too didn’t ever truly expect hat group to stay clear but I do think that if they properly committed then everyone behind would have had to ride this be tired themselves not cruising in the wheels as you allude to.

Too many people were in the mindset of most WCs of nothing decisive happening before the last 2 laps. Had they grasped the nettle of the ‘new racing’ we could have seen something revolutionary where you need to be switched on fully from km 0 no matter how long the race.

Do you really think the Germans and Spanish B/C selections could have kept that group in check if the lead group had ridden at 95%.
I wonder if it might have played out a little different with that early big break if it didn’t so happen that Pogacar and Van Aert made that selection. The French might have been less eager to push on knowing that 2of the 3 big race favs (since MVDP was already out) were along for the ride, and perhaps didn’t anticipate that. I agree that the early French-led attack would not have stayed away till the end, but it might have lastest longer and shaped the race differently as riders behind tried to bridge. All I really know, however, is that it was very exciting for me to have that early split—because with the time zone difference I could for once tune in with 200km to go while still wide awake :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: hayneplane
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
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.
 
Watched the last 75 km again.

struck by how “ordinary” Pog was on the day.

his one acceleration to try and get on terms with three laps to go triggered a bunch of riders simply coming by him.

on the last two mt pleasant climbs he was then convincingly gapped by WvA and others. He did come back to that group but ultimately had no effect whatsoever on the race. This, I did not expect (particularly after Montreal and arguably a better than usual result in the ITT).
I certainly expected him to be much better but his forte is 15-30 minutes climbs not a 3-4 minute punch up the short sharp hills.
 
  • Like
Reactions: movingtarget
Valv.Piti :-
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.

Agree with the camera coverage which was cringeworthy, but no wonder Australians pull above their weight in the peloton. Most European races finish at 1:30am in Eastern Australia - we don't care.

If I see two bit no name towns in France, Italy or Spain do I care? No.

Few in Australia had heard about Mendrisio Switzerland until 2009 - a city of 15,000. Wollongong is a city (not suburb) of 300,000 located less than 100km south of the Sydney CBD. No. It's not a European sport anymore. Lemond should have taught you that.

There were good reasons not to like the race, Wollongong isn't one of them.
 
Last edited:
Valv.Piti :-


Agree with the camera coverage which was cringeworthy, but no wonder Australians pull above their weight in the peloton. Most European races finish at 1:30am in Eastern Australia - we don't care.

If I see two bit no name towns in France, Italy or Spain do I care? No.

Few in Australia had heard about Mendrisio Switzerland until 2009 - a city of 15,000. Wollongong is a city (not suburb) of 300,000 located less than 100km south of the Sydney CBD. No. It's not a European sport anymore. Lemond should have taught you that.

There were good reasons not to like the race, Wollongong isn't one of them.
Yeah well my dude, I knew that was a bit provocative, but that was how I felt about it. I couldn't really watch it and was only able to follow the men's race. Compare that to a normal Worlds for me and Im watching it every day after work. It just felt extremely off and at not point I was really engaged.
 
Yeah well my dude, I knew that was a bit provocative, but that was how I felt about it. I couldn't really watch it and was only able to follow the men's race. Compare that to a normal Worlds for me and Im watching it every day after work. It just felt extremely off and at not point I was really engaged.
Fair enough everyone has their own reasons. But I hope you can see my point. We are used to this.
 

TRENDING THREADS