The New World Champion! Appreciation

[Ferminal]

it is not cav's fault that he is so blisteringly fast. maybe if some of the other riders were faster than they might have won. i don't see your point. if 80 riders come in together than MORE have a chance, not fewer.

When a big group contains Cavendish on a flat finish, very few have a chance. If a big group contains Gilbert on an uphill finish, even fewer have a chance. Yet a group of 20 rolling up to an MTF often leads to a surprise winner.

Sorry, all of them do have a chance but it is irrelevant, when the cumulative probability of these "chances" is smaller than the probability of Cav or Gilbert winning.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

What was stopping other teams coming up with their own ideas?

Too many teams let GB take the initiative - if you are not going to try and attack them then the team with the best plan will succeed, thats hardly their fault.

isn't it more that team gb was just too good and too unified? other teams did in fact try stuff. voeckler was off the front. hoogerland, et al. they just got crushed into submission.

it is pretty obvious to me that the ones on here complaining about the course are largely continentals who view the brits as interlopers in "their" sport. it is a fact that the traditional powerhouses came away with very disappointing results in the medal counts. spain i believe was empty handed. italy got i think one medal. gb dominated, followed by the aussies. it is a new world where the anglophones are becoming stronger and stronger. and the continentals don't like it.

so they try to undermine what britain has accomplished, which was astounding. aussies too. we yanks may have our day again soon.

i, for one, feel little sympathy.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

When a big group contains Cavendish on a flat finish, very few have a chance. If a big group contains Gilbert on an uphill finish, even fewer have a chance. Yet a group of 20 rolling up to an MTF often leads to a surprise winner.

Sorry, all of them do have a chance but it is irrelevant, when the cumulative probability of these "chances" is smaller than the probability of Cav or Gilbert winning.

true. only because cav is so fast. which is how racing works.

i agree. and i think you got my point. all of what you said supports that cav is a great champion.

we should all be celebrating and appreciating what we saw yesterday. not doing whatever it is that is going on here.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

But the point is, he should have a chance at becoming a World Champion.

On a parcours where other riders also have a chance at becoming a World Champion.
Which we didn't have in Copenhagen.

Cav beat Goss by less than a wheel length, and Cancelarra, a rider with no significant sprinting prowess finished fourth. It was an uphill finish that many said did not suit Cav. Where was Gilbert or any of the other puncheurs that many thought would take it? Cav had to come from behind not just riders but teams (didn't Gossy get a lead-out). To say other riders didn't have a chance is just absurd.

 

[danjo007]

isn't it more that team gb was just too good and too unified? other teams did in fact try stuff. voeckler was off the front. hoogerland, et al. they just got crushed into submission.

it is pretty obvious to me that the ones on here complaining about the course are largely continentals who view the brits as interlopers in "their" sport. it is a fact that the traditional powerhouses came away with very disappointing results in the medal counts. spain i believe was empty handed. italy got i think one medal. gb dominated, followed by the aussies. it is a new world where the anglophones are becoming stronger and stronger. and the continentals don't like it.

so they try to undermine what britain has accomplished, which was astounding. aussies too. we yanks may have our day again soon.

i, for one, feel little sympathy.

GB dominated? Australia dominated overall.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

GB dominated? Australia dominated overall.

how so? i know the aussies did well. but gb got a couple of golds a couple silvers, i'm too lazy to go back and count them up.

anyway, if the aussies did slightly better it still makes my overall point.

 

[auscyclefan94]

isn't it more that team gb was just too good and too unified? other teams did in fact try stuff. voeckler was off the front. hoogerland, et al. they just got crushed into submission.

it is pretty obvious to me that the ones on here complaining about the course are largely continentals who view the brits as interlopers in "their" sport. it is a fact that the traditional powerhouses came away with very disappointing results in the medal counts. spain i believe was empty handed. italy got i think one medal. gb dominated, followed by the aussies. it is a new world where the anglophones are becoming stronger and stronger. and the continentals don't like it.

so they try to undermine what britain has accomplished, which was astounding. aussies too. we yanks may have our day again soon.

i, for one, feel little sympathy.

well I don't agree with that statement. it is nothing about what posters view brits as. I have a lot of british routes (I don't mean that in reference to being a convict) as one of my parents is British. I have a close connection to the Brits. Spain, Italy, Belgium will still do very well in the sport but I think posters across the forum acknowledge that countries like Australia are becoming one of the real big 'super powers' in cycling. We are not undermining what the British accomplished. Congrats to the brits on here on what they have acheived in the past 12 months. PLease, come back from lala land as any fan can see that the course in Copenhagen was 1 dimensional and mundane and the race was boring. The attacks that tried to go off the front never really got a gap at all and had no chance because the course is so fast. Cancellara wouldn't have a chance getting away on such a course.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

well I don't agree with that statement. it is nothing about what posters view brits as. I have a lot of british routes (I don't mean that in reference to being a convict) as one of my parents is British. I have a close connection to the Brits. Spain, Italy, Belgium will still do very well in the sport but I think posters across the forum acknowledge that countries like Australia are becoming one of the real big 'super powers' in cycling. We are not undermining what the British accomplished. Congrats to the brits on here on what they have acheived in the past 12 months. PLease, come back from lala land as any fan can see that the course in Copenhagen was 1 dimensional and mundane and the race was boring. The attacks that tried to go off the front never really got a gap at all and had no chance because the course is so fast. Cancellara wouldn't have a chance getting away on such a course.

i guess if i were to read my own post and try to apply my basic reading comprehension skills, i would paraphrase it differently.

does reading comprehension spin the opposite way in the southern hemisphere?

 

[rhubroma]

Please tell the whole story.

For 290km, they were with the FOUR of 'em: Coppi, Kübler, Schulte and Van Steenbergen, the others were beaten, earlier on. Not a bunch of eighty, like yesterday. Schulte even had to drop out by the end. I can't figure out that Rik I never did his share of the workload when they were four. Cav never did.

Okay some are gonna tell me that it was another era. But you made the comparison, not me.

Ahh, but those were the days! And Coppi still made that race and was beaten in the end by the opportunist of the day. Not that that's blameworthy per say, just that had the course been harder Rik would probably already have been in the showers when Fausto won at the finish.

I think this is where the comparison should have been made, namely in the banality of the couses, which was my point.

 

[rhubroma]

So, the World Championships should also be decided on personality - perhaps the UCI could do away with the national seeding and hand out invites based on a 300 word essay, "Why I would like to be the World Champion".

As for Cav, you seem to ignore that he went on and finished MSR when he had the number 1 on his back even though he was not in top form and had crashed twice and that he participates in Flanders every year.

Nope, but I have never heard a more cocky and brazen athlete in my life. Not in the Hinault sense, but in the sniveling primadonna way.

So argue away, you won't convince me that he's a befitting World Champion, even if personality's really got nothing to do with it.

I just don't think he has the true athletic class to be a worthy Rainbow Jersey wearer, especially when we consider how he made it to the finish at Etna this year. Wink, wink.

I mean, in regards to Sunday's event, we're talking about a course that arrived in a sprint at which Cancellara finished fourth for Pete's sake! Cancellara fourth in a sprint at the worlds!

That says it all about the course.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Nope, but I have never heard a more cocky and brazen athlete in my life. Not in the Hinault sense, but in the sniveling premadonna way.

So argue away, you won't convince me that he's a befitting World Champion, even if personality's really got nothing to do with it.

I just don't think he has the true athletic class to be a worthy Rainbow Jersey wearer, especially when we consider how he made it to the finish at Etna this year. Wink, wink.
I mean, in regards to Sunday's event, we're talking about a course that arrived in a sprint at which Cancellara finished fourth for Pete's sake! Cancellara fourth in a sprint at the worlds!

That says it all about the course.

Cav made it up just like Ullrich did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwII3BjBZB4

 

[daveinzambia]

I just don't think he has the true athletic class to be a worthy Rainbow Jersey wearer, especially when we consider how he made it to the finish at Etna this year. Wink, wink.

seriously say what you like about the course and its suitability to choose world champion but not got the athletic class. come on you are stretching things a bit there.

he is clearly the best sprinter in his time. he clocks more miles a year than pretty much any other rider, he deserved to win this race because he was better and faster than anyone else the world chose to put against him.

and what on earth does mount Etna have to do with winning worlds

 

[spalco]

Thats kinda pathetic really, comparing guys who play team sports where individual positions are key. you seem to miss the point that those guys are crucial to their teams success whilst with Cavendish, the team is crucial to his success. They are in fact opposites. As for the Usain Bolt comparison, your having a laugh.

As I said before, all the Brits would be doing just as much complaining if Cavendish didnt exist. Hell, they did when Cipo won in 02.

Huh? Isn't that exactly the same as in cycling? Let's say Messi plays not for Barcelona but for Bolton - how many Champions League trophies do you reckon he'd win?

 

[soOpOSMthanks!]

This is the best part about this thread. Man, unicorns are awesome

 

[simo1733]

So anyway will next Cavs jersey be rainbow stripes on black?

 

[spalco]

This is the best part about this thread. Man, unicorns are awesome

Rainbow Dash is a Pegasus Pony, not a Unicorn.

 

[euanli]

Nope, but I have never heard a more cocky and brazen athlete in my life. Not in the Hinault sense, but in the sniveling premadonna way.

don't watch much sport huh? Cavendish wouldn't make it into the top ten of primadonna athletes currently competing. let alone ever.

 

[daveinzambia]

So anyway will next Cavs jersey be rainbow stripes on black?

with a rainbow pony on the back.

 

[euanli]

So anyway will next Cavs jersey be rainbow stripes on black?

Not allowed, jersey must be white

 

[Midnightfright]

Not allowed, jersey must be white

I don't think any team would tamper with that design anyway, its the one jersey to prestigious to have downplayed at all.

 

[euanli]

Vaughters threatened it last year, but I don't think he knew the UCI rules for the jersey. Worth a read if you every can't sleep at night.

 

[Midnightfright]

Vaughters threatened it last year, but I don't think he knew the UCI rules for the jersey. Worth a read if you every can't sleep at night.

Argyle stripes good god what a sadist!

 

[Cimber]

Not allowed, jersey must be white

Aye the rules about the WC jersey is much more strict than rules (or enforcement of rules) regarding national jerseys.

http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/g...bjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=NDE5NDk&LangId=1

 

[No_Balls]

The most boring race in the most boring Worlds of the century. But chapeau to Cav, the best sprinter of his generation.

 

[simo1733]

Not allowed, jersey must be white

I didn't know that.Lets hope he doesn't wear his skinsuit and bubble hat to often