UCI Road World Championships 21st-29th September 2019 - Yorkshire - Race Thread.

[Broccolidwarf]

Spain, Columbia, Australia and Slovenia are fighting for the 5th and 6th spot in Nations Ranking. Belgium, France. Italy and Netherlands seems to be a lock.
Only Top 6 Nations will have a full roster in the Olympics.

This mixed TTT has an impact in the Ranking.

But when is the cut off point?

Surely team size is not determined 10 months ahead of time?

Edit:

It is (almost), I just looked it up....... wow!

Nations ranked 1 to 6: 5 riders
Nations ranked 7 to 13: 4 riders
Nations ranked 14-21: 3 riders
Nations ranked 22-32: 2 riders
Nations ranked 33-50: 1 rider
Nations with an individual in the top 200: 1 rider.

But the cut off seems to be ranking by 27th October, so the world tour races after worlds also count.

So Poland and Switzerland are fighting for 13th spot as well, as is Canada, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Portugal for 21st.

 

[DNP-Old]

****: Quinn Simmons, Marco Brenner
***: Andrea Piccolo, Finn Fisher-Black, Antonio Tiberi
**: Lars Boven, Leo Hayter, Michael Garrison, Michel Hessmann, Enzo Leijnse,
*: Gleb Karpenko, Carlos Rodriguez, Hugo Page, Andrii Ponomar, Oscar Nilsson-Julien, Blume Levy

Simmons vs Brenner will be a battle for the ages. I'd be very, very, very surprised if the winner isn't either one of them. Form of the day will probably decide the outcome. Piccolo and Tiberi are in tremendous form, but, like I said, I think bronze will be the max in this. The odd guy out is Finn Fisher-Black. That guy is a damn phenom on the track and holds the world record on the IP with more than three seconds on Lev Gonov, the previous world record holder. He doesn't have as much experience, nor do we have any reference, but he'll be up there. He has to be. Lars Boven I'd have rated higher, but he hasn't been that good since the European Championships. Hayter, like Fisher-Black, doesn't have that much reference against the others, but I can't imagine him, or Nilsson-Julien, not being up there. Michael Garrison is Ian's younger brother, he is capable of doing some damage. Hessmann crashed in the European Championships, he'll be out for revenge. Enzo Leijnse, unlike Boven, is in good form. Very capable of a top 5-10. Gleb Karpenko has been up and down, whereas Carlos Rodriguez hasn't always been up to par in these type of races. Page wants a top 10, he can do that. Ponomar isn't exactly a specialist, but very talented. Blume Levy was always up there with Simmons and Brenner, but last time out he got beat by Gustav Wang, who isn't even a junior yet, in the national championships.

 

[Craigee]

it's a joke. No matter how one looks at it the mixed TTT is a joke. Stop playing round with a great sport UCI.

And what the hell is a World Cycling Center team doing in a National countries only event? They are idiots.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Haha, the Belgian coach is really doing a tremendous job with the selection of riders for the mixed team relay. In Alkmaar, he brings someone who afterwards admits he can't even sit on a TT bike. And now he brings someone who seems to be completely out of shape. What a fail. Frison, under normal circumstances the best ITT'er of those three, overboard after 10 minutes.

Apparently, he was sick, but they didn't have a reserve.

 

[Pantani_lives]

I'm surprises that the British didn't select their A-team. It might have been their best chance for a gold medal. (Although they're still doing well, I suppose with cyclists with a background in team pursuit?)

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Teams of 3 having much more difficulty staying as a compact aero group than teams of 8 do.

 

[postmanhat]

I'm surprises that the British didn't select their A-team. It might have been their best chance for a gold medal. (Although they're still doing well, I suppose with cyclists with a background in team pursuit?)

I think all of the men's team have ridden together for Huub Wattbike, who have beaten just about everyone in the team pursuit on the track. The frequency of turn-taking is more like that format than a traditional road TTT perhaps, with only 3 competitors

 

[Sestriere]

The finishing straight looks pretty tough... and perfect for Sagan if the race stays closed.

 

[Asero831]

The finishing straight looks pretty tough... and perfect for Sagan if the race stays closed.

There is no doubt the Ala, Gilbert and MVDP will drop Sagan at some point. It is up to the Italians and Australians to chase.

 

[Rollthedice]

There is no doubt the Ala, Gilbert and MVDP will drop Sagan at some point. It is up to the Italians and Australians to chase.

Where can they drop him?

 

[Naico]

Apparently, he was sick, but they didn't have a reserve.

Unless something changed between yesterday and today they did: Jonas Rickaert was on stand-by. Frison has been sick for days now. Not a very good look.

 

[sir fly]

So sorry for the Swiss girl.

 

[RedheadDane]

Poor Chabbey...
(Is that guy a boyfriend, or "just" a very good friend?)

And that way of showing the time is annoying!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I'm rather worried about the lack of protection on those stone bridges on a sharp downhill turn. I'd hope they have more on it when there are larger fields.

 

[KZD]

Dutch men smashed it.
The Germans were disappointing.

 

[tobydawq]

There is no doubt the Ala, Gilbert and MVDP will drop Sagan at some point. It is up to the Italians and Australians to chase.

No doubt? Uh, okay, the way he rode the Canadian races did not really suggest that to me...

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Gilbert dropping Sagan? LMAO

 

[Koronin]

But when is the cut off point?

Surely team size is not determined 10 months ahead of time?

Edit:

It is (almost), I just looked it up....... wow!

Nations ranked 1 to 6: 5 riders
Nations ranked 7 to 13: 4 riders
Nations ranked 14-21: 3 riders
Nations ranked 22-32: 2 riders
Nations ranked 33-50: 1 rider
Nations with an individual in the top 200: 1 rider.

But the cut off seems to be ranking by 27th October, so the world tour races after worlds also count.

So Poland and Switzerland are fighting for 13th spot as well, as is Canada, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Portugal for 21st.

I think it's end of season points.

However the Worlds ITT is one of the major determining factors in whether a team has 1 or 2 people for the Olympic's ITT. I think it's the first 10 riders (from different countries) get 2 riders for the ITT.

 

[tobydawq]

I think it's a bit arrogant of everybody just to laugh at the event that was held today.

I didn't care for it one bit either, but in all other endurance sports, the concept of a relay works quite nicely and I don't see why the same couldn't be true for cycling just because it's not something that has been done for a hundred years.

That said, I miss the trade team TTT and if a relay cannot generate more rider interest it is doomed to fail.

 

[Lequack]

Why not just have a separate TTT for men and women, you know like the other disciplines? Some countries have strong male TTers, some have strong women TTers, but very few have both so it will be always those few nations that would dominate the mixed TTT.

 

[Red Rick]

I think it's a bit arrogant of everybody just to laugh at the event that was held today.

I didn't care for it one bit either, but in all other endurance sports, the concept of a relay works quite nicely and I don't see why the same couldn't be true for cycling just because it's not something that has been done for a hundred years.

That said, I miss the trade team TTT and if a relay cannot generate more rider interest it is doomed to fail.

Honestly think it's less weird than having a trade team TTT.

On one hand I like the mixed relay, on the other hand I worry the concept will severely limit the amount of legit candidates for the victory.

 

[DNP-Old]

Brenner, Garrison, Leijnse and Tiberi all starting about two hours earlier than Simmons and co. Could have some impact if unforeseen rain drops.

 

[Koronin]

I haven't watched it yet. With the few countries that bothered to send teams and the large time gaps I can see less countries sending teams in the future as there are really only maybe 3-4 teams/countries that have a chance to podium let alone win. It seems that some of the countries can barely even find enough riders willing to even do this event. I'd prefer if they went when national TTTs for women and men instead of this mixed TTT relay.

 

[Angelo1985]

I think the course suits Evenepoel a lot. If he has one of his days they will all be dropped and he will arrive solo.

 

[tobydawq]

I think the course suits Evenepoel a lot. If he has one of his days they will all be dropped and he will arrive solo.

I don't think so. Not in the World Championships.