Just wanted to voice my frustration at the first edition of the Velothon Wales, Britain's second 1.1 race after the London–Surrey Classic, and only one of four .1/HC races along with the Tours of Britain and Yorkshire.
The first problem is amateur organisation. Googling the event brings up numerous negative stories surrounding the organisers failing to consult local communities on the course. This is not good.
Secondly, the nature of the event, and the organisers' attitude towards it: there was a sportive before the pro race that got 10x as much coverage as the pro race, which the organisers seemed not to care much about, or have any information about. Their twitter account recommended following some British conti teams to keep updated. They even tweeted at one point: "Apparently the lead pack are almost certainly going to be caught. Ladies and gents, we're in for a sprint finish!" (https://twitter.com/VelothonWales/status/610114195271610368) How the hell does the event's own twitter account not know the state of the race, and need to rely on "apparently"? And it turned out the tweet wasn't even true, three breakaway riders kept a 50 second advantage to the finish! And this is another in the pattern of British races seeming to care more about token MAMIL involvement than actual racing.
Finally, the startlist. A 1.1 race in Britain ought to attract reasonable names. The London-Surrey Classic last year had teams including Sky, Cannondale, OPQS, BMC, Belkin, Orica, and Giant, and had riders including Swift, Stannard, Viviani, Bennett, Alaphilippe, Renshaw, Gilbert, ten Dam, Ewan, and the Yates twins. It came straight after the Tour de France, and wasn't the hardest ridden race of all time, but at least there were plenty of names for cycling fans to look out for. Velothon Wales is a different story. Despite being a sister race to Velothon Berlin, which has attracted good winners (Kittel x 2, Greipel, Kreder, Sinkeldam), Velothon Wales had a terrible startlist. I don't think I'm being overly harsh (http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Velothon_Wales_2015-startlist) on any of the others when I say Russell Downing, Ed Clancy and Ignatas Konovalovas were the biggest names there. And no offence to them but that's terrible for an inaugural 1.1 race in a developing cycling nation (a BRIC of cycling, if you will). Of course this is the situation you may be liable to face if you hold a race in the middle of two WT races (!). But that's not a good enough excuse. Another 1.1, Rund um Koln was held today as well and featured Boonen, Kittel, Hofland, Ciolek, Goss, and others.
The route was challenging, and included some climbs the Tour of Britain has apparently visited in the past. It could be a nice little one-day race in the future. But for 2015, the organisers blew it.
The first problem is amateur organisation. Googling the event brings up numerous negative stories surrounding the organisers failing to consult local communities on the course. This is not good.
Secondly, the nature of the event, and the organisers' attitude towards it: there was a sportive before the pro race that got 10x as much coverage as the pro race, which the organisers seemed not to care much about, or have any information about. Their twitter account recommended following some British conti teams to keep updated. They even tweeted at one point: "Apparently the lead pack are almost certainly going to be caught. Ladies and gents, we're in for a sprint finish!" (https://twitter.com/VelothonWales/status/610114195271610368) How the hell does the event's own twitter account not know the state of the race, and need to rely on "apparently"? And it turned out the tweet wasn't even true, three breakaway riders kept a 50 second advantage to the finish! And this is another in the pattern of British races seeming to care more about token MAMIL involvement than actual racing.
Finally, the startlist. A 1.1 race in Britain ought to attract reasonable names. The London-Surrey Classic last year had teams including Sky, Cannondale, OPQS, BMC, Belkin, Orica, and Giant, and had riders including Swift, Stannard, Viviani, Bennett, Alaphilippe, Renshaw, Gilbert, ten Dam, Ewan, and the Yates twins. It came straight after the Tour de France, and wasn't the hardest ridden race of all time, but at least there were plenty of names for cycling fans to look out for. Velothon Wales is a different story. Despite being a sister race to Velothon Berlin, which has attracted good winners (Kittel x 2, Greipel, Kreder, Sinkeldam), Velothon Wales had a terrible startlist. I don't think I'm being overly harsh (http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Velothon_Wales_2015-startlist) on any of the others when I say Russell Downing, Ed Clancy and Ignatas Konovalovas were the biggest names there. And no offence to them but that's terrible for an inaugural 1.1 race in a developing cycling nation (a BRIC of cycling, if you will). Of course this is the situation you may be liable to face if you hold a race in the middle of two WT races (!). But that's not a good enough excuse. Another 1.1, Rund um Koln was held today as well and featured Boonen, Kittel, Hofland, Ciolek, Goss, and others.
The route was challenging, and included some climbs the Tour of Britain has apparently visited in the past. It could be a nice little one-day race in the future. But for 2015, the organisers blew it.