Well Done Geelong!

[auscyclefan94]

I would like to congratulate the Geelong WC organisers for putting on such a great event. From the moment I stepped out off the train, the atmosphere was electric. The crowds were brilliant.

Though I must begin with the start. I had the italian and spanish teams ride right past me with Luis leon sanchez shake my hand. Then when I watched the start I got to see Cadel for the first time ever in real life. Wow! At the start I had Pat McQuaid, Matt Keenan, Phil Anderson, John Brumby (victorian premier) and Allan Peiper walk right in front of me. To see all the riders ride right past me only a few metres away who I watch with amazement all year round was a real great experience. When on the train it was great to see the race go by as the riders were riding by a field of some sort of yellow plant (daisies?).

When the first time the peleton went past I was amazed by the speed of the riders and how close I was to them.

Throughout the race, I was standing with people from Belgium, France and Italy. The comraderie and banter between the Australians and the other countries supporters was quite amazing. The spirit out on course with the amazing crowds was phenomonal.

Though it was pretty amazing to see Cadel ride right past me on mulitple occasions with the Crowd and I screaming at him to ride faster! I probably won't get to see him ride right in front of my eyes again but a great experience to see him ride in a major race in real life.

What topped it all off was what an amazing race it was. It was so aggressive with so many attacks and it was great to see the riders putting in 100% and going for gold. One of the best races i have seen so far.

I will post up an album later in the week of my pics out on course for you to see.

So I ask the posters out on course, what were your stories of the day and tv viewers, what were your opinions of the mens road race and championships overall?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Love watch cycling live, the friendliness and experience is unmatched.
Hoping to go down for the European spring next year or 12'

geelong did a good job, great weekend
I watched the men and u23 on the climb and the women at the finish.

 

[Saddlesaw]

What a fantastic week! I'm a local I guess as I live in Torquay and loved every minute of this event. We set up a marquee at the top of the Queens Rd Climb (the second one) and were there for all of the racing since Friday. Great spot!

As you say it was such a blast to see all the big names up close and in full flight. Some fantastic efforts today. I have to say Thor is a favorite of mine despite the fact that I was yelling for Cadel today. The Norwegian team are staying where I live and the party was winding up tonight! Well done Thor.

My wife and I are talking about travelling to Florence in '13 now!!

 

[Tuarts]

Yellow flowers was probably Canola, especially if it was in a paddock.

156,000 people on the course. Most in Geelong. Trumps all the Football code finals

 

[Jono L.]

That was awesome.

 

[Nick777]

I would like to congratulate the Geelong WC organisers for putting on such a great event. From the moment I stepped out off the train, the atmosphere was electric. The crowds were brilliant.

Though I must start with the start. I had the italian and spanish teams ride right past me with Luis leon sanchez shake my hand. Then when I watched the start I got to see Cadel for the first time ever in real life. Wow! At the start I had Pat Mcquaid, Matt keenan, Phil Anderson, John brumby (victorian premier) and Allan Peiper walk right in front of me. To see all the riders ride right past me only a few metres away who I watch with amazement all year round was a real great experience. When on the train it was great to see the race go by as the riders were riding by a field of some sort of yellow plant (daisies?).

When the first time peleton went past i was amazed by the speed of the riders and how close i was to them.

Throughout the race, I was standing with people from Belgium, france and italy. The comraderie and banter between the Australians and the other countries supporters was quite amazing. The spirit out on course with the amazing crowds was phenomonal.

Though it was pretty amazing to see Cadel ride right past me on mulitple occasions with the Crowd and I screaming at him to ride faster! I probably won't get to see him ride right in front of my eyes but a great experience to see him ride in a major race in real life.

What topped it all off was what an amazing race it was. It was so aggressive with so many attacks and it was great to see the riders putting in 100% and going for gold. One of the best races i have seen so far.

I will post up an album later in the week of my pics out on course for you to see.

So I ask the posters out on course, what were your stories of the day and tv viewers, what were your opinions of the mens road race and championships overall?

Love your passion..

I was actually feeling a little proud of my home state while watching today.

 

[HL2037]

ACF, thank you for your report! Now I am really looking forward to next year, when they will all come to Denmark!

 

[The Hitch]

ACF, thank you for your report! Now I am really looking forward to next year, when they will all come to Denmark!

Bunch sprint with breakaway never having a hope. Cav winning easy as was never in doubt.

 

[The Hitch]

Thinking over the race again i more and more think that it was destined to be a bunch sprint.

People like Gilbert and Cuddles and Italy did all they possibly could, killed themselves one by one. The race went the best possible way for the none sprinters but the bunch still came back to gether with 3km to go.

 

[HL2037]

Bunch sprint with breakaway never having a hope. Cav winning easy as was never in doubt.

I was thinking more about standing along the route and see riders I only ever see on TV go by.

And by the way, do not underestimate Geels Bakke! Matti Breschel ftw.

 

[Arnout]

Except for the national anthem, that was the fail of the day.

 

[Christian]

i only saw the last 5 km and there seemed to be very few spectators (when gilbert was still in front) so i was a little surprised at that. but maybe that was just a very fast section where you couldn't really see much anyways?

 

[thehog]

Where was everybody? At some points there was no crowd. It looked like a country Victorian B grade championships! I thought Aussies liked their sport?

 

[Tuarts]

Did you not read my post - there was 156,000 on the course...that's spread over 15km. Sheesh...

 

[hrotha]

We got a great race but I'm not sure if I should praise the organizers. Bad course, terrible TV production.

 

[Tuarts]

Well TV production...that's what you get when you give it to a station with no actual interest in cycling. You're a WUM if you think that was a terrible course.

 

[hrotha]

Well TV production...that's what you get when you give it to a station with no actual interest in cycling. You're a WUM if you think that was a terrible course.

What the hell is a wum, is it one of them silly Australian marsupials? The course wasn't terrible, it was bad. Even if you think the distance from the last hill to the finish line wasn't excessive, there's still the issue of the long, straight, wide roads where you can just chill for half a lap. Bad positioning wasn't much of an issue.

 

[JA.Tri]

Crowds

Watched both U23 and Men's Elite RR.

We were based in Queen's Park, bottom of 2nd climb. The crowd just by the bridge was approx 2,000...surely you heard the cheering . Yes, there were few spectators on sections of the seafront but on the climbs it was jam packed.

The weather was superbe for spectating, light breeze 20C, probably testing for the cyclists though!

Not sure that a group sprint was inevitable from the start. However the wind together with distance from top of second climb to finish, and lack of cooperation between the leaders at the top of the climb, conspired to provide the finish we saw.

From my view, the continually changing complexion of the race made for compelling viewing. Excellent event. Speaking with one eye firmly tied behind my back, I hope the WC returns to the Southern Hemisphere/Australia/New Zealand in the not too distant future.

Family, friends, strangers met (and me): enjoyed the weekend immensely.

 

[Signor Corleone]

Signor Corleone

We got a great race but I'm not sure if I should praise the organizers. Bad course, terrible TV production.

What a pity they didn't have European cameramen, especially on the motorbikes. The guys they used couldn't keep their cameras still, with the
pictures wobbling all over the place. Same yesterday with the ladies.
At times the cameras were out of focus as well.
They're probably only used to filming stadium sports, i.e. something with a
ball!! I enjoyed the race though.

 

[Izzy eviel]

Where was everybody? At some points there was no crowd. It looked like a country Victorian B grade championships! I thought Aussies liked their sport?

There were quite a few back streets used & part of the track went through the middle of nowehere. Would've offered poor views. Lots of fans on the climbs, along the bay & finishing straight.

The TV production was poor, but the fans seemed great.

Glad you liked it ACF. I saw the 2007 TdF prologue so I know how you're feeling! Pretty awesome eh?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Where was everybody? At some points there was no crowd. It looked like a country Victorian B grade championships! I thought Aussies liked their sport?

You obviously need your eyes checked. I was out in the flat fast area and the tv i was watching brought great pictures. We have also had that much sport on these past two weeks in victoria and australia so the worlds have not had much publicity, well not the publicity it deserves. i think it shows how much people like cycling in victoria and how popular it is becoming.

We got a great race but I'm not sure if I should praise the organizers. Bad course, terrible TV production.

If you mean by terrible tv production, the people they had on for ONE HD hosting and covering the worlds then I would kinda agree with you. But the camera work was fine. Liggett was actually saying that quite a few of the guys who do the tour were covering the worlds.

 

[The Falcon]

We flew down from Sydney and met friends who had set up on the ridge. The crowd there was huge, 3 deep for the last couple of hundred metres of the climb. The weather was perfect for bike racing too, and we had no trouble getting back to Melbourne quickly once we cleared the immediate post race jam. Great weekend, well done Geelong

 

[irideredthebike]

i only saw the last 5 km and there seemed to be very few spectators (when gilbert was still in front) so i was a little surprised at that. but maybe that was just a very fast section where you couldn't really see much anyways?

I covered much of the top part of the course during the day.

From about 5 kilometres to go to two kilometres to go were some of the less spectator friendly parts of the course, so this is not surprising. People were concentrated on the well shaded, well supported spots on the climbs and near the start.

 

[hfer07]

I'm pleased with the entire event-but I'm going to take this off my chest---I think the parcours wasn't good at all-and yes-the riders are the ones making the race, but I believe a better route could have helped a bit more to make the finales more unpredictable... other than that It was great overall.

 

[yourwelcome]

Must admit that the weather and racecourse furniture/atmosphere made it look less ugly than I feared. Was a bit worried it would be a flop, pleasantly surprised.