Will the WCRR end in a bunch sprint?

[Escarabajo]

maybe a herd of cows should be introduced to the course at the halfway mark, might spice the race up a bit.

And imagine a group of 190 riders with the same time as the winner though..
Still this race might prove to be a warning to future worlds races organisers and hopefully the last flat course ever.

+11111111111111111111111

 

[roundabout]

Too late for that. I hope I am wrong, but Richmond may be Copenhagen redone.

 

[El Pistolero]

+11111111111111111111111

The Giro did it. They only used sheep instead of cows.

 

[greenedge]

Next time i want a reduced bunch sprint. That means no Cav.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah, but he does so because of his TT abilities.

Not neccesarily. Someone like Grabsch is a good tt specialist but only on some courses and he doesnt have what Canc does in other departments.

Cancellara on the other hand has good explosivity too. Look at the 09 Vuelta prologue. Numbers 2 3 and 5 were sprinters Boonen Farrar and Bennati, while track cyclist Jens Mouris was 4th.

And 1 month 1 day later on a 51km course with hills Canc was again the winner but this time Larsson and Martin were his challengers.

And Tony Martin for example doesnt have the skill on cobbles that Canc does. That requires again explosivity. He also held quite well in a sprint at MSR against Goss and Gilbert, came 4th in a sprint today, and came 3rd in a Beijing olympic course where half of the top 10 were gt riders.

In Mendrisio rr again it was gt riders duiking it out, and he came 5th adn was the strongest.

Very different skill sets.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Next time i want a reduced bunch sprint. That means no Cav.

Cav made it to a reduced bunch sprint in San Remo and Aubenas. Cav is not the problem - when he's in good form he can get to the end of some pretty tough races. The problem is that this year's course was not pretty tough. It wasn't even vaguely tough.

 

[Nielsa]

What about Oscar Freiere when he was champion for three years?

I don't mind Cav winning, but as Freire is brought up: Freire climbs very well, he has placed 5th in Amstel and Fleche Wallonne and top 15 in LBL. Two of his Worlds wins were with a sprint from small groups, one from a medium sized group.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Cav made it to a reduced bunch sprint in San Remo and Aubenas. Cav is not the problem - when he's in good form he can get to the end of some pretty tough races. The problem is that this year's course was not pretty tough. It wasn't even vaguely tough.

Flat or hilly, whatever the parcours, 266k is not easy.

 

[Angliru]

So is Philippe Gilbert, or Fabian Cancellara.

Uh, no they're not.

 

[Angliru]

Pretty much. Cancellara depends on his time trialling ability to win and Gilbert depends on his hill climbing ability. Cavendish depends on his acceleration and speed. They are all specialists. Riders like Evans, Hushovd and Nibali are not specialists. They are more versatile than the other riders mentioned.

Cavendish is a sprinter, that's all. Both Gilbert and Cancellara are far more than just one dimensional. Let's be serious here.

 

[Angliru]

Cav needs his speed to win, Gilbert his explosive power to win, and Cancellara his TT abilities to win. The day Gilbert starts to contest TT's in the tour and can threathen Schlecklet and contador in hard mountain stages, I'll call him multidimensional. If Cancellara podiums the fleche wallone, LBL or AGR, i'll call him multidimensional. But that doesn't mean that Gilbert and Cancellara aren't more fun to watch than Cavendish.

Than which racers are multidimensional (at a high level)?
Contador, Evans, some more like the poster above said.

A one dimensional Gilbert would excel just in uphill sprints. He does more than that. A one dimensional Cancellara would simply win in ITT's and prologues. He also does more than that. Cavendish while the greatest sprinter of his generation is just that a sprinter. He can't compete on the cobbles, he hasn't shown the ability or the willingness to go out on his own in a break on a stage that isn't sprinter friendly, and he can't TT. He is simply a sprinter and he's quite good at it but he definitely isn't in the same league as Cancellara and Gilbert in having multiple options for getting a win.

 

[El Pistolero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdbyv94L6fA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU6Bb4Q_l5s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIud_9pf_gQ&feature=related

Yep, Gilbert only depends on his hill climbing ability

 

[boomcie]

Flat or hilly, whatever the parcours, 266k is not easy.

Some GT Stages are 230k long (242 mountain stage in this year's Giro). Worlds will never be easy, but let's face it 266k alone isn't enough to make a good championship.

 

[El Pistolero]

For us(for me at least) it would be hard. But for modern day pros it's not really hard unless your name is Wiggins, Froome and all the other British guys that helped Cavendish win this jersey.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Some GT Stages are 230k long (242 mountain stage in this year's Giro). Worlds will never be easy, but let's face it 266k alone isn't enough to make a good championship.

Perhaps not, but the way World Championships are raced, it was good. Much more than a parade for sprinters like so many seem to think. Those long GT stages typically aren't raced like a world championship and are kind of boring. I can agree with that.