World Championship 2025: Men’s RR, September 28

[Red Rick]

Yeh, maybe my memory is a bit *** aha. 2021 is my head felt more Ardennes but then I didnt watch it live, maybe an internal bias because of who won.

But 2022 was for sure not a course for sprinters who are not Pedersen, van Aert, Matthews type sprinters. Over 4k vertical metres.

and Trentin is a 2nd tier kind "can get over decent hills" sprinter which was what 2019 was.

For example Phillipsen, Milan etc have had no chance to contest a worlds in career so far. If Cav had started career in 2017 he wouldnt have had the chance to win a worlds, when he had chance to win 2 over the 10 years from 2007-2016.

2022 wasn't hard at all, the altimetry needs to be completely screwed up if that was 4k altitude gain.

 

[Penninepeddler]

Maybe for next Worlds Pog should have to ride round with both his worlds medals round his neck? Some ballast might make it more even.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

That was absurd.

 

[Netserk]

? They fought for a medal. If anyone in G4 had had the ability to follow the chase group they would've done. I'd rather race like Pidcock and Hindley today and end up with no result than be totally out of contention. Like Bettiol in 2023.

They would also have fought for a medal if they didn't pull in the 5 man group.

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

The difference between Remco and the rest of the field is so huge. And then you have Pogi on a complete different level above that. Just insane.

I think the fact that Remco was in the race made Pogacar look way less dominant than what he actually was. Without him, 2nd place probably finish 4+ minutes back.

 

[Leadbelly]

World Tour World Champion - Pogacar (1st)
ProTour World Champion - Pidcock (10th)
Continental Tour World Champion - Nych (24th)

 

[Brullnux]

Yeh, maybe my memory is a bit *** aha. 2021 is my head felt more Ardennes but then I didnt watch it live, maybe an internal bias because of who won.

But 2022 was for sure not a course for sprinters who are not Pedersen, van Aert, Matthews type sprinters. Over 4k vertical metres.

and Trentin is a 2nd tier kind "can get over decent hills" sprinter which was what 2019 was.

For example Phillipsen, Milan etc have had no chance to contest a worlds in career so far. If Cav had started career in 2017 he wouldnt have had the chance to win a worlds, when he had chance to win 2 over the 10 years from 2007-2016.

I agree in general – Leuven was harder than a standard Flanders course, but easier than an Amstel, but I think Yorkshire was a good well-balanced race, and you had people like Kristoff in the second group in 2022. 2023 I loved because it was a unique race.

2018, 2020, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 are all very climber friendly. I think 6/10 for climbers is too much, but I suppose before that we only had one climber friendly route between 2010-2017 so in the long run it balances?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Maybe for next Worlds Pog should have to ride round with both his worlds medals round his neck? Some ballast might make it more even.

Putting Remco around his neck could work well, too, although he would probably still drop him.

 

[AlpRaid]

Always amazes how quickly they recover after a 267 km race. They really are other-worldly.

 

[Penninepeddler]

2022 wasn't hard at all, the altimetry needs to be completely screwed up if that was 4k altitude gain.

Looking at the profile yeh, it is because of the 500m hill towards the start which was pretty irrelevant.

and then 12x ascents of mount pleasant.

But still, what sprinters are getting over 1.1km at almost 8% 12x with leading ardennes guys? Probably none of Phillipsen, Kooij, Milan, Merlier (probably best 4 sprinters on earth right now) would if they re-ran that course tomorrow.

I would still say it was not really one for even sprinters who are "solid" climbers and instead only really maybe ~10 of the best 25 sprinters who could contest in a perfect world for them.

 

[gunara]

Hey, the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era didn't have a 5th guy.

I suspect Ferrer think he was, and forget the margin by now

 

[Red Rick]

Looking at the profile yeh, it is because of the 500m hill towards the start which was pretty irrelevant.

and then 12x ascents of mount pleasant.

But still, what sprinters are getting over 1.1km at almost 8% 12x with leading ardennes guys? Probably none of Phillipsen, Kooij, Milan, Merlier (probably best 4 sprinters on earth right now) would if they re-ran that course tomorrow.

I would still say it was not really one for even sprinters who are "solid" climbers and instead only really maybe ~10 of the best 25 sprinters who could contest in a perfect world for them.

It's not that it's 12 climbs, it's that they're perfectly spaced out with perfect recovery inbetween. If they're concentrated much more, then yes it becomes much more Ardennes friendly. But the fact that Laporte got 2nd is extremely telling of the real difficulty of that route.

 

[Tim Cahill]

No UCI points awarded because less than 25% of the riders finished

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

Pidcock: "Most unenjoyable race of the year."

 

[RedheadDane]

No UCI points awarded because less than 25% of the riders finished

That's a thing?
Surely the riders who did finish shouldn't be punished because only a few did.

 

[Penninepeddler]

Pidcock: "Most unenjoyable race of the year."

Can only imagine how much the last 40km were... he lost probably 7 minutes relative over those last 40km once dropped, and seemed on the limit until the end of the race.

1:45 per 10km lost while working hard? Must have been up to his neck in lactate.

 

[HashRouge]

I didn't find that as boring as I expected, mainly due to the WWRDN factor (what will Remco do next). I *still* don't understand why he insisted on that second bike change when the car was nowhere near.

I find it hard to be salty about Pogacar winning again. I appreciate why people don't like it, but ultimately he is the best rider in the world. It feels fitting that he should be world champion two years in a row. I wish next year wasn't another good course for him though. We could do with a flatter parcours and Pog taking a year off to do the Vuelta instead.

Finally, I saw a lot of comments saying that del Toro was blatantly just riding as Pogacar's domestique. Surely after his recent run of results, del Toro probably quite fancied his chances if the pair could stay away? Even if he thought he could never win, he likely thought it was his best shot at a medal.

 

[Red Rick]

Finally, I saw a lot of comments saying that del Toro was blatantly just riding as Pogacar's domestique. Surely after his recent run of results, del Toro probably quite fancied his chances if the pair could stay away?

Pogacar was literally thanking him for his service before he dropped him.

The notion that Del Toro thought he could go all the way with Pogacar is just not serious to me, unless Del Toro is just an unserious person

 

[HashRouge]

Pogacar was literally thanking him for his service before he dropped him.

The notion that Del Toro thought he could go all the way with Pogacar is just not serious to me, unless Del Toro is just an unserious person

I think del Toro probably has quite a lot of faith in himself after this year. Might be misplaced in a race against Pogacar, but I still think he thought he'd have a chance of staying away for a medal.

 

[Unchained]

Can’t see him being beat in Montreal either…….

He already agreed to allow Del Toro to win ..sorry McNulty

 

[Breezy1985]

Anyone who thinks Pog needed Del Toro to win or that it made any difference is fooling themselves.

Second best Remco stayed close because Pog didn't need to go harder. Anyone caught Pog and he would have just went again.

 

[Unchained]

I think del Toro probably has quite a lot of faith in himself after this year. Might be misplaced in a race against Pogacar, but I still think he thought he'd have a chance of staying away for a medal.

Del Toro won 11 races this year and Gravel Worlds isn't done. Losing to Pogacar is nothing to be ashamed of.. and training with him in Kigali and agreeing to try a breakaway was a bold move.
Remco looked to be the strongest rider in Rwanda.

 

[Unchained]

Says a lot about how exciting the race isn't that the past few pages are >50% Pogacar fanboys.

I like history as much as Pogacar. I am happy I get to witness some of these events..
I didn't love Tom Brady .. I loved Wayne Gretzky..still do.. Sports history is fun when you get to watch it..

 

[Unchained]

Healy needs to drop Skjelmose as he is not beating him on a sprint

Benny Boy is a sprinter on a par with Landa

He dropped him alright

 

[jono]

More impressive display but much less interesting viewing experience than the women's race.