World Championships 2023: Men's Road Race (August 6)

[Izzyeviel]

The simple answer, like a majority of countries, was that GB did not have good enough riders to cope with a course like this.
They finished two riders, look at the countries with zero finishers.
Putting a rider in the early break was the right thing to do and he held on to finish 18th. A really good effort.
Wright was the best bet to support, but he was only ever going to be an also ran. Connors Swift was I believe the other protected rider and he finished.
Obviously you have a downer on BC and I'm not going to attempt to understand why.

Pidcock is doing a mountain bike race. Hayter is riding on the track, the Yates bros have their feet up, Carthy & Thomas are twiddling their thumbs. We haven't taken this race seriously since 2011. 2016 was a fluke. Still at least we had one finisher unlike the 2013 debacle where the entire team rode on the front all the way to the circuit where they all promptly gave up en masse.

British cycling has decided the Track is the golden goose & everything else doesn't matter. You only have to look at the promotion on the BBC - the track is heavily featured & promoted, the road ignored.

we see a similar attitude with English cricket. They've decided 20/20 & the hundred is the golden goose & test & county cricket can just be treated as an afterthought. This year they decided to play the Ashes (the most important sporting event in cricket history) in Englands rainy season so they can play the Hundred (a bastardised form of the game) in the summer. England ended up losing the Ashes because of rain delays.

Its a crying shame teams like Poland, Ukraine, & the Vatican etc are reduced to having a single rider whilst teams who don't want to be there like GB have a full squad.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Even more disappointing for Pedersen that Pogacar in post race interviews bluntantly admits to wheelsucking because he felt he was the weaker of the four.

 

[Breezy1985]

Same here. A shame about the fact that he has a chronic disease, because when he's on he's clearly a top class rider.

What's the disease ?

 

[Volderke]

I was thinking the whole race “mvdp is so good at hiding until he goes boom”, and I saw attacks left and right from pogacar, Evenepoel, pedersen,… and nobody ever thought (especially not the Belgians when they had numbers): let us wait and see if the big favorite mvdp will take the initiative to chase.

No, they always chase themselves. It’s like they have a big blind spot on their retinas, and mvdp has the talent to remain unnoticed, until it’s too late. Even though he gets the reputation of not being in good position all the time, he was there when it mattered, and he also attacked when it hurt (before his definite attack). He danced like a butterfly and stung like a bee.

Congrats on a very worthy winner (the most dominant of the last 10-20 years?), and I can only hope other riders realize that they have to adapt their tactics, because at the moment, few (if any) can match his explosiveness.

 

[Danskebjerge]

The top 5 was basically a Paris Roubaix list. Pog will win it in his career.

That's one of the reasons why today's result was a disaster for Mads Pedersen. He won't be in contention in as many world championships as all-rounder Pogacar is going to be.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Even more disappointing for Pedersen that Pogacar in post race interviews bluntantly admits to wheelsucking because he felt he was the weaker of the four.

Pedersen could have slowed way down or just stopped to play mine games. They were well enough ahead of the others.

 

[Red Rick]

Even more disappointing for Pedersen that Pogacar in post race interviews bluntantly admits to wheelsucking because he felt he was the weaker of the four.

Wasn't it Pedersen who said a lot of riders are really stupid?

Becuaes that final km he did was probably the dumbest km of racing I've seen all year.

 

[Breezy1985]

2011 was the only year they've ever talked about focusing any effort to win it, project Copenhagen I think they called it, but you had one of the pre-eminent sprinters of the time on your team,plus they were looking towards London 2012.

2016 I don't know it didn't feel like it had the same intensity of focus, an Olympic year also where BCs attention wanders to the track

How many years could they actually win it ?

Like I'm a huge critic of Ireland at the World Championships but with Dan Martin most years and Bennett in Yorkshire I think we have had more chances than GB.

The one year ye were favourites ye won.

 

[King Boonen]

Van Aert was actually very angry about the lack of race radio at the Worlds again. They didn't even know MvdP had crashed.

If he'd kept up he would have known about it...

 

[SHAD0W93]

Van Aert was actually very angry about the lack of race radio at the Worlds again. They didn't even know MvdP had crashed.

Guess he failed his forensics course otherwise he’d have seen the shoe remnants.

 

[Breezy1985]

Pedersen could have slowed way down or just stopped to play mine games. They were well enough ahead of the others.

He and everyone who follows cycling assumed he would beat Pog in a sprint.

 

[Breezy1985]

Van Aert was actually very angry about the lack of race radio at the Worlds again. They didn't even know MvdP had crashed.

Lack of race radio is possibly the best thing about the WC.

If VdP had race radio he might have never crashed because his team would say relax.

 

[Breezy1985]

Pidcock is doing a mountain bike race. Hayter is riding on the track, the Yates bros have their feet up, Carthy & Thomas are twiddling their thumbs. We haven't taken this race seriously since 2011. 2016 was a fluke. Still at least we had one finisher unlike the 2013 debacle where the entire team rode on the front all the way to the circuit where they all promptly gave up en masse.

British cycling has decided the Track is the golden goose & everything else doesn't matter. You only have to look at the promotion on the BBC - the track is heavily featured & promoted, the road ignored.

we see a similar attitude with English cricket. They've decided 20/20 & the hundred is the golden goose & test & county cricket can just be treated as an afterthought. This year they decided to play the Ashes (the most important sporting event in cricket history) in Englands rainy season so they can play the Hundred (a bastardised form of the game) in the summer. England ended up losing the Ashes because of rain delays.

Its a crying shame teams like Poland, Ukraine, & the Vatican etc are reduced to having a single rider whilst teams who don't want to be there like GB have a full squad.

Which of those riders was close to the riders who were in the top positions today in a classic ?

 

[magliaroz]

He and everyone who follows cycling assumed he would beat Pog in a sprint.

No one can assume they can beat Pogi in a sprint by now, especially after a hard 250+kms long race.

 

[Nick2413]

He and everyone who follows cycling assumed he would beat Pog in a sprint.

At the end of a race like that and with how much Pedersen was in the wind all day it was far from a given, but still his mistake to do the leadout.

 

[Breezy1985]

At the end of a race like that and with how much Pedersen was in the wind all day it was far from a given, but still his mistake to do the leadout.

With hindsight yes but Mads would expect to have the better sprint and looked fresher on the day too

 

[Izzyeviel]

How many years could they actually win it ?

Like I'm a huge critic of Ireland at the World Championships but with Dan Martin most years and Bennett in Yorkshire U think we have had more chances than GB.

The one year ye were favourites ye won.

The one year we actually tried we won.

2010. Cav, Miller, Hunt. DNF's all round
2011. We tried all year to get guys qualified and built our squad around Cav. We won
2012. Wiggo, Froome, Cav all gave up. Stannard finished 2 mins behind the peloton
2013. The Italian Debacle. Probably the greatest GB team/worlds squad ever assembled. They rode on the front for the first half of the race controlling the breakaway & gave up en masse on the first lap.
2014: At least Swifty & Pete tried whereas their better teammates did diddly squat
2015: We were there
2016: Let Cav be Cav
2017: WHY IS BEN SWIFT STILL OUR BEST RIDER?
2018: Thank god we've got climbers in our squad for once, they'll be... oh
2019: Home Race! WHY IS SWIFTY STILL OUR MAIN MAN?? WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE? THANOS?
2020: Well this was awful, at least this Pidcock fella has potential.
2021: I have no idea what the plan was here, but at least I was right, Pidcock has a lot of potential.
2022: We finally got the right idea, its a sprint finish, lets make sure our sprinter says with the favourites
2023: WHERE THE HELL ARE OUR BEST RIDERS?

We're not asking to win it every year, we're asking to at least make an effort so we have something to cheer for. Other teams take their best riders even though they know they won't win. Why can't we do the same?

Its like that meme, where you have the sad elongated man using a stick to prod a dead item 'c'mon do something'

 

[skippo12]

With hindsight yes but Mads would expect to have the better sprint and looked fresher on the day too

On paper he is a better sprinter than Pogacar but is his acceleration better? 1vs1 is a different game (see MVP vs WVA in the past). Classic sprint with higher top speed favors Pedersen but without anyone to push the pace but himself that wasn´t going to happen.

 

[Gratemans]

Damn, what a race. And what a beast of a rider Mathieu is.
He said in an interview btw that not only was his shoe loose when the Boa broke in the fall, but half of his toe clip was gone as well

A phenomenally entertaining day of cycling. And you gotta respect Bettiol for going balls to the wall all-or-nothing, and I would have loved seeing him win as well, but in the end I'm glad Mathieu took it.

 

[Cookster15]

Congrats to MVDP. So crushing, such a deserved winner and to even overcome a crash. A very nice result, will be good to see him wearing the rainbow stripes.

 

[SHAD0W93]

He and everyone who follows cycling assumed he would beat Pog in a sprint.

Just like everyone thought Hayman wasn’t winning Paris Roubaix in a sprint against Boonen and EBH. Just like everyone thought Stannard wasn’t going to mug and pull Quickstep’s pants down. It was a long tiring sprint and Pog has a sprint of his own that’s won him hard races.

 

[Breezy1985]

Damn, what a race. And what a beast of a rider Mathieu is.
He said in an interview btw that not only was his shoe loose when the Boa broke in the fall, but half of his toe clip was gone as well

A phenomenally entertaining day of cycling. And you gotta respect Bettiol for going balls to the wall all-or-nothing, and I would have loved seeing him win as well, but in the end I'm glad Mathieu took it.

I feel ike years from now this race will have a chapter in the history of the World Championships or cycling in general.

Also I feel VdP will absolutely go to town on the rainbows. I expect every inch of himself, his bike and his gear to be in rainbows.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Looking at Pogacar and how nackered some of the rest are I really think the TT guys who didn't do this have a big advantage, the gaps at the end were brutal.

Italy and Australia perhaps, I'd say a shock Thomas win but after today it would probably just piss off the entire contingent of British road fans.

 

[the delgados]

Yes, very much like cyclocross…I expect MvdP to get a gap running up the stairs, but all riders will have to watch out for the ruts on the muddy section of the course…

You were right about one thing.

 

[Gratemans]

I feel ike years from now this race will have a chapter in the history of the World Championships or cycling in general.

Also I feel VdP will absolutely go to town on the rainbows. I expect every inch of himself, his bike and his gear to be in rainbows.

I've been arguing with myself for hours now which win was more spectatular: AGR 2019 or today.
While a WC of course carries way more weight, when I purely compare how the race unfolded, AGR still wins out slightly for me.