World Championships Innsbruck 2018

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Spanish team announced it's 8 riders today:

Valverde (sole leader)
E Mas
I Izagirre
Jesus Herrada
Nieve
de la Cruz
Castroviejo
the last spot is either Landa or Fraile, dependent on Landa's health

For the TT
Castroviejo gets the first spot
the 2nd spot is still between Erviti, Soler, and Acras

I don't get why they want to bring Landa to this race. Fraile just proved that he can be a strong work horse for his captain. Landa will lack all the deepness, that will be needed. I could only understand this, if he was a capitain de la route kind of rider.

I'm really liking the French team...I think they're the best bet to upset Valverde.

They are not the ones to upset anybody. Julian Alaphilippe is the number one favorite for rainbow glory, in my opinion.

I agree. I'm not sure why they are insistent on taking Landa with his injuries. Fraile seems to be the better option right now.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Spanish team announced it's 8 riders today:

Valverde (sole leader)
E Mas
I Izagirre
Jesus Herrada
Nieve
de la Cruz
Castroviejo
the last spot is either Landa or Fraile, dependent on Landa's health

For the TT
Castroviejo gets the first spot
the 2nd spot is still between Erviti, Soler, and Acras

I don't get why they want to bring Landa to this race. Fraile just proved that he can be a strong work horse for his captain. Landa will lack all the deepness, that will be needed. I could only understand this, if he was a capitain de la route kind of rider.

I'm really liking the French team...I think they're the best bet to upset Valverde.

They are not the ones to upset anybody. Julian Alaphilippe is the number one favorite for rainbow glory, in my opinion.

It's a pretty bold statement. With such amount of climbing, and no Vuelta in his legs, I don't see him as a number one favorite. One of the favorites, yes.
In fact I don't see a clear favorite. It would be Valverde, but he had finished Vuelta very badly, it's a big question how his form will look like in Innsbruck.
Other big favorite would be Nibali, but we all know what happened to him and we all watched Vuelta to know that he is far from best form.
Colombians are dangerous with their numbers, Alaphilippe's teammate Pinot could be the danger man too, Yates bros. could be deadly, Adam is relatively fresh and Simon, well we all saw what he can do.
And after these, I would call them first tiers, we have many more, like Dutch team with Dumoulin, Poels and Kruiswijk, we have Belgium with Wellens, we have Slovenia with Roglic and Mohoric, we have Kwiatkowski...

 

[Valv.Piti]

And Sagan and Greg which the route most likely will eliminate, but maybe not before the last climb. Of the more obscure nations, look out for Carapaz - he looked in great shape on the Andorra stage and he definitely is a rider for steep walls in the end.

Denmark havent selected Kragh because he said he didn't want to. Of course he would auto selected no matter what on any given route, basically. Pedersen and Cort are too tired at this point and the route isn't great for them. I believe Valgren has a better shot at making a great result than Fuglsang.

The Yates brothers look great, particularly Adam. I understand why Froome and Thomas skips the race, Froome is a horrible one day racer with the Giro and Tour in the legs and Thomas won the Tour. Thats the worlds on steroids during 21 days.

Very nice spanish team, last chance for Valverde most likely. Maybe Yorkshire could be relevant as well (It will), but he wont get a better chance than here. They have some riders which did great in La Vuelta and is in shape.

And the Australian coach must be utterly ***. I cant believe they allow such incompency, thinking that Porte/Haig will do the trick is beyong *** really. Matthews could do great on this course Im sure.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

And Sagan and Greg which the route most likely will eliminate, but maybe not before the last climb. Of the more obscure nations, look out for Carapaz - he looked in great shape on the Andorra stage and he definitely is a rider for steep walls in the end.

Denmark havent selected Kragh because he said he didn't want to. Of course he would auto selected no matter what on any given route, basically. Pedersen and Cort are too tired at this point and the route isn't great for them. I believe Valgren has a better shot at making a great result than Fuglsang.

The Yates brothers look great, particularly Adam. I understand why Froome and Thomas skips the race, Froome is a horrible one day racer with the Giro and Tour in the legs and Thomas won the Tour. Thats the worlds on steroids during 21 days.

Very nice spanish team, last chance for Valverde most likely. Maybe Yorkshire could be relevant as well (It will), but he wont get a better chance than here. They have some riders which did great in La Vuelta and is in shape.

And the Australian coach must be utterly ***. I cant believe they allow such incompency, thinking that Porte/Haig will do the trick is beyong *** really. Matthews could do great on this course Im sure.

Yeah, the omission of Matthews is ridiculously stupid, really. Top four in the last three WC's, top five in LBL and Flèche in the last couple of years, winning both Canadian races. Everything points to him being a more severe threat than Sagan and GvA. It's probably still too hard for him, but Porte was embarrassing in the Vuelta and he will not feature at all, meaning that Matthews could be a very interesting X-factor.

Just throwing that out the window (and with no really good alternatives) is idiocy. Hell, he could even be a helper, if that was required.

I really feel for him, even if he isn't a favourite of mine.

 

[May0maniac]

Belgium is flying a bit under the radar, Dylan Teuns is in great shape and Benoot and Wellens are always dangerous, if the weather is bad their chances will increase, add De Plus, Hermans, GvA for long range attacks and Pauwels and you have a dangerous team that has a few options, if they play their cards the right way they could really surprise people.

 

[Koronin]

I hope we have internet back by the time they race the RR.

 

[CTQ]

South African riders: https://twitter.com/williesmurfy/status/1042043625763467265 Unfortunately I also had to withdraw after receiving an email yesterday morning stating that apart from Flights, accommodation, travel expenses, cycling Kit I now also need to pay for the vechiles and staff.

SA’s Hendricks, Impey pull out of UCI Road World Champs
https://inthebunch.co.za/2018/09/sas-hendricks-impey-pull-out-of-uci-road-world-champs/

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Spanish team announced it's 8 riders today:

Valverde (sole leader)
E Mas
I Izagirre
Jesus Herrada
Nieve
de la Cruz
Castroviejo
the last spot is either Landa or Fraile, dependent on Landa's health

For the TT
Castroviejo gets the first spot
the 2nd spot is still between Erviti, Soler, and Acras

I don't get why they want to bring Landa to this race. Fraile just proved that he can be a strong work horse for his captain. Landa will lack all the deepness, that will be needed. I could only understand this, if he was a capitain de la route kind of rider.

I'm really liking the French team...I think they're the best bet to upset Valverde.

They are not the ones to upset anybody. Julian Alaphilippe is the number one favorite for rainbow glory, in my opinion.

He is a favorite along with Valverde. Pinot could also do great plus Bardet is not scared of attacking, plus they’ll still have other great climbers for support. That’s why I think France has a great shot. It’s much more than just Alaphilippe.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

So, it might... snow?

https://www.wetter.at/wetter/oesterreich-wetter/Naechste-Woche-kommt-Schnee-bis-in-die-Staedte/349032903

Snow is coming to the cities next week
Funky: Innsbruck and Salzburg could already be white next week.

This week it gets hot one last time. It expects us largely sunny sunny late summer weather with temperatures up to the 30-degree mark. On Tuesday it clears up after fog and high fog in the morning, in the whole country it is bright sunny at up to 30 degrees. On Wednesday there are some showers in the west, also thunderstorms are possible. The rest of the country remains dry and sunny at up to 28 degrees. Also on Thursday and Friday it stays warm. The harbingers of autumn, which starts on Sunday, will come to the weekend.

onset of winter

Just in time for the beginning of autumn, there could be a first onset of winter. According to current forecasts, it could snow to many valleys next week. Towards the end of the week we will reach a powerful low. This is accompanied by the first minus degrees and fresh snow.

Especially in the west of the country, it could snow down into many valleys. For example, Innsbruck or Salzburg could already turn white. There should be no larger amounts of snow. In Vienna, on the other hand, it will be necessary to wait for the first snow. In addition, the forecasts are currently still uncertain.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

So, it might... snow?

https://www.wetter.at/wetter/oesterreich-wetter/Naechste-Woche-kommt-Schnee-bis-in-die-Staedte/349032903

Snow is coming to the cities next week
Funky: Innsbruck and Salzburg could already be white next week.

This week it gets hot one last time. It expects us largely sunny sunny late summer weather with temperatures up to the 30-degree mark. On Tuesday it clears up after fog and high fog in the morning, in the whole country it is bright sunny at up to 30 degrees. On Wednesday there are some showers in the west, also thunderstorms are possible. The rest of the country remains dry and sunny at up to 28 degrees. Also on Thursday and Friday it stays warm. The harbingers of autumn, which starts on Sunday, will come to the weekend.

onset of winter

Just in time for the beginning of autumn, there could be a first onset of winter. According to current forecasts, it could snow to many valleys next week. Towards the end of the week we will reach a powerful low. This is accompanied by the first minus degrees and fresh snow.

Especially in the west of the country, it could snow down into many valleys. For example, Innsbruck or Salzburg could already turn white. There should be no larger amounts of snow. In Vienna, on the other hand, it will be necessary to wait for the first snow. In addition, the forecasts are currently still uncertain.

So wait a minute. We just had a hurricane and they might get snow? Something doesn't seem right with this picture.

 

[Tim Booth]

So many riders not going to Innsbruck who say they can't afford the money.

 

[Asero831]

Re:

Very nice spanish team, last chance for Valverde most likely. Maybe Yorkshire could be relevant as well (It will), but he wont get a better chance than here. They have some riders which did great in La Vuelta and is in shape.

Can you share the profile for Yorkshire? I have not seen this one yet.
Normally it should be available already by now.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

And Sagan and Greg which the route most likely will eliminate, but maybe not before the last climb. Of the more obscure nations, look out for Carapaz - he looked in great shape on the Andorra stage and he definitely is a rider for steep walls in the end.

Denmark havent selected Kragh because he said he didn't want to. Of course he would auto selected no matter what on any given route, basically. Pedersen and Cort are too tired at this point and the route isn't great for them. I believe Valgren has a better shot at making a great result than Fuglsang.

The Yates brothers look great, particularly Adam. I understand why Froome and Thomas skips the race, Froome is a horrible one day racer with the Giro and Tour in the legs and Thomas won the Tour. Thats the worlds on steroids during 21 days.

Very nice spanish team, last chance for Valverde most likely. Maybe Yorkshire could be relevant as well (It will), but he wont get a better chance than here. They have some riders which did great in La Vuelta and is in shape.

And the Australian coach must be utterly ***. I cant believe they allow such incompency, thinking that Porte/Haig will do the trick is beyong *** really. Matthews could do great on this course Im sure.

Matthews is a tough one. Haig and Simon Clarke had to be included at least for their team work. Porte is the big question mark. If they included Matthews they still would not have dumped Porte which means they drop a domestique. Not so good for the team. Going into the race with three leaders not so good either. If Porte does something the managers will look like geniuses but many people have their doubts. With Matthews hitting form late in the season you would think that would be enough to get him selected. Even Matthews will find this course tough I think but if he outlasted Sagan and others and had to sprint against someone like Valverde, at the moment he would have to have a good chance.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

And Sagan and Greg which the route most likely will eliminate, but maybe not before the last climb. Of the more obscure nations, look out for Carapaz - he looked in great shape on the Andorra stage and he definitely is a rider for steep walls in the end.

Denmark havent selected Kragh because he said he didn't want to. Of course he would auto selected no matter what on any given route, basically. Pedersen and Cort are too tired at this point and the route isn't great for them. I believe Valgren has a better shot at making a great result than Fuglsang.

The Yates brothers look great, particularly Adam. I understand why Froome and Thomas skips the race, Froome is a horrible one day racer with the Giro and Tour in the legs and Thomas won the Tour. Thats the worlds on steroids during 21 days.

Very nice spanish team, last chance for Valverde most likely. Maybe Yorkshire could be relevant as well (It will), but he wont get a better chance than here. They have some riders which did great in La Vuelta and is in shape.

And the Australian coach must be utterly ***. I cant believe they allow such incompency, thinking that Porte/Haig will do the trick is beyong *** really. Matthews could do great on this course Im sure.

Matthews is a tough one. Haig and Simon Clarke had to be included at least for their team work. Porte is the big question mark. If they included Matthews they still would not have dumped Porte which means they drop a domestique. Not so good for the team. Going into the race with three leaders not so good either. If Porte does something the managers will look like geniuses but many people have their doubts. With Matthews hitting form late in the season you would think that would be enough to get him selected. Even Matthews will find this course tough I think but if he outlasted Sagan and others and had to sprint against someone like Valverde, at the moment he would have to have a good chance.

For Matthews to have a good chance of winning, he’d need this course to be raced very negatively, with a weak early break allowed to stay away for a long time. He could have been brought as a domestique, as he’s underrated as a rouleur but I don’t think the Australian team would benefit from an especially hard race early when there’s so many much stronger teams.

Any other course he’s undisputed leader in his current form though.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

And Sagan and Greg which the route most likely will eliminate, but maybe not before the last climb. Of the more obscure nations, look out for Carapaz - he looked in great shape on the Andorra stage and he definitely is a rider for steep walls in the end.

Denmark havent selected Kragh because he said he didn't want to. Of course he would auto selected no matter what on any given route, basically. Pedersen and Cort are too tired at this point and the route isn't great for them. I believe Valgren has a better shot at making a great result than Fuglsang.

The Yates brothers look great, particularly Adam. I understand why Froome and Thomas skips the race, Froome is a horrible one day racer with the Giro and Tour in the legs and Thomas won the Tour. Thats the worlds on steroids during 21 days.

Very nice spanish team, last chance for Valverde most likely. Maybe Yorkshire could be relevant as well (It will), but he wont get a better chance than here. They have some riders which did great in La Vuelta and is in shape.

And the Australian coach must be utterly ***. I cant believe they allow such incompency, thinking that Porte/Haig will do the trick is beyong *** really. Matthews could do great on this course Im sure.

Matthews is a tough one. Haig and Simon Clarke had to be included at least for their team work. Porte is the big question mark. If they included Matthews they still would not have dumped Porte which means they drop a domestique. Not so good for the team. Going into the race with three leaders not so good either. If Porte does something the managers will look like geniuses but many people have their doubts. With Matthews hitting form late in the season you would think that would be enough to get him selected. Even Matthews will find this course tough I think but if he outlasted Sagan and others and had to sprint against someone like Valverde, at the moment he would have to have a good chance.

Matthews had to be selected because of his previous form in the World's - I am very confident that Matthews would last with the leaders until the last 20kms and of course he would be invaluable support for the team leader - Actually would have chosen Matthews before Porte and made Haig the leader - Haig rode well in last year's World's and in LBL this year - An in-form Haig can top 10 - Actually outside of Yates the MS rider who could do well is Kreuziger who has prepared well for this event.

 

[42x16ss]

Matthews.

Has.

No.

Chance.

On.

This.

Course.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Matthews.

Has.

No.

Chance.

On.

This.

Course.

Glad to have cleared that up. Silly us stupid people.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Matthews.

Has.

No.

Chance.

On.

This.

Course.

Obviously the team management think the same. I think all of the Matthews type riders will be up against it on this course and the Worlds usually is a war of attrition.

 

[42x16ss]

Re: Re:

Matthews.

Has.

No.

Chance.

On.

This.

Course.

Glad to have cleared that up. Silly us stupid people.

I am a big Matthews fan, but I cannot see him contending with the number of explosive pure climbers going to this race. GvA is a stronger climber and I don’t see him being a contender either.

These aren’t Ardennes climbs. Better climbers than Matthews will not be in contention.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Matthews.

Has.

No.

Chance.

On.

This.

Course.

Glad to have cleared that up. Silly us stupid people.

I am a big Matthews fan, but I cannot see him contending with the number of explosive pure climbers going to this race. GvA is a stronger climber and I don’t see him being a contender either.

These aren’t Ardennes climbs. Better climbers than Matthews will not be in contention.

I think they are about the same climbing-wise. And I agree that he probably wouldn't be in contention but not selecting him really still seems too radical.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Matthews.

Has.

No.

Chance.

On.

This.

Course.

Matthews might not realistically have a chance, but who's Australia gonna back? Porte who has never finished a one-day WT-race (except for Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, I believe - correct me if I'm wrong)? Jack Haig is probably their only shot at a top 20.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I really can't get my head around Valverde being the 3/1 favourite for this race. Those are low odds for someone who finished the Vuelta looking like one more mountain would mean him climbing off. I don't think he will be in contention towards the end so I'm gonna have a sneaky few quid on Poels having a good day at 25's and an each way for NQ at 66's.

 

[spalco]

Re: Re:

Matthews is a tough one. Haig and Simon Clarke had to be included at least for their team work. Porte is the big question mark.[...]

If I were the australian DS I would have dumped Porte on principle. I mean he was just taking the piss all year long, why have even the tiniest bit of trust he would even try seriously here? Better give a younger guy the chance to gather some experience.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

I really can't get my head around Valverde being the 3/1 favourite for this race. Those are low odds for someone who finished the Vuelta looking like one more mountain would mean him climbing off. I don't think he will be in contention towards the end so I'm gonna have a sneaky few quid on Poels having a good day at 25's and an each way for NQ at 66's.

100% this. Valverde has struggled at the worlds when he finished the vuelta in great shape, this time he finished it in horrible shape. I think I we have reached the point where this race just doesn't have a favorite at all

 

[Red Rick]

I would bring Matthews on principle, he's easily one of Australia's best riders on this course.

Id go for Haig, let Matthews hang on as long ss possible and i'd bring Porte to see if hes up to any good