Worlds Warm-up: Who will win it

[taiwan]

Freire if he has any form. He also has a strong team to bring him up even if he loses a bit ground. And Cancellara could do his 2 km attack a la Milano Sanremo 2008.

I like the idea of Freire winning to make a record, and the Spanish team will be strong. That would be a nice result.

 

[danyela]

I'm hoping A Schleck, depending on how big the group is at the end. Also he's got a bit of a problem with the almost non-existant team he's got behind him.

 

[Lyds97]

Hello all, I'm new here.

I voted Cunego since it looks like the course suits him and he seems to be in great form but would kinda love it if one of Evans, Sanchez etc. took it, simply because it would be one in the eye for the likes of Cunego and Little Schleck who pulled out of the Vuelta under the pretext of preparing for Worlds. It was still a great race to watch but the mass exodus towards the end did detract a little from some excellent performances

 

[elapid]

1. Evans; 2. Cunego; 3. Valverde.

I think Evans is keen to make up for a bad year and he is on the upswing. He has a good support team. Cunego is definitely a hot favourite, but I am hoping Evans can edge him out. Valverde is obviously doing well, but may be a bit tired after the Vuelta. May be Sanchez instead of Valverde? Regardless, Evans for the win.

 

[DenisMenchov]

KOlobnev was allways good at big one day events like Worlds and Olympics, and San Sebastian, but he never won, so why not I`ll put him as a winner.

 

[blaxland]

I agree with you on gerrans, this course might be a bit too hilly for him. On evans tho, he's always done well on fleche and if he timed his effort/sprint. right he may of beaten kirchen in 07. Australains do have the 3rd strongest team for the worlds in my opinion though we are putting a very weak tt team in (wurf & hansen). Did you hear that Ch One will be televising the event from 9:30 on Saturday night. I'll be watching that ch all day with the AFL Grand Final then the Worlds. what a day of sport that will be. By the way, who do you barrack for in the footy?

agreed except i think gerrans will win,he has shown himself to be a capable one day rider and always seems to win the bigger name races.is it really being shown on hd channel one?i hope so...

 

[blaxland]

better then nothing. should be good.

according to this link were getting it anyway
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/tv-guide/?hour=16&min=32&date=21&mon=09&year=2009&next=1254052800

thanks for the link timmy-loves-rabo cany wait to see gerrans win the worlds.

 

[auscyclefan94]

agreed except i think gerrans will win,he has shown himself to be a capable one day rider and always seems to win the bigger name races.is it really being shown on hd channel one?i hope so...

our coverage starts as 6:30pm and finishes at 1:30am (Mon) as we are going in and out of the coveerage (6:30 - 7:30), (8pm - 9pm) & (12:00 - 1:30am). if that's so then i'm predicting that the complete the course with an average speed of 34 - 37km/h. we may only get a little bit of the finally.

 

[hfer07]

Difficult to predict- Last year, Ballan surprised everybody with that killing attack- so I'm not going to discount him at all. Cunego is on paper the favorite, but someone like Gerrans can spoil the victory-perhaps Samuel Sanchez or Kim kirchen-even the Schleck brothers can do a great battle, if the race situation is on their favor....

 

[Andre.J]

I have to vote for Gilbert. He's in better shape than any other rider right now. Plus Belgium probably has the strongest team.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I have to vote for Gilbert. He's in better shape than any other rider right now. Plus Belgium probably has the strongest team.

Belgium the strongest team?. I don't think so. not by a mile. Gilbert does look in tip top shape!

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Belgium the strongest team?. I don't think so. not by a mile. Gilbert does look in tip top shape!

lol don't underestimate belgium, they have one of the strongest team there, if by the mile you mean spain/italy then i agree, but they are on par with any other team.

I have to vote for Gilbert. He's in better shape than any other rider right now.

I fail to see how - after the vuelta - you can suggest he is in better shape then cunego?

 

[il_fiammingo]

lol don't underestimate belgium, they have one of the strongest team there, if by the mile you mean spain/italy then i agree, but they are on par with any other team.


I fail to see how - after the vuelta - you can suggest he is in better shape then cunego?

Cunego wasn't even capable of finishing the Vuelta, Gilbert did.

 

[Runitout]

lol don't underestimate belgium, they have one of the strongest team there, if by the mile you mean spain/italy then i agree, but they are on par with any other team.


I fail to see how - after the vuelta - you can suggest he is in better shape then cunego?

Belgium will be up there, and the parcours suit Gilbert. Italy is stupidly strong, again, as is Spain. I would be very very impressed if Gilbert is able to escape against those teams. Nor can I see Gerrans getting away with it again. If he'd not just won another GT stage in good fashion, I can them giving him enough rope - unfortunately for him, he's just put his hand up to be noticed in time for everyone to remember.

I don't think it's steep enough for Evans or a similar rider. (I reckon Rebellin or even Bettini would have been a danger on this track, were they still riding).

 

[TRDean]

I don't see Gerrans doing squat. There is a big difference winning stages in grand tours and winning one day races...a huge difference!! I don't even see him cracking the top 10. Is this just nutt hugging or do people really think he has a chance?

 

[Runitout]

I don't see Gerrans doing squat. There is a big difference winning stages in grand tours and winning one day races...a huge difference!! I don't even see him cracking the top 10. Is this just nutt hugging or do people really think he has a chance?

I think it's more that his run of top tens in all the Ardennes races mean he can do well in a long classic, his Vuelta win means he's in form, and there are a lot of Australians on this forum.

He clearly doesn't have the pedigree of Schleck, Sanchez, Cunego, Valverde, Gilbert or even Evans. But he has a habit of winning races when given a sniff, when some better riders always find/found a way to come in second - eg Hoste, Flecha, Boogerd, Evans etc.

 

[TRDean]

I think it's more that his run of top tens in all the Ardennes races mean he can do well in a long classic, his Vuelta win means he's in form, and there are a lot of Australians on this forum.

He clearly doesn't have the pedigree of Schleck, Sanchez, Cunego, Valverde, Gilbert or even Evans. But he has a habit of winning races when given a sniff, when some better riders always find/found a way to come in second - eg Hoste, Flecha, Boogerd, Evans etc.

Thats cool...but really...he hasn't won a classic yet so I don't know. He seems like a good guy and one who I would be happy if he won...we shall see.

 

[aarnold517]

what i want to know is if it comes down to a sprint from a large group, who has the best sprint?

i've never really compared the sprints between gilbert, cunego and valverde... they are all crazy fast, but i wonder who would win out of those three

 

[Czerstwy Witold]

what i want to know is if it comes down to a sprint from a large group, who has the best sprint?

i've never really compared the sprints between gilbert, cunego and valverde... they are all crazy fast, but i wonder who would win out of those three

My vote goes for Valv...On TdF 2008 he easly beated Gilbert in Plumelec and in L-B-L '06 he beated Cunego too...

 

[Bala Verde]

The climb before the finish is followed by a straight, quite open road, as far as I could tell from the video below. You need to have something left in the legs, if you want to stay away solo. The last climb however doesn't appear to constiute a watershed, from what I am seeing, it's not long and steep enough.

Mendrisio parcours

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Cunego wasn't even capable of finishing the Vuelta, Gilbert did.

If he wanted to, he could have.

 

[il_fiammingo]

If he wanted to, he could have.

I know, i was joking.

 

[il_fiammingo]

My vote goes for Valv...On TdF 2008 he easly beated Gilbert in Plumelec and in L-B-L '06 he beated Cunego too...

Mine too. But they're all very close. Luckily a sprint after 260km does not always respect the pure mass sprint logic which is: Cavendish wins, the rest doesn't.

 

[taiwan]

Outsiders

These may not be that credible, but how about outsiders worth mentioning for the Worlds?
Kirchen, Scarponi, Freire have hardly been mentioned. Boom, Fedrigo, Duque... Am I going too far? Anyone in with a shout who hasn't been metioned?

 

[flicker]

I would like Henrich Hausler or Thor Hushof.