A clatter of the metal grate rolling up signals another opening of the Velominati Bookmaker’s Office. The gaggle of skinny (and not so skinny, you know who you are) jabbering cycling addicts rush the door, each with their dream of a bumper sticker dancing in their heads. Before the office opened the bookies have consulted the oracle; a garbled audio of Sean Kelly’s predictions where he maybe tipped the little known Gullaume Van Keirsbulck, or did he say Phillip Gilbert. Bettini likes Cavendish’s chances while Cavendish likes Thor’s chances and Thor likes Keirsbulck’s chances or did he say Roelandts?
Since Geelong everyone has been saying this was a sprinters course, so a sprinter won’t win. It is only 266km with no serious grades and a total of 1785m of climbing. I could finish this course, if I could ride 266km and there was no time cut. For the professional road championship it does not sound long or grueling enough but the weather could be cold, windy and wet, if so the Spanish will suffer and the Italians will have to race with neck gaiters.
Looking back this year Cancellara should have won the 2010 world title so his less-than-spectacular season could be blamed on the curse of the rainbow jersey. Gilbert cannot have another season as good as this one so he better not win on Sunday or the jersey will be blamed in 2012. I started to feel bad for Thor when the yellow jersey came off his back and went to Voeckler during the Tour de France until I remembered he had the rainbow jersey underneath it! Who needs that trashy yellow one when you are already have the rainbow? I stopped feeling bad for Thor.
It’s late in the season, many have packed it in for the year, others have ridden the Vuelta to gain form. Are they good or cooked? Will the British team work together to bring Cav to the line or go down in flames like the Italians used to? The thought of Cavendish wearing the rainbow hoops for the next year has caused some anxiety in the office. His propensity for white tube socks with black shoes would diminish the aura the rainbow jersey brings to any worthy rider. The Aussi team looks unbeatable and yet…The bottom line on bookmaking is this will be another impossible race to pick the winner, unless you choose Gilbert.
Here is a link to the start list. As always, if you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the form below. Make your picks by 5am Pacific Sunday morning, regular VSP Rules apply.
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View Comments
@snoov
You can tell by Millar's tweets that he thinks the world of Cav, possibly in a somewhat fatherly/senior pro way as the result of having signed his autograph for Cav when he was a boy. It also looks like Millar and Wiggins have put events at Slipstream to bed.
Tweets from both of them this morning:
"Oh. My. God. I think a pig has shit in my head." - Millar
"Balls! Sore head missed my flight" - Wiggins
Haven't watched the race yet, was out riding yesterday morning and s a result of that and Mrs Chris taking the boys to rugby, I had a list of jobs waiting when I got home. Highlights being recorded tonight though. That said I'm delighted Cav and GB won.
Bugger...
As I was saying, there are many and various types of cyclist, be they Rouleurs, Puncheurs or Grimpeurs or any other fancy sounding french subcategories that I can't be fucked thinking of just now.
I admire cyclists that are versatile, who can win races that you might not normally expect them to. I'm thinking Thor in the TdF this year and Giblets in anything else.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't admire Cav. He has amazing speed and skill. He is certainly the fastest sprinter of his generation. I don't know. Maybe I've become jaded by the mechanical efficiency of the flat races. I have read either here or elsewhere of Cav's erstwhile team HTC as 'The Borg'. An entity that eats everything up and makes everything the same. That kind of racing just feels negative to me.
I love the guys like Jeremy Roy in the tour or last night Jonny Hoo and Tommy V (notwithstanding all of his antics and pantomime) putting their balls on the line for the win.
I also understand that there is an incredible amount of tactical skill involved in working out how long they should leave the poor fuckers out there to fry themselves to maximise the protected man's chances.
I suspect that the UCI is quite tactical in how they choose parcours for the World Championships perhaps to ensure that a broad range of rider types have the opportunity to wear the bands. It's obvious that this year was for the sprinters.
So, no sour grapes from me in spite of the cockishness of my previous post.
I'm not upset that the Aussies lost.
I guess I just wish that the parcours was more selective. I think that World Championship courses should be like Monuments, only harder. I think that the riders should have to donate their right kidney just to finish. But maybe I'm just an idiot that likes to see other people suffer.
So, chapeau to Cav. And well done team UK. You have done your countrymen proud.
And, Oli you are right. Cav has won a monument, and a good one at that. I would love to see him break out of the mold that he's currently set in to see if he can become something other than the fastest fucking caboose of all time.
Now, onto more important things...
Did you read in Women's Weekly about Kelly Preston's miracle baby?
Sorry Mouse, but I've started now...would you expect Contador to win bunch sprints? Thor to win HC mountain finishes? Greipel to win from a long solo break? Voeckler to win big time trials? Why should Cavendish be something other than what he is, especially when what he is is freakishly talented within his sphere?
Pro road cycling encompasses all facets of the road, and that's how it should be. One of the beautiful things about the Grand Tours is that they, at various points, showcase the different styles of rider, and it would be pretty boring if every stage was the same. The season is the same, with various races tailored to different strengths and abilities. Surely it's only fair that some Worlds suit climbers, some breakaways and some suit sprinters?
To view a race by wishing it was something else entirely misses the point - enjoy each race for what it is within its context and I believe you'll end up with a much deeper enjoyment of the sport.
@Oli
Oli, of course you are right.
It is a broad church. I suppose I was wishing this race was something it wasn't as you have quire rightly pointed out.
This really is the first season that I have followed all the way through (thanks be to SBS) and am coming to see how the races vary to suit all types.
I reslove to be much more zen about it from now on.
@ChrisO
This is a bollocks argument. The person who deserves to win is the person who wins. I am not especially fond of Cavendish (I'm grown up enough to admit that part of the reason for this is because he beats lots of Aussies), but he is unquestionably the fastest man in a bunch sprint going around at present (and has been for a number of years). He deserved to win yesterday. I know that because he crossed the line first. If someone else (Goss, Hausler, Griepel, even a lesser known like Tjallingi) had crossed the line first, that rider would have deserved to win.
Full credit to Cav and to team GB for yesterday's win.
Watching the overhead shot yesterday, I think the key difference between Cav and Goss yesterday was psychological. In the last 50m Cav knew he was the fastest man on the planet (and went for the line an the assumption he would get there first). Goss, on the other hand, was concerned he might not be and so hesitated.
I didn't like the parcours though. I know they have to put on a race for the sprinters every few years (Zolder anyone) and it would have seemed odd had Cavendish not won the worlds in a career which has already proven so stellar, but I'd much prefer to watch a race where the winner comes from a small selection (Mendrisio, even Geelong) rather than a mass sprint. Hence the last 45 mins of Paris Tours is interesting while I would happily watch most (if not all) of Lombardy or San Sebastian or Flanders or Liege.
The womens race was almost as dull as the Eurosport commentary implied. I could have sat in that bunch longer than the Guyanan girl.
@Nof Landrien
It's an argument. You think it is bollocks. There is a difference.
Just like there is a difference between saying "deserved to win" and "deserved to be world champion".
As for the women's race, actually I think the Eurosport commentators did a valiant job of bigging it up.
Apparently some of the women were aggrieved that Pat McQuaid made comments afterwards against introducing a minimum wage in women's cycling. On the evidence of that race I think $3.60 an hour is about right.
That parcours did exactly what it was supposed to do, which was to confirm who the fastest man in the world is on a bike right now. They were all there; Goss, Griepel, Faboo, Sagan, etc and Cav beat them mano-a-mano. That's what he does in such races.
You may be dissapointed in not seeing the bands in small selections and breaks next year but you're going to see the rj win more sprints and tour stages than it ever has. And that too is as it should be. The bands need to be in the mix.
Cipo will have plenty of entertaining things to say as not since his reign have we seen a similar combo of raw ability and gravitas.
@Gianni - apologies... I should learn to read. You rock... AWESOME photo of Freddie
@Marcus - is that just venting of relief coming out that the All Blacks finally managed to beat France in a World Cup game? shame it was only the pool stage, eh?
LOVING the tweets coming in this morning... I may finally be warming to a new media application named after something between a Twat and a Shitter... i.e. it should have been called "Perineum"
Am quite
I prematurely posted. After a days work I amquite pleased to see the crazy carryings on. To clarify my point - it was purely against the seeming convenient grouping of countries., principalities, fiefdoms and dominions that those filthy Brits use when it suits. As for the racing, I reckon it was great. GB farked up by missing thebreak but then made amends. My Country's selectors no doubt let some unknown politics interfere with good sense - no Renshaw FFS? Idiots.
Cav has now made amends for his one-legged pass of Cipo