Six Days Of… The Worlds
We love our niche categories here at Velominati. Titles such as Reverence, Evanescent Riders, Defining Moments and Anatomy Of A Photo give us the impetus to bring you some entertainment when we may be somewhat low on inspiration, you might say. And if a sub-category can supply us with one article idea, then why not a whole week’s worth? So it is that we introduce our new series, Six Days Of… (Ok, not quite a week, but in homage to the great indoor races we decided to go with it.)
Every month or so, we will pick a topic, be it a rider, a race, a brand, or just about anything that deserves a half-dozen days in the limelight. Because our sense of timing is impeccable, we’ll kick it off with ‘The Worlds’, a celebration of all that is awesome, joyous, heartbreaking, memorable, forgettable, surprising and predictable about the World Road Race Championships. We hope you enjoy the next six days.
Sweet… btw, Vos is a great rider, but I think she could have been better…
Yeah, 6 World titles, 4 European titles, 12 Dutch titles, 3 World Cup overall titles, an Olympic Gold, road, cross, MTB, track… a bit of an under-achiever, that one!
The mother lode!!! A riding friend/mentor of mine asked me if I wanted (to keep) some race tapes to watch while spinning on the trainer this winter. He just dropped them off.
Here’s a bigger, clearer picture.
Thats a sweet set of vids, but alas, who has a vcr anymore?
I do.
Nice retort. She is an amazing athlete
Will we see a six days of Gent in November?
@Brett
Well being at least part welsh I root for Nicole Cooke, but I still think Vos is a better rider, but Cooke seems/seemed to beat her too often.
@Nathan Edwards
You’re a brave man, wanting to root Nicole Cooke!
BTW, I’m picking Pozzato to take the Road title.
I like Cavendish’s response when a reporter accused him of holding on to a team car on a mountain stage of the Vuelta.
@Cyclops
I dunno: sounds like there are a lot of cars to hold onto back there…
Sounds like he could have been drafting the tuba player
I don’t know about you guys, but there ain’t no way I’m gonna let an ice-cream van drop me.
I’m undecided between Po-Po and Gilbert.
@thewhitejersey
Six Days of Six Days? Is that 36 Days?
I for one have always been a big fan of World Championships, but my basic tenants always hold true: there is no race that can not be improved through the introduction of cobble and rain.
I am a fan of Cooke, and also of Vos. Vos, in particular, exhibits the best qualities of what an all-round Northern European rider is like; one-days, stage races, and cyclocross.
Leontin was another great that I followed for years and years:
The worlds is the greatest one-day race of the lot. Greater even than anything with cobbles in it, at least that is what I tell myself beforehand. Only every time the race then turns into a massive anti-climax before my eyes. Breaks form but are never allowed to develop and by the last lap you are fearing another bunch sprint, before there are a final splits in the last few km’s. But even watching back through old worlds, the rose-tinted lenses come off as you realise the pattern is pretty much the same every year.
Philleeeeepe will win this year, but if for some wildly random reason he doesn’t, I’d love to see Oscarito win a fourth (He won’t)
As for the women, I backing Emma Pooley. The course may not be tough for the men, but it’s supposed to be like GP Plouey and that is always a different story for the women. If it comes to a bunch sprint then Lizzie Armistead is a good dark horse
A note on Pooley. You think Cooke and Vos are good, but Pooley I think is different league. She might not have a bunch kick on her, but she’s only been racing for about 5 years and the tactical side of her racing is still improving. Also Pooley seems quite a good-natured person. As nice as Nicole can be off the bike, she’s not a team rider by any means and the drive that brought her all that success seems to cause issues off-bike if things aren’t done as she wants.
I’m also suspecting that both Cooke at least and possibly Vos, have motivational problems these days. Cooke has won most things and has been racing since she was something like eight as well as having had quite severe knee injuries/operations. I’m not sure how much she has the drive to keep ahead of the new generation of women. The same goes for Vos, it’s as if she’s been caught up by others and now has to rely on races ending in bunch, or small group sprints to win. Pooley smashed her at Plouey.
@Frank that’s some pretty big 80s hair there
Spartacus on last year: