The world championship road race stands out among all other one-day races as the one where the winner is awarded both a curse and a jersey to carry for the next 12 months. It also inspires way too many riders to wear white bibs, which is an alarming trend in itself and one which I hope Brian Cookston, the new UCI President, prioritizes over the doping problem – let’s face facts: white shorts on rainy days does more damage to Cycling’s image than any doping scandal ever could.
Be that as it may, I often find myself wondering if its easier to win a Grand Tour or a one-day race. Certainly, winning a Grand Tour requires focus, discipline, and performance across a wide range of terrain and over a long period of time, but it also offers the opportunity to recover from a bad moment and to take advantage of the days where the terrain or discipline suits the qualities of the rider. A one-day race, on the other hand, is shorter but also less controllable. All in, no net; a moment’s inattention could be disastrous and in an instant your chances could disappear up the road.
The World Championships are also the only race which has brought Mary V to tears after narrowly losing the title. The Dutch don’t cry easily, especially not the ones who bleed pure V.
The Worlds are always a live wire of a race; the national teams mean the riders are riding for and against their usual teammates. Team unity is always a question, and loyalties are hard to predict. All for one and one for all, until a mate goes up the road and suddenly things start looking blurry. Throw in a circuit race, a big climb you ride 17 times, a steep ramp about V km from finish, and you’ve got yourself a race Nostradamus would have a chore predicting.
The Men set out in what is predicted to be horrendous weather on Sunday, September 29. Check the start list, rattle the bones, and put your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero. Good luck.
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@norm
Maybe @ChrisO's buddy can get to him before it's too late.
@Fins +1
@Deakus
Yes, and also a good time to look back for help from Malmerde, who apparently doesn't need a swim and a run to serve up a shit sandwich.
Whether we could hold their wheel or not isn't the point.
I couldn't play football if my life depended on it but as a fan I know the difference between a performance where my team is outclassed by a better opposition and one where they have no spirit and simply turn up physically, not mentally.
Quite simply the GB team were not up for that race. Their tactics were unfathomable and in retrospect appear to have been designed simply to show the jersey for a few kilometres, rather than for any strategic purpose. Even their own team manager has been highly critical, accusing them of being all mouth and no trousers.
I wouldn't criticise the Australian team, where 6 riders were caught up in crashes, or any of the domestiques who climbed off after their job was done, or the minor nations with small teams who have no realistic chance of winning.
But Britain is one of the top-ranked cycling nations in the world - 4th going into that race. To follow a plan and be beaten is one thing, but to not even show as a competitive force was pathetic and I don't think there need be any apologies for saying it.
@mouse
You make my point well...thankyou. It is precisely because they do this for a career, they train more, their bike handling skills are better, they are fitter, faster, lighter and more experienced that they should have continued on.
This attitude of "Only try if you can win" is shit. The attitude of making excuses to the press sucks. Essentially you espouse the point that cycling should become like every other pro sport. In fact it should not. It is different and should remain different for a myriad of reasons.
We aspire to be like our heroes. Put it this way, as of today who do I admire the most from that race. I admire all of those in the top 4. I admire those who had high hopes and in the end could not hold the pace (Phil Gil, Faboo). I admire those who tried and fell (Uran and many others).
I do not admire those who DNF simply because of the weather. FFS this was not the Giro in the snow. It was very wet, slippery and not particuarly cold. You telling me these guys cannot ride in those conditions. Bollocks! They just didn't want to and comments from various coaches seem to back that up.
@Buck Rogers
Opinions are like assholes. Everone's got em. You stated yours, I stated a diametrically opposed one. You've firmly established your hardman status by racing in the sleet and skunky business. Well done you.
This however does not in any way qualify you to judge the actions of those who were racing.
Judging everyone who didn't finish the race Sunday as quitters is just not right in my humble opinion. Remember, this was a World Championship race. Everone who was there was considered to be the best cyclists in the world currently. We can't know what caused any one of them to stop. There were no doubt many, many reasons. Being soft is certainly not one of the reasons.
Cycling isn't penance. People race their bikes because it's fun. Hard but fun. I'm sure that there'd be plenty of people bitching if there was a grupetto an hour down that we'd have to wait for to finish. Pulling out of a circuit race is just what happens when you get dropped.
I'm loving the subtext about them being paid "millions" of dollars and how they have a "responsibility" not to climb off. To who exactly? Clearly you and the others think it is to you so that you can maintain your fantasy about "the hardmen of the sport". It's all about you.
Your attitude is similar to that where the pubic think they "own" celebrities and have the right to dictate how they live because "they're paid to to it".
You only own your own actions in this world. Anything else is just so much noise.
@bunji
Bad Ass, he is deserving of huge respect.
@Fins
That is why Cav gets an exemption. He bust his balls in the first part of the race although Ellingworth even called his performance average (he was only one of two who deserved that accolade, he seems to think all the rest underperformed).
On question though...is there any chance that they all went clubbing the night before and woke up smacked out on wheeze and stiking of tequila....I am struggling to understand both G and Ian Stannard packing in, they have more than proved their hard credentials...I just wonder if someone on the DS pulled the plug in the end?
@mouse
I am sorry but the idea that people race, sponsored, on the world tour circuit for fun is a little strange. They may have fun days, their palmares should give them cause for pride but when the job is on, the work needs doing and it should not be fun. Go ask a marathon runner who is competing to win if it is fun whilst they are running. No it is shit, you feel sick, exhausted, dizzy, your body is overloaded with caffeine and all sort of other permissable aids....but fun...no I don't think so.
Please do not confuse a past time (no matter how good you are or seriously you take it) with a professional being paid to perform. Don't perform, you don't get paid. For every pro there are dozens of wannabes who wanted a chance, did not make it and some are very talented, to see someone "give up" has to be a kick in the teeth for every one of them.
We are perfectly entitled to judge. We are the fans, we pay the subscriptions, watch the races. It was the fans who stood out there in the pouring rain looking for their heroes. It is precisely because it is was a world champions race they should gone over the line...even if they were dragging themselves by their tongues.
I do not presume to know why they DNF'd only that they did and nothing that their team management has said since gives any excusable reason as far as I can tell...
After all their team coaches demand they give 100%....I am not sure I witnessed any of that from many in the GB team.
What worries me is that we might be moving to a world where teams only target one or two races a year and use the rest of them as training runs.."ride for a bit...test yourself on this hill...then climb off". Sprinters bailing from a Grand Tour approaching the high mountains is one thing..not going eyeballs out on the World Championship is a whole different kettle of fish, and some of them pulled out of earlier races citing this race as the one to go for!
I do completely agree with your last point though.....Sorry long rant I am shutting up now...
Maybe someone who was there will know how long the laps took but can't imagine 16.5k even with the climbing was taking long, so getting shelled would mean being lapped fairly quickly, my guess is once you had dropped 20 mins you would be pulled anyway, so in this instance the idea of battling on was perhaps not an option?
Hate lap races they suck.