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.
[vsp_results id=”27411″/]
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Oops. That should have read '...get through doping control and the press conference..."
@JCM
*cough....if you step off your bike you remove your sponsors name from the race and they are paying your wages....prehaps some docking of wage packets are in order, i bet SKY are pissed off with the GB team....
If cycling in the modern era is about climbing of when wet then we may as well pack up and make this site a homage to days of yore....and that would be doing all those who finished and have earned our respect a diservice.
As a spectator i want to see them ride...it is up to the commissaires to neutralise a race.
As a rider i want to be inspired....the FROGGINS of this world do not do that.
As a sponsor i would want to see my brand all over the race...quitters damage my brand (i do not inlude those injured or falling)
i hate to say it but today i have more respect for malverde, flawed as he is, than i do for wiggins....by all accounts he didn't even do a turn at the front for GB!
One National Team's coach calling it like it is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/24332707
I wonder what Kelly had to say about the Irish pulling out? Did anyone have his audio? Was he calling the race for Eurosport? I remember when he crashed somewhere around three times brutally in P-R one year and still raced back up and finished. I personally would not want to have to face him if I ever pulled out of a race short of actually having a leg fall off.
Never ridden in a race or as a pro (shocking, I know); but I have ridden in some truly horrendous weather. Crashing is highly unfortunate and worthy of empathy. DNF because of Rule #9 weather just reveals the true inner wuss. The guys who finished, regardless of time, deserve our admiration. The others, well........
@the-farmer
@Deakus
@Buck Rogers
@HMBSteve
Ah, the modern cycling fan. Fed a steady diet of HTFU and the hard men of the past, they have disconnected with the humanity of the sport. They build up people to impossible standards, then when they don't win every single fucking race after a remarkable early showing denigrate their character, call then soft/losers.
The more you lot bait Wiggins, the more I like him. He's a human being just like the rest of you. Sometimes he's great, sometimes he has problems that don't allow him to perform as he would like. If I were him, I'd be thinking that the modern cycling fan is a complete cunt. Why bother trying to satisfy them because they won't be no matter what.
Each and every one of you would have been dropped on the first lap up to Fiesole, if not sooner, and left crying in a ditch from hypothermia. To call others who dropped out disgraceful for doing so when the was no chance for them to get a result is frankly harsh and unrealistic.
@Buck Rogers No Eurosport coverage sadly as I'd have loved to have heard how many "calculaaytions" he would have thrown into the mix when J-Rod, Pity, Nibbles and Costa....er....anyone have a nick-name for our new champion yet??? went clear. In fairness from what I've read it sounds like Roche and Martin were victims of pretty bad crashes and Brammeier and Bennett sacrificed themselves trying in vain to get them back on. All in all sounds like they gave a good account of themselves, especially the latter who are both "only" Pro-Continental riders.
The British team as a whole underperformed but this article makes the interesting (well, I think so anyway), point that they only had a strong team on paper and it was a pretty weak team in reality: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/sep/30/great-britain-cycling-world-championships-flop
Maybe the rain just fowled up all the Sky garmins.
@Deakus
Valid points. Professional sponsors seemed to take a bit of a back seat to national teams, but teams like GB certainly still had plenty of Sky kit visible. I'm sure the riders will have to answer to their sponsors.
I don't disagree with your point about inspiration either. Abandoning doesn't inspire anyone, even if it's done for what I consider perfectly understandable reasons. In a race where 147 DNF'd and only 61 finished, the finishers certainly deserve respect. I just don't think that the riders who abandoned are pussies for doing so. If you look at the list of DNFs, there are plenty of tough riders. Sometimes you have a really bad day at work and throw in the towel.
I think there was plenty of V to counter the anti-V in the race, and Huzarski's ride was a great example.
@mouse - so if a rider cannot win, he should quit? Pathetic.
@HMBSteve
I think there is a difference in not being able to win, and not being able to finish. Are you going to keep risking your life ripping around in the rain if you're 28 minutes out the back?
I'm sure if it was a beautiful day more would have stayed out. As an example, a friend of mine rode mountain for years. On a fun day in the rain and mountain he washed out and hit his knee. He hasn't been able to ride a bike in 5 years.