Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s World Championship Road Race 2016
Three riders stand out in this photo: Sagan, Van Avarcan’t*, and Deggencobble in the drops, crushing it up the stupid-steep cobbled final climb at the 2015 Worlds in Richmond, Virginia. I’ve never thought much of Virginia, if at all, and I certainly never thought of Virginia’s many cobbled climbs. Goes to show that not everything below the Mason-Dixon Line is rubbish.
The photo says it all: only 66% of the riders climbing in the drops lost the World Championships, while 100% of the riders climbing on the hoods lost them. The science is conclusive: something about climbing in the drops gives you extra Awesome Speed.
From a traditional standpoint, I can’t say the US is the best place to host World Cycling Events. That said, the old Coors Classic was badass as shit, and both the CX and Road World Championships hosted here were easily the best in recent times in both disciplines. Merca: crushing it. So long as we don’t include “winning” within the concept of “crushing it”. But as far as hosting a great race? Nailed it.
Even less traditional is the Qatar Worlds location. As Gianni said, flat and cross winds. Very Dutchish or Flemishish, on the surface of it. Have you ever been in a sauna and had someone blow on you because they are an asshole? If you have, you will realize that in that sort of heat, adding wind makes the wet parts of your skin burn, not cool. In other words, cross winds in the desert is like racing in Belgium while Beelzebub chases you about with a flamethrower.
At least doffing leg warmers and extra jerseys won’t slow anyone down.
Get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to nil, and good luck. Oh, and study the start list, as if it helps. Remember: a Don Walker frame is on offer for the winner of the VSP! A custom steel frame!
*Except he Van Avercould at the Olympics. Quite the time to pull out the “No More Second Places” card.
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@RobSandy
Indeed.
Amazingly, aquifer depletion can be measured by “weighing” the aquifer via its gravitational pull. A pair of satellites called GRACE orbit us 200km apart and measure the distance between them to ten microns. Changes in gravity are measured by changes in relative acceleration of the satellites.
The Arabian aquifer system turns out to be one of the most affected.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626
Back to cycling, Yorkshire 2019 is rather less likely to have water shortage issues…
@verytallguy
Holy Fuck! That is the coolest thing I have read in ages and to think that we have Trump in a neck and cut-throat race for the White House. WTF? God help us all.
@Buck Rogers
It is very true that the groundwater has been sucked out at an alarming rate.
Not all the water comes from there, although it doesn’t improve the story… the Gulf states have invested heavily in water desalination plants. These are very energy-intensive but when you’re sitting on all that oil and gas, who cares.
The other effect is that the Arabian Gulf (or Persian Gulf as you prefer) is growing increasingly salty with all the heavily concentrated brine which is pumped back in.
Because it’s fairly shallow and has a narrow outlet it’s more like a lake than a sea so it gets more and more concentrated, which requires more and more energy to desalinate and so on…
In 100 years the oligarchy will have decamped to the bits of the world they’ve bought in the meantime, and whoever is left will be back to riding camels and living in tents.
Bah! 2017 Tour route announced. Only 36 kms against the clock. Pathetic.
@wiscot
I understand the 13K ITT to begin the race but what is the point of a 23K ITT on the penultimate day? That distance hardly seems worth the logistical efforts.
@Ron
He had the shits because the Belgians were hammering the front and disrupting the chase.
Congrats to @Dancollins! If I see things correctly, you won the VSP again. Remind me next year to simply cast my votes like you did and then I might end up with a nice pair of rims.
@KogaLover
Unless I am mistaken, I think we might still be waiting for the Women’s world championship results to be posted and added in to the totals.
The women’s results have been posted already and cannot imagine @Frank‘s IT skills so bad that the system does not know how to add up with the speed of light.
@ChrisO
Gents, cold fusion is just around the corner. You think the internet changed the world? Unlimited low energy desalinization would only be some icing on the bigger cake provided by cold fusion. CO2 emissions and global warming? Bahhh… Old news. $21 trillion in US debt? Bahhh… chump change. It’s gonna be invented soon enough by a bunch of kids that today are collaborating around the world 24-7 to build their minecraft worlds on line in ways we can hardly understand. No worries. Cheers all.
Anyone out there? Fellominati, NO traffic on this site yesterday all day????
@KogaLover
Too darned busy at work. Bike time looks bleak for a few weeks too.
@Teocalli
quick, get Brett to write another article about saddlebags!
@RobSandy
Did you see Robin Williams’ bikes for sale? Almost all bikes are portrayed with an EPMS. They really made an effort to ensure they’re on.
Guess I finally will need to start writing this article I have been thinking about, ranting about black decals on black bikes.
@KogaLover
I’m still here…genuinely busy at work though
Is this picture appearing?
Nope
Bugger
@Rick
I’ve just read a story that Sagain invited all Slovak fans who attended the race to dinner party that day I am sure it was not few (he paid the bill). Many our countrymen work in Emirates and about 40 members of his fan club from his native city Žilina made a trip to Doha.
@Pali65
That is incredible. Good for him! It is great to see a celebrity who appreciates his fans.
@Rick
So let’s hope for him that him becoming Sagain did not lead to Schagrain when he saw the bill (or Sagrain or Chagrain…whatever….)
My and the rest of the PEZ Crew’s take on the Worlds. Including guest commentary from US and LottoNl-Jumbo’s Alexey Vermeulen who rode the time trial and the road race in the desert of Qatar. http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/features/worlds16-what-the-pez-crew-think/#.WAi5VHqR7eY
Before we leave the Worlds behind, have they also produced a nominee for Anti-V Moment of the year in John Degenkolb for his bottle-squirting tantrum?
That guy in the Red Hook crit smashing his bike must also be in the judges’ consideration. Hard for a pro to take such a prestigious prize but it was a strong showing.
@ChrisO
@ChrisO
Just to make the moment a bit more Anti-V, that was his friends bike that he smashed. He had borrowed the steed for the race.
@KogaLover
maybe we were all riding our bikes?
@Rick
Hahaha!!
@Rick
Ohhhhh, that’s even worse! I did not know that. I saw the vid but it was his buddy’s bike??? Ouch!
The most amazing thing, for me, about the Degenkolb squirting incident was just how calm Debusschere was about it. I suspect this may have infuriated JD even more. Wonder how things would have played out if you swapped the Belgian element for, say, the Italians?
@Buck Rogers
And to top off the anti-V on this video which I can’t bear to watch anymore, that idiot had put eye black under his eyes like a football player. Wish the Badger was around to give him what he deserved.
@Steve Trice
If I were the domestique in Debusschere’s role (which I have been in the odd crit) I’d have been laughing behind my shades. In any sport, if you annoy your opponent that much by doing something completely fair within the rules, you’ve won.
I quite like getting in another team’s pace line when they are trying to chase (if I’ve got team mates in the break) then subtly soft pedalling when I get to the front. Often takes them quite a while to realise I’m not actually working.
@Steve Trice
Ha! Right! He’d probably have woken up the next morning with his bike’s severed cockpit lying next to him in bed surrounded with chain grease!
@RobSandy
Absolutely, one of the great joys.
@Buck Rogers
Also, in that heat, having water sprayed in your face would probably be quite pleasant…
Indeed. A sticky energy drink, on the other hand …………..
@RobSandy
I once had a bit of a bust up over something like that.
It was us doing the chasing but instead of going to the front and just soft-pedalling or pulling through this guy from another team (who I thought was a bit of a douche anyway) came to the front and actually braked. I got a bit pissed off with this so I came up and started leaning into him to push him out of the way.
Unfortunately I pushed him off, and I came off too. We nearly had a fight. His bike was unable to go on but I remounted and continued – it was a lap race so he stood by the side and spat on me as I went past next time.
I apologised at the end and I was genuinely sorry for escalating it, but I still maintain it was his dick move in the first place.
@1860
The Red Hook guy wins the Anti-v hands down. He’s subsequently claimed that he wasn’t entirely with it as a result of a crash in which the bike was broken. However, despite being a bit woozy he managed to position himself perfectly in front of a camera for his little tantrum. Not to mention that, presumably somewhere between crash and tantrum, he’d manage to unzip his skinsuit to an indecent point.
I’d say that he new exactly what he was doing and was looking to go “viral”.
@ChrisO
Yes, that’s crossing the line. I tend to think ill of anyone who brakes in that sort of race, for any reason. It’s always what causes crashing.
My aim in that scenario is to make the chasing team wonder if I’m helping or not – going at a speed just fast enough they might think I’m trying, but that it might take them a few seconds to register what team I’m in and give my buddies in the break a bit more distance. It worked though – the time I was thinking of there was a break of 4 away (2 Ajax) who managed to lap the field while everyone else was messing around.
Bad you both ended up on the deck, but going to the front and braking is just fucking stupid. I’d take your side on that one!
@RobSandy
It’s one thing getting accidentally spat on in a paceline or group ride but deliberately?
Chapeau, coz I’m not so sure I’d have been quire so calm about the situation.
He did seem to put his back out doing it – which I guess is poetic justice
@chris
Dude is a fashion model, to boot, so he knows where a camera is and what to do in front of one. Google the name and click on images; you have been warned.
Looking back with Sagan’s beautiful wife and her blog:
http://katesagan.blogspot.sk/?m=1