Velominati Super Prestige: VVomens World Championship Road Race 2015
What can be said about the worlds that hasn’t been said here already? We’re all abuzz over here in America, laying in wait for the biggest event we’ll ever host on our crap, frost-heaved and pot-holed roads. The route itself appears to be very well laid out but apparently the road surface is so bad that it is causing bad crashes. Yay America! In France, I’ve seen them re-pave entire mountain passes when the Tour comes through. That’s how you do it, folks.
When it comes to organizing world-class events, we apparently have a bit to learn as we’re also still tugging at the threads of a national Grand Tour. Is that a joke? If we had 21 stages here, there would be 21 transfers, which makes me glad Bernard Hinault isn’t racing anymore because he would be beating the crap out of a lot of people for that one. Maybe he still will.
Most disgracefully, we’ve also proved that we suck at designing kit, as Gianni already covered for us. Come on, what are we, the B-Squad?
Nevertheless, I’m excited about the prospect of watching the race during daylight hours, and can’t wait to be disappointed by US Live coverage, which I assume will be non-existent. But don’t let that stop you putting in your picks for the ladies Road Race on Saturday; Vos has written the season off, so the race will be fairly open. My money is my girl Lizzie Armistead, which sadly jinxes her from having a chance. Sorry Lizzie. On the off chance that I am wrong, however, and you do win, could you please race in black shorts next year? Thanks.
Meditate on the start list, conclude that it is a crap shoot, and get your picks in by the time the countdown timer goes to zero, and good luck!
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@KogaLover
I hate typing on a tablet. Just this sentence had to be corrected. Apologies to Pedro.
@frank
yep, love watching the ladies race. one attack after another gotta be getting hard!
Yes. Lizzie. God Save the Queen!
@Minnesota Expat
Very impressive race and win. Wow. Everyone on her wheel at the end. Didn’t matter. And great patience over a couple of circuits with the group up front. Only closed when she had to do so. So strong. I was reading that she’s been pretty straightforward this year about her focus and desire for this race. And she’s victorious in the end. Much respect.
@Minnesota Expat
Shh! I’m on your wheel…
@Steampunk
I think that’s what Van Der Breggen said to Lizzie today about 500 meters from the line.
Fucking yessss!
That is all.
Possibly the best race I’ve watched in my lifetime. What a spectacle; two cobbled climbs per lap, rain, and combative racing from the flag. I was SURE Lizzie had let the major break go when suddenly they came back. The made the first decisive move to start the chase, then then one to reduce the group, and then the one to win the sprint. What class!
Not to mention she’s been racing at the front all year, what a deserving winner of the bands!
And props to the Dutchies and Americans for rounding out the podium. Strong, strong work all around.
Absolutely gripping stuff. Watched it hunched over my iPad with Mrs@Geraint at 4am, screaming at the device, thinking the late break was going to make it. Unforgettable.
Lizzie had a plan, she stuck with it and made it work perfectly. Drop the big sprinters on the final climb & then be the last one to blink in the run to the line. Chapeau.
Don’t know if I have much to say for the race – the breakaway which wouldn’t and the chase by some of their own teams was pretty amateurish.
The finish though was top class and Armitstead was brilliant. I thought she’d blown it by attacking up Governor’s and when nobody would come past her, but that was a superb effort.
That she could get onto van der Breggen’s wheel when nobody else had managed to stick to it, and then come past her showed how strong she was. A worthy winner.
halfwheelsucker, let others do the hard work, that’s my view but I am biased of course.
@KogaLover
She won on her own against teams with several riders in the final. Who are you proud of?
@KogaLover
Calling Armistead a wheelsucker is well out of order and very rude, not to mention completely wrong.
Gutsy win played to perfection, I say.
@KogaLover, @Oli
I agree with Oli apart from concluding that its rude to say – its just an opinion – but it is wrong to suggest she’s a wheel sucker. She was the instigator at every key moment: she started the chase of the break that looked to be on the verge of staying clear, she made the attack that reduced the group down to something she could deal with on Govenor’s, and then led out the sprint.
Very class win.
@ChrisO
It did feel an awful lot like a Cat 5 race, but I loved every second of it; it was just fireworks from the start with every move being chased and very spirited racing, not the mechanical racing you see so often. I enjoyed it immensely.
@Oli @frank
Guys, remember Rule #43? Don’t take it so seriously… Just me venting frustration that there were no gold medals hung around orange-clad racers during this year’s World’s.
So glad to have been so wrong (‘cept for Van Der Breggen and Johansson). The photos of The Queen crossing line and realizing the full weight of her accomplishment are something I will keep and show to my daughter when she is ready.
Long live The Queen.
@KogaLover
Perhaps if you’d deployed Rule #43 in the first place my retort would have been more humourous!