UCI World Road Race Championships 2019

Eamonnator · 18-09-2019 3:52pm

Dan Martin is 200/1
Van Der Poel 5/2
Sam Bennett 17/1

I think Van Der Poel will win, but 5/2 is crazy low odds.

brocbrocach · 18-09-2019 4:12pm

Looking at the U23 worlds team it's strange that Mick O'Loughlin isn't entered into the RR as he's gone to the trouble of going to Yorkshire for the TT anyway. Ben Healy is left all alone in the RR, even though he's also doing the TT. O'Loughlin is surely (a) good enough to race the RR (b) makes Healy's participation in the RR a bit more realistic as 2 is much better than 1.

eeeee · 18-09-2019 4:12pm

Hard to look past Van der Poel in the men's, it's an ideal circuit for him if he can make the distance, which he shouldn't have a bother with.

[Deleted User] · 18-09-2019 4:13pm

If he makes the selection it's just hard to see anyone being able to beat him.

The Belgians would ideally like to make it hard from the off but who is going to offer themselves up alongside Declercq, they've too many leaders.

brocbrocach · 18-09-2019 4:58pm

There's a lot of hype about VderP. He had a good spring but a lot of things worked out for him as well. Apart from that he went to the Tour of Britain and beat up a mostly 3rd string field. He's never faced a focused and in-form Valverde, Alaphillippe, Sagan, Van Avermaet, etc in a race that'll be raced like this. Obviously he is good but making him favourite for the WC in his first real year of road cycling is too much.

De Bhál · 18-09-2019 5:00pm

Alaphillippe for me

Eamonnator · 18-09-2019 5:16pm

De Bhál wrote: »

Alaphillippe for me

He should be there or thereabouts.

Lusk_Doyle · 18-09-2019 6:23pm

brocbrocach wrote: »

There's a lot of hype about VderP. He had a good spring but a lot of things worked out for him as well. Apart from that he went to the Tour of Britain and beat up a mostly 3rd string field. He's never faced a focused and in-form Valverde, Alaphillippe, Sagan, Van Avermaet, etc in a race that'll be raced like this. Obviously he is good but making him favourite for the WC in his first real year of road cycling is too much.

What were the lot of things that worked out for him as well?

Eamonnator · 18-09-2019 6:45pm

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

What were the lot of things that worked out for him as well?

Three World Cup XCO wins, 4 short course World Cup wins, European XCO Championship and World CX Championship?

[Deleted User] · 18-09-2019 7:15pm

1 huge slice of luck at the Amstel yes but an untimely puncture and fall that cost him a shot at Flanders.

An understrength team as support.

nak · 18-09-2019 7:40pm

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Not selected!?!? Wow!

Has only done a couple of road races this year.

Lusk_Doyle · 19-09-2019 7:44am

Eamonnator wrote: »

Three World Cup XCO wins, 4 short course World Cup wins, European XCO Championship and World CX Championship?

That's not what the post meant. Those wins were his and earned. Not something that worked out for him. That suggests that he benefitted from something that wasn't neccessarily his own doing.

Macy0161 · 19-09-2019 8:39am

I think it was Van Der Poel's performances in the spring that mark him as one of the favourites, for me at least. The performances since he went back to the road just show he's carrying enough form for a possible repeat.

I still have Gilbert as my favourite, and my personal hope, if Sam or Dan aren't in the mix in the final.

Eamonnator · 19-09-2019 9:39am

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

That's not what the post meant. Those wins were his and earned. Not something that worked out for him. That suggests that he benefitted from something that wasn't neccessarily his own doing.

Are you sure?.

Finnrocco · 19-09-2019 9:40am

MPFGLB wrote: »

There will be no cruising

Although I wouldnt expect them to go eyeballs out on the first climb, the climbs will be ridden fast sure, but would still expect a decent size group to come to the local laps, including Sam and all the gallopers like Trentin, Colbrelli, Matthews, Impey.

De Bhál · 19-09-2019 11:07am

red_ken wrote: »

1 huge slice of luck at the Amstel yes but an untimely puncture and fall that cost him a shot at Flanders.

An understrength team as support.

I didn't see it as luck at the Amstel. Pure hard work. Best finish to a road race in years for me.

brocbrocach · 19-09-2019 11:45am

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

What were the lot of things that worked out for him as well?

Sorry Adrie, I didn't realise you were so protective of him!
He has raced very little. Pointing out his CX results is useless - they're completely different sports. In spring he was great in the few races he did but most weren't top tier apart from Amstel. In Amstel a lot of the other riders you'd expect to animate or control the race weren't in form, Kwiatkowski, Moscon, Valverde, Gilbert, Valgren even, etc. The top 10 was a bit of a lucky dip in the end. The race panned out in a way that suited VdP but that won't always happen. Alaphillippe obviously was in form but the race went away from him.

It happens, you have a good spell, things work out for you. Doesn't make him a bad rider but it doesn't mean he's an unbackable favourite after a handful of road races either. The ToB means nothing.

brocbrocach · 19-09-2019 11:50am

Eamonnator wrote: »

Three World Cup XCO wins, 4 short course World Cup wins, European XCO Championship and World CX Championship?

But they're results from a completely different sport. They have completely different skills and talents. Take the stamina aspect as the most obvious - 1hr versus 5 or 6hrs. There's obviously a crossover but Sven Nys, Boom etc goes to show that success in one doesn't necessarily mean the other.

Macy0161 · 19-09-2019 12:53pm

brocbrocach wrote: »

He has raced very little. Pointing out his CX results is useless - they're completely different sports. In spring he was great in the few races he did but most weren't top tier apart from Amstel. In Amstel a lot of the other riders you'd expect to animate or control the race weren't in form, Kwiatkowski, Moscon, Valverde, Gilbert, Valgren even, etc.

4th in Flanders too, and in Amstel beat Fulgsang and Schachmann into 3rd and 5th who were first and third in Liege the following week!

brocbrocach · 19-09-2019 1:20pm

Yeah Flanders was definitely a good result, one I'd forgotten to be honest!
Fuglsang and Schachmann doing so well in Liege is an indication in itself that the year was an outlier. They both had great years but they'd normally be in the second rank of riders, top quality but not monument winners.

Macy0161 · 19-09-2019 1:54pm

Fuglsang would have a good few top 10's in the Ardennes classics before this year, and in fairness to Schachmann, any other year he'd be considered a young rider, and these as breakout performances. He's only 24 or 25 and 3rd or 4th year pro!

Actually I have Fuglsang as one of the favourites for this race, if it does become hard/ poor weather especially.

Finnrocco · 19-09-2019 2:00pm

Macy0161 wrote: »

Actually I have Fuglsang as one of the favourites for this race, if it does become hard/ poor weather especially.

My pick as an each way bet.

Weepsie · 19-09-2019 2:16pm

brocbrocach wrote: »

But they're results from a completely different sport. They have completely different skills and talents. Take the stamina aspect as the most obvious - 1hr versus 5 or 6hrs. There's obviously a crossover but Sven Nys, Boom etc goes to show that success in one doesn't necessarily mean the other.

Is the Stamina difference that substantial. You'd spend much of that 5-6 hours on the road in a bunch conserving energy unless in the break or chasing etc. XC and Cyclocross etc they are constantly having to accelerate and do short bursts of sprinting and up and down tough and steep terrain. There's little to no respite whatsoever in those types of events.

Plus it's the sort of thing that should help is bike handling, yorkshire roads are lumpy and twisty. Sharp turns, rutted surfaces.

Saying other riders weren't in form in Amstel is a cop out. That was a very strong field and he beat them, and beat them well.

brocbrocach · 19-09-2019 3:03pm

If a course is raced hard the stamina aspect has to be substantial. The physiologies are really different, not quite 10,000m to marathon in running because of the drafting as you say but massively different. Simply sitting in the bunch is doing elite exercise for 6 hours never mind the fact that he's not used to having the Malaysian national team riding a foot away from him for that time. Cross involves training to be explosive for 1 hour, accelerating and decelerating, running with a bike on your shoulder for flip sake!
If the other teams are seeing him as a big rival it's the obvious way to attack him. Make the race 300 km of effort and he has to suffer more than the veteran road riders.

Lusk_Doyle · 19-09-2019 4:40pm

I think that you are doing him a disservice by being so dismissive of the perceived differences between the two disciplines of the same sport. Not different sport but different disciplines within the same sport of bicycle racing.

Full on effort for the cx stuff, etc is damn hard. Maybe that's why you don't get so many top end road racers doing that at that level? Maybe consider that as opposed to the opposite to give the relative positions critique?

Also, who or what is Adrie?

Further, you could say the same about lots of victories across the season for anyone. Such and such was not there or did not ride well and that's why your man won. The fact is that he did.

brocbrocach · 19-09-2019 5:00pm

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

I think that you are doing him a disservice by being so dismissive of the perceived differences between the two disciplines of the same sport. Not different sport but different disciplines within the same sport of bicycle racing.

Full on effort for the cx stuff, etc is damn hard. Maybe that'a why you don't get so many top end road racers doing that at that level? Maybe consider that as opposed to the opposite to give the relative positions critique?

Also, who or what is Adrie?

Further, you could say the same about lots of victories across the season for anyone. Such and such was not there or did not ride well and that's why your man won. The fact is that he did.

Ah yeah, he did win well and his talent is obviously massive - just to have him as a favourite on a 300 km long race isn't backed up by what he's done. If he'd done more races you'd be able to say that he's better than X or Y, but because he raced only a handful of races I think it's fair to question the level. That's just my opinion.

No arguments, cx is a great full-on discipline, I don't disagree there. But if you compare Track cycling for example, you couldn't expect someone who wins the Pursuit, say, to automatically transfer that to the Tour de France. Different skills come to the fore.

Adrie is his (famous) father.

Lusk_Doyle · 19-09-2019 5:02pm

Agreed!

Only his mother knows for sure who his father is!

brocbrocach · 19-09-2019 5:20pm

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Agreed!

Only his mother knows for sure who his father is!

I've denied him at least three times anyway...!

MPFGLB · 19-09-2019 8:19pm

Its his Grandfather that gives him that suberb talent and sporting prowess.

.Raymond Poulidor brilliant road racer

eeeee · 19-09-2019 8:37pm

MPFGLB wrote: »

Its his Grandfather than gives him that suberb talent and sporting prowess.

.Raymond Poulidor brilliant road racer

And his world champion father! RP is his mothers' father, he has it from both sides.

UCI World Road Race Championships 2019

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