2016 Worlds Mens Elite RR - no spoiler tags required

DominoDub

Some feedback on the event from the Irish Camp ...looks like Sam B was sick in the lead up before the race ..so not the TDF Hand injury being hit again.

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/criticism-after-irish-riders-pulled-out-of-elite-mens-race-at-worlds/

SeamusAFA

Crazy race, watched the BBC repeat. Just crazy.

TheBlaaMan

apologies for the blasphemy.....

Melodeon

I know nothing of John Degenkolb other than what's publically available through the media, but he's always struck me as a genuinely decent and honourable person.
The water-squirting incident appears to be totally out of character for him.

I can only imagine the level of frustration he must have been feeling.
The German team had been planning for months how to get Gripel and/or Kittel into a race winning position, with John himself as the backup plan, and they found themselves (along with lots of others) royally mugged by the Belgians.
To add further insult to the injury, all their attempts at rectifying the situation were being stymied by the 2 Belgians in their group.
A bit of shouting and water-squirting could be seen as a somewhat restrained response under the circumstances.

I think John realised he had overstepped the line of acceptable behaviour almost immediately, and I won't be surprised if we hear that he offered an apology to Debusschere afterwards.

wanderer 22

So what should we call this scandal - Watergate?

robyntmorton

You could see from the Germans that they missed the chance, and were getting frustrated that nothing was happening.

The Belgians, for their part, were playing the game exactly as they needed to, knowing that the rest of their team were in position up front.

Obviously, tempers got frayed, as does happen, but I have to wonder why the three Germans didn't take a chance while the gap was retrievable to try and TTT their way across. With the distance left to travel, if it worked there would have been an outside chance to hide in the lead group and recover a bit, before trying for the win, but on the day they just completely messed it up. It happens.

Shedite27

WD_Raceway wrote: »

Crazy race, watched the BBC repeat. Just crazy.

So crazy it was quite enjoyable

Shedite27

Was Dagencolb's logic that Debucherre should have been pulling for his Lotto teammate Greipel???

Is there any precedence for that? Is there any other World/Olympics where club teammates help each other out while on international duty?

TheBlaaMan

Melodeon wrote: »

I know nothing of John Degenkolb other than what's publically available through the media, but he's always struck me as a genuinely decent and honourable person.
The water-squirting incident appears to be totally out of character for him.

I can only imagine the level of frustration he must have been feeling.
The German team had been planning for months how to get Gripel and/or Kittel into a race winning position, with John himself as the backup plan, and they found themselves (along with lots of others) royally mugged by the Belgians.
To add further insult to the injury, all their attempts at rectifying the situation were being stymied by the 2 Belgians in their group.
A bit of shouting and water-squirting could be seen as a somewhat restrained response under the circumstances.

I think John realised he had overstepped the line of acceptable behaviour almost immediately, and I won't be surprised if we hear that he offered an apology to Debusschere afterwards.

Yeah, but you've got to hand it to the Belgians, they played that tactical approach to the job so perfectly and knew exactly what they were doing. While I feel sorry for the Germans, them's the breaks.......:o

robyntmorton

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Yeah, but you've got to hand it to the Belgians, they played that tactical approach to the job so perfectly and knew exactly what they were doing.

Exactly! If you were to look up a textbook example of tactics and everyone knowing their role, they would refer to the Belgians during this race. Okay, the sprint didn't work out for them (and chapeau! to Sagan) but the Belgians were on the ball from start to (almost) finish.

Eamonnator

Shedite27 wrote: »

Was Dagencolb's logic that Debucherre should have been pulling for his Lotto teammate Greipel???

Is there any precedence for that? Is there any other World/Olympics where club teammates help each other out while on international duty?

Yes there is precedence. And I can't find it, but there was a British rider, who rode for a trade team mate at the Worlds. He was reprimanded and as far as I remember, he was never selected again.

wanderer 22

Eamonnator wrote: »

Yes there is precedence. And I can't find it, but there was a British rider, who rode for a trade team mate at the Worlds. He was reprimanded and as far as I remember, he was never selected again.

Charles Wegelius I think?

Eamonnator

colm18 wrote: »

Charles Wegelius I think?

Thats the one, thank you.
World Championships 2005, Charlie and a team mate refused to work for their British Team, instead worked for Trade team mate.
He was never selected for GB again, he later paid back to British Cycling the expenses, that he incurred at the World Championships.

Lusk_Doyle

Didn't Sean Kelly ride for the Belgians back in the day?

Pudsy33

Shedite27 wrote: »

Was Dagencolb's logic that Debucherre should have been pulling for his Lotto teammate Greipel???

Is there any precedence for that? Is there any other World/Olympics where club teammates help each other out while on international duty?

I think the logic was that Debucherre was just making a nuisance of himself and was slowing down the chase.

dastardly00

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Didn't Sean Kelly ride for the Belgians back in the day?

Yeah I have an inkling he did also. Can't remember what year though.

rtmie

I have a question that I always mean to ask after watching a sprint finish. At the finish Cav effectively tried to throw his bike forward to make up the gap on the line, you always see it done and commentators refer to it. I know the idea is to try and get the last bit of distance ahead of the rivals, but I can't for the life of me figure out how it works. Do they not have to miss a pedal stroke to do the "throw" which would be more loss thathan the "throw" gains or are they already spun out at that point?. How does the gain accrue? Hoping the answer is not embarrassingly obvious!

Beasty

In theory as you push backwards in relation to the bike, it should move forwards as a "counterbalance". In practice I'm not convinced it makes any practical difference though

Raam

Beasty wrote: »

In theory as you push backwards in relation to the bike, it should move forwards as a "counterbalance". In practice I'm not convinced it makes any practical difference though

Tell that to the guys who win sprints by 1 mm by throwing the bike.

Macy0161

Eamonnator wrote: »

Thats the one, thank you.
World Championships 2005, Charlie and a team mate refused to work for their British Team, instead worked for Trade team mate.
He was never selected for GB again, he later paid back to British Cycling the expenses, that he incurred at the World Championships.

Dont think they refused to work for GB, just they worked for Italy. There was a podcast in the last few weeks that spoke to the manager of GB that year - might've been the cycling news one.

As for it happening before, loads of times, normally without the outrage that accompanied GB that time. 2012 Olympics Eisel put in a good shift for Cav/ Sky/ GB.

Mr. Grieves

Raam wrote: »

Tell that to the guys who win sprints by 1 mm by throwing the bike.

It has to be timed perfectly, just before you reach the line. In the picture below, Kristoff was just ahead of Sagan (his body is still ahead) till Sagan threw his bike and won.


https://twitter.com/philmaertens/status/755069279817596930

De Bhál

I thought Cavendish done a mini wheelie in frustration more than a bike throw, just lifting the front wheel and slamming it back down.

DominoDub

Love to have a drink with Mr & Mrs Sagan ..they are a fun couple ..they don't take life too seriously