2023 UCI Road World Championship Thread

harringtonp · 05-08-2023 3:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120942316#Comment_120942316

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Mefistofelino · 05-08-2023 3:19pm

Orn-Kristoff is 19 years younger than his brother

breezy1985 · 05-08-2023 3:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943160#Comment_120943160

His brother who seems to have been 36 years old for 10 years now.

ednwireland · 05-08-2023 3:34pm

in the downhill oisin 12th.

home win for gbr Charlie hatton

G1032 · 05-08-2023 3:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120942581#Comment_120942581

Possibly not. That makes sense actually now that you say it

De Bhál · 05-08-2023 6:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120941971#Comment_120941971

Not sure how he's form is but Laporte is not a bad bet at 25/1

Brian? · 05-08-2023 6:39pm

Pog has a way of surprising us, but I can’t give him a chance in this at all. I think it’ll be a sprint from a small group. Looks made for for Pederson v Philipsen v Wout.

dahat · 05-08-2023 6:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943779#Comment_120943779

Matthews could surprise as well.

billyhead · 05-08-2023 6:52pm

Could Ben Healy have a chance of making the medals?

breezy1985 · 05-08-2023 7:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943829#Comment_120943829

Yes but an outside one. He would need a number of things throughout the day to work out.

Look at something like the 2012 Olympics which was "made for Cav" but the race situation went against the script one the day (yes Olympics are harder to control).

Or when Rui Costa won and it seems like everyone who mattered crashed except 2 Spanish riders who wouldn't work together.

Pedersen in Yorkshire was a rain soaked surprise too.

If Healy gets in a late split and the course is so technical that it nullifies the sprint trains then it's very possible. But you could probably say that about a ton of riders.

dastardly00 · 05-08-2023 8:13pm

I think the winning move will come from a solo attack about 30-50 km from the finish. I don't think even a small bunch will contest the win.

breezy1985 · 05-08-2023 8:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120944206#Comment_120944206

So your saying Remco will definitely win 😁

Mefistofelino · 05-08-2023 9:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943793#Comment_120943793

It would be a big surprise - he's only raced three races since the Giro, all in the last 2 weeks and all DNF. Course would suit him, though.

Morris Garren · 05-08-2023 9:50pm

The podium from Flanders this year- Pog, MvdP, Pedersen- that to me is the top 3 to look for tomorrow. The Belgians will cannibalise each other and cancel each other out perhaps. Like many commentators, I cannot see any kind of group sprint finish, this will be like the hardest of any one day classic and I will be surprised if any Irish rider is in contention with 2 laps to go.

dastardly00 · 05-08-2023 10:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120944214#Comment_120944214

Well it wouldn't be unlike MvdP to attack from that far out either...

Or Pog...

Or Wout...

Or Ben Healy 😁

harringtonp · 06-08-2023 6:35am

Comments from riders from cycling news

==============

The biggest nations and some leading contenders for Sunday’s men’s road race have expressed serious concerns about the Glasgow Road World Championships course.

Most riders carried a reconnaissance ride on Friday and then watched the junior men and junior women races on Saturday to understand the key points of the 14.3km circuit.

Fortunately, the weather forecasts have improved in the last 24 hours with rain no longer expected on Sunday but the riders’ concerns about safety remain.

Matteo Trentin, the leader of the Italian team joked that all the twists and turns left him with a headache, while in private riders had more serious concerns about some of the off-camber corners, sand on the road from leaking sandbags and lack of protection where crashes are likely to occur.

“They’ve managed to make it even more technical than 2018 and I didn’t think that was possible,” Trentin, who won the European Championships on a similar course in 2018, told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“The route map doesn’t show how hard it really is. You’re always going in and coming out of corners. It gives you a headache, it’s a cyclocross race on the road, with no chance to stop for a pee. If you have a puncture or even worse a crash, you’ll need a lap to get back on.”

"The course reminds me of a city criterium," Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen said.

He rode five criteriums after the Tour de France but joked he should have done more to prepare for the Glasgow circuit.

The 271.1km elite men’s road race starts in Edinburgh and covers a 120 km sector in the Scottish countryside to reach Glasgow. The elite men then cover ten laps of the 14.3km circuit, with a total of 3,570 metres of climbing.

The city centre circuit twists and turns, climbs and descends through the streets westwards towards Kelvingrove Parks and then returns to the city centre for the short but steep climb of Montrose Street (200 metres at 8.5%) just 11.5km from the finish.

There are so many corners on the circuit that nobody can agree on the exact number. Some teams said 44, 45 or even 48. Whatever the true number, the riders will face almost 500 corners in the final 150km of the race.

“After two laps of the recon ride, I had no idea where the climb was," Julian Alaphilippe admitted to L’Equipe. “I was disoriented and Sunday with the public, it will be worse.”

Benoît Cosnefroy appears to have a love-hate relationship with the course.

“The person who designed this course has problems. They were perhaps drunk and nobody told them they’ve gone too far with the craziness,” he suggested, yet he changed his mind after his own recon ride.

“I love this course, it suits how I like to race, it’s great for the puncheurs.”

Florian Sénéchal was not so amused.

“It's dangerous for a Worlds. I would have thought they would be more serious about safety. I like a race when it's technical but in terms of respect for the riders, it's not great,” he said.

Valentin Madouas suggested the best riders will have to make 80 major efforts of 15-20 seconds on the ten Glasgow circuits. The last perhaps comes on the final climb of Montrose Street, when someone attacks to try to win alone.

“It's very, very hard, harder than I thought, and harder than in Leuven in 2021,” Madouas said.

Mathieu van der Poel impressed television crews and lit up social media when he tested his legs with a long acceleration on the key climb on Friday.

Like Wout van Aert, the cyclocross world champion arguably has the bike skills and acceleration to emerge on the Glasgow course.

"The bodies are going to fall out of the closet," he said, using a Dutch phrase to highlight how the course will reveal who is really on form.

"It's something we don't often experience, it’s a criterium with a Worlds distance: it will be an exhausting battle."

breezy1985 · 06-08-2023 6:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120932486#Comment_120932486

“The person who designed this course has problems. They were perhaps drunk and nobody told them they’ve gone too far with the craziness,”

Cosnefroy is on to you 🤣

G1032 · 06-08-2023 8:31am

Think MvdP for this one with Alaphillipe my outside pick.

dahat · 06-08-2023 9:11am

Too sick to race myself so it’s the couch peloton for me today.

MDVP with Matthews as an outside chance of a medal.

Morris Garren · 06-08-2023 9:20am

And the break is formed- with Irish man Rory Townsend in it. Great to have one up there and he will surely make it to the circuit up ahead. Big cheers in prospect!

Meanwhile little George Bennett is trying to bridge across with a chap from Uruguay and another lad from 'The Vatican' - even with God and the Pope on their side, they are not likely to make it 🙄

dastardly00 · 06-08-2023 9:50am

I feel like I am learning a lot about Scotland this morning

CrowdedHouse · 06-08-2023 10:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945528#Comment_120945528

That boat lift yoke is amazing!

G1032 · 06-08-2023 10:24am

Race stopped. Protest blocking the road. Don't know what it's about and don't care. I wish they'd just fü@k off

Morris Garren · 06-08-2023 10:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945610#Comment_120945610

They tend to stop more than just oil these days. Nutjobs gotta Nut..

dastardly00 · 06-08-2023 10:47am

Where is Bernard Hinault when you need him!

Squidgy Black · 06-08-2023 10:52am

Going to absolutely kill the momentum of the break, such a shame.

breezy1985 · 06-08-2023 10:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945566#Comment_120945566

Unreal looking but very convoluted looking.

mewso · 06-08-2023 10:58am

Hatch so disorientated by it he pronounced van Hooydonck's first name Naythan instead of Naahthan.

Morris Garren · 06-08-2023 11:03am

Suggestions that some protesters 'cemented' themselves to the road-- footage showing the authorities fixing the surface We might be good to go again soon.

dastardly00 · 06-08-2023 11:04am

It'd be surreal if you just happened to be a spectator on the side of the road where the peloton are currently stopped. Eh I'll hold your bike Mr. Pogacar while you have a drink and bit to eat 😁