2023 UCI Road World Championship Thread

Morris Garren

Looks like Liam O'Brien had some sort of issue on lap 1; riding back through cars on lap 2, huge effort to get back Seth Dunwoody in the first half of the field, very strung out already

Bambaata

Seems both out the back at this stage, crazy course! Crashes everywhere, need to be in the front 30 to avoid the mayhem!

Large bottle small glass

If you find yourself screaming at the TV for lads to get up the road, or bridge across they might just be fucked.

Up there with the hardest sporting events on the planet in terms of output

Determination_of_energy_expenditure_in_professiona.pdf

Morris Garren

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120942815#Comment_120942815

Seth in the 3rd group now; pretty good considering the chaos, looks like Liam is DNF. Beyond halfway through the race

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120942873#Comment_120942873

Nah. They're just lazy feckers who just need to be properly motivated by armchair experts like me shouting advice at the telly.

at1withmyself

Not sure if I'm watching live but Oisin currently sitting on the podium in 3rd at the downhill championship in Fort William. I've checked online and don't see results unless someone can confirm?

Very wet and muddy now.

ednwireland

just knocked down to 4th.

live on bbc1

secman

Oisin 4th now,

breezy1985

How does it work. Is it one run like a time trial ?

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943080#Comment_120943080

Yep single run no second chances

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943113#Comment_120943113

Ah that's a pity.

I'm loving this combined World Championship though even if the road race is on stupidly early.

harringtonp

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

Attached

Screenshot 2023-08-05 at 16.09.30.png

Screenshot 2023-08-05 at 16.09.40.png

Screenshot 2023-08-05 at 16.09.50.png

Mefistofelino

Orn-Kristoff is 19 years younger than his brother

breezy1985

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

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

ednwireland

in the downhill oisin 12th.

home win for gbr Charlie hatton

G1032

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

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

De Bhál

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?

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

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

Matthews could surprise as well.

billyhead

Could Ben Healy have a chance of making the medals?

breezy1985

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

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

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

So your saying Remco will definitely win 😁

Mefistofelino

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

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

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

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

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

Think MvdP for this one with Alaphillipe my outside pick.

dahat

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

MDVP with Matthews as an outside chance of a medal.