2014 Pro-cycling season thread

If Gilbert hadn't been there Kwiatkowski would have won it by a mile, nobody would have pulled the chasing group to the finish.

Riders being wise to Gerrans, no one is going to pull him to the finish

That was an amazing race. Four hours of... nothing much followed by two hours of post-catch moves. Epic.

He's genuinely overwhelmed. Nice jersey!

If Avermaet hadn't been there Kwiatkowski would have won it by a mile, nobody would have pulled the chasing group to the finish.

ftfy

Meh, either of them.

Norwegian team car crashed

Another broken Canyon steerer I see

A Pole beats an Aussie--hippy will be happy.

Last 5km of Men's race for those who missed it

Gilbert was pulling for Avermaet. So them both being there was why Gilbert kept riding.

#armchair

http://uci.ch/videos/board-cameras-the-uci-road-world-championships/

MICHAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our place went bezerk :)

He's been so close to some big wins all year. First Polish world champ?

Lech Piasecki, world amateur champion and IP WC.

http://www.strava.com/activities/200661439/analysis

Road WC?

Yeah, first Polish road WC

Very canny move by Kwiatkowski to go on the descent before the final climb, Boonen had said beforehand he thought the descents could be more selective than the climbs. That he had the strength left to hold off a pretty select chasing group was impressive.

That was Valverde's 6th podium finish in the World Championships, yet he's never stood on the top step.

That was Valverde's 6th podium finish in the World Championships, yet he's never stood on the top step.

It's a fairly logical consequence of wheel-sucking, right? :)

It is. But, as today showed again, the Worlds are often won by someone seizing their opportunity and going when no-one else would.

You'd think that, after so many near misses, Valverde might actually try something different.

You leave him alone!

That was Valverde's 6th podium finish in the World Championships, yet he's never stood on the top step.

Karma.

Valverde really isnt liked much is he.

Deserves win, superbly taken, capping a very strong season. Did anyone see Sagan?

The Sagan criticism is fairly dull in my opinion. Didn't the first seven finishers all come from nations with a full complement of riders? Its pretty pointless peaking for it if you only have a 3 man team.

edit: Denmark had 6, not 9 riders.