Road World Championship, Copenhagen, 19th-25th September

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Go on Evans!

was he even there?

Boardman came along when my interest in cycling went on hold for a while as I discovered booze and girls and other delights during the 90's. He was/is great but now it's more acceptable to be a cyclng fan! And there seems to be, from nowhere, an endless stream of top class British pros. I thought brailsford was pretty inspirational when Asked why they are suddenly doing so well: we just aimed high and that seems to work (or words to that effct)
maybe i/we just feel vindicated that what what we were always passionate about is now accepted by others/more.
Anywhos. It was a great race!

If it's good enough for Froome it's good enough for Max Sciandri.

Pretty sure the stalling on Cav signing to Sky is him praying a late deal will mean he won't have to ride a Pinarello.

wiggo finished 108th over 3 mins down.
proof that's he's past his best.

Mate Wiggo was on the front for ages, driving the pace. Im pretty sure he did hos job.

What was the go with Cav's aero helmet, its obviously legal but i havent seen it before. I wonder if other sprinters will start doing that? Would keep the head warm.

Mate Wiggo was on the front for ages, driving the pace. Im pretty sure he did hos job.

I tell you, he sells his body. For cheap.

haha! Indeed!

Mark Lovatt, John Tanner, if only they'd've had today's support.

Cancellara is an awesome sprinter at world championships after a full speed endurance race...I don't see how you can say otherwise, when Felix English beat Chris Hoy he was, on that day a better sprinter, last Sunday Cancellara acheived a 4th place in a sprint finish, making him a better sprinter than all those he beat on the day.

There is far more to a sprint than the acceleration, tactics, timing and playing to your own strengths are all part of it and Cancellara used all of these skills in his sprint....arguing your point doesn't change the result sheet, it's like calling Francesco Casagrande or Mauricio Soler crap climbers because of their apalling riding styles and ignoring their summit wins.

It's a show of strength that bolsters up Cavendish's win. It wasn't a case of a crafty sprinter sneaking a win from under everybody's noses. It was a big favourite from a country very keen to showcase its development as a professional cycle sport nation. Everybody performed strongly, not only the designated leader. It set down a marker.

Cancellara ..arguing your point doesn't change the result sheet

No, no, no. He has* no sprint. *None. He's just very good at going very fast over a short distance at the end of a race.

Cancellara has a sssssssssssssssssssssssspppppppppppppppppppppppppppppprrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnntttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt, but he doesn't have a sprint.

the higher the pace the harder it is for breaks to stick, knock a few k off the average speed and the break that did form has a better chance to stay away. to have any kind of control you have to be near the front and that means you have a part to play in dictating the speed.

This is how i read it (albeit a limited viewpoint), Team GB are a no risk, well drilled machine.. and have accrued sufficient UCI points to qualify a field of 8 riders in the Men's elite race this year. There is no point speculating why they all sacrificed themselves for Cav, but all teams will have known the course and indeed a few nations criticised it, including the italians and the dutch. the breakaway(s) and waves of attacks were not sufficient to derail Team GBs driving the peloton close to the finish, yes it broke up towards the end but the momentum was there.. There were other teams that looked just as organised like the Germans and Aussies..

if you look at those one day spring classics with a climb nr to or at the finish then you have a decent road race.. imho

It is important that they have different courses, there's no reason why it shouldn't be sprinters course every now and then, the guys who really miss out are the pure climbers, when's there gonna be a mountain top finish in the worlds?

I read the Wiggo turn as being specifically to shut down any chance of a PhilGil or similar solo attack on last lap to absolutely guarantee a bunch sprint.

There are any number of articles online detailing this was the exact plan since 3 years ago when route announced. Utterly dominate and let Cav do his thing in a bunch gallop.

Discussions about the 100% dedication to a Cav victory are moot; you may not have noticed but every GB rider was wearing Mark Cavendish edition Defeet socks for the day ;)

every GB rider was wearing Mark Cavendish edition Defeat socks for the day ;)

Ah, so their plan clearly didn't work. :)

So you are saying that the tactics were about dominating the race and showing the world how good we are more than it was about helping Cavendish win? (Obviously they would have played their part in ensuring a sprint finish in any case, but perhaps a bit less so if they weren't 'setting down a marker').

The fact that dominating the race helped give Cav confidence and encourage the feeling that he could not let his team mates down was a bonus presumably? Or was that it - setting down the marker was the best way of helping ensure the world's greatest sprinter won the race by helping incentivise him rather than specifically being a plan to help deliver him perfectly to the line?

I hope that I am not putting words in your mouth.

No, of course the work they did was intended to help Cavendish win, assuming that if it came to a bunch gallop, he would be in with a chance. However, why, in a world championship race, would Team GB not put their best wheels forward? There's no race the next day and of course it's a tremendous source of team prestige if a team plays such a leading role, making Cavendish's win all the more deserved because his team has been working on the front and has been one of the strongest in the race.

What I found amazing was that GB worked so disproportionally keeping the pace, but still no other team had much in reserve come the final few km.

So it really was the best sprinter on the day, but also the best juggernaut bashing it out on the front.

Awesome!

still no other team had much in reserve come the final few km.

Take off your GB coloured glasses. Australia had 4 riders in the front on the final straight.

Cav would've and in the end basically did win that race without his team.

You're just jealous that he's fatter than you.

4 riders and not 1 sprint.

:]

#hippytroll

so who is Goss lead-out man for next season?

so who is Goss lead-out man for next season?

Cavendish.