World Championships Discussion (With Spoilers)

[kramnnim]

Tom! <3

[MattTuck]

Roglic is still amazing to me. From a junior world champion in ski jumping to professional cyclist. The ven diagram of traits for those two sports cannot have more than a sliver of overlap. I guess being light is good in both, but other than that... explosive short effort with finesse.... vs. brutal endurance over hours.

[FlashUNC]

Has anyone had a better year than Tom Dumoulin? World TT champ, Giro win. Ye Gods he's killing it.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Has anyone had a better year than Tom Dumoulin? World TT champ, Giro win.

Van Avermaet? Froome?

[galgal]

TD almost caught up with Froome, wow. Props to Rohan Dennis for finishing 8th despite crashing.
Predictions for road race?

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Has anyone had a better year than Tom Dumoulin? World TT champ, Giro win. Ye Gods he's killing it.

How about just Sunweb in general?

[kramnnim]

I hope Matthews wins, for a Sunweb sweep.

[MattTuck]

Here are the favorites, according to paddy power.

[cderalow]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Here are the favorites, according to paddy power.

Sagan wins he'd be the first to threepeat right?

not first to win three times, but three in a row?

3rd or 4th to manage it three times as well.

Pretty limited crowd in that group.

[BdaGhisallo]

Originally Posted by cderalow

Sagan wins he'd be the first to threepeat right?

not first to win three times, but three in a row?

3rd or 4th to manage it three times as well.

Pretty limited crowd in that group.

You are correct. Several have two in a row but nobody won three in a row.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Here are the favorites, according to paddy power.

Sagan probably won't be on top form as he's sick. I don't rate him as highly. Kwaitskowski has been dangerous all year.

The course is too hilly for Gavaria, and GvA doesn't look as good as he did earlier in the year.

Kwaitkowski, Trentin, and Alaphilippe will be in the top five.

On the women's side, i'm sure the Dutch will run riot

[KarlC]

Originally Posted by echappist

Sagan probably won't be on top form as he's sick. I don't rate him as highly.

Bora says otherwise .....


http://www.velonews.com/2017/09/news...-worlds_448541


.

[FlashUNC]

Awful tough to freelance three years in a row. I would love to see a repeat of Milan-SanRemo personally.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Awful tough to freelance three years in a row. I would love to see a repeat of Milan-SanRemo personally.

The thing is, World Championships aren't Northern Classics, and the action doesn't really occur until the last 20km for most of the races (well, except for last year when they had 30 mph crosswind). That in its very nature allows riders to get carried along by other teams. Sagan can keep his powders dry for 250 kms, and then go to the front when it maters.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by echappist

The thing is, World Championships aren't Northern Classics, and the action doesn't really occur until the last 20km for most of the races (well, except for last year when they had 30 mph crosswind). That in its very nature allows riders to get carried along by other teams. Sagan can keep his powders dry for 250 kms, and then go to the front when it maters.

Milan-SanRemo isn't a Northern Classic, and played out pretty much exactly that way, as it does every year. And this year the Tactical Buffalo got outplayed by Kwiatkowski at the line.

There's a 3k-ish run in from that last hill, so very similar to the finale of SanRemo (I know, the Poggio is 7k from the line, but the profile is similar-ish), with a downhill and then a short flat stretch to the line. Be curious to see how guys play it, again, a lot like SanRemo, after 260k in the legs and a hill that I'm sure is going to hurt.