Road Cycling at the Cycling UCI World Championships 2023

[heywoodu 15,166]

13 hours ago, mpjmcevoy said:

My point is, when you get into cycling (I was a Tour junkie from the age of about 11, in the mid 1980s) you reasonably quickly get into the lore, because cycling is like that. History really sells.

 

The Olympics doesn't really have that lore on the road because it banned professionals, though, like Tennis, it has changed a bit now to the point were people really do want it, and while it's not quite a Monument, or the Worlds, or a grand tour of course, it has started to really matter - and really irritate some riders because of the odd nature of the field!

 

Similarly, when Tennis first returned, John McEnroe, famous for his patriotism and playing for the US, skipped it because there was no real history - it meant nothing to him. 20 years later, in 2012, he admitted it was one of his single biggest regrets at the Olympics at Wimbledon - where Murray's gold all but meant as much as a grand slam. anyone who has seen Del Potro and Djokovic's tears on Olympic courts know that this weird, underpowered little tournament now matters hugely.

 

You can see the beginnings of the same in golf, with former cynics more or less bought in to it.

 

The olympic TT, I would argue, is at least the equal of the world TT. But the road race isn't the same as the Worlds, though it's pretty important these days.

To be fair, Murray's gold being like a Grand Slam was of course 99% because it was at home and if there's one thing the Brits are good at, it's creating super hypes of their home things  

 

But about cycling: yeah, that's more or less what I was saying. The Olympic road race is fine and good, but it's an event with a depleted field (not in terms of top quality, but in terms of the number of quality riders who even can compete, with the ridiculously low number of riders per team). The Olympic TT is basically equal.

 

Riding around all year in the famed rainbow jersey, that's probably going to top riding around with no special jersey at all (possibly a golden bike if you're into that kind of slightly tacky stuff), even though of course once you're on the start line as a potential medal candidate, you want that gold medal at the Olympics as well. Another reason why the TT is more equal: the TT world champion can only ride in his rainbow jersey a few times anyway, whereas the road world champion can shine in his jersey all year long in all the big and small races we cycling fans watch every single week.

[heywoodu 15,166]

13 hours ago, JoshMartini007 said:

Because it's secretly a team sport, but only one person wins a medal.

 

Though honestly with the IOC getting rid of the team aspect, there isn't a huge reason other than the need to get more bodies in the race.

And because road cycling - the road race, specifically - is one of the most 'open' sports in the entire Olympics, both in terms of accessibility for fans and in terms of number of athletes with a serious chance of playing a big role in the medal fight. Nearly the entire top-25 of the nation's world ranking can either field multiple riders with serious medal potential or one rider who'd be among the big favourites. One could easily field a very high quality and full-sized peloton (and full-sized is 130+ at the very least, not just 90) with the top-25 nations only.

 

Anyhow, cycling in the Olympics is an infuriation matter altogether. Like the total lack of events in track cycling and the program being kept tiny all the time (I mean come on, the individual pursuit, the king of track events next to the individual sprint, isn't even Olympic....), whereas something like swimming has a gazillion semi-similar events and they can just keep adding stuff whenever  

 

But still I'll watch everything, because obviously  

[Olympian1010 7,980]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

 

 

Anyhow, cycling in the Olympics is an infuriation matter altogether. Like the total lack of events in track cycling and the program being kept tiny all the time (I mean come on, the individual pursuit, the king of track events next to the individual sprint, isn't even Olympic....), whereas something like swimming has a gazillion semi-similar events and they can just keep adding stuff whenever  

 

But still I'll watch everything, because obviously  

The low field sizes across the board are driving me crazy this cycle. Every discipline/event has less entries than it really needs in my opinion. I do hope it’s something that can be fixed in the near future, but it seems unlikely for now.

 

That said, individual pursuit can stay off the program. We already have one time trial. I’d rather see the omnium gone, and a separate points race and elimination race included. 

[heywoodu 15,166]

7 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

The low field sizes across the board are driving me crazy this cycle. Every discipline/event has less entries than it really needs in my opinion. I do hope it’s something that can be fixed in the near future, but it seems unlikely for now.

 

That said, individual pursuit can stay off the program. We already have one time trial. I’d rather see the omnium gone, and a separate points race and elimination race included. 

My point is, adding these events doesn't necessarily need to add a whole lot of quota places, yet it never happens. Whereas other sports, like swimming, get away with adding every other similar event. I mean come on, there has even been talk about adding all the 50m's....seriously, come on. I know that's not likely, but the fact it's even been talked about is utterly insane.

 

We have a time trial on the road, yes, which is rather different than the individual pursuit on the track. I know they won't add it, because it's not 'urban' and 'hot' enough, but it is the number one track cycling event in which there is absolutely no hiding behind anything and it's a matter of sheer (will)power and physical prowess, more than in any other event where some form of tactics allow for possibly hiding some weaker moments. It's basically the epitome of track cycling.

 

The omnium....ugh. I want it either gone or made into something that lives up to it's name (which suggests an allround thing). If four events is the maximum, have an individual sprint event, an individual distance event, a mass start distance event and a shorter mass start event (keirin is too risky of course, so maybe keep the elimination race). In other words:

 

200m flying lap or 500m time trial

Individual pursuit

Elimination race

Points race

 

Something like that. At least it adds a bit more of a sprint and thus allround element.

 

Anyhow, this was about road....  Which is rather easy: a road race and an individual time trial is how it's been for a good while and that's all we need on the road. We don't need any other event there, just....a serious size field.

[hckošice 14,843]

9 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Anyhow, this was about road....  Which is rather easy: a road race and an individual time trial is how it's been for a good while and that's all we need on the road

The 100km four-members Team Trial was an epic and exciting event during the "amateur" times of Olympics until 1992. I would love to see it at the Olympics again ... but yeah, If only the top 5 nations can have 4 quotas, then no

[AsensioWillemsen 158]

28 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

The low field sizes across the board are driving me crazy this cycle. Every discipline/event has less entries than it really needs in my opinion. I do hope it’s something that can be fixed in the near future, but it seems unlikely for now.

 

That said, individual pursuit can stay off the program. We already have one time trial. I’d rather see the omnium gone, and a separate points race and elimination race included. 

It ticks me at at least a few sports. Any team sport shouldn't have this "X number 3's go through" stuff. It's dumb and especially with small groups just helps the teams drawing a weak fourth. The 'lucky loser round' in Beach is a bit better than how it works in other sports.

 

For individual sports, soms rosters are just crazy small and cycling is one of the sports that hurts the most from it. I would say alongside Gymnastics and Fencing.

 

Team sizes of four are a bit too small for me. I mean, I understand why the top teams don't need eight, but who can control early breaks when the maximum team sizes are four? Especially when everyone but a few top nations have even less spots. I feel it is just ridiculous.

Edited August 8, 2023 by AsensioWillemsen

[De_Gambassi 1,223]

Honestly with only 80 athletes and 4 riders max par nation, it will look so little like a regular road race that they could get rid of it without bothers me much. It will turn it into a brute force contest with the stronger rider of the days winning it almost every time.

 

One of the saving grace for the road races though, it is one the very few olympic events people can attend for free.

[heywoodu 15,166]

47 minutes ago, hckošice said:

The 100km four-members Team Trial was an epic and exciting event during the "amateur" times of Olympics until 1992. I would love to see it at the Olympics again ... but yeah, If only the top 5 nations can have 4 quotas, then no

I would like a 100km individual time trial  

 

The current trend of fewer and fewer time trial kilometers in Grand Tours is saddening, and the fact we barely ever have a real long time trial anymore (even at major championships) is even worse. That one is for the specialists after all, let's give them a 60+ kilometer battle.

[heywoodu 15,166]

4 minutes ago, De_Gambassi said:

Honestly with only 80 athletes and 4 riders max par nation, it will look so little like a regular road race that they could get rid of it without bothers me much. It will turn it into a brute force contest with the stronger rider of the days winning it almost every time.

 

One of the saving grace for the road races though, it is one the very few olympic events people can attend for free.

Yep, something road racing should never lose. The only possible exception can be some climbs in Grand Tours, where a bit of a fee to get up there might thin out the number of absolute idiots - those with smoke bombs and stuff and those barely leaving 1,5 meters for the riders on those climbs - a tiny bit (or at least help in the clean-up).

[heywoodu 15,166]

I wonder when/if the mixed relay will ever be made into a real mixed event. Now it's really nothing but two separate teams per country doing a short team time trial and absolutely zero interaction between the two halves of the 'teams'  

 

They don't warm up together (timing would be way off), they don't ride together (impossible since then it'd just be a women's team time trial in essence), they don't even do handovers (too fast, one would assume), they don't finish together.....

 

Basically the two halves of the 'teams' can live entirely separate from each other and only see the other half at the podium ceremony and they don't even need to take evasive action for that weird scenario to happen