Road Cycling UCI World Championships 2020

[phelps 8,286]

2 hours ago, Andry84 said:

I think  gold and silver for Belgium with Evenepoel destroying the field, for the bronze will be a battle among Roglic, Dumoulin, Kueng, Dennis, Thomas G.I don't think Ganna will start in time trial, he will focus in team pursuit where Italy will try to win silver or bronze(gold is for Denmark) 

I agree with your prediction for the road ITT (but I think Italy with Viviani in his best shape and Milan growin'up another year could really go for the gold medal in the team pursuit...Denmark is not out of reach)...

 

I hope Ganna will focus only on the Track events, but trying to ride also the Madison race with Viviani (obviously he needs to gain experience in that race and I'm not sure he wants to do it) and not only the Team Pursuit...

[phelps 8,286]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Whether or not Ganna will be a favorite depends very much on the course indeed. If it's a more normal length ITT (for a championship this one was rather short), his chances get a lot smaller, same thing when it's more hilly. Since a 10-20km ITT can't be expected at a championships, this was absolutely perfect for him  

it's not a question of lenght of the race (it's gonna be 44.2 kms), he doesn't have a chance because of the course profile...too much climb for him to be really a threat for the medals...

 

however, knowing what's his bread and butter, I don't think he's going to ride the road ITT, I guess he's going to focus on the track events only...

[heywoodu 16,004]

Just now, phelps said:

it's not a question of lenght of the race (it's gonna be 44.2 kms), he doesn't have a chance because of the course profile...too much climb for him to be really a threat for the medals...

 

however, knowing what's his bread and butter, I don't think he's going to ride the road ITT, I guess he's going to focus on the track events only...

Well, even with a better profile for him, 44km could well be simply a bit too long. We could see it today already: the first half was destructive, nobody even stayed close, but in the second half he wasn't that (relatively) impressive...imagine if that was only 2/3rd of the total ITT.

 

Too bad the Olympic one will still be a bit short, I'd love to see big ITT's back at least for championships  

[phelps 8,286]

7 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Well, even with a better profile for him, 44km could well be simply a bit too long. We could see it today already: the first half was destructive, nobody even stayed close, but in the second half he wasn't that (relatively) impressive...imagine if that was only 2/3rd of the total ITT.

 

Too bad the Olympic one will still be a bit short, I'd love to see big ITT's back at least for championships  

well, last year he won the world bronze in a 50+ kms ITT (if I remember well the race's lenght)...

 

if he decides to prepare at his best for that kind of race, he can be very competitive also over longer stints (he's also a good road rider, not only a short TT specialist - a couple of years ago he did even win the U23 Paris-Roubaix, which is not a race you can cope with if you don't have good endurance)...

[heywoodu 16,004]

11 minutes ago, phelps said:

well, last year he won the world bronze in a 50+ kms ITT (if I remember well the race's lenght)...

 

if he decides to prepare at his best for that kind of race, he can be very competitive also over longer stints (he's also a good road rider, not only a short TT specialist - a couple of years ago he did even win the U23 Paris-Roubaix, which is not a race you can cope with if you don't have good endurance)...

Ah yeah, I had already forgotten that entire race and even that Evenepoel was already so insane he got silver there  

[Olympian1010 8,230]

I understand that broadcasters confuse riders nationality from time to time, but come on, the flag is on screen.

 

Now, in fairness to NBC, I do believe Kung represented Liechtenstein earlier in his career.

 

Edit: Yep, sure enough, he represented Liechtenstein at the 2011 Games of the Small States of Europe. He didn’t win either of the gold medals at those Games however. Bob Jungels beat him in both the road race (single rider breakaway, won by 2 minutes), and the time trial (by a gap of 1:12). 

[heywoodu 16,004]

Astana leading the pack with 13 riders tomorrow  Always interesting to see the combinations and see which riders might work for others instead of their national team.

 

[Grassmarket 4,030]

Annemiek van Vleuten makes it to the startline in Imola after breaking her wrist in the Giro & having an Iron Man-style exoskeleton attached to her arm in an operation last week.  Will now be favourite providing there are no magnets on the course.  

[dcro 10,210]

Ethiopia on the deck within first 200 m of the race.

[dcro 10,210]

Since there are still no qualification requirements for the women's race, expect to see some athletes struggling to keep up even with the most casual pace.

 

It's quite painful to watch, really.