Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
I was just perusing the British Cycling site and checked out the start list for the RR champs this year, and I was quite stunned...
I mean the women's race looks pretty tasty with Pooley and Cooke and co. but the men's race... well, assuming all the pro-riders who are down actually turn up on the day (and that's by no means a given), you have quite possibly the strongest field we have seen for years. It makes you realise what astonishing progress cycling in Britain has been making. The days not too long ago when Millar or Hammond would basically win if they turned up are gone. There are perhaps 20 riders who could genuinely be in with a chance of winning and last year's winner, Rob Hayles, realistically may not even be one of them...
We even have enough pros with top outfits to have them in cut-down versions of their normal teams: Cervelo have got Roger Hammond of course, but they also have the two Dans, Fleeman and Lloyd, as well as Jeremy Hunt. There's the Barloworld trio of Chris Froome, Gerraint Thomas and Steve Cummings. Then there's a whole load of young talent who don't come with team support - Ben Swift, Jonathan Bellis, Ian Stannard, and the globetrotting Alex Coutts, and some who are not in their current continental outfit but riding under the 100%ME standard, in particular Peter Kennaugh, who was third in the junior Giro recently, and Alex Dowsett. And of course Millar, Wiggins and Cav are all down (and even without his train, if it comes down to a sprint, no-one's going to outdo Cav, although I suspect a strong break is more likely in a race like this).
It's a mouthwatering prospect, and I haven't said that about a British RR championship for quite some time...
I mean the women's race looks pretty tasty with Pooley and Cooke and co. but the men's race... well, assuming all the pro-riders who are down actually turn up on the day (and that's by no means a given), you have quite possibly the strongest field we have seen for years. It makes you realise what astonishing progress cycling in Britain has been making. The days not too long ago when Millar or Hammond would basically win if they turned up are gone. There are perhaps 20 riders who could genuinely be in with a chance of winning and last year's winner, Rob Hayles, realistically may not even be one of them...
We even have enough pros with top outfits to have them in cut-down versions of their normal teams: Cervelo have got Roger Hammond of course, but they also have the two Dans, Fleeman and Lloyd, as well as Jeremy Hunt. There's the Barloworld trio of Chris Froome, Gerraint Thomas and Steve Cummings. Then there's a whole load of young talent who don't come with team support - Ben Swift, Jonathan Bellis, Ian Stannard, and the globetrotting Alex Coutts, and some who are not in their current continental outfit but riding under the 100%ME standard, in particular Peter Kennaugh, who was third in the junior Giro recently, and Alex Dowsett. And of course Millar, Wiggins and Cav are all down (and even without his train, if it comes down to a sprint, no-one's going to outdo Cav, although I suspect a strong break is more likely in a race like this).
It's a mouthwatering prospect, and I haven't said that about a British RR championship for quite some time...
