Road world championship (Spoilers!)

[Crackle]

 

[ColinJ]

It was a totally incredible performance for a rider of his age - wow, how does he do it! Obviously, he knows exactly how to prepare for big races.
Other older riders such as Chris Horner could certainly learn a thing or two from him ...

Perhaps he will do one more season to enjoy showing off his rainbow jersey, and then retire to enjoy long, relaxing walks with his dog. Oh, I forgot, he's never owned a dog ... silly me!

 

[cyberknight]

Staying well away from the actual race who provides race support for the riders ? in the "normal " races i know its a team car but it seems unlikely that they could accommodate that many cars so im guessing its neutral support ?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I'm awarding the rainbow jersey to Michael Woods.

 

[mjr]

Staying well away from the actual race who provides race support for the riders ? in the "normal " races i know its a team car but it seems unlikely that they could accommodate that many cars so im guessing its neutral support ?

Nations with more riders get a team car. Nations with smaller teams either group together or barter with one of the bigger nations IIRC (stocking a team car fully ain't cheap) or rely on neutral service. There are also various reciprocal agreements between countries so that if two groups got one car each and both get riders in a break, only one of them will follow the break and the other will stay behind the peloton to support the remaining riders of both groups.

In official terms, here's the section from the 2017 Bergen championships handbook: "The limited supply of team cars for National Federations will be provided by the organiser and its vehicle partner on the same basis as during previous UCI World Championships. The limited supply will be distributed to the top-ranked National Federations according to the number of riders making up their delegation. Information on the allocation terms of these vehicles to the National Federations will be detailed in the Competitions Guide of the 2017 UCI Road World Championships which will be published in August."

 

[Shadow]

Love this image which I filched.

Never thought I'd see Bardet in a sprint finish.
Like french kit. Do not like canadian kit; they've used a cornflower blue for a few years now and it appears nowhere else in canada colours.
Why is Woods covering his brakes?

And to quote from another thread 'So, so pleased for Michael Woods.'

 

[ColinJ]

Love this image which I filched.
View attachment 432499

Never thought I'd see Bardet in a sprint finish.
Like french kit. Do not like canadian kit; they've used a cornflower blue for a few years now and it appears nowhere else in canada colours.
Why is Woods covering his brakes?

Because there is a photographer standing 25 metres directly in front of him on the other side of the finish line?

 

[User169]

 

[ColinJ]

So, is Valverde going to win the Olympic road race title in 2020 aged 40? (He has said that he will retire after that.)

 

[Shadow]

Because there is a photographer standing 25 metres directly in front of him on the other side of the finish line?

No; because there is more to it than that.

Look closer: if you did not watch the finish, you could see who won. The guy in the middle. He is more of a sprinter - his bike is leaning, the other two are upright, his forearm muscles are straining.
Would the guy on the right ever win a sprint with those tooth pick, Froome like pins?
Their facial expressions - they are all 3 clearly exuding huge effort but is one possibly showing more effort? The guy on the left could be ecstatic he's won a medal, he could be screaming in pain because he realise he cannot win.
Knowing what we do, you can just glimpse the orange jersey of 4th place. Well placed to draft, but no more energy left after a monstrous chase to be in contention, to pass.

This is why it is a good image.

And, please, somebody with more racing knowledge than me, tell me why is Woods covering his brakes?

 

[Andrew Br]

No; because there is more to it than that.

Look closer: if you did not watch the finish, you could see who won. The guy in the middle. He is more of a sprinter - his bike is leaning, the other two are upright, his forearm muscles are straining.

Yes, look closer.
Drugs cheat Valverde is just beyond the top of his pedal stroke so he's about to put down his maximum (drugs assisted ?) effort.
Bardet and Woods are at the neutral position of their pedal strokes so they're, naturally, more upright.
That Valverde was the better sprinter is in the "really Sherlock ?" category.

 

[ColinJ]

Look closer: if you did not watch the finish, you could see who won. The guy in the middle. He is more of a sprinter - his bike is leaning, the other two are upright, his forearm muscles are straining.

I did, and I know!

Their facial expressions - they are all 3 clearly exuding huge effort but is one possibly showing more effort? The guy on the left could be ecstatic he's won a medal, he could be screaming in pain because he realise he cannot win.

Woods IS screaming in pain because he had severe cramp and therefore KNEW that he couldn't win. He was aware that Dumoulin was coming up behind him and was desperately hanging on for Bronze!