2024 World Road Championships

[stevenaaus]

[davehirst]

Second to a generational talent like pogacar by only 32 seconds is a stunning achievement, especially when you look at the talent he left behind, Champions that all had one goal in mind, to win the world title.
Well done Ben.
He seems to have matured in his attitude this year, and hopefully he yas a great year next season, for himself and jayco.

[foo on patrol]

Second to a generational talent like pogacar by only 32 seconds is a stunning achievement, especially when you look at the talent he left behind, Champions that all had one goal in mind, to win the world title.
Well done Ben.
He seems to have matured in his attitude this year, and hopefully he yas a great year next season, for himself and jayco.

Yes, my thoughts also.

His statement for when he jumped is something that I totally agree with 100% because at that point in the race, legs are burnt, headspace for many is looking and thinking..I don't want too jump or leadout the rest of you lot, so what he did was exactly right = head down arse up and don't be looking back every 50mtrs like many do, just friggin go hard to the line.

Foo

[MichaelB]

Watched the race last night, and it was wierd knowing the end result, but thinking many times Ben O was out of position, but played it REALLY well.

Brilliant outcome and VERY smart ride.

[stevenaaus]

Pogacar maybe wouldn't have made it without the suicidal pulls from UAE teamate Sivakov.

[find_bruce]

Photo of Jay Vine finishing the time trial is pretty gruesome, from the Guardian Cycling Road World Championships 2024 – in pictures

[Derny Driver 2]

Pogacar maybe wouldn't have made it without the suicidal pulls from UAE teamate Sivakov.

Correct. And once again we see team loyalty over-rides everything else. The punters dont understand it.
Your team pays your wage. You have just a few seasons to make good money to set you and your family up for life. Ribbons. trophies and medals take a back seat to your livelihood. There are numerous examples where a rider has chosen to forgo a "title race" or even Olympics in order to keep the team boss happy riding some little insignificant tour somewhere. The riders are earning a living. Professional. They are not necessarily after personal glory. The ribbon or medal will go into a drawer. The wage earning capacity lasts a lifetime. As does your reputation of being a team player.
Sivakov was never going to win. But now his team UAE has the world champion rainbow jersey wearing guy in there for the next 12 months. Can you imagine what that means for sponsors? Publicity? Its massive.
In the womens race everyone is talking about the "stupid" riding of Demi Vollering when she drove on the front and dropped her 2 Dutch team mates with 16 km to go. Voss was arguably the best sprinter there. Vollering should have kept her there and rode for her (so they say). Instead she basically set it up for the Belgian Kopecky to win, and guess what, they are on the same trade team, SD Worx. So thats a big deal for the team and for both Vollering and Kopecky.
I think Vollering thought she could win on her own (she was clearly the strongest), and if she couldnt then she knew Kopecky would. Why would she set it up for Voss? What is to be gained by doing that? She'd have a Dutch compatriot win. Big deal. She wanted the jersey herself, or with a teammate.
Makes perfect sense to me.

[fat and old]

Why would she set it up for Voss?

Meh, Voss won another jersey in the Gravel race anyway. GOAT.

So what are the feelings on Pogacar? The amount of innuendo and outright accusations around him have reached Froome level (I don't think the two are remotely comparable). Is it possible he's one of those once in a lifetime freaks of nature? MO: Yes.

[davehirst]

Pfft, the gravel race when no-one wants gravel, a bit tame for a world championship race. I watched the mens
I think the strada or Roubaix are harder.
Poor course.
On the pog, i think super talented and seems like a good sport and a nice guy.
Happy to see him at the pinnacle of the sport.
I hope i am not proven wrong.

[DavidS]

Pfft, the gravel race when no-one wants gravel, a bit tame for a world championship race. I watched the mens
I think the strada or Roubaix are harder.
Poor course.
On the pog, i think super talented and seems like a good sport and a nice guy.
Happy to see him at the pinnacle of the sport.
I hope i am not proven wrong.

Always a worry, but he comes across as a nice person, and a total freak when it comes to cycling.

I hope he's clean too but the results are almost ridiculous.

DS

[find_bruce]

Correct. And once again we see team loyalty over-rides everything else. The punters dont understand it.
Your team pays your wage. You have just a few seasons to make good money to set you and your family up for life. Ribbons. trophies and medals take a back seat to your livelihood. There are numerous examples where a rider has chosen to forgo a "title race" or even Olympics in order to keep the team boss happy riding some little insignificant tour somewhere. The riders are earning a living. Professional. They are not necessarily after personal glory. The ribbon or medal will go into a drawer. The wage earning capacity lasts a lifetime. As does your reputation of being a team player.

Funnily enough the same scenario played out in the mens gravel race, with Belgian Jasper Stuyven complaining that Belgian riders were supporting Dutchman MVP "It was very clear that all the guys from Alpecin were here to help him. Although I had expected that we would race in [national] teams."

Of course one obvious difference is that entries weren't limited by nation - there were 60 Begians in the race, more than 1/4 if the field.

[elantra]

…….<snip>
Funnily enough the same scenario played out in the mens gravel race, with Belgian Jasper Stuyven complaining that Belgian riders were supporting Dutchman MVP "It was very clear that all the guys from Alpecin were here to help him. Although I had expected that we would race in [national] teams."


Of course one obvious difference is that entries weren't limited by nation - there were 60 Begians in the race, more than 1/4 if the field.

Fascinating really.
There must be lots of factors at play here.

Bearing in mind that MVDP lives in Belgium… but a part of Belgium that eons ago was “Dutch” … and a number of the Belgian riders presumably also live or owe their ancestry to that same northern part of Belgium (Flanders)
And I’m sure there were other factors that contributed to the big guy in the orange jersey getting the gold.
Anyway I’m grateful that Pog has not yet decided to try his hand at Gravel racing !
No one likes to see one person winning almost everything.

[find_bruce]

Fascinating really.
There must be lots of factors at play here.

Bearing in mind that MVDP lives in Belgium… but a part of Belgium that eons ago was “Dutch” … and a number of the Belgian riders presumably also live or owe their ancestry to that same northern part of Belgium (Flanders)
And I’m sure there were other factors that contributed to the big guy in the orange jersey getting the gold.
Anyway I’m grateful that Pog has not yet decided to try his hand at Gravel racing !
No one likes to see one person winning almost everything.

Indeed the region has a fascinating history of occupation by Spain, France & others. MVDP himself, was born in Belgium to a Dutch father & French mother.

I don't think its the Flemish connection at work here - while MVDPs teammate Quinten Hermans & Gianna Vermeersch are both Flemish, so are the other 4 Belgian riders in the top 10.

[find_bruce]

another jersey for grace brown!

She's stocking up, because with retirement she's going to have to start buying her own jerseys.

Cheers,

Cameron

and she finished up by smashing the field in the Chrono des Nations - 51s is a good margin

[MichaelB]

another jersey for grace brown!

She's stocking up, because with retirement she's going to have to start buying her own jerseys.

Cheers,

Cameron

and she finished up by smashing the field in the Chrono des Nations - 51s is a good margin

And Jay Vine on 4 and a bit seconds off the top step as well !