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Anybody excited? The only real prospect of some excitement is if the wind picks up though it's an almost guaranteed sprint finish. Likely to be hours of watching a large peloton trundle across a hot flat dusty featureless desert 😕
Preview of the men's race [url= http://cyclingtips.com/2016/10/preview-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-mens-world-championship-road-race/ ]over here on CyclingTips[/url].
And a preview of the women's race [url= http://cyclingtips.com/2016/10/preview-who-will-be-the-new-womens-world-champion/ ]also on CyclingTips[/url].
Women's race has potential to be mildly more interesting than the mens race. Cavendish and Lizzie Deignan both good picks though so could be a good weekend for the Brits.
And in case you hadn't heard, in 2019 it's [url= https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/oct/12/yorkshire-host-cycling-2019-road-world-championships ]coming to Yorkshire[/url] 🙂
Not really all that excited to be honest.
7hr race of which the last 7mins may be interesting.
I'll be recording it on my sky box, fast forward x30 untill the last 10k 😆
I'm watching the whole thing, but more for the scenery and crowds than the racing
I'm praying for wind. Without it then we're looking at a procession and then a sprint. With wind you're into classics territory which could be very interesting.
No wind, we're talking sprinters, Cav, Greipel, Sagan, edit, and Gavaria. With it you add Boonen, Stannard, EBH, Terpstra even to the mix.
I'd love to see a Brit win but if not, I'd love to see EBH in the mix.
Difficult to look past the pure sprinters. Though the distance and wind could tip it in favour of the classics guys. You'll have the entire Belgian squad doing a wind dance the day before I reckon. Gaviria is a pretty good bet what with his brilliant Paris-Tours win...
I'm watching the whole thing, but more for the scenery and crowds than the racing
😆
Spotted the odd spectating camel during the ITT's.
Nah, sadly I can not get excited by any of this years World Champs. It all seems so boring, lacking any "phfzazz" and only seems to reaffirm to me that it's only the last 300mtrs that counts for anything. I can't see a break sticking, I can only see 4hours of tedium in the bunch, a few punts that come to zilch, some sand, some wind, some heat stroke and a flurry of exhaustion.
It's the wrong place to have it, simple.
The U23 race was OK once they all stopped crashing. A lot of it came down to how long people could hang on for in the heat. Messy sprint finish, couple of spills in that too.
There was a big crash in the Junior Women's race too, thankfully everyone seemed OK.
The bit around Pearl is very technical, commentary said 24 roundabouts and corners in the 15km circuit.
But yes I agree about the atmosphere, it seems a bit...dusty.
Sounds like the junior men's was a pretty good finish, won from a break.
Women under way on Eurosport 2 now.
Course looks like a model in the helicopter shots.
also on BBC red button (I'm not quite sure if it's normal red button or iPlayer - probably the latter, but the distinction is now rather blurred on my TV box)
I've been watching for the last hour or so, and it's not been totally unexciting, even if a sprint finish still seems the most likely scenario
Lots of AstroTurf...
Cool, will check out the BBC. Gotta be better than Carlton Kirby and constant adverts.
David Millar on the beeb, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your opinion of him - though even the haters must be able to recognise that he knows his stuff and is good at communicating it.
Good finish anyway.
Very well played by the Dane.
How bizarre - they are now showing the whole race on BBC1. Again I am baffled by the BBC scheduling decisions - if they're going to put the whole race on BBC1 why not show it live rather than show a recorded version immediately after it finishes? Is the exact scheduling of Bargain Hunt and Escape to the Country so important that they couldn't delay them by a couple of hours instead?
CBA putting in a complaint as it didn't really make any difference to me, it just seems bizarre.
I'm watching the whole thing, but more for the scenery and crowds than the racing
Crowds??
Good luck with that,the peloton's bigger.
Watched women's today live here in Qatar. Crowds were far from spectacular... there was at least 10 of us. Even Yorkshire Rose flag flying, so that's counts for something. Women's sprint finish was pretty sharp tho.
Crowds??Good luck with that,the peloton's bigger.
He was being facetious.
As in the Olympics - the commentary left me baffled. Ok they have to say something but mostly stuff-and-nonsense.
In the end, despite all the talk of the Dutch and GB putting in great team performances - we had two other individuals on the podium. So who were the smart riders? What was so great about GB? How often were they riding like the Dutch? Did it even matter?
I accept that I am ignorant about the details of road racing, but was none the wiser after listening to the commentary.
Who was person who looked like a botox and eye shadow advert at the end?
I fell asleep..
rochelle gilmore
What was so great about GB?
The thing about road racing is that it is a team sport, but only one person can win. Behind the scenes the team will be doing all it can to protect the leader so he/she can have the legs for the finish. Lizzie will not have chased down a break today. That was the job of a team mate (Hannah Barnes). In the end, both the Dutch and British teams put a rider into contention on the last 1000m. And then it comes down to the performance of the team leader.
Vos as a lead-out lady went too early, that meant the Dutch leader had to sprint harder, and the winner was able to come around her for the win. That's road racing.
Lizzie said when it came down to the sprint, she had nothing in her legs. Anyone who has ever raced has been there 😉
Still about 200k to go. Shall resume my viewing in a few hours time!
Camelback under the skinsuit FTW! That's barely tempo.
Saw that too
Did wonder abaout refilling it / swapping it mid race
You could probably start with it frozen and enjoy cold drinks for an hour or so in 30+'C
Probably increase the need to wee though
Was dull to watch , just the USA girl who put in a decent solo effort, but with a bunch of that size and quality and flat , with veiw points a solo was never going to ride off into the sunset.
Should do it like Eurovision song contest , winning country gets to host it next year
It on both BBC and Eurosplat..
I'll be surfing. This course is boring.
All getting a bit exciting, but still over 100km to go
Flicked it on to see how boring it was, Im now hooked.
Not quite as dull now. So, flat road, crosswinds, does anyone need any other tactic than follow the Belgians?
Can Rowe and Cavendish sit in until the sprint, looks like Belgium have the firepower to try and pick them off bit by bit but Cav is a bit of a master in recent years.
edit - wow, and the COL just got blown off!
strange crash that ban deep dish wheels !!! 😉
Looking at how hard the Belgians are riding on the front with 140km still to go there are going to be some spectacular blow ups in the last 50km!
what channel? 😕
Red button on BBC.
My bbc player isn't working though on tablet
BBC red button
thanks, BBC 😐 i guess Millar is commentating
Millar knows what he's talking about, and he can talk and watch at the same time.
Blimey, they're moving pretty bloody quickly
Also on iplayer if better
It's interesting. Not sure that 200k through a building site properly showcases the best that road racing has to offer..
Just spotted some spectators!
Jesus.
The commentary is make me sleepy.
[quote=hammerite ]Just spotted some spectators!
There is a bigger crowd in my street as two folk are washing their cars 😉
Still good job they put up all those barriers at the side of the road to stop incidents of crowds closing the route like in the TdF
Shaping up to be a fantastic World Cup in 2020 if they manage to keep this atmosphere.
Finish line crowd now looking bustling with half a dozen holding flags.