World champs road race

as soon as the italien riders put on a team shirt, they ride as a team and not a bunch of individuals

this is only a recent thing, there used to be a lot of in fighting, different factions in one team, even working against each other on the road

rocketddog, quote. this is only a recent thing, there used to be a lot of in fighting, different factions in one team, even working against each other on the road
well obviously they have a good manager then, maybe british cycling should be looking at new management,
the only thing the british mens team actualy did as a team was give up on mass, and sit in the team bus. as an ex pro rugby player, i was always taught you never give up, no matter what, giving up is an amateur trait, and thats exactly what the brits showed today, they acted like a bunch of amateur,s

I can see it both ways from the brit riders point of view…they were utter shite today and it is pretty galling that with a long way to go they had all packed. On the other hand once they were on the wrong end of the splits and given the conditions, they would have just been risking crashing/getting ill with very little reward.

Great ride by Costa. Showed the same class as he did on those tdf stage victories.

if wiggo doesnt ride in the rain ,what the hell was he doing there, as for the brits doing their stint, what the hell was that, they all gave up, thats not what i call doing their stint for the team, take a long hard look at the italians, both the womans race and the mens, they burried them selves for the sake of the team, that seems to be the probelm, as soon as the italien riders put on a team shirt, they ride as a team and not a bunch of individuals, i cant think of any pro sport that when the going gets tough the team just gives up, lizzy armestead had no chance of winning yesterday but she kept going and finished the race, she puts the brit mens team to shame, thats the trouble with this country they make too many excuses for these highly paid sports men, you only have to look at the england football team, great individuals, but never seem to be able to play consistantly good as a team, too many ego,s lol, pro cycling is no different to any other pro sport, you just dont give up, how many times have you seen england rugby take a battering, they dont just walk off, they man up and get on with it, if the british cycling team cant man up and act as a team, then they shouldnt be wearing the british jersey. if i was teh manager of the britsh team i wouldnt be happy with any of the men, doestnt matter what they have won in the past or what title they have got, if they cant race as a team and work for each other, then dont wear the team jersey, simples, the rest is just crap excuses.

Ever heard of punctuation? You may have written something worth reading but I just get a headache trying to wade through your post…

this is only a recent thing, there used to be a lot of in fighting, different factions in one team, even working against each other on the road

See Charlie Wegelius

I can’t quite see how Valverde didn’t win that

Costa must be a hell of a poker player – looked dead & buried with 15 minutes to go

well obviously they have a good manager then, maybe british cycling should be looking at new management,

yes, if there’s one thing you can say about the current management at british cycling it’s that they’ve been an unmitigated failure.

For ****’s sake get a grip.

Proper lol at some of the comments on here about the British team. It’s not some amateur sportive challenge where you get a medal if you finish!

Great race though. Thought Rui Costa played a blinder. Hung in there all day, sat the back when he got back into the lead group and timed his jump to Purito perfectly.

Just watched the highlights. It looked like carnage. Possibly a battle for the brave? And I’m not sure there’s really any truly brave riders in the British team.

Cav’s pretty useful when the weather turns bad, but this was never going to be his race. Well done Rui, end of a good season. At least he might scrape more than a single stage win in the Vuelta next year 😉

butcher – Member
Just watched the highlights. It looked like carnage. Possibly a battle for the brave? And I’m not sure there’s really any truly brave riders in the British team.

Geraint Thomas finished the TdF with a fractured pelvis after crashing on the first stage. That’s pretty brave.

Great ‘in car’ view of the race. Carnage.

as an ex pro rugby player, i was always taught you never give up, no matter what, giving up is an amateur trait, and thats exactly what the brits showed today, they acted like a bunch of amateur,s

You being taught it doesnt make it right. It might be disappointing but why should they continue? Risk sickness and injury to make up the numbers, on a race with a short circuit where back markers get in the way (and get pulled out), when they are ultimately professionals earning handsome salaries to race for a professional team (not Team GB) in a season that hasnt finished yet. Carrying on might be “heroic”, but its also pointless and arguably reckless.

By your measure most of the field were “amateurs”

– GB: the entire team DNF
– Italy (home nation): 5 of 9 DNF
– Switzerland: 6 of 9 DNF
– Australia: Simon Clarke was the only finisher
– Spain: 5 of 9 DNF, including Contador
– Netherlands: 6 of 9 DNF
– Slovakia: 5 of 6 DNF (Peter Sagan was the only finisher in 6th place)

(from inrng.com

I’m a fan of Nibali and some of the character he’s shown this year (eg. desperately attacking Horner) but the car-drafting and magic sticky spanner was way beyond what should be tolerated, if it’d been anyone other than an Italian it would have led to a DQ.

Gutted for ‘Purito’, always liked him and he’s the modern day Poulidor. Interesting trade vs nation loyalties, Valverde was supposed to chase every wheel that attacked ‘Purito’. Did he let Costa go because he didnt have the legs (as he claims) or because they are team mates? How does he get on with ‘Purito’? All part of the team vs the individual intrigue that adds to the enjoyment of cycle racing.

Its interesting that Sean Yates (whatever you think of him) says nobody at sky/British cycling knows nothing about cycling

Which is odd, as they’re the #1 team in the World Tour rankings, were #1 last year and #2 the year before. Imagine how much better they’d be if they had a decent manager. Sean Yates wrote an inflammatory quote to get some attention for his book, I wouldn’t read too much into it.

disappointed for Rodriguez, he battled very hard for that win, and to lose like that must be galling. Fair play to Rui Costa, but no-one likes a wheel sucker to win!
any news on Uran? that was a fast tumble – he was lucky he hit a nice soft bank.

Rodriguez was pretty surprised to be fighting for the win, tbh, he’d only been out front to tire Nibali out and give his team mate a chance in the sprint.

is that what he said?

thats the opposite of everything I’d read, including quotes from Rodriguez. Valverde was supposed to chase down every wheel that attacked Rodriguez, but didnt chase Costa because they are movistar team mates he was tired. ‘Purito’ was always racing for the win, and had to attack off the front as he’s the worst sprinter.

The comments about pro rugby are interesting.
How many games of rugby have been played over seven hours on tarmac?

I’m a patriotic Brit who’s never cycled before but has fought some French lads on the rugby pitch in the rain. I find it embarassing that we just gave up. One of my mate’s who’s thick as **** who’s also my dad brought me up to never give up. It’s just something you don’t do and I don’t know why but we just don’t do it even if there’s a chance of serious injury or death it should never be done. It’s a good job they never gave up in world war 2.

How many games of rugby have been played over seven hours on tarmac?

Don’t see the relevance. Pro cycling isn’t a full contact sport where you can be absolutely physically dominated by a stronger opponent for 80 minutes, yet every time he gets the ball and starts running at you, you don’t decide it’s too hard, you might get injured, it’s not your day, you don’t feel great, and so step aside and let him run past. You put your head down and do your best to stop him.

I was disappointed that GB packed in early. I understand why, all the reasons above, and I recognise that cycling isn’t rugby. I’m disappointed because I didn’t think the race was dead at that point. Froome had got himself 40s adrift, but his team mates had been isolated from him as well. If they’d been together I’d have expected they might have been able to mount a chase to get back over even if then it left froome isolated, and in those conditions it could easily have been a crash in the front group that could have closed the gaps up again as much as risking a crash in the chase group. Nibali got back on, was it inconceivable Froome could have?

You are probably right about rugby. And it probably has no relevance to the pro cycling, definitely not yesterdays world road race.

Team GBR rode their hearts out at the Olympics for Cavendish, perhaps they don’t really give a **** for Froome ?

Cycling is a strange sport, you can imagine on professional team your job is to ride for the leader, you’re paid for it. The world championships are not the same as the tour, you’re killing yourself for the chance for another to take the gold. Wiggins came for the time trial, Cavendish couldnt win on this course, neither should have been asked to ride the road race. The conditions were awful and more importantly dangerous. Why risk injury ?

The chances of a GB win in the mens race were slim even in the best weather so why is it a big surprise they weren’t competitive in all that carnage? Team SKY/ GB are absolutely dedicated to the TDF overall victory and any other Grand Tour overall they might be able to mop up and do this at the expense of one day competitiveness. Not many riders or teams can cover the broad spectrum of races effectively enough to be competetive in all so specialise to a certain extent. This race was never going to suit team GB so they seemed to cut their losses and focus on the future. Pride and whatever else doesn’t come in to it if they are going to hinder their chances of future success in races the fans/ sponsors actually care more about

Why risk injury ?

for the love of the sport? because anything can happen? national pride? because it’s the end of the season. lots of reasons.

Sky/ Team GB’s successes may have come from painstaking detail and methodology, but some of the finest sporting moments come from guts not brains.

reading between the lines, I think they had a plan for Froome, but once he realised he didn’t have the legs, no-one else had it in them and there was no (worthy) plan B so they all packed in. which is fair enough.
disappointing, but fair enough.
I bet the Beeb were a bit peeved – they finally get a big cycling event and there’s not Brits there!

thats the trouble with this country

Tip: If you ever want your argument to carry an ounce of credibilty, DO NOT say ‘that’s the trouble with this country’. It makes you sound like a right pillock.

The trouble with this country is our nationally sponsored pro team just won the most prestigious event in cycling twice back to back, after coming from nothing; and several bucketfuls of medals in recent Olympics. Shite, aren’t we?

The plucky loser thing is all well and good in amateur sport, but it doesn’t make much sense in a pro event imo. Except from a PR point of view, as this thread shows.

Interestingly though, Froome in his interview seemed to suggest that he was plodding on but he looked around and had no team mates, so he thought he may as well not bother. He seemed to be a bit accusatory of his team mates.

Cycling is a strange sport, you can imagine on professional team your job is to ride for the leader, you’re paid for it.

Your job is also usually to show the sponsors jersey, which can often make a difference when it comes to abandoning a race.

Team GBR rode their hearts out at the Olympics for Cavendish, perhaps they don’t really give a **** for Froome ?

Think this is rubbish. More to do with the chances of a win. At the world champs where Cav won, and olympics, GB had a good chance of a win. I’d be surprised if they hadn’t all had a chat with Froome on the road and decided that it wasn’t on for them before all abandoning instead of risking injury for a mid pack finish.

Which is odd, as they’re the #1 team in the World Tour rankings, were #1 last year and #2 the year before. Imagine how much better they’d be if they had a decent manager. Sean Yates wrote an inflammatory quote to get some attention for his book, I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Mostly off the back of stage races though. Their classics campaigns have been disappointing. So there is some grain of truth in what Yates says.

lizzy armestead had no chance of winning yesterday but she kept going and finished the race, she puts the brit mens team to shame

Lizzie Armistead said after her race that she had given up hope of winning when the front end of the field was blown apart & ‘cruised’ to the finish. Yesterday, she said that she’d have abandoned in those conditions to be safe rather than finishing as an ‘aslo-ran’ way down the field.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/road-world-championships-2013-gloom-for-chris-froome-as-great-britain-left-all-washed-up-8847439.html

Froome: “I didn’t see what happened to Brad today. I think the only two guys who actually did anything on the GB side were Cav and Luke Rowe. I’d say they were the only ones who pulled their weight today, myself included.”

Although he may well have a point, Froome needs to stop his public whinging and criticism of team mates and sort this stuff within the team rather than in public. I can see why he won’t be fond of Brad but to suggest people like Geraint are not team players and don’t pull their weight is hugely disrespectful to their sacrificial efforts past and no doubt in the future too. Lots of people struggled on the day so have a bit of respect for that surely. That being said, hopefully it was just a poorly chosen quote from a competitive guy at the height of his frustration and doens’t represent his general attitude to team mates…

Always does seem that Thomas is last in the field.

I’m for the excuse that they’ve all had a hard year, the conditions we awful and the team not motivated (a couple of riders excused in that comment) and once one drops out the tendency is for the others to follow suit.

I was dissapointed that no GB’er finished, but glad to see the Belgians on the front, the Italians driving hard and the Spanish not give up without a fight.

Hard race done the hard way.

Although he may well have a point, Froome needs to stop his public whinging and criticism of team mates

Re-read the quote, Froome includes himself in the criticism of “not pulling their weight”. I’d rather have outspoken than PR-controlled drone.

Your job is also usually to show the sponsors jersey, which can often make a difference when it comes to abandoning a race.

Theyre riding national kit, not that of the sponsors who’ve paid them millions. And I reckon Sky, Omega Pharma and Quick Step reckon theyve had theirs moneys’ worth through the year and would prefer their valuable assets to remain ininjured.

Mostly off the back of stage races though. Their classics campaigns have been disappointing. So there is some grain of truth in what Yates says

They started out specifically targeting the big stage races, theyre still developing their classics campaign, and at least they were brave enough to try something different (their training-focused regime which worked for the multi-day events) and to admit they got it wrong. Murdoch Jnr is a big fan of the classics so I can see them persevering, which is good news.

Agree Yates is trying to sell a book and is bitter about having to leave Sky due to being unable to sign the no-doping declaration with a straight face ill health. He’s right that they havent got any old-guard road racing heads there anymore in the management, but that blank-slate thinking has done them more good than harm.

I’d say they were the only ones who pulled their weight today, myself included

Fair enough crashtestmonkey, I misread Froome’s quote as including himself in the one’s who pulled their weight.

Anyway, even since 2002 (and maybe before) Brad’s descending and handling skills were being mocked 😀

Wiggins came for the time trial, Cavendish couldnt win on this course, neither should have been asked to ride the road race.

I think Cav asked to be there. And Wiggins would never have won the Tour without Froome. Is it too much to ask?

Britain’s team manager Rod Ellingworth criticised the attitude of his riders after none finished the men’s road race at the World Championships in Italy.

Rod Ellingworth should look closer to home – the tactic of having them ride at the front in the pouring rain for 100 miles didn’t seem very sensible…

Always does seem that Thomas is last in the field.

Are you basing that on one tour with a fractured pelvis and one of the longest single day races of the year after not long coming back from injury?

EDIT – unless you meant he was ‘last’ GB man standing in which case… 😉

EDIT EDIT – as per below.

I think he meant it as a compliment, ie; he’s last to jack. Not that he always comes last.

Rodriguez really went for it and I would have loved if he had taken it.

GB…………’shakes head’