Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s World Championship Road Race 2016

Three riders stand out in this photo: Sagan, Van Avarcan’t*, and Deggencobble in the drops, crushing it up the stupid-steep cobbled final climb at the 2015 Worlds in Richmond, Virginia. I’ve never thought much of Virginia, if at all, and I certainly never thought of Virginia’s many cobbled climbs. Goes to show that not everything below the Mason-Dixon Line is rubbish.

The photo says it all: only 66% of the riders climbing in the drops lost the World Championships, while 100% of the riders climbing on the hoods lost them. The science is conclusive: something about climbing in the drops gives you extra Awesome Speed.

From a traditional standpoint, I can’t say the US is the best place to host World Cycling Events. That said, the old Coors Classic was badass as shit, and both the CX and Road World Championships hosted here were easily the best in recent times in both disciplines. Merca: crushing it. So long as we don’t include “winning” within the concept of “crushing it”. But as far as hosting a great race? Nailed it.

Even less traditional is the Qatar Worlds location. As Gianni said, flat and cross winds. Very Dutchish or Flemishish, on the surface of it. Have you ever been in a sauna and had someone blow on you because they are an asshole? If you have, you will realize that in that sort of heat, adding wind makes the wet parts of your skin burn, not cool. In other words, cross winds in the desert is like racing in Belgium while Beelzebub chases you about with a flamethrower.

At least doffing leg warmers and extra jerseys won’t slow anyone down.

Get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to nil, and good luck. Oh, and study the start list, as if it helps. Remember: a Don Walker frame is on offer for the winner of the VSP! A custom steel frame!

*Except he Van Avercould at the Olympics. Quite the time to pull out the “No More Second Places” card.

[vsp_results id=”75561″/]

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190 Replies to “Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s World Championship Road Race 2016”

    • @ErikdR

      Bidniz indeed, offsite with the company. While in HK all signs are translated into English, in Macau all is translated into Portuguese.

    • Gambling is lost on me although it is kinda funny to see the Eiffel tower.
    • Flying back in 3 hours so hope to catch some saddletime tomorrow.
  1. OK. Changing my picks. Not that it really matters since I don’t have a chance to win overall.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Greipel
    3. Cavendish
    4. Gavira
    5. Kittel
  2. @KogaLover

    Strange; just tried to post a reply, but that seems to have disappeared into Cyberspace.

    Anyway: Cool. Happy landings and enjoy your get-rid-of-the-jetlag ride tomorrow.

    For the record: gambling is utterly lost on me as well, fortunately. (Another addiction that can come at high cost for some, from what I’ve heard…)

  3. VSP PICKS:

    1. Mark Cavendish
    2. Andre Greipel
    3. Fernando Gaviria
    4. Nacer Bouhanni
    5. Marcel Kittel
  4. VSP PICKS:

    1. Mark Cavendish
    2. Andre Griepel
    3. Fernando Gaviria
    4. Andre Demare
    5. Peter Sagan
  5. Here’s to Tommeke finishing his career on the top step in the Roubaix velodrome in the rainbow jersey.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Boonen, T
    2. Sagan, P
    3. Kristoff, A
    4. Cavendish, M
    5. Greipel, A
  6. Back to Back for the man with the locks!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. GAV
    3. Greipel
    4. Kristoff
    5. GVA
  7. Just to Clarify – Gav not Cav. Will be interesting to see if Renshaw leads out Ewen/Matthews or if he rides for Cav in the finale?

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Gaviria
    3. Greipel
    4. Kristoff
    5. Cav
  8. VSP PICKS:

    1. SAGAN Peter
    2. GREIPEL Andre
    3. VAN AVERMAET Greg
    4. GAVIRIA Fernando
    5. BOUHANNI Nacer
  9. @Quadzilla

    Just to Clarify – Gav not Cav. Will be interesting to see if Renshaw leads out Ewen/Matthews or if he rides for Cav in the finale?

     

    And it will be interesting to see if Ewen leads out Matthews or vice versa…

  10. Could go any which way with these five but I am putting them in my “wishlist” finish order!

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Sagan
    2. Cav
    3. Griepel
    4. Gavaria
    5. Kittel
  11. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Mark Cavendish
    3. Marcel Kittel
    4. Andre Greipel
    5. Fernando Gaviria
  12. Mr Gaviria’s win at Paris Tours was flat out bad a**. I can’t help but think it’ll carry over. Cheers all

    VSP PICKS:

    1. GAVIRIA Fernando
    2. CAVENDISH Mark
    3. BENNETT Sam
    4. GREIPEL Andre
    5. SAGAN Peter
  13. VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Nacer Bouhanni
    3. Mark Cavendish
    4. Michael Matthews
    5. Tom Boonen
  14. Fingers crossed.

    VSP PICKS:

    1. Peter Sagan
    2. Andre Greipel
    3. Mark Cavendish
    4. Niki Terpstra
    5. Greg Van Avermaet
  15. VSP PICKS:

    1. Andre Greipel
    2. Mark Cavendish
    3. Fernando Gaviria
    4. Nacer Bouhanni
    5. Arnaud Demare

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