Velominati Super Prestige: Men’s Elite Road Race 2013
The world championship road race stands out among all other one-day races as the one where the winner is awarded both a curse and a jersey to carry for the next 12 months. It also inspires way too many riders to wear white bibs, which is an alarming trend in itself and one which I hope Brian Cookston, the new UCI President, prioritizes over the doping problem – let’s face facts: white shorts on rainy days does more damage to Cycling’s image than any doping scandal ever could.
Be that as it may, I often find myself wondering if its easier to win a Grand Tour or a one-day race. Certainly, winning a Grand Tour requires focus, discipline, and performance across a wide range of terrain and over a long period of time, but it also offers the opportunity to recover from a bad moment and to take advantage of the days where the terrain or discipline suits the qualities of the rider. A one-day race, on the other hand, is shorter but also less controllable. All in, no net; a moment’s inattention could be disastrous and in an instant your chances could disappear up the road.
The World Championships are also the only race which has brought Mary V to tears after narrowly losing the title. The Dutch don’t cry easily, especially not the ones who bleed pure V.
The Worlds are always a live wire of a race; the national teams mean the riders are riding for and against their usual teammates. Team unity is always a question, and loyalties are hard to predict. All for one and one for all, until a mate goes up the road and suddenly things start looking blurry. Throw in a circuit race, a big climb you ride 17 times, a steep ramp about V km from finish, and you’ve got yourself a race Nostradamus would have a chore predicting.
The Men set out in what is predicted to be horrendous weather on Sunday, September 29. Check the start list, rattle the bones, and put your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero. Good luck.
[vsp_results id=”27411″/]
Funny how a few articles were saying the Spanish didn’t have a chance in the rain…
Costa, JRod, Valv, Nibs, Grivko.
I wonder what J Rod was telling Costa in the last 300M? “Hey, let me win, and I’ll kick you down a few euro?”
@scaler911
“You’ve signed for Lampre! Really? Wow, so I guess that makes you the new Pozzato.”
Gutted for Purito but as soon as they came back together and Valverdi didn’t make a move I thought it would be Costa For The Win. He’s shown his form in descents to the finish time and again this year and he’s a canny tactician. Chapeau!
Shame he won’t now win anything next year…
@scaler911
I’m going to try to find out. One of the guys out here is a Portuguese ex-pro who is good friends with Costa, so I’ll see if he can ask him. It would be fascinating to know.
Wouldn’t want to play poker with Rui Costa, played his hand perfectly, despite Purito’s attempts at bribery
What a dismal VSP with 0 pts. I blame the lack of rain…i.e. it bloody well stopped and all those skinny assed climbers were able to warm up….
Report is that Valverde was booed by the fans. Wonder how they reacted to Luigi?
Any historians know the biggest DNF list in cycling history? The results got me wondering.
I don’t think valverde will be happy with JRod and his double attack after Nibbles was good enough to set up Valverde. Magnus Bakstedt saying a Spaniard not wearing rainbow is unforgiveable with two riders in the finale.
@Donnie Bugno
Yeah: that’s woeful. Even worse than the Italians burning their matches so early. They played it brilliantly, launching Nibali, but then they left him pretty isolated. Worse than both: the Belgians who controlled and controlled, only to watch the whole race get away from them. Worse than even the Belgians: the Brits. Good lord: HTFU! And the Irish. In fact, for all the fuss, not a good race for the Anglos in general…
@Donnie Bugno
I think the Spanish figured that if it came together for a 4 up sprint, Valverde would be the fastest, so that’s why Purito went on the attack again. They were so focused on isolating Nibbles that they all let Costa sit on the wheels. When he went, Valverde said he couldn’t follow. Cheers to Costa for a smart race.
@Steampunk
Well if I had to ride past warm showers every twenty minutes after five hours in the rain i think i would take a DNF too. Mind you i don’t recall collecting a paycheck as a bike rider. Poor showing GB.
Purito and Costa were both quoted saying that Purito wanted Costa to pass him. Costa said no dice. Much better to attack from behind. My hat is off to Nibali. He proved in the Vuelta and in this race that he is definitely not a quitter. Unfortunately, his lack of a good sprint limits his strategic options.
@imakecircles
Yes brilliant move by Costa. Commentary never mentioned him though he sat for 10k behind Vaverde.
@Weldertron
Not sure of largest DNF in WCRR but 1989 had 42 finishers out of 190 starters and the 1980 brutal race had 15 finishers out of 107 starters! So those had a higher DNF rate than this one.
@Buck Rogers The 1979 Liege-Bastogne-Liege had 21 finishers out of 174 starters. Hinault won that by 9 minutes over second place.
@Buck Rogers
Pretty sure the ’95 race in Colombia had less than 10 finishers.
Hell, I thought he wanted to know only about WCRR’s.
What about that 2010 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne during the hurricane? Only around 20 finishers in that one as well.
But the 1980 WCRR is considered to be one of the hardest, killer races of the modern era, even including the ’79 LBL. Over 7.5 hours and only 15 finishers. That is insane!
@plynie
Nope. 20 official finishers per the site I have. Still a killer, though.
Liked the quote from Thomas of GB, “not really the weather for Bradley today”.
Aye.
Best race day in awhile. Watching Worlds Road Race while working on our own Service Course headquarters. Listening to a race in Italian seems to help keep the work moving too.
@strathlubnaig
Brad needs to MTFU and check out Rule #5. It is well and good winning TdF in summer sun but what has he won in the wet? Never won at Crystal Palace, a proper hard race, what chance a damp race in Italy? Back to the boards I’d say.
Supermen in your armchairs much?
@strathlubnaig
Puke. Sir Bradley’s such a princess these days.
My camera is shite, sorry for the lousy photos.
@Sauterelle Nice way to get in there and get some photos! Valverde, not so happy.
Leadout gets it. Someone was thinking. The way Costa won stages in the Tour, he should have been talked about more. Not that I did. Well done.
Didn’t RC win at least one of his TDF stages in the rain this year too? Needless to say, they should have known he’d be there for the finale.
whats the general consensus from everyone – a classic? A race ruined by weather? or made by weather?
thinking? i think not..although that espana crew had a potential future boss looking on.
a hard mans day! i did not get to catch the live feed and had to read the live coverage after..not a good read when crashes take out favs..
bike racing; 40% prep, 40% mind, 20% luck. used my lucky dice today!
@Gianni
I’m gutted for J Rod, love the way he races. He is a class act. Well done by Rui, very smart race.
Well, that was a Rule #9 race for sure, but I can’t quite figure out what J-Rod was doing by chatting to Rui Costa when he should have just kept riding; or am I missing something?
Slightly embarrassed to be British this morning. Purleeeze – weather like that is our typical autumn, winter and spring. HTFU you pussies. As for Geraint Thomas’s quote, I’m sad to say “Choad”.
@Sauterelle – strong work Sir!
@Mike_P
He was trying to get Costa to pass and come through in front of him, but Costa was having none of it.
That’s from a friend of Costa’s who lives out here and has spoken directly to him – we asked him to find out. He works at the LBS which sponsors our team and is basically our DS.
@Bianchi Denti
Hehehheeee. That’s the VSP generator rubbing it in. Still, very unlike you to end up with nothing.
@strathlubnaig
I have to say when I saw the interviews and their riding I was shouting Rule #5 at the screen. It was like “We can’t win so why bother”. G stayed out there until there was really noone left but when you compare the commitment with Nibbles fall and work ethic to return to the peloton I am pretty disgusted at the British Team.
Although it is my home country, I will be voting this for the anti V moment of the year. As has been said elsewhere many times…”Pain is temporary…Quitting lasts forever”! These boys need to HTFU!
@PT Good question PT. I thought it a beauty. Costa too clever by half.
@Deakus
I concur! Although Cav worked his heart out early on, as he always does when he pulls on a national jersey and I’m sure would have always expected to drop out when it reached the circuit. Luke Rowe also put in a good show early on as a late replacement for JT-L who is apparently suffering from a lack of “form”. I got to say though, I’m surprised by one of my favourite riders Stannard calling it a day early as he’s not exactly soft:
http://bigringriding.com/post/594885013/wheelsucking-at-the-kbk
@V-inden
This goes to the whole “I work so my leader can kill himself going for victory” ethic. The Italians shit bricks working for Nibbles. If I were Cav, IS, or G this morning I would be thinking “Why the fuck did I bother”.
The point is the domestiques do not suffer so that the primadonnas can bail out if it “does not feel good”. These boys blow chunks so that they can see their leaders do the same when the time comes…win…lose…or fall off!
Cav gets it….he always has…he demands a great deal of his lead out men but time again we have seen him bust his balls on non sprint stages working for the team…as far as I can see Froggins have got their heads so far up their SRMS they may as well not bother…
O btw that may be worth a lexicon entry…
FROGGINS – A morphed pair of TdF winners lacking moral fibre and the courage to lead by example
@ChrisO
Fuck’in cool!!! Between you and Sauterelle the ol’ V site can claim, like, two or three degrees of separation from the pros!
Costa road a very smart race. Great race but the Anglo’s cannot claim to have really shown up at all. Not the best showing by USA or GB. Someone said it earlier but I was surprised at Ian Stannard. His type of conditions. I wonder if he jusy cooked himself early for Wiggo and had nothign left or what? He is normally a true hardman.
@Buck Rogers
I would like to pose an alternative theory, not to diminish a great ride by Rui, BUT
He got lucky. The Spanish and Italians did not give him the credit he deserved and chose to largely ignore the threat. They let him ride out of the wind all the way round the circuit a couple of times. Granted he did a great job bridging the gap but ultimately the other teams let him have an easy ride and he was therefore able to capitalise at the end when he had more left than others.
Having said that, you make your own luck and could not have benefitted and won if he had not had the nouce to play a clever “grey man” tactic whilst the rest worried about each other.
My chapeau goes to JRod who (Nibbles a close second for sheer guts) went again and again in the final few Kms to try and break the front 4 only to be tipped out by a fraction of a wheel on the line…he definitely has class!
Completely Delgado’d the World Champs – luckily, based on the picks I was going to make I wouldn’t have scored any points even if I hadn’t.
The moment that J-Rod turned round and asked Costa to pass he lost the race. Costa would’ve known at that point that he’d be able to attack at the line and win. Good racing.
I had Costa as first on my VSP but I was let down with my 2-5 picks.
He is riding for Lampre in 2014, lets all pray he doesn’t wear the stripes with those awful flouro pink shorts.
@Deakus
Lexicon or not, that is word of the day! Top marks.
When JRod waved the white flag with his little tea time talk all I could think of was what the greats would have done in that situation. Thinking of the Badger, Kelly, guys who when I think of an image they are in some shit weather that made yesterday look like a picnic and on the line they are still going 210%. The tactics leading up to that image does not include time out for a chat.
Uran’s crash on the final descent to the finish was heartbreaking. Didn’t enter the VSP, but I was hoping for him… Happy that at least two big races this year have gone to the underdog: Ciolek at MSR and now Costa!
@Rob
I suspect the “chat” was an excuse to look in to the whites of his eyes and see how he looked when trying to speak/respond. It is a risky tactic because it also gives away your own condition but the fact that they were both neck and neck on the line tells me they did not leave much in the tank…
@efguerrero
He was limping quite badly when he got up. Do we know if he was injured? (i.e. not just road rash..)
@Deakus
This!
@Deakus
I did hear that he got back on and finished but that was quite some crash.