Professional Cycling For the Fans - Is the World Champ Cursed?

Just curious if I'm the only one who has noticed how World Champs seem to have a run of bad luck after they win.

Evans won last year, smashed his elbow up and wound up going backwards and generally bombing this year's TDF.

Boonen, iirc, also had a rough year or two after taking the World's, and not all of his own devising -- in fact I recall hearing a lot of "wow, it felt great to beat the world champ" that year ;). Bettini had a batch of crashes and retired after he nabbed it.

Coincidence?!?

:D

He won Fleche Wallone, finished third at Tirreno and 5th in the Giro.

Not a bad year.

Bettini:

World Champ and Olympic Gold.

Just curious if I'm the only one who has noticed how World Champs seem to have a run of bad luck after they win.

Oh, definitely. No one has ever noticed anything like that before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Rainbow_Jersey#Curse_of_the_Rainbow_Jersey

true but cadel has had rotten luck in the grand tours this year...just awful!
the year Boonen was WC he didn't win as much and abandoned the tour....
one of the years that Bettini was WC he took a long time to get his first win. And the year cipo was WC, he had that horrible crash at the giro...he did break binda's record. But he was never really the same after that awful crash.

I'd be happy to take the jersey and any bad luck that goes with it. :lol:

Agreed, if I have to have bad luck it might as well be in the rainbow jersey.

Just curious if I'm the only one who has noticed how World Champs seem to have a run of bad luck after they win.

Evans won last year, smashed his elbow up and wound up going backwards and generally bombing this year's TDF.

Boonen, iirc, also had a rough year or two after taking the World's, and not all of his own devising -- in fact I recall hearing a lot of "wow, it felt great to beat the world champ" that year ;). Bettini had a batch of crashes and retired after he nabbed it.

Coincidence?!?

:D

I know it seems that way. But the reality is that the kind of racer who can win the world championship is a different kind of racer than can win the TDF. Cadel has done well in grand tours by virtue of his great athletic ability. But he doesn't have the exactly right combination of traits to win a grand tour unless the top half dozen guys are missing and he has a lots of good luck.

i guess the saddest example is poor Jean Pierre Monsere, who was world champion when he was hit by a car and killed...1971?

I know it seems that way. But the reality is that the kind of racer who can win the world championship is a different kind of racer than can win the TDF. Cadel has done well in grand tours by virtue of his great athletic ability. But he doesn't have the exactly right combination of traits to win a grand tour unless the top half dozen guys are missing and he has a lots of good luck.

Uh, you DO know that the World Championship course varies from year to year to suit riders with different abilities, right? Worlds hasn't been won by a Grand Tour winner for about 20 years, but that doesn't mean that they aren't "suited" for it. Evans is certainly a contender (and possibly lost the Vuelta by a wheel change last year). Greg LeMond won the Tour and Worlds in the same year; two years earlier, Roche did the same thing. With the right course and a motivated ride, it's certainly possible. The key issue is probably the motivation.

I know it seems that way. But the reality is that the kind of racer who can win the world championship is a different kind of racer than can win the TDF....
Yeah, I wasn't really referring to "back luck in the TDF" anyway -- more a general observation; Evans this year is just a fresh example. IIRC Boonen had a few rough years riding classics (particularly Paris-Roubaix) after winning the World's.

A bit more realistically, I do wonder if winning the World's paints a big rainbow bullseye on those rider's backs. Not out of animosity, more out of "I bet I can beat the world's best to the line."

probably not, my guess is that even the WC knows they can crash, screw up etc like anyone else and that even the jersey doesn't mean you're invulnerable! I had to hand it to Cadel evans though, i was sure he'd drop out. The guy finished like 45 minutes back, had to be in a lot of discomfort....but I guess he wanted to honour the jersey. I really admire his bloodymindedness...