cyclezen

just had a look at the WC road course in Denmark (I shoulda expected as much)

it has no more than a couple 20 meter vertical blips - how awful!
what a JOKE!
at least Geelong had a 100 meter hill followed by a 50 meter

no wonder all the sprinters are salivating...
WHAT A JOKE!

Bacciagalupe

You were expecting Tourmalet?

IIRC the Worlds typically favors the sprinters anyway.

chasm54

Cavendish, if he's fit enough to start.

cyclezen

'favors' might be leaning towards sprinters, but certainly not climbers...

but most every WC course I've paid attention to, since the '74 course in Montreal (EddyM 1st, George Mount 6th) has at least a tough 100 meter hill to sort out the field.
same as the coming Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal on September 11
I'm sure I've missed a bunch of em, but most favor the overall roadie, like Gilbert, Armstrong, Merckx, Evans, ...
the 2011 course is a joke

DXchulo

#!
There's a longer video of someone driving the course. The main obstacle is the road furniture.

I don't mind a flat course now and then as long as they mix it up regularly. So many guys are motivated for the worlds that it should be an interesting race with plenty of attacks either way.

Kind of Blued

I agree with the philosophy that a Worlds course should favor a well-rounded rider, with the nod to someone who can contest a sprint. It's about the spirit of what a real road race should be. Likely a bunch sprint, but encouraging enough for the strongmen to launch a kamikaze attack. There's a slight bump at the finish line in Denmark, and I really hope some courageous masochist can win with a late break so it seems like they really earned it against big odds.

Thor did the jersey proud this year. Gotta love a big dude that can win a sprint, but has the balls to contest and win a mountain stage in the Tour de France. That's my favorite kind of rider.

Keith99

Didn't Hinault get a win on a course that did the same loop over a dozen times with a pretty nasty climb in it?

Ken Brown

It's pretty flat around Copenhagen, so there is no alternative. I presume they knew that when they awarded to championship.

Bacciagalupe

So what you're saying is, you don't want Cavendish to win. Got it.

cyclezen

actually, this is the WC, not some 1 day classic - so it would be nice to have all elements of a road race in it, hills, technical and even potential for prevalent winds which might call for echeloning.
If a sprinter wins while having covered a serious road course, so be it.
Cav did win Mil-SanRemo on '09, which is certainly way more serious and technical than this course, and at 298 km, another 32 km longer...

This might be a juniors road course...

Anyone would be a fool to attempt any break before the last 50 k of this race. Which means we can almost be 90% certain that this will end in a mass sprint. Hardly the test of the World's best road racing cyclist.

This course should never have been awarded.

As for Cav, this is not pro team racing, it is national team, so it will be every man for himself - and himself better be ready to ride all 266 k, and then slice and dice with the rest, cause he ain;t breakin away. If he remembers how its done, he might have a chance. Otherwise it'll only be a nice day's ride in the flatlands for him.

chasm54

It certainly won't be every man for himself. The British team has been picked around Cavendish, it's essentially a Sky procycling lead-out team plus David Millar, who is Cav's friend and training partner.

cyclezen

sad
sad that Cav is their only hope (/ princess Lea)

would be really sad if they don;t meet muster

I'll watch the last 7 K highlight reel on steephill and call it done.

ultraman6970

This thing will be super fast, up and downs can kill a sprinter so probably we are talking that the ones that will do good in here will be super strong all arounder sprinters, even cancellara can do good in here. Cav wont do a thing in here but the spaniards might.

YMCA

The last true "sprinters" course was in Belgium 2002.
Cipo won from a group of only 30 riders.
The Italians had drilled the day to a 29+mph avg pace for 5.5 hrs.
I wouldn't say flat courses make less challenge.
If the teams are motivated, the weak get broken.
And don't forget about crosswinds.
Hours of gutter action can quite often be harder than anything a promoter can throw at you.

DXchulo

Anything can happen, that's for sure. Everybody is motivated to win and the teams aren't so used to working together. I wouldn't be shocked if it's not a big field sprint.