World Championships Road Race Qualification

75 thoughts on “World Championships Road Race Qualification”

1. I see the United States are currently 18th in the World Tour and 6th in the America Tour. How does that compare to recent years? Seems terrible and, if I follow the above correctly, as things stand they will only scrape in with three riders thanks to Tejay V-G and Andrew Talansky’s presence in the top 100 of the individual rankings.

   • Oh, that’s not quite right. Columbia qualify through the World Tour, so the USA is bumped up a place and qualifies for 3 riders as the 5th placed nation in the America Tour. Still doesn’t seem very impressive.

     • I think that USA will be allowed to race with 6 because of this from the UCI document:

       “If the nation responsible for organising the World Championship is qualified in the second
       rank of nations via the classification by nation for its continent, it may enter 9 riders with 6 to
       start.”

     • ColOmbia. The race might happen near the District of Columbia but it doesn’t change the fact that The country is with an O. ColOmbia.

       • Since when did speakers of one language get to impose the spellings of their countries on speakers of another language? I’ve never been near the Americas, but this doesn’t hold anywhere in Europe, so I’m not sure why it should apply in South America. So for the moment, I’m happy to spell it Columbia from Christopher Columbus not Colombia from Cristóbal Colón.

   • Our guys are so soft now and only excel at offering a litany of excuses and abandons. Also tough because even our best riders don’t you know, actually win bike races any more. Other than shitty domestic races with weak fields run on 6 lane highways. One little sickness and TvG folds like a house of cards.

     For Worlds, what does it matter none of our guys would feature in the finale anyway? I few laps in front of the home crowd then a DNF to drink beer with their bros like some cyclocross fans.

     • A* few laps

       /typo

     • But, dude, the Tour of Utah is just, like, so AWESOME! Wow!!

     • Nailed it. Only a few have the ability to hang in over the 4 hour mark because the US is a land of 75 minute crits and circuit races for 130k. The only chance the US has is cyclocross ten years from now, maybe.

       • The only chance the US has is cyclocross ten years from now, maybe.

         Hey now, let’s be fair to Jonathan Page who has been racing in Europe and doing well considering he’s a DIY elite like the other more dominant American cyclocrosser, Katie Compton.

         I would argue Americans are not “soft” as much as the lack of infrastructure required to attract and develop talented athletes in cycling. Most of the talent we have as Continental Pros are working jobs to ride a bike at an elite level. This is as much a UCI policy problem as it is a USACDF/USAC problem.

         • Crying the US blues:

           Lets not forget the The US women excel on the international RR circuit, and they should be commended for those efforts.

           Pro RRing will never see the popularity in the US as it does in Euro countries period! We will have to wait for the odd Lemond to surface once in a blue moon.

           I would love to see the US government allow precedes from a national lottery go to the benefit of youth cycling in the US. That would certainly help. Just as is done in the UK.

         • @Othersteve The US government has no business funding sports. If that means the US is never at the top of the board in cycling, so be it.

       • and don’t forget Phil Gaimon will do the best skid out on a fast corner…

         • The US Postal Service once funded cycling. How did that work out?

2. Pez did a preview of the Richmond course recently. Seems uninspired. But my limited imagination has trouble picturing the parcours when it is fully dressed. Anyone have a first hand look yet?

   • US Collegiate road nationals in 2014 were on the Richmond worlds course (all but the 23rd street climb) as a test event. I got to race the course. It was awesome. Such a great venue, such a challenging course that could have so many different outcomes. The climbs are short, yes, but they are steep and all come in the last 5km. The last one tops out 500m from the finish.

     • What’s the point of doing 16 x laps though, almost 260 km ?
       That’s far too long surely, all it does is provide a dull first 10 x laps or so, with all the action at the latter part of the race…?
       It sounds a bit of a snooze fest ?

       • The laps allow for better spectator viewing and the distance will deaden the legs of many. Not as many riders have quite the same kick after 260 km. Point in case look at Sagan at the past couple of Milan-Sanremo finales. Fast man who had nothing left to contest a sprint finish. Those first few laps will appear easy on TV, but the riders will be going full gas from the start and burning domestiques.

       • This is so the test is to see who has the strongest legs at the end of 260km. Lots of riders can have strong legs after 100km.

         • Philippe Gilbert once said after some 200k race which he didn’t won that he needs that extra 40k in order to get rid of the other contenders.

       • It’s all about the rising tension. It could be live from start to finish but ideally you tune in for the final third of the race.

       • What is more, if those extra 100 kms (which may usually mean 1500-2000 mts of vertical gain or more – didn’t see this year’s course, yet) are *available*, teams at least have the option to race them hard, if they wish – which changes a lot the finishing scenary, of course.
         Obviously enough, nobody can force them if they don’t have the interest or the strength, but if they have, well, you can even get some far-out spectacle. See Florence 2013. Regardless of altimetry, sometimes – see London Olympics.

   • The YouTube video of Cavendish riding the course https://youtu.be/ntmy2x6YWCE

3. “Zdeněk Štybar, a depth of performance from compatriots is needed”

   Or on the other hand the Belgian problem – too many rock stars. Sure Vandenberg will ride for Boonen, would Debuscherre or Keukeliere do the same for a BMC rider? I guess personal friendships and team orders will play a role. I read Charlie Wegelius’s account of how he and Southam were instructed to ride for the Italians at the 2005 worlds – Mr Ring how common would you say team orders at the worlds still are?

4. Presumably Degenkolb will ride for Germany? Course not quite right for Greipel or Kittel. What about GB? Swift?

   Re. Belgium, looks a bit more Boonen/GVA than Gilbert.

   Sagan nailed on for second place, of course… 😉

   • Sagan, GVA, Valverde… o__O
     Very hard fight for anything-but-gold medals.
     Maybe Colombia will bring Urán and some Giro-2013-edition Betancur ^__^

   • With That finishing climb, they gotta back Van Avermaet. Better on cobbles than Gilbert, better climber than boonen.

5. “…to find more Czech mates to support Štybar.” – we like what you did there 😉

   • speak for yourself

   • I appreciated it. More puns please.

     • +1

6. Swift? Maybe plan B Kennaugh will get the nod for GB. Considering the engines like Luke Rowe and Stannard, super domestiques the Yates plus the world’s fastest waterboy in Cav – it should be a pretty formidable well drilled unit. Which probably means Valverde wins.

   • There is a video on the inter web somewhere where Cav is casing the parcour, I think it was after the Tour of California. Police escort and all sorts.

     Wouldn’t expect Cav to be doing recconaissance on the course if he didn’t initially think that he could win it.

     • Yup, saw in a print interview that that was when the video and reconnaissance took place. It was shot at 6.30am and he was massively embarrassed about the police escort, so much so that he sprinted through the busier sections of the course because he didn’t want residents being woken up because of “some knobhead on a bicycle”.

       He has a nice, if somewhat sweary, turn of phrase has Cav.

7. PS and I didn’t even mention everyone’s favourite hard man G Thomas, he’ll be doing close quarters protection for Kennaugh.

8. So there is some point to the World Tour season then 😉

   I think that Australia could have a strong squad.
   Matthews looked in great nick back in Spring.
   I wonder if he can recover that form after his horrible TdF ?

   • But weird that it doesn’t take account of the last 12 months’ performance in the WT. The Eneco tour, Vuelta, Canadian races and Lombardy get passed over each year. If you’re going to use country rankings in a particular event, you might as well use the full rankings.

     (No idea whether it would make any difference, mind.)

9. I just want to see spain blow it again, my guess is that Valverde will attack so JJ Lobato has no lead out

   • Valverde’s having a pretty good year…

   • How cool,would it be is J-Rod sat of Valverde’s wheel all day, I mean all day, even during the natural stops, just to mark him out of contention.

     Valverde is such a twat dr what he did in Florence.

10. Convoluted system much? How would you explain all that to a casual fan? Its a nonsense. Just give each team 8 or 9 riders and race.

    • It is convoluted but which teams would you give 8-9 riders? Probably the traditional cycling countries but who else? There’s no point giving Slovakia 9 riders because they don’t have 9 good pros and the more places are given to filler riders making up each national quota the more you exclude entire nations. So if the system is complicated and leaves everyone scratching their heads…. it achieves a sensible outcome on the startline.

      • Yes, but why allow 8 – 9 riders?

        A 198 rider field, with 6 person teams, would yield 34 teams (or a 196 rider field could have 28 teams of 7). And if it were up to X riders, additional nations could enter, if teams didn’t have sufficient professionally licensed riders to enter.

        So the question is, how many nations have professional riders?

        • Convoluted as they are, I’m happy the rules allow for the minor countries to send riders. Unlike MLB’s “World Series” this is truly the WORLD cycling championships so all countries should be able to send riders. I find it kind of laughable that the USA gets only a few riders despite all the claptrap we hear from those who run USA Cycling. Seems like when doping on the scale of BigTex is no longer so much the case, the Yanks aren’t much of a presence? I’ll be at the roadside in Richmond as I was in Colorado Springs in ’86 and Hamilton in ’03. When this kind of thing happens in North America I sort of feel obligated to show up as it’s so rare. And to nobody’s surprise we’ll be cheering for the Italians though I don’t think they have a very good chance on this course. FORZA AZZURRI!!!

        • I agree with you TR. It’s not the fact that it tapers, which is sensible as Mr. INRNG explains, but the huge steps that seems odd.

          If this were a truly individual event, with every man for himself, then it would be quite fair as it is, because otherwise you would be penalising people higher in the UCI rankings by shrinking allocations. However, no-one is under the illusion that that’s the way in plays out so the reality is that if you are not in the top 10, you lose 30% of your allocation. Perhaps a lower starting point (8/7) and a smoother taper would be a bit fairer?

11. Perfect for a post tdf comedown, a Worlds tease. The course looks hard for the sprinters and not really for the climbers, so those who thrive at Flanders? Sagan yes, maybe Thomas and the rest but also Mathews?

    Looking forward to the preview piece already but first, the Vuelta 🙂

    • Is the course more similar to RVV or Strade Bianche?
      Who would be your top 10 favorites

      Mine are

      Boonen, GVA, SVM, Sagan, Stybar
      Degenkolb, Tresptra, Kristoff, Cance
      Valverde, Boom, Thomas

      • You’ve compared it to de Ronde and Strada Bianchi plus it’s got a. 13% cobbled climb, and Cancellara isn’t in your list???

        He’s won de Ronde thrice, PRBX thrice, and Strada Bianchi once. He’s should always be in the mix on a parcour like this.

        I would personally be happy with a Spartacus win, or GVA would be popular too. He’s more eternal bridesmaid that Sagan.

        • Edit, just saw the abbreviated name. My bad.

          • The other Nick, it would be great to see Spartacus spend what is perhaps likely to be his last season next year in the rainbow bands. With black shorts. Ok, maybe a few pinstripes.

            And agree that Valverde and Purito are likely to mark each other out. Funny comment.

12. Interesting that Cav had a look at the course. Some people are saying Kennaugh has a chance but Cav wasn’t far behind in the Nationals and had less help. Adam Yates, if he’s got the form of San Sebastian, would have a chance as well as G. Is there a battle for leadership in the GB squad? Or who is the leader? Has Brailsford said anything or are they keeping it a surprise this time?

    Incidentally, that Nationals race was one of the best I’ve seen this year and I’ve seen a lot and it’s been a decent year so far. If the Worlds is half as good it’ll be fun to watch.

    What about bringing back national teams for other races? After all, the TdF was run like that for many of its golden years.

    • Does Brailsford have a say anymore? He’s exclusively Team Sky now I believe, so not sure who runs this GB team (although Rod Elingworth has over the last few years I think).

      My guess is there isn’t a leadership battle at the moment, as the GB riders skills don’t tend to overlap – ie a course for Cav wouldn’t suit Froome clearly, and the ones which may overlap skills wise are still up and coming, so may not go for a leadership battle. I think the problem for GB this year will be that the course doesn’t strike me as suiting one of their riders automatically so they may spread resources and not have an obvious captain.

      I’m guessing Wiggins hasn’t got enough points this year to get into the squad of 14 (and my guess is he wouldn’t be in it even if he qualified).

      • Come the Worlds, its Brailsford Time again. And Ellingworth – who does all the actual hard yards on it. By agreement with Shane Sutton, British Cycling and Sky (the latter, as they’re both 100% paid by Sky).

        Wiggins has ruled himself out of defending his TT title this year as he’s now fully concentrating on the track – the Worlds falls in the middle of GB Track Nats and the kick off of the track season. Besides, you’d never see him in a team that had Froome in it again, anyway – see the 2014 Worlds for example.

        • They both really need to grow up.

          • Time for that is long past.

            Wiggins will retire after Rio anyway. Froome will…whatever.

          • Froome will… have a better palmares?
            Track victories are not the equal of Tour de France victories – especially ones where you only won because the better rider wasn’t allowed to race against you. Froome, ostentatiously, showed to all that he wasn’t allowed to race and that’s why Wiggins has been sulking ever since. Froome should have had the guts to go against team orders and try to beat Wiggins and the hand to ear moment was pathetic.

    • I’m sure it is nothing to do with Brailsford, it will be a Shane Sutton project ;-). I was interested to note that Team Sky have 8 riders in the top 100 but only 2 are Brits. I hope Alex Peters and TGH are taking note of that.

      • Alex Peters has signed a 2 year contract, not signed his life away.

        And TGH – well, he’s got a great head on his shoulders. He knows the way they operate. If he ends up getting an offer to turn pro with them and he accepts, I think it can be assumed he can make his own career decisions.

13. With regards World Tour points do you need to ride for a WT team?

    Scanning the UCI WT rider list it appears that Steve Cummings does not appear but would his TdF win not have earn WT points? (I may have missed him no search function on the list obviously!)

    Where do his points count if not on the WT list?

    • Only World Tour teams feature in the rankings so presumably his TdF points don’t count for anything officially as points for the Europe Tour don’t cover WT races (as far as I can tell). Of course, the WT points are are still hugely valuable in the eyes of sponsors, as well as for salary negotiations and the riders’ “sporting value” which is used by the UCI when awarding of team licences.

    • Yes, here it is in the rule book “Only riders being part of a UCI ProTeam obtain points in UCI WorldTour races.” (Ch X, 2.10.001) from here http://uec.ch/documents/uci/rules/road_rules.pdf

      • That seems a little odd.

        Not that in this case it going to affect the numbers of GB riders but strange that what may be on best wins by a GB rider of the year doesn’t help qualify for the worlds.

        Same applies for Italy and Boem’s stage win at the Giro

        • It was one of the more sensible parts of the UCI’s proposed reforms to the season: a single rider ranking, taking account of results by all teams in all races. So Cumming’s TdF win would have counted, as would Stybar’s win in Strade Bianche.

14. In the belgian team I believe more in gilbert’s possibilities than in boonen’s. I think he is having a strong year and will arrive in good shape in the end of the season. In turn, boonen is normally not that good in sep (except 2005 of course).

15. You forgot to include the bit about how the USA gets to field nine riders because they are the host nation.

    • Really? Well, that’s one way to get a full team when you’re no longer one of the top cycling countries. Hope they get a decent kit, some of the “Uncle Sam” getups they’ve had in the past were embarrassingly ugly. Some need to learn just because you can sublimate it on there, it doesn’t mean you should.

      • Yes, the ‘Captain America’ kits are embarrassing.

        • Larry, I would submit that the US Men cycling was never “one of the top Cycling countries”!

          Palmares/population !

          • Back-in-the-day of BigTex and Co. we had USA Cycling, etc. crowing about how the Yanks were a serious group and part of cycling’s elite. The population never entered into these claims, they just pointed out all the big names (most of ’em of course turned out to be doped up slaves to BigTex) the USA had vs other countries. And so many of the US multinational companies jumped into pro cycling in a big way to take advantage of the marketing opportunities. Now it’s all gone back to a more realistic situation and I hope those cheerleaders who looked the other way when it came to doping won’t be around too much longer as the money thrown at the sport dries up.

16. Larry, the logical problem there is that regardless of the dope, we’ve not had a decent world’s team in nearly two decades of racing. Lance and Postal have nothing to do with that. Even at their doped up best, we had good gc riders and ok sprinters. Also, at the height of the Tex years, it’s not like the US team was the only dirty squad. Despite being somewhat in a dry year, there is actually a pretty decent crop of US talent coming up. It could be fairly argued that 2 riders not being injured due to race promoter failire (Phinney and Stetina), could reasonably make the difference between a decent year for the Us (9 riders earned), and a crap year (9 riders given). That said, we absolutely need to do better in reflection of our population size/cycling talent ratio. it’s absurd that nations the size of the Czech Republic knock out way more talent (road and mtb) than we can muster. Perhaps it has something to do with the attitude that any cyclist on a road is a nuisance or a target, instead of a fully legit road user…..

    • Agreed, due to attitudes in the U.S. towards cycling as a professional sport, the rank and file of up and coming U.S. professional cyclists pales in comparison to the assembly line churning out junior athletes in baseball, football (including soccer), basketball, hockey, and even golf. But that seems normal given the huge pay-off of professional contracts and prize money on offer if there is true talent there. And there lies the problem–the pool of naturally talented and athletically endowed will be siphoned off to these mainstream sports, so perhaps the Eddy Merkxx of Cleveland, or the Fabian Cancellera of Oswego, is wearing shoulder pads and a helmet (with a face mask) knocking out wide receivers in the NFL. Without knowing the actual figures, I would venture to guess that much less than half the pro peloton makes a six figure annual salary, with those making a seven figure salary countable on my two hands (or perhaps even one hand?). And given the financial uncertainties of pro cycling, who would want to choose it as a profession, unless it was better than other career options, such as farming or working in a manufacturing plant? Which, by the way, was the traditional rationale of riders ~50 years ago from Western Europe, but now such logic is found in Eastern Europe and former Soviet block nations. Which is the reason why so many good riders nowadays are coming out of that region, while the U.S. appears to be lacking quality riders. So, it all makes sense.

      • Agree,
        Our economic potential provides many avenues for gifted athletes to make great money .
        Unfortunately, our sport choices don’t include cycling as does Europe, for this truth we commiserate and hope for a few US kids who may rise on the occasion.

17. “Germany have eight riders with a World Tour ranking and Great Britain has seven but these nations still qualify nine riders because Germany and Britain are 13th and 14th respectively in the UCI Europe Tour rankings. This just entitles them to take extra riders because the top-14 nations on this circuit get an extra allowance.”

    Now that the continental rankings as for 15 August have been published, it appears that Germany will indeed get 9 berths as they held their position from last month.

    Unfortunately, GB were overhauled by Belarus for that crucial 14th position at the last, so they will have to make do with 7 berths. They were allocated 9 berths for Ponferrada 2014, which is ironic given that they have already accrued more WorldTour points than last year (and may gain the maximum 5 berths for next year’s Olympic RR*).

    A couple more top-10s in the spring classics would have been enough for the maximum allocation – 3 riders from Sky alone (Wiggins/Stannard/Swift) have done so in previous seasons and all failed to do so this season. Also a pity that Dowsett had to pull out of the Tour de Pologne before the ITT, or that Cummings’ performances had no impact on WT rankings as he is now a Pro-Conti rider…

    [* Important for the Olympic ITT as well, since riders must come from the RR squad.]

    • Thanks, seems Aliaksander Kuchynski’s results in the Tour of Sekerland did it Belarus and against Britain.

      • Just seen the full list of allocations – 9 berths for GB after all. And there I was bemoaning the ‘loss’ of 2 berths…

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