2022 PRO Thread

[Wookski]

As an Australian who regularly rides down to the Wollongong area I’m embarrassed by such a poor quality event. There are so many beautiful locations just to the north and south of town, it’s like the organisers chose the worst roads and the ugliest areas. The village was dismal with only trek and canyon bothering to bring small exhibits. Apart from Sunday the crowds have been tiny and almost no promotion of the event in mainstream media. This could have been an epic show, the only upside being the ultimate confirmation that Remco is the real deal.

[Karvalo]

It is fair to use the word finally,

Only in your strange and confused world. He could have done it next year or the year after that and it still would have been an early career achievement.

many, including Lefevere have said Remco was slowly building towards being a GT contender.

4th youngest Vuelta winner ever. I don't care what Pat says, that development is not slow. It's meteoric.

[TobinHatesYou]

When's the last time someone won a monument, grand tour and world championship in the same season? I love that we're talking about a 22 year-old finally living up to the hype.

That's a better palmares in a single season than careers of some fan favorites...and this is literally only the beginning.

[Wookski]

When's the last time someone won a monument, grand tour and world championship in the same season? I love that we're talking about a 22 year-old finally living up to the hype.

That's a better palmares in a single season than careers of some fan favorites...and this is literally only the beginning.

I agree that it's an epic season, I was a doubter but now I believe. But I personally hate Vuelta winners being labelled "GT winner", it's like corvette owners saying they own a supercar: technically they're right but it's not really the GT anyone cares about.

[Andrew69]

As an Australian who regularly rides down to the Wollongong area I’m embarrassed by such a poor quality event. There are so many beautiful locations just to the north and south of town, it’s like the organisers chose the worst roads and the ugliest areas. The village was dismal with only trek and canyon bothering to bring small exhibits. Apart from Sunday the crowds have been tiny and almost no promotion of the event in mainstream media. This could have been an epic show, the only upside being the ultimate confirmation that Remco is the real deal.

I live just south of Wollongong and totally agree
All they have managed to do is to make the general public hate cyclists even more
To watch Remco lead the last couple of laps and cross the line (I was at the 75m marker) was fantastic

Edit: On the plus side, I did manage to buy a couple of tyres at the Schwalbe stand!

[itsacarr]

My favorite organizing snafu: The marketing or pack there of in branding the event during the runup locally. In the live helicopter shots people had #UCI on lawns and fields. Icing on the cake after all the reports coming from them moderating interviews with riders etc.

I'm curious who all fronted the bill for Wollongong to be a "UCI bike city" plus the UCI event fees to qualify. The bill to the UCI alone is CHF 8,000,000 for worlds.

At any rate I did enjoy the racing and hope Australia sees a benefit from it. Some of those roads are gray provided the magpies don't kill you.

[Andrew69]

There was advertising banners all over the course for the Australian Government, so Im betting the Feds put up the cash.
Wollongong is a safe seat for the current federal government, so Im betting someone convinced the local member of parliament that the event would be worthy of the cash splash
Of course, Im just guessing here, but I couldnt figure out why there were so many Australian Government banners and this makes sense to me

[Benbo]

After Flander's last year Wollongong looked like a local crit. Just wait for Rwanda in 2025.

[Stendhal]

I said this season he delivered on the hype - why is that odd. You've highlighted exactly the reasons why it is fair to say that he has delivered this season. It is fair to use the word finally, as many, including Lefevere have said Remco was slowly building towards being a GT contender. Many doubted that, including myself. But this season, not this month (as you said), it is fair to say that Remco finally delivered on that promise, or should I say... hype.

maquisard I'm one of your biggest fans, but you are being disingenuous here. You did not just "say ... hype." You wrote "over-hyped". I rechecked this board to confirm. And you wrote that word even after Remco won the Vuelta. You were saying more than that Remco had been talked about very favorably. You were saying that the favorable portrayal was unjustified in 2018 when he was 18 and won the junior worlds (both races), when he was 19 and joined a World Tour team, and even in August 2022 after he won the Vuelta. You have been proven wrong. And as others have noted, "finally" is an unjust word to use given his age and the relatively short time period in which he's been a professional, especially given the disruption of the Lombardia crash. The word that fits better is "rapidly".

There's nothing at all bad with being proven wrong in sports, I've been wrong many times. But one of the treasures of sport is seeing whether the next generation, the new potential phenoms, will pan out. Consider golf, it's a good example. Time and again, the potential Next Nicklaus emerged -- Watson, Weiskopf (yes he was regarded highly), Miller, Hal Sutton, maybe Norman. Many had great careers that provided fans enjoyment, but none quite came close. Then a phenom who had swung a golf club on a noted TV show at age 2 and won the US Amateur three times in a row came along. How high could he climb? Tiger Woods arguably reached the summit, and certainly provided golf fans old and new great entertainment. Remco probably won't come as close to Merckx and Woods came up to Nicklaus, including because there are competing phenoms such as Pogacar and yes Bernal, but for goodness sake why disparage and understate what he's already done? Enjoy.

[PeytonM]

MVP goes earlie guilty pleas on Monday before Magistrate Hugh Donnelly in Sutherland Local Court.

He was ordered to pay $1500(australian = $980usd) in fines.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/cycling/s ... 3703cfe90a

[Aeo]

Time for Remco to round out the palmarès. Il Lombardia will be crossed off in a couple of weeks, only three monuments to go

https://sporza.be/nl/2022/09/26/dagboek ... 147628503/

For the first time he was part of the Belgian World Cup selection with the pros, he was immediately allowed to celebrate a world title with his country. In his last diary, Stan Dewulf gives us a unique insight into his road race and the festivities afterwards.

Gosh, what a day. Where do I begin? Perhaps in one word: surreal.

The stress didn't help me sleep well the night before the game, but confidence grew during the World Cup. The coach's plan worked perfectly. It is not easy to implement something from the discussion into reality. Still, we got it.

How Pieter fulfilled his role during the race was mighty. Quinten was also top notch and the way in which Remco finished it... that was unique to experience.

I only regret one thing: that I did not step down to see Remco's legendary achievement with my own eyes.

How did I digest the night? To be fair, I was awake this morning, but not fresh. After a nice dinner with the team, we went to a nearby bar together with the French.

Remco stuck to cola, the rest did their best to put the tent without alcohol. The gin and tonics and beer flowed freely. And the mouth of joke teller Pieter did not stand still, which created a wonderful atmosphere.

Unfortunately, by Belgian standards, the bar closed fairly early. So in itself we were in our bed on time. No drama, because that gave us the chance to do a city trip to Sydney today before jumping on the plane again.

The group feels that it has delivered a unique performance. And that creates a close bond. I don't think we will soon forget the weeks in Wollongong. We are just not going to put a rainbow tattoo, but I will certainly continue to cherish the memories.

We have already made a pact with the team: next year we will go with the same riders, we will take the world title again and I will provide enough beer " Etappe " to celebrate well! Or we can already dream of it.

But first I'm going to take a few days off in Belgium and enjoy some quality time with my girlfriend, Kayla. I'm really looking forward to that.

Until the next!

Stan

[maquisard]

It would be good to see him win Lombardia after the bad crash 2020.

He definitely has the form at the moment.

It is probably one of my favourite races of the season, around Como is a beautiful location to cycle.

[Ritsuke]

Time for Remco to round out the palmarès. Il Lombardia will be crossed off in a couple of weeks, only three monuments to go

https://sporza.be/nl/2022/09/26/dagboek ... 147628503/

For the first time he was part of the Belgian World Cup selection with the pros, he was immediately allowed to celebrate a world title with his country. In his last diary, Stan Dewulf gives us a unique insight into his road race and the festivities afterwards.

Gosh, what a day. Where do I begin? Perhaps in one word: surreal.

The stress didn't help me sleep well the night before the game, but confidence grew during the World Cup. The coach's plan worked perfectly. It is not easy to implement something from the discussion into reality. Still, we got it.

How Pieter fulfilled his role during the race was mighty. Quinten was also top notch and the way in which Remco finished it... that was unique to experience.

I only regret one thing: that I did not step down to see Remco's legendary achievement with my own eyes.

How did I digest the night? To be fair, I was awake this morning, but not fresh. After a nice dinner with the team, we went to a nearby bar together with the French.

Remco stuck to cola, the rest did their best to put the tent without alcohol. The gin and tonics and beer flowed freely. And the mouth of joke teller Pieter did not stand still, which created a wonderful atmosphere.

Unfortunately, by Belgian standards, the bar closed fairly early. So in itself we were in our bed on time. No drama, because that gave us the chance to do a city trip to Sydney today before jumping on the plane again.

The group feels that it has delivered a unique performance. And that creates a close bond. I don't think we will soon forget the weeks in Wollongong. We are just not going to put a rainbow tattoo, but I will certainly continue to cherish the memories.

We have already made a pact with the team: next year we will go with the same riders, we will take the world title again and I will provide enough beer " Etappe " to celebrate well! Or we can already dream of it.

But first I'm going to take a few days off in Belgium and enjoy some quality time with my girlfriend, Kayla. I'm really looking forward to that.

Until the next!

Stan

Remco doesn't drink alchol so hence the Cola. He won't ride Il Lombardia.

[tymon_tm]

As an Australian who regularly rides down to the Wollongong area I’m embarrassed by such a poor quality event. There are so many beautiful locations just to the north and south of town, it’s like the organisers chose the worst roads and the ugliest areas. The village was dismal with only trek and canyon bothering to bring small exhibits. Apart from Sunday the crowds have been tiny and almost no promotion of the event in mainstream media. This could have been an epic show, the only upside being the ultimate confirmation that Remco is the real deal.

judging by the contrast between helicopter shots of local area and the route itself, I must say this was bothering me a bit while watching the race live. I've never been to Austraila even, but I was wondering how that picturesque place can be so ugly... I guess people who design the route often aren't locals, and their knowledge of certain roads and places is non-existent. I've seen it with Tour de Pologne many times - they either don't bother or for some reason (probably convenience) don't want to take the race to a place that's a lot more presentable and/or challenging race wise.

[Lelandjt]

Said it before, MvDP will stop racing bikes before he is thirty and go car racing. Dude is burned out.
Totally off Topic, Fem Van Empel is the biggest upcoming talent in women's bike racing that nobodies heard of. She'll be on the road more after signing with JV, watch out.

Has there ever been a pro road cyclist who successfully transitioned into car racing? Seems like a pretty big jump imo. Or do you mean amateur racing for funsies?

Nico Vouilloz, Brendan Semanuk.

Edit: Just realized you said "road cyclist". I guess MTB to racing cars on dirt isn't as big a jump.