Listen, I enjoy having cycling on and I never watch baseball anymore. But baseball has a minimum of 55 contests per game that must be resolved to reach conclusion. Each will involve some measure of back and forth between pitcher and batter, etc. There’s a minimum guaranteed “action” at regular intervals that cycling will never provide.
Agree with everything else though. I’m not sure the breakdown but it seems to me the domestic pro privateer life is probably not at all lucrative. Best guys have all their gear covered, maybe mechanic services, but I really doubt anyone’s paying them real money to ride X brand. Only way it really makes sense to me is the folks who “work” at one of their sponsors for 20 hours a week for a base salary and benefits.
It also highlights though that in the US when we think “benefits” we’re really just talking health care. That’s really not a concern almost anywhere else in the world.
@mailman noted safety - I’d underscore that point. Were cycling to become mainstream, I would hope the average driver would be more aware of and respect seeing cyclists on the road.
That’s right. Had forgotten they were under the same umbrella. I’d guess he rolls up on a R5, but a couple of his posts on a road bike looked like an S5 so could be that too.
Edit: Looks like an S5 based on his last instagram story.
For those of us who are a little less familiar with the various World Tour races, what does this opportunity mean exactly? Like how big of a deal is this race?
It’s the World Championship, so it’s a pretty big deal. Win it and you get to wear the rainbow jersey for the following year (when riding/competing in that same discipline), and I think you get to wear rainbow bands on your jersey cuffs forever (at least that’s how MTB is). In terms of “special jerseys” (not including in-race competition jerseys: yellow, green, etc.), it’s at the top.
World Champ
Continental Champ
National Champ
I would guess for most riders, a World Champs victory is only trumped by a Grand Tour GC or major classic win in terms of prestige. It’s arguably a bigger deal than an Olympic gold.
World Champ courses have typically favored puncheurs or all-arounders, similar to spring classics. Favorites this year are WvA, Remco, and Pogacar.
There are several teams hovering around the relegation line who are not excited about sending riders, as well as the fact that’s all the way in Australia making it somewhat less appealing for riders with races still on the calendar this year (who may not want to risk covid exposure or just the added fatigue of long-distance travel).
Keegan is an endurance monster and a champion, that much is clear, but anyone who has seen WvA race this year knows it is his to lose. A WC road race will be a totally different ballgame than any other race Keegan has won this year.
The UCI world champ course looks interesting. Maybe one that suits a MTBer?? Multiple circuits including a steep 100m climb requiring going over threshold?
I’m a big Keegan fan and I think he has the engine to compete at that level, but serious question - Does he have any experience with pro road racing? I assumed that if/when he went to the WT, there would be a steep learning curve to figure out how to race in that environment. Maybe he’s done more road racing than I realize or maybe it’s not as big of a change as I’m thinking, but it definitely feels like he’s jumping into the deep end (good or bad). Excited to watch this unfold.
Powless and Craddock aren’t going. The VeloNews article says Craddock had his visa refused and Powless is going to chase UCI points for his trade team.
This seems like a really bizarre situation. You’re hosting an event that requires riders to travel from all over the world… but … you just don’t let some of them in?
No idea if this is the case or not, but the first thing that jumped to my mind was that he might not be vaccinated. This has been a big sticking point in Australia.
Great move for Keegan to participate and give him a huge stage to compete on. If he succeeds he will get a ton of accolades. If he has a rough day, its going to drive him all winter to come back even stronger. Win-win.
