Keegan did about what I expected for this race….but I don’t see any reason to draw conclusions either way about his ability to race successfully in the WT.
This is a single race and it is unique in its format and strategy. As noted earlier, a circuit w/ repetitive climbs does not exactly match how he has trained this year.
He threw himself into the deep end of the pool and found out he can swim. If and how he gets a chance to progress from here is TBD. This could be the limit of his abilities in the road or he could just be scratching the surface. Either way, you aren’t gonna make that determination based on one race.
Yeah and also look who he finished close to. Nairo Quintana only a few seconds ahead, Joao Almeida 1 minute ahead. I think this shows he has what it takes to compete at this level. With training regimen from a proper team and more experience, there is no doubt he could get out there and mix it up.
Don’t read too much into who he finished near or in front of. It is essentially a meaningless statistic…the course may not have suited a rider (Quintana) or they may have been doing other / more work earlier due to team strategies.
Not every rider there was racing for their best possible result, so comparing placings outside of the very top of the results page doesn’t reveal much about ability.
Right, but then everyone cannot read into his lack of ability either. He would have done much worse if he couldn’t hang at this level. I mean Julian Alaphilippe was 3 minutes ahead of him, are we going to debate about his ability too?
Well, you kinda just proved my point. But time splits in a one-day race is another largely meaningless statistic outside of the top of the results page.
Indeed, although lots of riders abandon Worlds once they’ve been dropped or done their job for the day - easy to do on a laps course as you go past the finish area once per lap… I was at the 2019 Worlds in Harrogate and saw many, many riders abandon (partly the weather was awful, but still).
If you’re there to pull for rider X and make sure they end up in the front group for example, once you’ve done that and you’re 15 minutes back there’s often little point in rolling to the finish (another reason why a rider’s actual finish times and position is pretty meaningless outside the top ten or so). There will have been some riders whose job was just to get their team leader onto the finish circuit safely I am sure. It’s not like a Grand Tour where there’s a certain credibility just from finishing and riders will put themselves through hell just to make it to the finish.
So obviously it’s not a surprise that he was able to finish - but depending on what USA’s game plan was, there was no particular reason why he should have ridden to the end, unless he wanted to.
Just checked PCS, out of the 169 starters only 105 actually finished, the final finishers were about 15 minutes down on the race lead.
I think we can close this thread now, Keegan said specifically on Payson’s podcast that he won’t go race on the road full time. The security of his current gig is nice, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to uproot his life to go live in Europe, and honestly, good for him.
Yeah, I think I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see what he would look like on a WT team, but also agree with what he was saying on Payson’s podcast about trying to build a unique racing style and format within the US.
Aside from what I want, it totally makes sense for him to stay domestic and squeeze the most wins and sponsorships out of his peak.
So…his world championships performance wasn’t the head-turning impression that everyone hoped would lead to WT teams knocking on his door.
I know i wouldnt uproot my life to go live and race in Europe if no one offered me a contract to do so either.
I am disappointed he’s not racing on the weekend at the Gravel World Championships, to be honest. His discipline, not conflicting with a Lifetime series event, etc. I think one would find that winning (should that happen) and rainbow stripes = significant sponsorship $$. The incentive should be there, you’d think.
No, he said he had opportunities in the WT, and it sounded like he had conversations with multiple teams. Didn’t sound like they were quite as lucrative as his current situation though.
Agree. Would have really liked to see him participate. I do wonder if there is some behind the scenes politics related to this given the sentiment that some felt the UCI should stay out of gravel.
Regardless, Sofia is there. Specialized has a strong presence overseas, so this may have factored in her decision to go. In addition, with her being Unbound Champion, in many eyes she is already the Gravel World Champ. It will be interested how she does against the likes of PFP.
