I think he’s done everything he can bar ride with the competition at new UCI gravel events to try to figure some of these other top guys out.
My frustration with the way Swenson is treated on this forum is the assumption that because he cleans up on the US scene that it’s a golden ticket to be the best in the world and that he is going to beat everyone. If he’s a 9.75 out of 10 then the competition at this level is 10 out of 10. It doesn’t mean he’s not in an elite class. Just that what he has achieved is not unachievable for monument and grand tour stage winners like Mohorič.
It’s a question of priorities. Swenson’s priorities seem to be making a lot of money at home and all power to his elbow. I genuinely believe if it was a priority for Mohorič to set a Leadville record and had people riding for him and the support, he’d do it on the second try.
#1: Where do people on this board treat Keegan like would be at the top of the world tour? I think his form is treated with curiosity, and mostly skepticism vis a vis world tour riders.
#2: I think you may have picked the wrong race to illustrate your point. The entire Leadville race takes place at an altitude higher than the highest roads in Western Europe, and then climbs higher from there. It’s a climbers race. Maybe Unbound would be a better one for Mohoric … he’s a big guy.
Although I’m still not sure what your point is. I’m super pumped for Mohoric and am really impressed by Keegan’s result.
EDIT: Also, and American crit racer would get SMOKED if he dared toe the line at a world tour race, right . . . ?
There is a sentiment on the podcast and on the forum that Swenson is the second coming. It’s not always explicitly written but I think it comes at the expense of appropriate respect for other riders. It’s not ubiquitous across the forum but people clamouring for him to go to the Road Worlds in 2022 and thinking it’s a good thing is genuinely baffling. It’s probably the worst move for young rider development US Cycling could have made - between the lines it says ‘we pick someone who has never given two hoots about road cycling the place over our giving a promising U23 a shot’.
Re point 2 - you might be right. But what I’m trying to illustrate is a general point that Swenson is elite in his field but cleaning up in the US does not mean cleaning up everywhere.
Don’t really understand your last point, Sheehan seems to have raced quite extensively in Europe as well as a host of US crit races.
I don’t blame Keegan Swenson one bit for staying in the US and cleaning up in the Lifetime series. He’s undoubtedly making far more money, and having a much more comfortable life, than if he went to Europe to be a top end of the middle pro.
I suspect had Alex Howes, Peter Stetina, etc., had the same option available to them when they were young they probably would have done the same thing.
I find it a curious hill for you to die on @swgregg with the many posts trying to prove Swenson isn’t cut out for WT competition. You are hypothesizing that he CAN’T compete just as you assert others hypothesize he CAN. I don’t see how his performance at 1 race in Europe proves your case. If anything, 5th place, well ahead of many WT contenders, does not rule it out - if it were his focus, which it clear is not. But we are lucky as fans, we have the WT, we have US Gravel and sometimes they drift into one another’s territory. Embrace it!! I mean, who would win in a fight, a Nile crocodile or Great White? T Rex, or pack of Velociraptors?
Love Mahoric! Root for Wout! Tadej! Kuss! And Swenson! And many others!
I don’t agree with that at all. I mean, he’s winning all the races that drive sponsorship and visibility over here — and I think his accomplishments are lauded appropriately in that respect.
But I don’t think I’ve heard anyone, anywhere state that he is on the same level of true “2nd Coming” riders like WvA or MvdP. Or at least least I haven’t heard that from anyone that has a moderately credible opinion and is an active observer of WT cycling.
But I don’t think it’s nothing either. Luke Lamperti, who has excelled in he U23 ranks this year (also, the 2x U.S. National crit champ) and has been inked to a deal by Quick Step for next year, decided to ride in support of Keegan. He didn’t have to. USA cycling doesn’t have the budget to operate in that manner. He must’ve done so because he thinks Keegan is a pretty good rider in comparison to himself.
So Kasia is coming to Big Sugar, will she blow Sofia out of the water or will it be close? Based on how Sofia stacked up with Carolin Shiff at Unbound, I’m thinking Kasia will be taking the win.
He said he crashed and had to chase back on for 20 minutes. That right there seems to indicate he might have otherwise been able to stick in front group. Shame we couldn’t see what might have happened.
I think there is a bit of projection in that sentence. Yes, a few on the forum have made, IMO, unrealistic projections about Keegan’s potential on the World Tour…but I would argue they are in the minority. And I certainly have never heard similar sentiment on the podcast.
Conversely, I don’t understand the reverse philosophy that euros would clean up if they came and raced US gravel. The reality is that those who have tried have largely failed. Matteo Jorgensen, Larry Warbasse, and others come to mind (I’m leaving aside the Specialized riders who have been brought over as marketing exercises and treated it as a holiday as it is not a fair comparison). The best example that can be provided is Ivan Silk, who is turning out to be more of a one-hit wonder than gravel dominator.
My point has always been that I want to see them come and see how it stacks up….the reality is that the course this weekend was a far cry from the signature US a races and, honestly a bit underwhelming for a euro road race. Only a bit over 100 miles, a fair amount of asphalt, etc.
Compare the distance alone against a true Classic or a traditional road WC course. Significantly shorter across the board. A Classic tends to be ~250km…and the longest is San Remo, which clocks in under 300km (less than the distance of Unbound). Add in the nature of road racing, the group pack dynamics, etc. and I think it is fair to say they are not comparable to the signature gravel events.
I am hoping that Kasia actually races Big Sugar and that Pidcock also decides to stay after Little Sugar to race Big Sugar, as well.
Side note to the above, and corollary to what jersey Kasia will wear, is what jersey Pidcock will wear for Little Sugar. It really isn’t an XCO race, nor is it UCI sanctioned, so I am guessing he won’t….but I would like to see him do it.
I don’t closely follow women’s cycling outside of what I read in the headlines, but Kasia seems to be a rider in rare air within the women’s peloton … i.e. the top 1% of the top 1% … and if that’s the case, I think she’ll lay it down pretty bad on the rest of the group if she’s there to win.
That said, WvA was the best rider (on paper) in the men’s race, and he had a bad ride/bad luck … which is why they call it a “race” and not a “fitness contest” … so who knows?
Yup…Payson confirmed that in his Rad Recap podcast. Also noted that the Us team was severely handicapped by their starting positions, which largely left Keegan on his own. He said most of the team was slotted ~180 out of just over 200 riders.
WAY more gravel in Bug Sugar than the course last weekend and Kasia said this weekend was her first gravel race….and the gravel in AR is pretty chunky and the descents are technical (off camber, loose gravel, etc).
I really hope she does race for the win….I think it would be awesome.
To you and @llmonty : if you look through my previous posts in this thread and others, you’ll see the hill I choose to die on is this one. From another thread about the podcast:
‘The Keegan Swenson fan worship became tiresome and respectfully to Keegan and Sophia there’s a load of interesting people out there who could do guest spots. I also miss Alex Wild who I thought brought a really interesting and thoughtful perspective as someone who works fulltime and races at an elite level whilst grinding through the training, as opposed to Swenson who clearly trains really hard but shows up and cleans up almost every time’
Good luck to Swenson, he’s clearly made a packet this year and deserves all the plaudits. I have my feelings about his place in the cycling world and you have your own.
You’re totally entitled to your own feelings, I just think you’re misrepresenting the opinions of others … and by “others” I mean the collective undercurrent of this board and the podcast.
This might just be a geographical thing … finger in the wind, I would say way more competitive cyclists in the U.S. care about the domestic gravel scene than they do about the World Tour — and none of those reasons are because they think the riders are superior to the WT riders.
I also could be wrong about that … there are just a large number of hurdles you have to jump over from here if you want to regularly follow WT cycling.
To wit … I don’t believe in anyone in the U.S. was able to legally watch the gravel world championships yesterday. You needed to find a pirated stream, or watch via a VPN that identified your location as somewhere in Western Europe.
