Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Which 1 or 2 Australian cyclists, do you currently think has or have the best chance to win this
year's 2010 UCI Road championship in Geelong (at the end of September) and please say why,
for each cyclist named.

heinrich haussler, word has it cavendish has offered to refill his water bottle for him for free.

KL70 wrote:Which 1 or 2 Australian cyclists, do you currently think has or have the best chance to win this
year's 2010 UCI Road championship in Geelong (at the end of September) and please say why,
for each cyclist named.

Give us your short list.

jules21 wrote:heinrich haussler, word has it cavendish has offered to polish his dial for him for free.

Fixed that for you.

Its such a flat course its gotta be one of the sprinters - not like Cadel can crack a break on the climb like last year since their is hardly any - the one street in Geelong is only about a 60m rise at best.

brit_in_oz wrote:Its such a flat course its gotta be one of the sprinters - not like Cadel can crack a break on the climb like last year since their is hardly any - the one street in Geelong is only about a 60m rise at best.

Going off google earth the climb is about 120m. Not real big still but they need to climb it a few times!! Too small for the climbers but big enough to crack pure sprinters[ maybe not the first dozen passes but eventually] Well thats my take on it anyway, however misguided it may be

I think it will suit a GC type rider, someone who is no slouch on the climbs but who can also TT well and keep the small gains they make on the hill. Rogers maybe? He fits that bill anyway.

I'd love to see Cadel go back to back though and would not write him off.

Cancellara

The smaller Australian names like Meyer or Porte could have a crack??

Much easier for the smaller names to come out, as the big names will be watching each other

HH is becoming a full blown skippy again!.

toolonglegs wrote:HH is becoming a full blown skippy again!.

let the record show i tipped him before he announced his (latest) intention to ride for australia

I reckon if its a bunch sprint. Haussler leading out Renshaw.

Would be quite interesting to see Mark not playing second fiddle to the missile.

brit_in_oz wrote:Its such a flat course its gotta be one of the sprinters - not like Cadel can crack a break on the climb like last year since their is hardly any - the one street in Geelong is only about a 60m rise at best.

Its not a flat course at all, at least it isn't once you get to geelong and then they have to do that loop 17 times, there are 3 climbs over the course and, there's parts in the course that reach 17% gradient.

The finish is up hill, but the course, assuming that the wind plays nicely at the right times has the potential to be incredibly fast... This will be a race for people like Cadel, Mick Rogers and Richie Porte I'd be very surprised if a sprinter won the course.

But Cadel has the honours at the moment, so the team will ride for him until the last possible moment and then its a free for all.

The loop section is pretty cool, its a nice course, but it isn't flat.

Missy24 wrote: But Cadel has the honours at the moment, so the team will ride for him until the last possible moment and then its a free for all.

my understanding is that the race favours those who have conditioned themselves for later in the season. cadel won last year after he rode the Vuelta, but i assume he's not doing that this year. it will be tough for him to carry his current form through until then.

jules21 wrote:

Missy24 wrote: But Cadel has the honours at the moment, so the team will ride for him until the last possible moment and then its a free for all.

my understanding is that the race favours those who have conditioned themselves for later in the season. cadel won last year after he rode the Vuelta, but i assume he's not doing that this year. it will be tough for him to carry his current form through until then.

You could be lots more correct than me, I just assumed that because he's already got it he would try to keep it...

i'm sure he'll be there and for all i know he might be in top form, but his preparation is likely to be different this year so it will be interesting to see how he goes.