I was walking around Richmond late last night, soaking up the city, and was listening to the various people talk about the race and just generally enjoying the atmosphere.  There were tons of foreigners walking around, so I can’t really comment on what they were saying.  But, the Americans I can.

I was over on Carey Street having dinner, and after we went to a local homemade ice cream store.  Trudi was driving the BMC car and it was parked out front.  We were sitting on some chairs, on the sidewalk when a couple guys came walking by.   One was smoking and the other was frumpy looking.  Anyway, they both look at the car, then the guy smoking says, “I wonder if Taylor Phinney is in there getting ice cream?”  Then they proceed to go to the window beside me and peer inside looking for Taylor.  It was really surprising that they were bike race fans.

Then later in the evening, Trudi and I went outside looking for the blood moon eclipse, but it was cloudy.  Anyway, I saw two police officers walking on the street and I asked one if, by chance, he knew where the moon would be.  The guy looked at me like I was screwing with him. I told him the moon deal and he said it was probably too cloudy.  I agreed.

Right then another officer walked up and the first guy said to the new guy, “I’m tempted to go over to the finish line and rip up that UCI banner stuck on the ground and put it on eBay to sell to some Slovakian dude.” I told him I would buy it from him if he did that.  He said,, “Let’s go and get that fucker, I’m serious.”  I should have, but kept looking for the moon.

It really was too cloudy, so we went back upstairs to our room.  Looking down at the start/finish area, I noticed that the UCI Worlds banner that was stuck to the road was now gone.  The cop had taken it.  I was, once again surprised.  2nd time in one night.

Anyway, yesterday was very enjoyable.  There is something to be said about spectating a 6 1/2hr bike race.  I had a chance to meet up with a ton of old friends, etc.  Plus time to go to lots of different parts of the course to view.  Cycling is a wonderful visual sport to watch.  I think the local residents of Richmond found that out first hand.

My picks from yesterday didn’t pan out.  I was close with Stybar attacking on Libby Hill and the Van Avermaet going on 23rd.  But, Sagan went right over him at the top and then did that tuck. The cameras only showed Sagan and I said to Trudi that Van Avermaet was never going to catch him since Sagan did a couple pedal strokes.  That tuck is really screwy and dangerous, but it is faster than shit.  I’m not saying that Peter Sagan won the race because of the tuck, but that might be the case.

Anyway, I wasn’t that far off.  I did state that a solo rider would go after the 23rd street hill and solo to the finish.  But, I think Sagan would have to be classified as a favorite, not as an underdog.  And he did seemed to have pretty great legs.

The US team rode great.  Animated and in contention until the very end.  I talked to Tyler Farrar after the race.  I asked him about his last lap move.  He said that he didn’t think he had the legs to be able to get over Libby Hill in good enough position to be able to have a result, so he did the early move, hoping to be over the top before getting caught.  He thought he was good enough for 23rd street and the finish hill.  It nearly worked out.  I have to applaud his effort.

Finishing two riders in the top 20 is about as good as the US should expect doing.  They only started with 6 riders and Ben King, then Taylor both did huge breakaway efforts.  I was initially joking that maybe Ben King thought the race was a points race because he pulled across the start/finish line first for lap after lap. The field was nervous or his group would have been out there many more laps.  They were on a short leash.

My buddy Ivan Stevic was in Ben King’s moves early.  He stayed there for a few hours and finally got spit out the back on his own.  Then he proceeded to take bows and make gestures  as he was quitting race. I’ve never seen that before.   It wasn’t like he was on a 5 hour solo break. He was one of 5 guys and got dropped from them.   Dick.

The rain held off the whole day, which was mildly surprising.  They did change the forecast during the night, but walking around, every once in a while, it started spitting down rain, even when it was partially sunny.  Everyone lucked out in this regard.  The race would have been completely different with just one lap of rain.

I felt sort of weird when the race was over yesterday.  I felt the same way as watching the Cyclo-X Nationals a couple years ago.  There is so much energy and anticipation, then someone wins and everyone just disperses.   It seems sort of anticlimactic.  I don’t know why I get those feelings.

Anyway, lots of stuff to do today.  Drive bikes to the Washington D.C.  airport.  Take cars to be transported back to California, etc.  I don’t have any clean clothes left, so I need to do laundry. We’re going to start driving back home tomorrow sometime.  It might be a serpentine route, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.

Early in the race, I guess he wore one too many layers.

Peter Sagan on Libby Hill mid race.

Ivan Stevic taking his bow.

Course with UCI banner.

After Mr. Policeman last night.

Taylor Phinney looking concentrated.

CEO of USAC riding across town on a carbon Ritchey Breakaway bike.

This is me, General George Casey, Mike McCarthy and Wayne Stetina. I know Mike and Wayne, but not General Casey. He is an avid cyclist and does the Ride 2 Recovery events with Wayne.

The podium.

Modern professional cycling teams have taken themselves pretty seriously ever since Lance put together his dedicated Tour de France squads and they rode unselfishly for him year after year. This practice spread like a plague throughout the peloton and now it is common for all professional teams to be structured off this format.  But, is it healthy for the sport and does it really work in anything other than stage races?

I think I can make a fair argument that the whole practice is often a waste of time and energy, plus bad for everyone involved.   Plus, it only works out for the team that wins the event.  Each and everyone of the teams that doesn’t win a race, which is everyone but one team, loses. Thus, their plan was flawed, they didn’t execute it correctly, or they just weren’t good enough to win.   I can argue that many of the common tactics that professional teams use are actually harmful to their chances of winning and it makes the sport way more dangerous for all involved.

First let’s address the practice of riding in team formation when in the peloton.  I don’t understand it all.  I’ve posted about this before.  Trying to follow one guy’s wheel the whole race takes a ton of energy.  Why fight for position the whole race when really it is not important? Plus, with all teams trying to ride at the front of the field, there isn’t enough room on the road, so way more crashes occur.  This is a fact.  Guys fighting for position and the peloton edge to edge on the road is when people hit the concrete the most.

What happened to the tactic of putting a couple guys of lots of teams at the front, when they have the same motivation and tactics.  Why do all 9 guys have to be up there at a time?  It is ridiculous at times.

Then the practice of working for only one rider.  I could give you a million examples of when this backfires race after race.  But, let’s just use one example, the race on Sunday, the World Road Championships in RIchmond.

Here is Peter Sagan, racing with his brother and one other guy from Solvakia, so really no team at all.  They didn’t control anything, never rode in the wind.  Peter seemed to stay in pretty good position most of the race, from what I could see.

And all these other countries with 9 riders, rode in formation, working for, what I guess, seemed like a field sprint.  André Greipel was even at the front drilling it, for what.  He is pretty much a pure sprinter.  He did his big pull and then sat up.  Holland, Poland, the Belgian guys, they were all working as a team and who won, the individual, Peter Sagan.  You might say that is a fluke, but it really wasn’t.  I actually picked the exact place the solo attack was going to occur.  It wasn’t my rider, but that is irrelevant.   It could have been any number of individual guys.

Peter Sagan didn’t luck into being World Champion on Sunday.  The way these “professional riders” were treating the race was the same they treat them the whole season.  They love to sacrifice themselves, doing huge pulls at the front,  then peel off and let someone else try to win.  But on Sunday, at the end, there were just a bunch of individual riders with no one left to chase down Peter.

Okay, let’s forget the Worlds this year and address American criterium racing.  UHC has dominated this for years.  That is until guys starting figuring out the boring ass tactic of taking over the front the last 15 minutes.  Look how it worked out for them in the 4 NCC races in St. Louis over Labor Day.  They had arguably 5 of the best 6 riders in the races and Daniel Holloway won the series overall. Daniel has won 25 races this year and is, by far, the best criterium rider in the country.  And his Alto Velo team is good, but really not on the same level as UHC.  He pretty much does it alone at the end.

Or maybe a better example, Pro Criterium Nationals.  UHC doing their slow leadout and Eric Marcotte comes over the top of them and solos to the win.  One guy doing it virtually on his own,  beating a whole team.  It happens all the time.

Of course there are lots of examples of teams having incredible results working together.  There is no question that having a cohesive team of strong riders increases the chances of any one team in the race.  But it doesn’t have to be the only “tactic” to be successful in the sport. Weaker teams with smarter guys win races.  Individuals obvious win races.

Modern cycling is now thought of as a team sport.  Most of the riders have that drilled into their brains.  They are fighting each other to go back to get bottles.  All for one.

But a cycling team is really a collection of individuals.  It is really an individual sport where team work increases each teans/riders chances to win on a seasonal basis.  But, that isn’t the way the teams look at it.  They use the  – put all their eggs in one basket tactic.  That isn’t the only tactics that are “team tactics”.

I’m not saying that we should completely disregard the value of team tactics in the sport.  I’m saying that if more riders thought more about their individual aspirations, and their team managers thought the same way and allowed their riders to act on them, then the sport of be more exciting, safer and generally better.

Cycling is a very beautiful sport.  It is visually attractive.  Very dynamic when viewed in person. This riding in formation and riders not allowing the natural flow of the race isn’t good for anyone involved.

Okay, feel free to comment or let me have it on the comment section.  I’m going to be driving all day, so it will be a good way to pass the time.

I think this was either the full 1st lap or 2nd lap of the race. There were 16 laps. The whole Dutch team at the front riding. For who or what?

André taking a last drink before pulling half a lap and then quitting. Exactly how I would use a sprinter at the “flat” Worlds.

I wonder who ended up with Peter’s helmet and glasses.  Pretty happy folks I assume.