Countries in 2009 World Road Championships

[steve]

France and the Netherlands out of the top 10 and have only qualified 6 riders

First 10 qualified nations

1 Spain (9)
2 Italy (9)
3 Australia (9)
4 Germany (9)
5 Russia (9)
6 Luxembourg (9)
7 Belgium (9)
8 Great Britain (9)
9 Norway (9)
10 United States of America (9)

First 10 Qualified nations by the UCI Europe Tour

1 France (6)
2 The Netherlands (6)
3 Slovenia (6)
4 Poland (6)
5 Ukraina (6)
6 Denmark (6)
7 Portugal (3)
8 Estonia (3)
9 Austria (3)
10 Switzerland (6)

 

[classic1]

LOL at France and Netherlands.




Gee, I hope one of their riders doesn't win now.

 

[micron]

LOL at France and Netherlands.




Gee, I hope one of their riders doesn't win now.

I agree with Ballan - it's a ridiculous situation where Norway get 9 places because they have 2 decent riders and yet can't field the full team because, um, they only have 2 decent riders (I'm exaggerating for effect but the fact is they aren't sending 9 riders).

So you could have a Balinese rider, say, who was the best sprinter in the world and thus earned full team entry that couldn't be taken up because there were no other decent Balinese riders.

I hope Dimitri Champion rides as aggressively as he did in the French nationals and wipes the floor with the lot of them

 

[limerickman]

I would have thought that the likes of Sweden would have been selected ahead of Norway (no disrespect intended to our Norwegian members), for example, given their relative strengths.

 

[micron]

Norway have Hushovd and Boasson Hagen

 

[limerickman]

Norway have Hushovd and Boasson Hagen

Yeah - and they've both ridden well.

I just assumed that Sweden had more professional (larsson, Ljungqvist) riders than Norway and that cumulatively they (the Swedes) were more successful generally than their Norwegian counterparts.

brain storm on my part.

 

[nellydwayne]

History

The first professional world championship took place in july 1927 at the Nürburgring in Germany and was won by Alfredo Binda, of Italy. Since 1995, the race has been held towards the end of the European season in the fall, usually following the Vuelta a España. Before that, the event had always been a summer race, held in late August or the first week of September (with the exception of 1970, when it was a mid-season summer event).
The world championships are located in a different city or region every year. The event can be held over a relatively flat course which favors cycling sprinters or a hilly course which favors a climbing specialist or all-round. In each case the course is usually held on a circuit of which the riders complete multiple laps.
The elite men's race is usually won by riders on the UCI ProTour. In the past there were separate events for amateurs and professionals.
The world championship and two of the three Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España) form the Triple Crown of Cycling.

 

[slovakguy]

to further the points made above, the manner in which the usa filled their slots for last year's race argues against the uci's awarding slots based on the performance of the elite riders and then having the slots taken by riders from u.s. continental riders.