Qualified Riders - UCI World Cycling Tour

[David Marshall]

I see that the riders who qualified at the Msunduzi Road Challenge are now listed on the Tour website (http://www.uciworldcyclingtour.com/).

[Zac.A]

They should have a 16-20 category I think, I mean 16 vs 25?

[David Marshall]

They should have a 16-20 category I think, I mean 16 vs 25?

Not defending the age split but the tour replaces the Masters World Championships and seems to be aimed at the older riders. The 16-29 group are the "Challenger class" and it excludes any team riders, pros, Olympic riders or anyone having scored UCI points. So really the event is aimed at recreational cyclists wanting to have a go.

[Zac.A]

oh ok, thanks for clarifying

[Lucky Luke.]

Suprised to see I made the cut - not complaining though. I see the colonel qualified twice for the road race - very impressive.

[David Marshall]

I was also pleasantly supprised to see my name on the list. But what really shocked me was to see the number of Aussies who made it - 69 in my age group - and they still have anothere qualifying race to go. We fielded a TOTAL of 15 riders. I think part of the reason for our low numbers is that the event was not advertised on the normal online entry pages. Not everyone wathces Supercycling or goes onto the CSA webpage. I have spoken to a number of guys who were not aware of the event or its significance.

[jatho]

Anyone know how the qualifying was calculated? I've looked at the number of entrants vs the number qualified etc... and cant work out how they got to the riders in each age group.

[Bike Mob]

Could be a finish time within a percentage of the winners time? That would give an erratic number of people.

[Spinnekop]

Personally I am VERY VERY disappointed not to have been able to ride the race as I would have loved to have a chance at qualifying. C'est la vie?

 

It would be great if there is another race? CSA? Please? Oooooo...who are we kidding right?

 

Bad luck!

Sad thing is guys like Fullard and Graeme Cronje (Those that I know personally) as well as a LOT of other 'masters' that are CONSISTANTLY good riders are not on the list.....thus SA AGAIN not fielding the best riders to try and get a world title?

Just saying....

 

Congrats to the guys who qualified. They were THERE and that is what counted!

 

Good luck to all!!

[jatho]

Could be a finish time within a percentage of the winners time? That would give an erratic number of people.

 

Nah, I dont think so I looked at that as well and it didnt look like it was the case, it's also hard to work it out because if you've moved up an age group for the final but raced in the lower cat for the qualy then you dont know what the number of entrants are, 35-39 for example, had 21 entrants in the qualy and 31 have qualified for the final.

 

I also wonder if they'll make us ride for key riders (i.e. top 5 per cat) or if its a free for all?

[jatho]

Personally I am VERY VERY disappointed not to have been able to ride the race as I would have loved to have a chance at qualifying. C'est la vie?

 

It would be great if there is another race? CSA? Please? Oooooo...who are we kidding right?

 

Bad luck!

Sad thing is guys like Fullard and Graeme Cronje (Those that I know personally) as well as a LOT of other 'masters' that are CONSISTANTLY good riders are not on the list.....thus SA AGAIN not fielding the best riders to try and get a world title?

Just saying....

 

Congrats to the guys who qualified. They were THERE and that is what counted!

 

Good luck to all!!

 

Maybe try contact CSA and see if you can get a wildcard, with your results I'm pretty sure they'd consider it.

 

With all due respect to guys like Cronje and Fullard, it was their call not to race, they said the race was poorly organised so withdrew at the last minute, but I do agree with you, they're the type of riders that should definitely be there to give us good exposure but thats why there was a qualifier.

[Spinnekop]

Maybe try contact CSA and see if you can get a wildcard, with your results I'm pretty sure they'd consider it.

Nah......not with my results.

And

They don't read mails....or that is what my experience is.

With all due respect to guys like Cronje and Fullard, it was their call not to race, they said the race was poorly organised so withdrew at the last minute, but I do agree with you, they're the type of riders that should definitely be there to give us good exposure but thats why there was a qualifier.

Much agreed. They wasted a perfect opportunity.

[David Marshall]

The guidelines for qualification and the format of the tour were published beforehand. The problem as I see it is that it was too little too late and not in the right media spots. An event of this magnitude should be on the calander months in advance. This past weekend I rode the Druiwefees (what?) at Madimole (where?) and we had a similar sized field. If a small country event can get those numbers the World qualifyier should be able to do much better!

 

Just a few comments on the preceeding posts;

 

The race itself was well organised with good support from traffic police and I felt safe all the way around.

 

There is little chance of another race in South Africa as the 2012 qualifying events have already been sanctioned by UCI.

 

UCI and not CSA determine the qualifiers. Supposedly the top 25% in each age catagory and up to 50% if necessary should qualify. Me thinks the strange results are due to the fact that because of the low numbers multiple catagories were started in the same bunches which led to big splits within each catagory. I think that in the older cats a number of riders, including myself, have been given the benefit of the doubt. Possibly to ensure enough riders for the big day? I'll take my "wildcard" anyway.