UCI Road World Champs 2016 (12-16 October)

[Gen]

Peloton is having none of it.

 

Racing is going to be hot.. with the wind and threat of splits they will fight not to let anything go

['Dale]

Morning Gen.

Wassup 'Dale!

Hey hey ????

[Gen]

We have Dougall in the front group.. looks like they may just let them go.. Erviti is also in that group.. so there is a pair of really thong legs there.[emoji106]

[Cippo]

Dougall (SA) and Berhanne (ERA) in the move.

[Gen]

They have 22sec and the peloton is happy to let them go.[emoji106]

[Cippo]

We have Dougall in the front group.. looks like they may just let them go.. Erviti is also in that group.. so there is a pair of really thong legs there.[emoji106]

'Thong' ?

['Dale]

Big day, Gen ????

 

In the desert

And the next WC is in Norway ????????

['Dale]

This is the boldest breakaway I've seen

Gonna be helluva (pun intended) tough ????????????

['Dale]

244km remaining from 257.5km

 

The peloton have sat up and allowed the leaders to move clear. They have 3:14 already with 244km to go.

 

Ramirez (Col), Dougall (South Africa), Berhane (Eri), Roth (Can), Ait El Abdia (Morocco), Lagkuti (Ukraine) and Corella (Mex) are the leaders.

['Dale]

The wind has certainly picked up since yesterday's women's road race. That really could be a feature when the race moves into the desert for the first 150km or so.

['Dale]

Belgium ????????

 

If the conditions hold then expect the Belgians to really take a grip of the race and start to try and break things up with echelons. They'll really want to make a tough race and put the pure sprinters under pressure for as long as possible. In Tom Boonen and Greg Van Avermaet they have two potential winners. They've one of the strongest teams in the race, for sure.

 

38 Tom Boonen (Belgium)

39 Jens Debusschere (Belgium)

40 Iljo Keisse (Belgium)

41 Jens Keukeleire (Belgium)

42 Nikolas Maes (Belgium)

43 Oliver Naesen (Belgium)

44 Jurgen Roelandts (Belgium)

45 Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)

46 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)

['Dale]

The gap is out to 5:40 and no panic at all from the bunch as we continue to head out of Doha and into the desert. A number of riders, including Greg Van Avermaet have gone back to the cars for assistance but the pattern for the early stages has made been made.

[Cippo]

Live coverage on SS says gap is 11min 24sec.

['Dale]

Uran Uran DNS

[Cippo]

Leaders at 209km with 9:33 gap.

Stats: Its been 50years since a German rider has won WC.

['Dale]

????????

 

And there's a crash. Haga is down for the USA. There's a rider from Canada involved too but he's on his bike relatively quickly. Haga takes a little longer to get going but there's no major problem for the American who is now chasing back on.