Monday, September 30, 2019

Elite Mens Road Race, UCI World Championships, Yorkshire 2019

And here they come !! 


Nairo Quintana (left) and Primaz Roglic (right) 


Nairo Quintana and Primaz Roglic group 



Geraint Thomas 







The defending champion, Alejandro Valverde 






Rain, rain, rain and more rain !! 








These two formed the first breakaway but after 5 laps around Harrogate, were soon back in the Peleton, Lawson Craddock USA and Stefan Kueng of Switzerland


Peter Sagan and his brother Juraj 



Julian Alaphilippe (left) and Peter Sagan (right) 




Julian Alaphilippe 




The second breakaway - Gianni Moscon (left) and the 2019 winner Mads Pedersen (right) 

Alejandro Valverde 

Peter Sagan 


Alaphilippe and Sagan battling it through the torrential rain 




Ben Swift

Julian Alaphilippe 






Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium, the current Olympic Champion 


What a day !  Never in our lives have we seen rain like it, it was biblical !! We were absolutely soaked, not only to the skin but to the bones. The weather ruined the race, the poor riders looked in total agony. Typical unreliable British weather, which had been variable all week. Todays race route was slightly altered to miss a river that had burst and the horrendous weather over the tops. Roads were being pumped clear before the race started. The peleton diminished each time they came round Harrogate due to the weather conditions with riders soaked through and absolutely exhausted. The race had a delayed start due to the weather but lucky for us, a further 2 laps of Harrogate were added so we saw them 9 times. Viewing wasn't that easy due to umbrellas ! I think around 150 riders started the race, with less than 50 finishing it. The race was won by Mads Pedersen of Denmark. A brilliant day, such a pity about the never ending stair rod rain. Looking forward to the Tour de Yorkshire already !!