2022 UCI World Championship Road Race in Wollongong

[familyguy]

All my stuff is here if anyone wants to check it out: https://imgur.com/a/dLbuVfH
I hit about a ten spots looking at them all now, finishing at Fairy Meadow train station just in time to see Evenepoel go over the bridge on his last lap then get on the train home.


1st spot: Squires Way and Elliot Road corner.



2nd spot: Elliots Road bridge, Fairy Meadow. Popular spot on the opposite side of the road as you could watch them come from the Italian Corner under the bridge then turn around to see them come over it.








3rd spot: Italian corner, Frat Club. The venue was really embracing it, was a good spot to hang out for a break. The stretch from there to Cabbage Tree Lane was nicely full.





4th spot: Dumfries Avenue/Ousley Road chicane.





5th spot: Ramah St just as it kicked off. Nearly got a handlebar in the face here shortly after this second photo.



The Move. I didn't even try to get closer to the finish, crowds were pretty healthy.



Glad I took this as my transport for the day. The tractor tyres came in handy in a couple of spots to get to vantage points.

[ForkinGreat]

Some awesome photos there. lucky there wasn't an omi/opi pile-up, though one rider did tangle with a flag, and crashed, but managed to get up and keep going.

I saw that there was only going to be a sheety free coverage from 2 or 3pm on sunday, so I signed up for a free stan/stan sport trial.
watched the whole womens' race saturday to avoid the footy grand final, and spent the day in front of the TV with the whole mens' race UNINTERRUPTED, apart from a couple of pesky time-outs from the set-top box.

[vosadrian]

Has anyone found a good stream of the race to watch now? Would like to watch it on TV after being there live. Of course you gain much live, but you lose a lot in terms of seeing what was happening with the racing itself.

[familyguy]

Stan has the full broadcast replay. That's the only place I've seen it, post-event. Maybe GCN or CT would have it if they were broadcasting it off shore.

[warthog1]

Glad I took this as my transport for the day. The tractor tyres came in handy in a couple of spots to get to vantage points.

Great photos thanks
I like the Merlin, looks like a great bike

[MichaelB]

At least you (and others that were able to attend) had a good time.

Will be interesting to hear the REAL story behind the MvdP incident. Can't just see it as a simple push-me-pull-you-ouch incident. There has to be more to it. I'll standby to standby

Update : In a CT article, it seems he's copped a fine after getting the case expedited :

Mathieu van der Poel is on his way home to the Netherlands from Australia after receiving fines totalling AU$1,500 related to his confrontation with two teenage girls in his hotel Saturday night, according to NOS.

Van der Poel reportedly pushed one of the girls against a wall and another to the floor, injuring her arm, after the two teenagers repeatedly knocked on his door, preventing him from sleeping. The Dutchman spent much of the night in custody, returning to his hotel at 4 am, roughly six hours before he was set to begin the elite men’s world championship road race.

Van der Poel’s court appearance was originally set for Tuesday September 27, and local authorities confiscated his passport. The date was changed at the request of his lawyer because his flight back to Europe was scheduled for late Monday. Van der Poel has denied pushing the children and his lawyer indicated that he would appeal the court’s decision to hand down a AU$1,000 fine for pushing one girl and $500 for pushing the other.

According to NOS, Van der Poel declined to comment.

[Mr Purple]

We'll probably never know the full truth.

However I imagine the sort of 13-14 year olds that are happy to repeatedly knock on someone's door throughout the night are the sort of 13-14 year olds that would also fall over while running away and make up a story about how it happened.

Pretty stupid behaviour, and you have to wonder where their parents were. Either way along with the locals whining about their precious roads being closed for a cycling event it's not a good look for Australia, albeit an accurate one.

[familyguy]

Someone commented that there were a couple of Belgian tiktok 'stars' (term used very loosely) who had some animosity toward MvdP's worlds tilt for whatever juvenile reason, and that they wouldn't put it past them to organise a fangirl or two to keep him awake. While I would usually put about as much stock in that claim as it should deserve, given the levels of teen girl fandom I watch my two daughters get to, it honestly wouldn't be THAT big a stretch to see someone doing that at a cute Belgian guys behest. If that was the case, there will/would be a record of it. The internet never forgets.

I was chatting to a guy next to me very soon after I arrived who had volunteered the day before and said the crowds were generally really good. One of their women got a mouthful that morning from a local who asked "how would you like it if the race went past your house?" to which she was said to reply "Plenty, I wish it did" which seemed to do the trick. I passed 30+ marshalls and staffers at crossing points and the like, tried to thank them all where I could.

Glad I took the bike and didn't rely on walking or running between points. A little (albeit dated) local knowledge meant I had some really quiet shortcuts between points and wasn't fighting narrow areas with bikes both ways for any more than a couple of minutes all day.

[Thoglette]

And commentary was rubbish.

It was a bit off "world's best" but better than the silences that some of the races I've watched this year have had (one women's race in particular comes to mind).

Well done channel 9. Not

Well done channel 9 for being brave enough to put it on live, at all. Hopefully it rated OK. (We could have quite possibly been stuck with a pay-for with ads or just a "highlights package" at 10 pm at night, as used to be the case)

As to the ads, at least they were short and, for the final hour or so that I watched, usually not at critical times. I'm a little surprised that we got some in the last 5km. Plenty of time for adverts while we wait for the post-finish speaches & presentations.

I do think that the pace was faster than expected but you get that from time to time. Comes with the territory.

[biker jk]

We'll probably never know the full truth.

However I imagine the sort of 13-14 year olds that are happy to repeatedly knock on someone's door throughout the night are the sort of 13-14 year olds that would also fall over while running away and make up a story about how it happened.

Pretty stupid behaviour, and you have to wonder where their parents were. Either way along with the locals whining about their precious roads being closed for a cycling event it's not a good look for Australia, albeit an accurate one.

Apparently, MVdP had a cold and moved to another floor of the hotel with his girlfriend (his team mates were on the level exclusively booked for the Dutch). Not condoning the teenagers but not a great decision by MVdP to move floors and also not a great choice of hotel.

[g-boaf]

At least you (and others that were able to attend) had a good time.

Will be interesting to hear the REAL story behind the MvdP incident. Can't just see it as a simple push-me-pull-you-ouch incident. There has to be more to it. I'll standby to standby

Update : In a CT article, it seems he's copped a fine after getting the case expedited :

Mathieu van der Poel is on his way home to the Netherlands from Australia after receiving fines totalling AU$1,500 related to his confrontation with two teenage girls in his hotel Saturday night, according to NOS.

Van der Poel reportedly pushed one of the girls against a wall and another to the floor, injuring her arm, after the two teenagers repeatedly knocked on his door, preventing him from sleeping. The Dutchman spent much of the night in custody, returning to his hotel at 4 am, roughly six hours before he was set to begin the elite men’s world championship road race.

Van der Poel’s court appearance was originally set for Tuesday September 27, and local authorities confiscated his passport. The date was changed at the request of his lawyer because his flight back to Europe was scheduled for late Monday. Van der Poel has denied pushing the children and his lawyer indicated that he would appeal the court’s decision to hand down a AU$1,000 fine for pushing one girl and $500 for pushing the other.

According to NOS, Van der Poel declined to comment.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/cycling/s ... 3703cfe90a

He pleaded guilty.

Just disappointing behaviour for the kids, but it's par for the course these days for many I suppose.

[elantra]

^^^ possibly he was told to or advised to plead guilty and pay fine so that he could get on the plane and get his life back on schedule.
I can understand that, and if he was out of order that night then presumably he can understand it as well.

But according to the news article linked to above he is barred from returning to Australia for 3 years.
If this is true it is outrageous, a very un-Australian overreaction.
Have we lost our minds down under ?

[ironhanglider]

^^^ possibly he was told to or advised to plead guilty and pay fine so that he could get on the plane and get his life back on schedule.
I can understand that, and if he was out of order that night then presumably he can understand it as well.

But according to the news article linked to above he is barred from returning to Australia for 3 years.
If this is true it is outrageous, a very un-Australian overreaction.
Have we lost our minds down under ?

I sincerely doubt that the article is accurate on this point. Typically the 3 year period refers to people who have either had their visas cancelled, or who have overstayed by a long time. Neither of those scenarios appear to apply in this case. Whilst that may apply to a certain tennis player whose visa was cancelled, even then there is an opportunity to waive that requirement in compelling circumstances.

Whilst Australia does cancel visas for people who have been convicted of serious criminal offences, that usually requires a sentence of significant jail time.

Sadly I suspect that regardless of the ability to get a visa and come to Australia he would no longer have the desire.

Cheers,

Cameron

[stevenaaus]

Pretty sad outcome - MVP being victimised and missing the race - and another blight on Australia's over-zealous law enforcement, government and laws.

Funny the way the race panned out, what with the absence of team radio. I understand WVA's criticism of it too.. But maybe it's nice to keep having one big race not governed by the team car?

[fat and old]

Boo Hoo.

He lied in his initial comments about what happened. Lost me there. Should have just manned up and told the truth...."those girls were effing with my door, I lost it and chased them away and nailed one when she tried to get away. They had it coming". I could accept that.

[g-boaf]

Pretty sad outcome - MVP being victimised and missing the race - and another blight on Australia's over-zealous law enforcement, government and laws.

Funny the way the race panned out, what with the absence of team radio. I understand WVA's criticism of it too.. But maybe it's nice to keep having one big race not governed by the team car?

SHOCKING AND CONFRONTING FOOTAGE HAS EMERGED!

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-ac ... ab45b8ccbe

News Ltd having a field day. I would have preferred if the pranksters were the ones who got in trouble instead.

[MichaelB]

Pretty sad outcome - MVP being victimised and missing the race - and another blight on Australia's over-zealous law enforcement, government and laws.

Funny the way the race panned out, what with the absence of team radio. I understand WVA's criticism of it too.. But maybe it's nice to keep having one big race not governed by the team car?

SHOCKING AND CONFRONTING FOOTAGE HAS EMERGED!

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-ac ... ab45b8ccbe

News Ltd having a field day. I would have preferred if the pranksters were the ones who got in trouble instead.

The reality is that his reaction is not acceptable, but then also is neither the girls actions, and the fact that there has been nothing from them re their part to me is the really disappointing part, and just goes to show how useless some people are.

If I found out that my kids had done that, I'd be of the attitude that I would have told MvdP that his actions were not acceptable, but neither were my kids, got each of them to apologise to each other and leave it at that. And then got REALLY mad with the kids in private.

Reporting it to the cops when they caused the issue is just not acceptable. Especially when they have video of themselves starting it !

Words fail me ....

[g-boaf]

Pretty sad outcome - MVP being victimised and missing the race - and another blight on Australia's over-zealous law enforcement, government and laws.

Funny the way the race panned out, what with the absence of team radio. I understand WVA's criticism of it too.. But maybe it's nice to keep having one big race not governed by the team car?

SHOCKING AND CONFRONTING FOOTAGE HAS EMERGED!

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-ac ... ab45b8ccbe

News Ltd having a field day. I would have preferred if the pranksters were the ones who got in trouble instead.

The reality is that his reaction is not acceptable, but then also is neither the girls actions, and the fact that there has been nothing from them re their part to me is the really disappointing part, and just goes to show how useless some people are.

If I found out that my kids had done that, I'd be of the attitude that I would have told MvdP that his actions were not acceptable, but neither were my kids, got each of them to apologise to each other and leave it at that. And then got REALLY mad with the kids in private.

Reporting it to the cops when they caused the issue is just not acceptable. Especially when they have video of themselves starting it !

Words fail me ....

Maybe his actions were a bit too much, but I suppose I'm annoyed that those kids will get away with this kind of nonsense. They deserve to get in trouble for their part as well to teach them a lesson and to serve as a warning to other kids, don't do stupid crap like that.

Maybe it's not PC, but I'm going to side with MVP.

[Retrobyte]

A naked man wrestling teenage girls in a hotel hall way is not a good look, but I can understand why he flipped out given he was trying to get a good night's sleep before his most important race day of the year.

[Mr Purple]

A naked man wrestling teenage girls in a hotel hall way is not a good look, but I can understand why he flipped out given he was trying to get a good night's sleep before his most important race day of the year.

Yep. I'm in no way a violent man, but if I ever do knock someone's block of it will be because they're depriving me of sleep.

And that applies to anyone playing music far too loudly, let alone people knocking on my door and running away. That should be grounds for justifiable homicide (I think I'm joking).

[g-boaf]

If the teenage girls had not been doing stupid stuff none of this would have occurred.

Maybe there should have been some big threatening security brick to keep them away. What's wrong with modern society being considerate to others.

And yeah, I get pretty ticked off too if I'm tired and someone keeps bothering me.

[elantra]

I think that the only certain thing here is that the Australian authorities handled the situation in a heavy-handed and disappointing way.

And they presumably had the time and training to make a response that is not in the heat of the moment, unlike MVDP and perhaps the perpetrators

[fat and old]

A naked man wrestling teenage girls in a hotel hall way is not a good look, but I can understand why he flipped out given he was trying to get a good night's sleep before his most important race day of the year.

Yep. On both counts. If I walk in on a 6ft + grown man grabbing a 13 and 14 y.o girl there'd have to be a good reason for it.

[ForkinGreat]

No winners from the MDVP incident. Hotel security should have been greater. Kick those snot-nosed teenage brats out of the hotel, wake their parents up if they were also staying there etc...
A call to hotel front desk and the cops might have been the way to go, but we can all pontificate with 20/20 hindsight.

Industrial earplugs For the Win...(???)

[warthog1]

Conviction overturned.
Good to see.


https://road.cc/content/news/mathieu-va ... ned-297995