World Championships 2011: “It’s all for pride… it’s all for national pride”
“How flat is it?”. Or in other words, “will Cav win?”. The question on everyone’s lips. Some say it’s flat. Others say not so flat. David Millar reckons it ‘looks good for a sprint’ after riding the course. But most say it’s flattish, and not hilly, but definitely not flat-flat.
So will Cav win? Well, if it comes down to a bunch sprint then you wouldn’t bet against him. The gradients of the Copenhagen course may decide whether this will be Britain’s most successful Worlds ever.
So far this week Elinor Barker has collected a silver medal in the junior women’s time trial, which was followed up by a spirited defence of her world title by Emma Pooley, who finished third on a course that shouldn’t, on paper, have seen her challenging for the top spots. Then on Wednesday we had a dramatic Big Ring Showdown in which Bradley Wiggins came out first loser to the totally dominant Tony Martin.
Our women’s team is looking good for a shout in Saturday’s road race; can in-form Pooley throw up another surprise? Will Cooke re-find her winning ways? Or will teamwork carry young Armistead into a position to sprint for the win? Gerard Vroomen (of Cervelo, and definitely not even British. As far as I know) is tipping them for success.
And then of course on Sunday we put forth a full-strength men’s team that will no doubt be focussed on protecting Cavendish and providing a formidable leadout train to fire him towards the line. Jez Hunt’s experience will be called on to guide him around the peloton, and then Cavendish has the services of a lead out train of a calibre even HTC would struggle to match – Thomas, Wiggins and Millar.
Ordinarily I’m very poor at being British, but even worse at being English. It’s such a prescriptive term – ‘English’. I think of insufferable Old Etonians, St George’s flags fluttering from white vans during football World Cups, of a suffocating class system, of Morris Dancing and inedible slabs of roast beef. But ‘British’ is a more forgiving term, it still allows us all to indulge in the desire to be slightly foreign and exotic whilst still being nothing of the sort.
In fact it’s very lucky we enter the World Championships as Great Britain, not least because it means we can claim Mark Cavendish as our own. And David Millar who is Scottish after all. And Welshman Geraint Thomas. To be honest I’m not sure how Chris Froome fits into this all, but we seem happy to claim an African as long as he’s a bit handy on the bicycle.
Nationality is a peculiar concept. It’s not about where you happened to pop out of the womb and into the world – even the utterly English Bradley Wiggins was born in Belgium – or even where you grew up (I remember Cycle Sport magazine feature where they gave Chris Froome a tour of London – he didn’t seem very familiar with his ‘home’ country). It’s certainly not about where you live, with most British riders spending most of their time either on the road racing, or in Europe in places such as Spain and Italy where the climate is more temperate.
But you can bet that if – when? – Cavendish is first cross the line in Denmark, his pride will practically be bursting through his Great Britain jersey. In an interview with the BBC he said the World’s is special, that “It’s all about pride… it’s all for national pride”. And back home – in England, Wales, Scotland, and even the Isle of Man (where ever that is) – we’ll be bursting with pride too.
Women’s Road Race Saturday 24th at 1.30pm, 140km
Lizzie Armitstead, Katie Colclough, Nicole Cooke, Sharon Laws, Lucy Martin, Emma Pooley, Catherine Williamson.
Men’s Road Race Sunday 25th at 10am, 266km
Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Jeremy Hunt, David Millar, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins.
Both races will be shown live on the BBC, go here for more details.
3 Comments
Andy
September 23, 2011And even the utterly English Bradley Wiggins had an Aussie Dad.
Still, Steve Cummings. Can’t get much more English than that, surely?
Jackseph
September 23, 2011There’s a really easy way to feel British or English- become an ex-pat. I left South London for Australia 11 years ago. Living in England I never felt English. Now I am reminded I am almost every day. While I’ll probably live the rest of my life down-under, I think I’ll always consider myself to be English, always prefer Marmite to Vegemite and always hope the Australian cricket team lose.
As for Chris Froome, I too read that Cycle Sport article. I have never considered myself to be nationalistic, but Froome is in no way or shape British. He only got his passport in 2008, was the Kenyan road race champion a few years before and in a recent interview he said “I’m going back home to South Africa at the end of the season.” It strikes me like a case of Zola Budd mk II. Why does he want to ride for Britain? Was it to get a contract at Sky? Surely he doesn’t need to claim British nationality his amazing ride in the Vuelta? Surely the GB team doesn’t need Froome with all our home-grown talent (yes, i see the irony in this comment).
Anyway, go Cav. Seeing him in the Rainbow (or rather Olympic, see Inner Ring) stripes next season would be awesome.
In the Saddle
September 26, 2011Jackseph – I think Froome riding for Britain was a win-win for all involved, especially when you see how much he contributed to Cav’s success on Sunday. There’s an anecdote about him winning the Kenyan road race championships, but having to design and make his own national champion’s jersey. So you can sort of guess from that the level of support he would have received from his home nation!