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"We have a stacked pool of riders who are world class" - Stephen Williams confident Great Britain can make impact in World Championship road race
CyclingMonday, 23 September 2024 at 19:00
Next Sunday in the men's road race at the 2024 World Championships in Zürich, some of the biggest names in the male peloton embark on the yearly battle to crown themselves world champion. Among the dark horses for Rainbow Jersey success will be Great Britain's Stephen Williams.
"I think with GB now we have a lot of strength in depth in climbing and punching," the Israel - Premier Tech rider tells Cycling Weekly, referring to a strong British lineup that also includes the likes of Tom Pidcock, Adam Yates, Simon Yates and Oscar Onley. "We have a stacked pool of riders who are world class. So whether I go there and attempt to race the final, or I go there and support someone else deep into the race, that's also okay. It'll be something we speak about closer to the time once we're there, which is when we'll start to make decisions and look at how we can do our best."
Williams has seemingly stepped up to a higher level in 2024, taking notable general classification triumphs at the Tour Down Under and the Tour of Britain, plus the biggest one day result of his career in emerging victorious from a particularly brutal edition of La Fleche Wallonne. "I don't think I could have told you at the start of the year or in winter last year, that I'd be able to be sitting here now as a winner of these races," Williams reflects. "Sometimes I really have to pinch myself and try and figure out if it's real or not. So that's super special for me, especially after all the shit in the past."
"It just really shows that anyone who's suffering with injuries or going through a bad moment just keep the faith, and then hopefully you'll come out the other side and be even better for it," continues the 28-year-old Welshman. "That certainly worked for me."
And although the Rainbow Jersey remains the big target for him, Williams can't help but have one eye on the upcoming off-season after such a long and gruelling campaign in 2024. "I can't wait to be able to sit down and watch some football and watch Liverpool," he concludes. "They are playing really well now so I'll follow them for most of the winter as I do now, but hopefully I'll actually get to a couple of football games and just enjoy it all. Otherwise it'll be good to spend time with friends and family, spend time with my girlfriend, and just forget about the bike for a few weeks until we gradually build it all up again."
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- I think the other side has said plenty, given comments about her reputation like what Renz said above. Perhaps this is her chance to speak up against that reputation? I have no idea but her comments seem pretty human, even if each person has their own version of the story.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Give her a team built around her with no competing leaders, like Pogacar has at UAE or Vingegaard has at Visma (seeing how Roglic left), and I wonder how Vollering would do. She’s already so good, and a team dedicated to her could make her even better.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Those injuries, an ability to manage pain and push himself, probably a load of TUEs to help him get back from an awful moment, and competing that hard without the long exercise base that was the norm - no wonder he was exhausted. We’ve now had two consecutive seasons of the second place rider having an injury that interrupts training, and it shows to what level their bodies are tuned for the insane task of winning the Tour. I certainly hope both (and their teams!) are healthy next year. It would be a first, after 4 years.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Winners seem to be like this. Win or lose, it is always on to the next thing. They don’t celebrate the big win, they don’t worry about the painful loss. They move on. It’s an amazing skill. But to be able to ride (and win) while not being able to walk? That’s a level of pain management that boggles my mind. Of course they have it, given what they put their bodies through, but it’s just crazy.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Poor Demi. But she behaves the same way when riding for the national team. Bring me my tiny violin.Renz24-11-2024
- good pointsmij24-11-2024
- Yes, please tell us based on your superior expertise about why JVs training and race schedule is wrong 🧐Crashjames24-11-2024
- I'd like to hear what the other side has to say.mij24-11-2024
- Rules are very different from country to country and evolve with time. At one point I couldn’t even give my son my nationality because being unmarried, you’d have to register at least 3 months before the birth, a time when many people know neither the name or sex, and actually, no-one even knows if the birth will take place. In England there is now a kid with the wrong sex on his birth certificate as mistakes (even if by an administration) can no longer be corrected. I just had a 3rd child, we discovered a bump on his head at 2 weeks that wasn’t there 24h before, we ended up at the police accused of child abuse and about to have him taken from us due to staff incompetence and inexperience. Luckily a pediatric neurosurgeon has now confirmed this is not so uncommon after natural childbirth without instruments but most medical employees aren’t informed of it so automatically accuse parents of negligence/lying whatever. We discovered an association that already helped over 1000 wrongly accused couples (just those who found the association in just one country). I almost got arrested in one country for forgery after trying to convert my driver’s license as they thought I must have tampered the dates to get it aged 17 which isn’t possible for them. I can’t access half official services because the online forms are not set up to accept foreign phone number as data but a number is obligatory. That’s just a quick start, anyone who’s ever had to move internationally will confirm, there’s very little that’s not done differently elsewhere than “at home” The world is full of bureaucratic shit destroying society.Mistermaumau23-11-2024
- Bruyneel is not a person you take honesty or moral advice from.Sweep23-11-2024