2011 In Review: Women's team & rider of the year

Otherwise, she’s pure awesome from the inside out.

I have to disagree with you there John. Vos trimmed off several kilos (lord knows how!) and surprised herself in the Giro, but she never changed her style.

Marianne has one weakness in ‘style’, but the majority of cycling coaches hold the view that trying to change what comes naturally is a no-no, so I’d predict that Vos is unlikely to ever find a cure for her habit of trying to ‘push’ too hard on the ‘down-stroke’. The irony is, the same weakness is present on the track, on the climbs, in CX and road-racing, as well as in the TTs.

"It wasn’t right from the outset. On a course like that, with the wind against you, you have to keep a big gear turning, but that didn’t work."

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/9849/Marianne-Vos-pretty-disappointed-with-tenth-in-Worlds-time-trial.aspx#ixzz1bJS4iWg4

That "didn’t work" for obvious reasons: ("pedalling squares" being the main one)

In trying to "keep a big gear turning" Marianne’s ankles ‘collapsed’ (dorsiflexed) when the feet should have been plantar flexed, and vice versa. ‘Big gear’ is an outdated philosophy anyway. Her coaches should know better.

A smooth transfer of power is the essence of biomechanical efficiency. Plus the need to use LESS force and apply it tangentially, over a greater proportion of the circle. i.e. "pedalling-in-circles". Raising your cadence is far better than raising the gear. You get better speed AND better endurance that way, not to mention faster acceleration out of the corners – a real time-saver on a technical course in the wet.

It takes a great deal of trial and error to attain an ‘aero’ position that is also an efficient biomechanical position. (I wonder if Andy Schleck will ever get it right?)

The same laws of physics hold true in the sprint. What’s the betting Bronzini was one gear lower than Vos in Copenhagen? Over-gearing is the cardinal sin of cycling.

Jens on Aug 27, 2011 12:47 PM EDT "Following up on an amazing display of teamwork and brute force by her teammate Marianne Vos……." Even I wouldn’t call that phenomenal solo ride to catch the break "brute force"! My Dutch sister-in-law tells me the expression has the same negative connotations in English and Dutch. "Raw power" would be far more complimentary, Jens.

I’m waiting until the prize announcement to reveal the winner. It’s a long off-season, we have to milk these things for what we can.

I just really like Vos at the moment because she took the time to thank me for an article I wrote about her. Of course, van Vleuten might do the same if I wrote another one about her… :-)

I really like how van Vleuten rode the World Cup. For me, she’s an obvy pick for rider of the year. Vos for the Giro Donne is also an obvy pick, since she took a step beyond what we knew of her talent. And the duel was Emma Pooley made for exciting racing.

On the team side, the Bloeits get a vote, for showing up and killing it on the major races. I think that was a weakness of the HTC-Highroad women, they won a lot of races around the calendar and deserve a nomination for best team, but they weren’t as much as factor in the world cups.

I’m busy writing a “Annemiek is the best rider every season”-song. It’s a power ballad.

Nothing not to like there!

On the US side, a shout-out to Colavita. Those girls just lit it up. Lots of attacking and a very aggressive style. I feel like they have flown a bit under the radar here in the U.S. despite their NRC team win.

if you take away the “star rider” on each team (Vos, Emma J, Arndt etc) and recalculate the rankings then HTC would be clear by a country mile = best all round team for me due to strength in depth.

Vos is a more obvious winner than Gilbert. For me the most notable moment of her year was her patent disappointment with her worlds TT ride. A winter concentrating a little more on that and a double Olympic gold medalist may be on the horizon for next year. She is, and remains, all kinds of awesome.

That’s a hard one, for sure!

Thanks so much, Jen!