Summary: Dizzy after riding around circuit circles, Lotto Kopecky wins the sprint from a reduced peloton. Time keepers weren't very lenient on the time gaps, awarding every little gap in the group.

Result: 31st (+33") - Didn't feel great today so just did some work for teammate Tebiro Pienaar, who finished 18th. No worries about form yet since this was simply a tune-up race for the World RR Championship.

Summary: SEG has the strongest team here and looks like they are using it to perfection. Olympic cyclocross gold medalist Mathieu van der Poel attacks with 10.3kms to go on the penultimate hill.

The peloton has to chase back this favourite, and if they do, SEG still has Alex Vogel and Marcus Diamond to use.


Van der Poel pulled back right before the final kicker with 3.6kms to go.


No... I take that back. Van der Poel was bluffing to allow Diamond to follow another powerful attack. SEG playing chess while everybody else is playing checkers.


Diamond has a slight gap over the summit, all downhill to the line!


Van der Poel isn't just going to let his teammate steal the show.


Photo Finish! Diamond on the line! What a drag race by the two SEG teammates. It's a memorable 1-2 result for the team. Vogel turned out to be the decoy, finishing 21st.

Result: 1st - Van der Poel gave me everything he had. He might be better on the punchy hills, but I'm the better sprinter. Nice try Mathieu. Career win No. 17!

Summary: Welcome to the Big Apple for the race for the rainbow jersey!


It takes 25kms before a breakaway can be established. They use the trees in Central Park as cover to get away instead of the skyscrapers in the city. In total X riders make up the front group. They are:

Jan Tratnik (Vorarlberg Santic) is best know for his time trialing abilities with a 12th place at the 2018 World ITT Championships. At 34 years old, his time to capture a career-defining win is dwindling.

Tobias Foss (Joker) has had success at the national level, winning the Norway RR Championship in 2023 and finishing runner-up in 2024, 2021 and 2020. Yet, the 27-year-old still hasn't broke through for his CT team.

Viliam Juriga (Bahrian-Merida) isn't a well-known name. The 26-year-old classic specialist is often found helping Aaron Verwilst and Marianne Vos for Bahrian-Merida. Juriga is seeking his first pro win.

Jose Goncalves (Katusha Alpecin) is the most decorated cyclist in the breakaway with 9 career wins. However, the 35-year-old is on the decline with his last major win being the KoM competition in the 2023 Paris-Nice.

Sean Bennett (Trek-Segafredo) might call California home, but he is objectively the home favourite in the breakaway. The puncheur last tasted intentional glory when he won the 2020 USA RR Championship.


Crash in the peloton with 155kms to go. Notables caught out:

Teunissen
Theuns
Bennett
Enger
Alaphilippe

They eventually rejoin with 138kms remaining, but suffering from the worst injuries cause Van Poppel and I. Izagirre to withdraw.

McNulty also had to chase back after a flat tire.


With 84kms to go, the breakaway's lead has been slashed to 2 minutes. Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark and Italy doing a bulk of the work to chase.


In-fighting in the breakaway starts with 50kms left. Tratnik is the first to be thrown off the back. But, the peloton is less than a minute behind the rest of the leaders with 35kms remaining.


Bennett puts in one last dig, but it's over. The peloton makes the catch. The fast pace has split the peloton, leaving 49 riders in the front group with 29kms left.


Many thought the pace would slow once the break was caught to allow the second peloton to catch back up, but no. The is the World Championships after all. Olympic medalist Alex Vogel is driving a very hard tempo on the front for the Netherlands.

Looking more and more likely that these notables are getting left behind:

P. Sagan
Degenkolb
Matthews
Boasson Hagen

That's two former World champions in Sagan and last year's winner Matthews not keeping pace. Goes to show how hard the Netherlands wants this race.


Down to 10kms to go. Only 23 cyclists are left in the lead group:

Kragh Andersen, Cort Nielsen, M. Pedersen, C. Pedersen
Lampaert, Wouters, Keukeleire, Benoot
Mareczko, Ballerini, Moscon
Jakobsen, Van Baarle, Das, Van Der Poel
Jaquier
Aristi
Sarreau
Fletcher
Kittel
Perez
Kwiatkowski
Diamond


The 2021 World champion Kwiatkowski attacks with 7.1kms left!


Four cyclists are able to follow the attack: M. Pedersen, Benoot, Moscon and Van der Poel. That's basically the big teams putting a rider up the road so the group behind doesn't have a lot of chasers digging deep.


Belgium must not like Benoot's chances because they chasing a little. But the gap is around 25 seconds with the 1km banner in sight.


Belgium panicked for no reason...

TIESJ BENOOT wins a close sprint again Gianni Moscon and Michal Kwiatkowski to win the 2024 World RR Championship!


Result: 15th - Fought to the bitter end. A very hard race. Didn't quite have my sprinting legs at the finish line, but at least I'd didn't miss any major splits in the peloton like the rest of my Great Britain teammates.

Vogel settled for a 26th place after doing a bulk of the work to help Van der Poel grab a Top 5 for the stacked Netherlands team.

Date	Race	Winner
1-Sep	Brussels Cycling Classic	Kevin Deltombe
2-Sep	Schaal Sels	Xander Das
2-Sep	Circuit de Fourmies	Logan Owen
2-Sep	OVO Energy Tour of Britain	Jaka Primozic
5-Sep	Tour of South Bohemia	Elvio Capozzi
7-Sep	Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec	Merhawi Kudus
8-Sep	De Kustpijl	Coryn Rivera
9-Sep	Tour du Doubs	Alexis Gougeard
9-Sep	Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal	Pierre-Roger Latour
9-Sep	Chrono Champenois	Adam Roberge
12-Sep	Grand Prix de Wallonie	Lucas Hamilton
14-Sep	Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen	Lotte Kopecky
15-Sep	Primus Classic	Mike Teunissen
15-Sep	Coppa Agostoni	Ashleigh Moolman
16-Sep	GP Jef Scherens - Rondom Leuven	Stan Dewulf
16-Sep	Coppa Bernocchi	Marc Sarreau
16-Sep	GP Judendorf-Strassengel	Alison Jackson
18-Sep	Giro della Toscana	Dmitri Gerasin
18-Sep	GP Industria e Commercio di Prato	Vadim Pronskiy
20-Sep	Coppa Sabatini	Rémy Rochas
21-Sep	Omloop van de Westhoek	Aksel Nömmela
22-Sep	Memorial Marco Pantani	Jan Polanc
22-Sep	Tour de l'Eurométropole	Bryan Coquard
23-Sep	Grand Prix d'Isberques	Christophe Laporte
23-Sep	Trofeo Matteotti	Vadim Pronskiy
23-Sep	Gooikse Pijl	Lisa Brennauer
26-Sep	World Championships ITT	Tom Dumoulin
27-Sep	Famenne Ardennes Classic	Marcus Diamond
30-Sep	World Championships	Tiesj Benoot
2-Oct	Binche - Chimay - Binche
3-Oct	Sparkassen Münsterland Giro
4-Oct	Paris - Bourges
6-Oct	Giro dell'Emilia
6-Oct	Tour de Vendée
7-Oct	Gran Premio Bruno Bhegelli
7-Oct	Paris - Tours
9-Oct	Tre Valli Varesine
9-Oct	Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey
10-Oct	Milano - Torino
11-Oct	Gran Piemonte
13-Oct	Tacx Pro Classic
13-Oct	Il Lombardia
14-Oct	Chrono des Nations
16-Oct	Gree-Tour of Guangxi
21-Oct	Japan Cup Cycle Road Race

- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
- Comment below to provide stat upgrades

Summary: Who saw this coming? Bristol City stuns the experts by obliterating the league leaders. It ties Fulham's second-worst loss in club history. Fulham previous lost 6-0 to Hull City in 2013 and 10-0 to Liverpool in 1986.

Rating: 5.9 - Can it get any worse?

Player of Game: Famara Diedhiou, Bristol City (9.6)

Summary: After a scorching hot start, Fulham has crashed back down to Earth. Ben Brereton with a brace, including the game-winner in the 67th minute.

Rating: 8.0 - My best game in a long, long time. Picked up my first assist of the season on Aboubakar Kamara's lone goal. It was quality counter-attack effort.

Player of Game: Ben Brereton, Burnley (8.8)

Summary: "Ball into Diamond, tries to find Abraham cutting inside... Tackled away, but right into the feet of substitute Healy... He picks his head up... What a pass... GOAL FULHAM to break the deadlock in the 73rd minute. It's Russell York with the clinical finish on the back post."

"Time is the enemy for Brighton. Matheus Jesus wins the ball off Diamond and clears the ball up field... GUTHRIE gets behind Fulham's backline... Picks his head up... CORDOBA cutting in and... GOAL! It's all tied 1-1 in the 93rd minute."

Rating: 6.8 - Gutting way to draw a game. Maybe we didn't deserve all three points, but when you are minutes away from doing so, it hurts. Both teams didn't play great on primetime TV.

Player of Game: Russell York, Fulham (7.3)

Summary: Timmy Abraham buries his league-leading 12th goal, 60th league goal for Fulham, and Diamond makes up for missing an one-on-one breakaway opportunity in the 3rd minute by blasting in the insurance goal off a corner-kick scramble in the 82nd minute.


Rating: 7.8 - My first Player of Game performance of the season!

Player of Game: Marcus Diamond, Fulham (7.8)

- Each member gets 8.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.

Summary: Stefan Johansen, playing with an early yellow card, rewards his manager for keeping him in the game. The defensive midfielder heads home the game-winning goal off a corner-kick taken by Marcus Diamond. Jonathan Leko, making a rare start, added the insurance goal in the 84th minute.

Rating: 8.3 - Covered the most distance in the match, provided an assist and won back-to-back Player of Game honors.

Player of Game: Marcus Diamond, Fulham (8.3)

Summary: Absolute fireworks. Three goals scored in the first 10 minutes. Three penalty kicks (both teams made one, Fulham missed another). Fulham's Simon Wolfenden nets a hat trick. Leko scores in back-to-back games.

With Crystal Palace drawing 2-2 against Bristol City, Fulham moves back on top of the Sky Bet Championship league by two points, ahead of both Crystal Palace and Burnley.

Rating: 7.3 - Picked up my third assist of the season on Leko's goal to make it 4-2. Turned out to be an important one with Reading getting a third goal from the penalty spot in the 81st minute.

Player of Game: Simon Wolfenden, Fulham (9.5)

Summary: A rainy first half sees QPR jump ahead on a breakaway goal by Daniel Barlaser. Fulham finds its footing in the second half when the rain clears up. Aboubakar Kamara makes up for the penalty he missed four days ago against Reading. But, five minutes later, the well-named Axel McWilliams buried the game-winning goal off the bottom of the crossbar from close range.

Rating: 7.0 - Best rated player on the team. Still, tough loss.

Player of Game: Ian Eaton, QPR (7.8)

Summary: Benin only gets one shot and it's not even on target as Nigeria dominates for 90 minutes. Nigeria already had locked up its qualifying spot for the African Cup of Nations and used this game to look at some other players in the national pool.

Rating: 6.8 - These chances don't come around often, and I don't think I did enough to stand out. We shall see if the team keeps me around for the final group game in a few days.

Player of Game: Wilfred Ndidi, Nigeria (8.8)

Summary: After Kelechi Iheanacho snatched the opening goal in the 20th minute, Nigeria captain Wilfred Ndidi was sent off with his second yellow card in the 37th minute. Playing down a man, Nigeria held off Cape Verde with both teams scoring one goal in the second half.

Rating: 6.7 - Only 0.2 points higher than our captain who only played 37 minutes. I'm hopeful it doesn't take another year to get called up again, but after these two performances this week... I wouldn't be surprised if I was left off the team for the foreseeable future. But, felt good to be back and see some old friends again.

Player of Game: Kelechi Iheanacho, Nigeria (8.9)

Summary: Both teams score in each half for a 2-2 draw. Things got interesting late when Brentford's Sergi Canos was sent off with a red card in the 62nd minute due to a reckless challenge. That opened the door for Greg Cross to smash in what looked to be game-winning goal 13 minutes later. However, Brentford equalized on a poorly cleared corner-kick from Fulham in the 86th minute.

Rating: 6.7 - Got subbed off right before things went a little wild once the red card was shown.

Player of Game: Timmy Abraham, Fulham (7.5)

Summary: Two goals in two minutes put Fulham ahead 2-1 in the second half, but Matty Palmer tapped in his second goal of the game in the 66th minute to induce a draw. Fulham also lost strikers Jonathan Leko and Aboubakar Kamara to injuries during the match. Leko is out over three weeks with a dislocated shoulder while Kamara is day-to-day with a tight calf.

Rating: 6.8 - Assisted Leko's goal to get us back in the game, but didn't have much input outside of that.

Player of Game: Matty Palmer, Derby County (8.8)

Summary: Fulham takes no prisoners. It's a 6-1 bloodbath. Hat trick for Simon Wolfenden — his second in 25 days. The first two goals for loanee Lee Smith and Marcus Diamond comes alive with a goal and an assist.

Rating: 9.3 - The goal went right off the keeper's hands and into the net. But, hey, I'll happily take a belated birthday gift. As for my monthly rating... I got to do the math on that. It's going to be close to 7.3.

Player of Game: Simon Wolfenden, Fulham (9.6)

- Each member gets 8.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.