Just in case it hasn’t been said enough: LOL
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They were only prepared to commit Vollering to the chase, their top two TT engines were also their main cards. Nobody like Uttrup or Longo Borghini is going to commit to help the chase if it's only Demi riding for the Netherlands, Niewiadoma isn't going to commit with Plichta up the road. Realistically when the gap was that big, more had to be done on the front by Anna and Annemiek, and the people in the team car weren't prepared to commit those two.
I liked to read Cecilie's comments. Usually, she is so over-enthused and proud of women' cycling and really fixed on promoting it that her takes on the races may tend to transcend the realm of realism a little bit.
But not today. She said that she was embarrassed on part of the peloton and that the race really sucked for women's cycling, and I couldn't agree more. This is the very biggest stage for the women and then to have their sport seem so amateurish in comparison to the men's must really hurt, but it's nice to see her not sugarcoat it.
But not today. She said that she was embarrassed on part of the peloton and that the race really sucked for women's cycling, and I couldn't agree more. This is the very biggest stage for the women and then to have their sport seem so amateurish in comparison to the men's must really hurt, but it's nice to see her not sugarcoat it.
I wonder how the Dutch will play it though... with van Vleuten putting everything into this basket I can't see her doing anything but race to win. And Vollering isn't a bad domestique, but she's a better finisher. And Vos should want to win instead of work...
?
Dutch DS in the car during the race: "Yeah, I wonder about that, too."
I don't think that's entirely fair. Kiesenhofer still had to ride the race of her life to win. She left nothing out there and thoroughly deserved that win.
It isn't like the peloton were soft pedalling all the time. The Van Vleuten attack lasted a good 20kms and she rode that spell hard but made little impression. With Anna VDB not really driving apart from a short spell about 25km out, it felt to me like the plan was always for Vleuty to win, as payback for Rio.
If anything the fail is as much with the teams like Spain, Italy, Germany, USA who wouldn't take risks. Sometimes you have to play some cards.
Do you have a link for her comments? Not on her social media, right?
Surely this is one side of the coin, this just should not happen to seasoned pros in any circumstance. Yet, if you are paraphrasing verbatim, at the same time this position risks selling Kiesenhofer's ride short. Women's cycling too. Cille really went there?
yeah , I agree. I don’t think it’s embarrassing for the women’s sport at all. A talented outsider with an interesting backstory does a heroic ride and wins gold while the team of dominant favourites suffers a colossal tactical screw up. That’s a bigger and more exciting story for the Olympic audience than the usual script being followed.
It was on Danish TV2:
Frankrig tæt på nederlag i OL-åbning
I denne liveblog opdaterer vi med OL-nyheder fra Tokyo.
sport.tv2.dk
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig ryster på hovedet
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig er stærkt kritisk over for den kørsel, rytterne fra de store nationer diskede op med på den 137 kilometer lange rute.
Især Holland med verdensranglistens nummer et, to, fire og fem reagerede alt for sent på truslen fra den østrigske udbryder.
- Jeg ryster på hovedet over den måde, der blev kørt på. Det er absurd. Det er så dårligt for kvindecykling, og alle tænker: "Hvad sker der?", siger Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.
- Med ti kilometer igen kunne man se, at hun (Kiesenhofer, red.) havde fire et halvt minut, og så begyndte de at køre. Man tænker: "Det her skulle I have gjort for 40 kilometer siden".
- Jeg sad alene. De måtte tage noget initiativ, men der blev gamblet for længe. Det kan ikke være rigtigt. Jeg mangler ord. Det må have været røvdårligt cykelløb at se på, siger Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.
I still think the Dutch was trying to use the SD Worx tactic of just attacking all over the place, instead of having to pull the others like they expected them to do. That tactic obviously failed (maybe because they didn't know Kiesenhofer was in front/had the right time gaps or underestimated her strength, maybe they were too tired or the heat made it harder for them to make the right choices, maybe Van Vleuten just wasn't as strong as expected or she lost her edge after the crash and the possible mechanical prior to it, or maybe it was a mix of all of it), but in the end the other teams didn't benefit from wanting the Dutch to work for them either (and I'm not saying there was anything wrong with depending on the in every way superior team to do the chasing/take initiative, but teams with more than one rider could have tried different things).
The outcome was also affected by the Doushi Road not quite being hard enough to force a major selection, which made it easier for a lot of riders to come back pretty fast when the pace dropped. Doushi Road did end up dropping most of the the Australians though, and if Spratt had been on her best form (Brown died after closing down a Dutch attack), then they would probably have been invested in the chase.
And I don't want to take anything away from Kiesenhofer's gutsy ride either, cause that was a truly fantastic performance.
The outcome was also affected by the Doushi Road not quite being hard enough to force a major selection, which made it easier for a lot of riders to come back pretty fast when the pace dropped. Doushi Road did end up dropping most of the the Australians though, and if Spratt had been on her best form (Brown died after closing down a Dutch attack), then they would probably have been invested in the chase.
And I don't want to take anything away from Kiesenhofer's gutsy ride either, cause that was a truly fantastic performance.
Maybe Cille feels she has a bit more licence to be honest about the situation since she was the only one of the main contenders' group to go and congratulate Kiesenhofer right away.
This is one of the situations where a team should get tested for drugs not because they may be doped, but because they may be high.
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Embarrassing for the 10 to 20 riders who dominate the women’s sport? Sure. Embarrassing for the women’s sport? Not at all.
Yeah, hard to top the Armstrong thing.
It's kinda funny how the "nobody" who won the race probaly earns more than most pros by being a postdoc at the university of Lausanne...
Postdocs do not typically make much money.
I think people watching the Olympics are mainly occasional viewers who like a good story more than what us (hardcore cycling fans) would consider a tactically sound race.
Overall I really don't think this was bad publicity for female cycling. It sure wasn't within my circle of family/friends/acquaintances.
But a lot of fans of male cycling might not watch women's cycling that often but could have chosen to give it a go because it's the Olympics. And they might not have been overly impressed.
Do we know the level of mathematical education of Elisa Longo Borghini? Because if she doesn't have a PhD, she might prove that it is possible to count to three without one:
"Basically when we caught the two ladies… I realised there was another one," she said.
"Basically when we caught the two ladies… I realised there was another one," she said.
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