Cav takes tabloid heat for failed GB tactics

[Swifty's Cakes]

The only thing worse than a whinging Pom is a gloating one. This time I will happily accept the lesser of two evils. But with the Ashes on the horizon, I have visions of deliriously happy English cricket fans. What an awful thought.

OT: We've won 3 out of the 9 tests in 2012. What are you so worried about?

 

[johnnycash]

This is the problem when you have people who have no clue about cycling but think they know it all and then write a load of rubbish. Cycling is not like swimming, or running a marathon. The 'best' rider does not always win. It’s far more tactical than that and unless the course is extremely selective tactics will play a huge part.

The tactics of the other teams were spot on. Attack, and keep on attacking until the GB team is broken. Nothing wrong with that, fair play to them. GB did the only reasonable thing they could do. Yeah you could put a man in the break, but then GB would be obliged not to chase, so who's going to bring it back. Millar in a break is going to have nowhere near as big a chance as Cav in a bunch sprint. So strategy wise, that was the card to play and it made most sense. Its easy to say afterwards that they should have done it differently but they would be getting even more heavily criticised if Millar had got 20th in the break and never even tried to set it up for Cav.

He was massively over hyped anyway, it was talked about like all he had to do was turn up and collect his gold medal. A victory in a one day race is never guaranteed. Much more difficult to control than a flat stage in the Tour and even more difficult with only 5 men. Even if it did come to a sprint Cav is far from unbeatable. Yes, he would be the favourite but you wouldn’t exactly put your house on him beating Griepel. If these idiots knew what they were on about they wouldn’t be saying crap like 'you blew it' or 'flop.' They gave it everything they had and it didn’t work, the performance those guys put in was exceptional, and should be praised for that.

Indeed. The shame is that although Froome, Wiggo, Stannard and Millar won't get recognised for their efforts even though then buried themselves for the cause, perhaps even to the detriment of their ITT chances.

But T'm not sure all the other teams had their tactics spot on. Some did, The Swiss looked super strong but what were the Germans and Aussies playing at? Whats the point of having Goss if you're not going to pursue a bunch sprint. O'Grady was never going to win from that break.

At the end of the day, you can't win them all and when you're the out and out favourite that is even more apparant. Sky still have had lots of good wins and the tour, just missed out on the cherry on the cake.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

The only thing worse than English sportsmen is English press. Lord, what a bunch of rubbish. Funny enough half of these horrific tabloids are owned by the same cretin that owns Team Sky. LOL.

Rupert Murdoch (l assume that is who you mean by "the cretin") does not "own Team Sky": the Murdoch family own 29% of shares in News International, which owns 39% of shares in BSkyB, which is the main, but by no means only, sponsor of the team.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

+1. No decent coach would with Britain's resources would: a)only have a sprint option b)listen to a sprinter who pushed option a) c)put his sprinter in a position where he shares the tabloid cover with Miley Cyrus.

Unfortunately he can't keep his piehole closed so the invitation to ridicule is readily accepted by the press. Too bad because clearly not his fault.

I think you'll find that is Hannah Miley, 5th in the swimming medley, not Miley Cyrus

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

to further that when has brainsford ever had a plan b

In fairness, Sky were not exactly scuppered in the Tour if a disaster had befallen Wiggins...

 

[rainman]

And do keep in mind no race radios makes this all a bit of a guessing game[/QUOTE]

Perhaps the Olympic commitee had even less of a clue about bike racing than tabloid journalists. Perhaps they figured it meant someone from Guinea Bissau or the Seychelles could win.

 

[webbie146]

lol Pathetic that they blame Cav.. What the hell was he supposed to to do lol

 

[UlleGigo]

I've had some idiot journalist on twitter claiming Cav is right and that, 'no one helped because they hate him'. No I'm not joking. So it's not as though all journalists are knives out for Cav. Some of them are blinkered by stupidity. Lucky for 'Team GB' I guess that ignorance also works in their favour.

 

[burning]

Seriously, who the hell cares what they are writing?

 

[Grand Tourist]

to further that when has brainsford ever had a plan b

Exactly.

The failure to bring home a medal wasn't Cav's fault. Brailsford's inept and utterly arrogant 'plan' was to blame.

 

[hiero2]

In fairness, Sky were not exactly scuppered in the Tour if a disaster had befallen Wiggins...

Which does not counter the argument. Sky still had Froome, but it was apparent that nobody else was truly in Sky's planning, other than Bradley. From everything we saw, I would say if Bradley had crashed or otherwise looked to be a DNF, they would have had to had a midnight team planning session to figure out what to do.

Cav wasn't whinging, so much as speaking his mind, but he obviously has never learned as much diplomacy as would be useful, and he hasn't the personality to seek that learning, apparently.

GB tactics weren't the best, but Germany and Oz definitely take the bozo prize in my book. They may not have fancied the chances of Goss and Greipel against Cav, but a 10% shot at the prize is better than 0%. Oz could be said to be looking for O'Grady, I suppose, but the riding looked real negative to me.

Personally, I'm glad Vino won. It is a good retirement present for him. He has always provided us with exciting racing, and he wasn't good enough at doping to keep from getting caught. So, in left-handed way, I have trust in Vino, because I feel like Vino is a known quantity. He showed us Vino at his best - reading the race and attacking when the moment was right.

Also, I am not really surprised at the race outcome or tactics. The Olympics road race, in my memory, has never been a showcase for good teamwork. On the contrary, it has usually been a showcase for petty internal squabbles and where personal vendettas reared their ugly heads.

Now that I mention that, it is a good showcase for the opportunists in cycling, eh? Which would mean that next time we should watch for Sagan to do better. He was betting on it coming together too, I'll bet.

 

[movingtarget]

OT: We've won 3 out of the 9 tests in 2012. What are you so worried about?

I saw highlights of the ODI's against England...........trouble is there were none for Australia.

 

[rickshaw]

An Island full of Fail

Team GB failed to implement a winning tactic, or adapt, or even come close to success.

The Whinging Pommies" totally failed the "man-up" test.

The British Tabloid press totally failed to show any knowledge of cycling tactics. What do they do if there is no one down to be kicked? They even spew on the winner! What a load of loosers.

The TV commentators (Paul and Steve?) were total cheerleaders for GB, completely failed to see what was happening, or if they did, failed to tell the audience. Rah Rah sis boom bah. Go Team!

If wiggo crushes the TT all will be forgiven and forgotten. Sir Wiggo?

 

[movingtarget]

Maybe that's because you can give out the stick but not take it?

Naah just stirring the pot. The English are ok and I love the way they get behind their teams win lose or draw. The last few rounds of the Premier League with the relegation battles mixed with teams trying to win the championship is great viewing. As for the English tabloids, some of the Australian ones aren't much better.

 

[thehog]

This is the problem when you have people who have no clue about cycling but think they know it all and then write a load of rubbish. Cycling is not like swimming, or running a marathon. The 'best' rider does not always win. It’s far more tactical than that and unless the course is extremely selective tactics will play a huge part.

The tactics of the other teams were spot on. Attack, and keep on attacking until the GB team is broken. Nothing wrong with that, fair play to them. GB did the only reasonable thing they could do. Yeah you could put a man in the break, but then GB would be obliged not to chase, so who's going to bring it back. Millar in a break is going to have nowhere near as big a chance as Cav in a bunch sprint. So strategy wise, that was the card to play and it made most sense. Its easy to say afterwards that they should have done it differently but they would be getting even more heavily criticised if Millar had got 20th in the break and never even tried to set it up for Cav.

He was massively over hyped anyway, it was talked about like all he had to do was turn up and collect his gold medal. A victory in a one day race is never guaranteed. Much more difficult to control than a flat stage in the Tour and even more difficult with only 5 men. Even if it did come to a sprint Cav is far from unbeatable. Yes, he would be the favourite but you wouldn’t exactly put your house on him beating Griepel. If these idiots knew what they were on about they wouldn’t be saying crap like 'you blew it' or 'flop.' They gave it everything they had and it didn’t work, the performance those guys put in was exceptional, and should be praised for that.

You know your plan is inept when even the "clueless" people could see that their tactics were naff.

GB's biggest problem was they didn't plan that the race was going to be anything but a bunch sprint.

If you're relying on other teams to get you to the line then you don't have a plan.

The worst of this is the complete disrespect for the winner. If Taylor Phinney can congratulate Vino along with the entire US team then the UK should take a leaf out of their book.

 

[thehog]

Indeed. The shame is that although Froome, Wiggo, Stannard and Millar won't get recognised for their efforts even though then buried themselves for the cause, perhaps even to the detriment of their ITT chances. .

Why should they? That was an exercise in stupidity. Surely attempting to ride 250km with four guys had to be the most brain dead tactic alongside Uran not riding up close to the barriers in the final sprint.

Even if the race ended in the bunch sprint who was going to lead out Cav? Fresh German, fresh aussies, GB would have been pulverized in the last 5km. It would have been up to Cav to win alone. That he could do but on a long straight strip like the Mall? I doubt it.

 

[Caruut]

GB raced as though they wanted certainty, and certainty they got. By making their race plan so obvious a football columnist could read through it, they dug their own graves. Cavendish is right in some ways - Germany and Australia wanted a sprint too, and Germany were as tactically limited as GB.

Australia on the other hand put an experienced classics man up the road who came 4th in the bunch sprint from about 30 riders. Had Uran and Vino not gotten away, he would perhaps have been in with a shout for a medal. They were right not to chase.

Germany should have chased, but GB should have made them chase by trying to show that they would not do all the work and putting guys up the road. Even so, Germany were perhaps putting their cards all in on the chance that GB would get things back, and then they had Greipel with Degenkolb as a leadout man, giving him an much-needed edge over Cavendish.

The Americans also wanted a sprint, most likely, but Farrar's record against Cavendish is appalling. They too stuck Duggan up the road early doors and then had Phinney in the group that went away later. So many teams with sprinters raced it like a classic, GB raced it like a flat GT stage and it failed.

I still think the way GB rode was partly a publicity stunt. There were apparently 1 million people out on the rode. There are not one million road racing fans in the country, so you've got a lot of people there who don't really get things - GB put on a show for them. They got to see our boys on the front all day trying valiantly.

 

[Benotti69]

<snip for brevity>.

I still think the way GB rode was partly a publicity stunt. There were apparently 1 million people out on the rode. There are not one million road racing fans in the country, so you've got a lot of people there who don't really get things - GB put on a show for them. They got to see our boys on the front all day trying valiantly.

Not sure what those 1million went home with? The idea that they had seen their team on the front all day looking the strongest but won nothing? Did these people go home feeling cheated or deflated, did they leave with more of a negative than a positive?

Not sure it was the right publicity for GB cycling! Lots of work and no medals = might be read as a waste of effort and more importantly, money!

 

[mastersracer]

In the days to come he's going to realise that he fell for a very bad trap. A trap from the other teams but also a trap from team GB. Cav knows better. He would have stuck a Miller in the breaks. The team didn't need to do all the work because they had to. They chose to do it. It will dawn on him that if you want to win sometimes you have take matters into your own hands.

GB rode extremely defensively for the entire race. Contrast with how the Swiss rode. If Cancellera didn't crash it would have been a perfect set up. Buts that's how you ride a one day race.

Cav will leave Sky now.

Seriously? You think other teams would have chased harder if GB had a rider in the break? GB was facing this reality:

1. Cav gets in a break. No one works. Break fails.
2. Cav in chase. No team works to bring back break. Doesn't matter if a GB rider is in break.

Of course other riders would work with Cancellara in a break - he's beatable in a sprint and might even give you a ride to the 200m line.

GB chose to ride for Cav. That was obviously the mistake. Past that point on the road tactics didn't matter. Clear reasons for why they chose that, and once they made that decision they followed the only strategy they could.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Seriously? You think other teams would have chased harder if GB had a rider in the break? GB was facing this reality:

1. Cav gets in a break. No one works. Break fails.
2. Cav in chase. No team works to bring back break. Doesn't matter if a GB rider is in break.

Of course other riders would work with Cancellara in a break - he's beatable in a sprint and might even give you a ride to the 200m line.

GB chose to ride for Cav. That was obviously the mistake. Past that point on the road tactics didn't matter. Clear reasons for why they chose that, and once they made that decision they followed the only strategy they could.

I pretty much agree with this. To some extent Cav was doomed from the start. GB would have at least had someone to contend in the latter part of the race if someone was in the break but why would anyone help them close down the break even in this case? Also GB have only 3 to try and pull the breaks in i.e. even less chance.

In that sense he is a victim of his own success i.e. No one wants him in a sprint finish. Whether you think he has a point complaining about negative racing would depend on whether you think some of the other teams would have more chance of getting a medal in a sprint then with the rider(s) they had in the break.

 

[Catwhoorg]

We did see that to a lesser extent in the tour.

Sky protecting the MJ didn't work hard on a few flatter stages, and Lotto/Greenedge/Argos chose not to push for a sprint finish.

 

[Carlo Algatrensig]

Another example of the British Tabloid press this time relating to the womens road race

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180878/Olympics-2012-Just-HAS-happened-Sharron-Davies-face-Asks-Jan-Moir.html

The lovely Jan Moir describing Marianne Vos as "some ***** from Holland"

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

The lovely Jan Moir describing Marianne Vos as "some ***** from Holland"

Not sure if that was an attempt at humour but no one should take that paper seriously.

Here is another insight into their views

 

[rainman]

Another example of the British Tabloid press this time relating to the womens road race

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180878/Olympics-2012-Just-HAS-happened-Sharron-Davies-face-Asks-Jan-Moir.html

The lovely Jan Moir describing Marianne Vos as "some ***** from Holland"

Is that really a silver medal? Looks like something out of a cereal box. Congratulations to Lizzie anyway, fantastic.

 

[Swifty's Cakes]

Another example of the British Tabloid press this time relating to the womens road race

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180878/Olympics-2012-Just-HAS-happened-Sharron-Davies-face-Asks-Jan-Moir.html

The lovely Jan Moir describing Marianne Vos as "some ***** from Holland"

The delightful Jan Moir strikes again eh? She really should stick to insulting the dead if she wants to generate publicity for her sad little existence.