Olympic Road Race Men

[Sigmund]

Uran actually has a pretty good sprint.

Yeah, you would know that better than one of his DS! Love how people call someone stupid from the comfort of their sofas, while the guy has to make a split second decision after having ridden for almost 6 hours.

I bet you all make no mistakes in a situation like that. Besides, he got a silver, probably way more than he ever dreamt!

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Be careful with your comments, folks. Don't cross the line, even with one toenail.

Susan

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Froome should have been kept in reserve to dog any dangerous break. I think GB wanted to payback Cav for perhaps giving up a title at the TdF.

Or alternatively on the last lap, even if Cavendish wasn't feeling too good, leave someone (probably Millar) with him and continue to have Wiggins and Froome push a big pace to limit the attacking, so once the climbing was done they could police attacks and disrupt the pace while probably-Millar brought Cavendish back. Maybe Cav would need to do some work himself relaying to get back too. Having a 5 man team policing a race like this AND still allow one to be a total passenger until the last few hundred metres is going to be seriously difficult.

 

[UlleGigo]

I dunno. I did think of O'Grady's chances of a medal vs Goss doing something in the sprint. I don't think Australia made a bad choice, but in the end it is a what if scenario.

Yeh exactly. I think the Pommies are just trying to find something to cling onto after what was in the end a complete failure for them by saying, 'well Australia failed too'.

This is borne out by the criticism of Australia's race compared to that of the Germans when considering, a) how badly the Germans performed b) the no. of Aussies on this forum compared to the no. of Germans.

It's your standard, 'But you lost too' argument. It doesn't really wash though. Australia performed well. 6th is a good result and Goss was by no means certain to get any better in what would have been a chaotic bunch sprint.

Naturally it's a what if scenario. But its not like Australia was the team with the overwhelming race favourite who failing completely.

 

[Flamin]

Leo van Vliet (dutch coach) said the British made an error gambling on their sprinter. He said on a course like this and with only 5 men the race is not controllable. He says he is even suprised the sprinters kept their chances for so long in the race

Lol. Then, what should have they done? Send Wiggo in the early break away?

The Brits did things well. Cav in a bunch sprint obviously was their biggest chance for gold. So, control the break and hope for other teams to jump in the mix were pretty much the only tactics they could apply. It didn't work out. Too bad.

If GB made an error, so did most of the countries.

 

[thehog]

Or alternatively on the last lap, even if Cavendish wasn't feeling too good, leave someone (probably Millar) with him and continue to have Wiggins and Froome push a big pace to limit the attacking, so once the climbing was done they could police attacks and disrupt the pace while probably-Millar brought Cavendish back. Maybe Cav would need to do some work himself relaying to get back too. Having a 5 man team policing a race like this AND still allow one to be a total passenger until the last few hundred metres is going to be seriously difficult.

Leading the main peloton from the start and continuing for 220k then complaining why no would help beggars belief. What did they expect with tactics like that!?

Never seen anything so stupid in all my life. 250km with four guys!?

 

[Carl0880]

What a way for Vino to go out. This will do tremendous things for Astana's feeder team to get even more cyclists going in Kazakhstan.

As much as everyone makes fun of GB today, You got to give credit to the effort by the team, especially to Wiggins. As much as i didn't like how little he showed himself in the mountains on the tour, he sure put it all on the line for Cav today, especially considering he has a real chance at winning the Gold in the TT.

HOw about how much today's race changes the TT on Weds. Cancellara looks really hurt, Wiggins put in a ton of effort. Could we have a surprise on Weds. Looking at how Phinney looked today, he may be your dark horse.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Oh, and one final thing. Bourgain better win a medal. And Voeckler should have been included, as much as it pains me to write it.

Yes.
Definitely a course and race that would have suited Voeckler's style.
Easy breaks to sit in and do nothing, too.

 

[UlleGigo]

Lol. Then, what should have they done? Send Wiggo in the early break away?

The Brits did things well. Cav in a bunch sprint obviously was their biggest chance for gold. So, control the break and hope for other teams to jump in the mix were pretty much the only tactics they could apply. It didn't work out. Too bad.

If GB made an error, so did most of the countries.

To be fair to GB, what were they supposed to do? Perhaps they could have forced the issue a bit more by sitting up and forcing others to chase but that is a risky strategy.

All joking aside they came very close to what would have been a brilliant win.

 

[Franklin]

To be fair to GB, what were they supposed to do? Perhaps they could have forced the issue a bit more by sitting up and forcing others to chase but that is a risky strategy.

All joking aside they came very close to what would have been a brilliant win.

I say, look at Germany in 2000.

 

[Knutsen]

I know! It's like they'd never ridden the Tour! I'm sure they can keep going through to the Vuelta.

Maybe through the winter into next season. They should just lead every race until the next Olympics.

Now we are up to speed again with the clinic-comments. Was a bit slow for a little while.

 

[UlleGigo]

Leading the main peloton from the start and continuing for 220k then complaining why no would help beggars belief. What did they expect with tactics like that!?

Never seen anything so stupid in all my life. 250km with four guys!?

They were a victim of their own hype. Maybe do the spin classes in secret in future. Obviously scared all their rivals with their immense training techniques.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

To be fair to GB, what were they supposed to do? Perhaps they could have forced the issue a bit more by sitting up and forcing others to chase but that is a risky strategy.

All joking aside they came very close to what would have been a brilliant win.

They should have had a guy in the break. They were immense to pull off what they did in the World Champs which was risky enough with 8 guys, but today with 4 doing the work?

Gutted for the team, but I hope it's a lesson learnt. Although at the time I was glad to see Cancellara removed as a threat, I think he would have been a very worthy Olympic Gold medallist.

 

[Soloist]

Happy to see Vino get it. Olympic gold should be won by a rider who can do it all, and by someone who is aggressive - not by dragging a guy around the course for 150 miles so that he can win by two hundredths of a second.

 

[Flamin]

They should have had a guy in the break. They were immense to pull off what they did in the World Champs which was risky enough with 8 guys, but today with 4 doing the work?

Gutted for the team, but I hope it's a lesson learnt. Although at the time I was glad to see Cancellara removed as a threat, I think he would have been a very worthy Olympic Gold medallist.

As if anyone would have let that happened, just like that.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

If only Britain understood racing in a sprint stage doesn't work like racing in a 260km one day race......

If they had a little bit better tactics and tried making Australia and Germany work more, they might've been able to close that minute and have Cav sprint.

Ah well, it was more etertaining seeing Sky/UK have to swallow their pride just a little bit.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

As if anyone would have let that happened, just like that.

It wouldn't have happened just like that, in a hypothetical race..

 

[avanti]

Leading the main peloton from the start and continuing for 220k then complaining why no would help beggars belief. .......................quote]

Why would other teams help? Many teams had riders in the breakaway group(s).

 

[Grayguard]

Great win for Vino

 

[happychappy]

Ah well, it was more etertaining seeing Sky/UK have to swallow their pride just a little bit.

Talking of swallowing pride..

Again, I'm not disregarding Wiggins, I'm sure he'll do well this TDF, but no way is he a better GT rider than Menchov. Thus it annoys me when people disregard Menchov for being inconsistent (despite continually getting top 10 GC results in GT's since 2005), and then go on to talk about how it'll be a battle between Evans and Wiggins, while Wiggins has only managed to get a top 10 twice in a GT.

That's a lot of pride to swallow, I think the rest of these forumites will need to help you swallow it all

Lol @Menchov being disregarded and then talking about Wiggins.

Menchov would've killed Wiggins at last Vuelta if he wasn't working for Cobo.

Menchov has won three GT's.

Menchov podiumed the TDF twice.

What did Wiggins ever do to get mentioned alongside Evans and Menchov?

 

[Kellys Big Sprocket]

Joking aside. From the aerial images I did not see too many white camper vans. Can anyone please explain this ?. Caravan and camping pursuits are very popular in the UK just incase you are unaware of this. Maybe Le Tour has brain washed me into this camper van conditioning over the years. I am not into conspiracy theories but this is why Vino won the race. He read our message well

 

[thehog]

Leading the main peloton from the start and continuing for 220k then complaining why no would help beggars belief. .......................quote]

Why would other teams help? Many teams had riders in the breakaway group(s).

Of course other teams had riders up front. Some strong. Some not so strong.

But heres a trick that amateurs use - they sit up and let the break get 15+ minutes.

Two things occur:

1. Another team/nation takes us the chase. They don't want to risk the time blowing out too far.

and/or

2. Because you havent been riding on the front since km 4 you are well rested and you hammer from 60km out and catch the break with a full team.

Simples.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Of course other teams had riders up front. Some strong. Some not so strong.

But heres a trick that amateurs use - they sit up and let the break get 15+ minutes.

Two things occur:

1. Another team/nation takes us the chase. They don't want to risk the time blowing out too far.

and/or

2. Because you havent been riding on the front since km 4 you are well rested and you hammer from 60km out and catch the break with a full team.

Simples.

Who would've taken up the chase?

 

[180mmCrank]

They were a little unlucky but they would have needed a lot of luck for this strategy to have worked

As others have said ...

Option 1 Put someone in the break.

Option 2 Stop riding at the front ... Force someone else to take up the pace. It was obvious that they were going to ride on the front all day.

I struggle to understand what Germany had as a plan? AND I'm the end both Spain and Italy seemed very short on ideas.

T

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

For all the talk about a team event with an individual medallist, the three medallists seem to have had success without any appreciable team support. Kristoff didn't see another Norwegian jersey all day, and Vino saw little of Bazayev for most of the race: Henao was in the break with Urán, but little evidence of active team tactics.


Was Urán a late entry? Was Colombia granted a third place at short notice? Or was it simply a cockup on the starters list that his name was missing?