• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Olympic Road Race Men

Page 85 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
woodenswan said:
i like Cav a lot, but...

Mark Cavendish ‏@MarkCavendish

Gutted. After 250km, less than a minute to 20guys. My guys were INCREDIBLE & there was nothing more we could do. Victims of our own success.

looks like Andy, bored to death, hacked into his account :D

He's right though. His two sprint wins at the end of the Tour (plus the performance of other GB riders) won't have done much to encourage the Germans and Australians to fully commit into making it a bunch sprint.
 
Vino is a legend. I am so happy that he won. I kept on saying i wanted Cancellara to win, then Boonen ( if it car to a sprint ) but once that move went clear i wanted Vino to win. Congratulations.

I am happy that O'Grady attacked and Australia fared reasonably well. Most of all i am happy that Cav was not escorted to the finish line to win a sprint.
There were some riders in that main group like Gerrans and Sagan who i think could have won if they went to that escape group but they did not and Vino won so...
 
Vino is a legend. I am so happy that he won. I kept on saying i wanted Cancellara to win, then Boonen ( if it came to a sprint ) but once that move went clear i wanted Vino to win. Congratulations.

I am happy that O'Grady attacked and Australia fared reasonably well. Most of all i am happy that Cav was not escorted to the finish line to win a sprint.
There were some riders in that main group like Gerrans and Sagan who i think could have won if they went to that escape group but they did not and Vino won so...:D
 
Apr 12, 2010
646
0
0
Visit site
JRanton said:
He's right though. His two sprint wins at the end of the Tour (plus the performance of other GB riders) won't have done much to encourage the Germans and Australians to fully commit into making it a bunch sprint.

The Germans did have every intention of making it a sprint but tried to play clever.
From Rod Ellingworth regards tactics:-

"The Germans told us they would put a rider up front early on to help keep tabs on the early break but what they didn't tell us was that Tony Martin was going to pull out early," Ellingworth said. Towards the end both Bert Grabsch and Marcel Sieberg assisted in the chase but to no avail.

"If there had been eight riders going full gas we would have taken [the breakaway] back. We were banking on other teams taking it on later as well as us. The plan was that surely other teams with a sprinter would want to race, and without other teams committed to the race it was never going to work. I think the team was a victim of its own success. They rode well, never stopped, fought all the way. They couldn't have done anything differently."

From this they obviously always knew they'd never be able to control the whole of the race and was hoping for help. As regards to Eisel I don't understand why he's getting so much grief as he rode with Cav on a couple of loops of Boxhill and was nowhere to be seen on the last loop. The white jersey seen pulling was a German. Glad to see Canc isn't too badly hurt.
 
Mar 18, 2009
981
0
0
Visit site
Was happy to see Vino win...Would have loved to see Fabian win but it was not to be. I thought that it was kind of fitting that Vino ends his career with a win like the Olympic RR...12 years is a long time to wait for the opportunity to come along again.
 
Caruut said:
Today, I saw an arrogant and tactically naive race by GB. I also saw a great race - it was a rare chance to see genuine legends of my favourite sport going head to head live.

Most British people saw a valiant and heroic effort that fell short not one that was doomed to failure from the start the way they laid out their cards from the start.

In the end, I think everyone went home happy. My relatives spent all day chiding me for supporting Fabian, not Cav, yet they all loved it. Like I said up thread, there was applause in the bar I watched the final 10km in as Vino crossed the line.

The host nations overwhelming favourite for the race, World champion Mark Cavendish, was critical of the other countries that he felt were racing solely to deny him victory, but Boonen saw a flaw in the Great Britain tactics.

"They seemed a little too self-confident to me,” the former World champion said. “Everyone thought that the gap to the breakaway would be closed down, and I myself believed that they had everything under control.

“But they overestimated themselves,” he explained. “At some point in the finale was one of their guys was still fetching water, but you should never do that. Suddenly the gap was 20 seconds bigger and I think that was where they lost the race.”

Boonen finished second in the bunch sprint; he was beaten to the line by Germany’s André Greipel, but managed to outsprint Cavendish, who was then without his teammates.

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12523/Tom-Boonen-We-have-nothing-to-reproach-ourselves-for.aspx

"Our team did little to reproach itself for,” he explained. “We did what we had to do. Phil, Greg and Jurgen were always in the breaks, and Jurgen was up there close to the podium. I felt really good. We were here for a medal, but unfortunately we were not successful."

With men up the road, Belgium was one of the many major nations that had no obligation to chase down any of the breaks, which allowed Boonen to relax in the peloton for most of the race. This heaped more pressure onto the Great Britain team, who were pushed into doing the vast majority of the work on the front.
 
That was an epic race.Vino deserves to be olympic champion with his never say die attacks paying off in the end.Lets hope the womens race is also a great race and my money is on amanda spratt from Australia.(Personal bias=Training partner on ocassions)Also well done to Kristoff in the break all day and still sprints well to claim a bronze medal.
 
Sep 25, 2009
7,527
1
0
Visit site
i found it interesting that brajkovič and kreuziger, vono's astana teammates but riding today for their own nations, became his teammates in the olympic race....

they were doing everything to slow the peloton when vino attacked.

am i the only one who saw it ?
 
Really cool to see Vino win today!! What a rider he is and if this is to be his last race ever, what a way to sign off!!! Hopefully there is no controversy, no failed dope tests, no conspiracy (LOL)...That was a great race to watch, especially the last third or so. Sorry for what happened to Spartacus today, but happy to see the overrated Brits shut out.
 
Bala Verde said:
Uran sold the gold to Vino, it seems from watching some replay of a conversation between the 2.
any dude who credit those two riders with the capacity to make a deal in a few second, while riding away from a mad chase group at 40 miles an hour give them negotiating skills that are so great it makes cycling achievements look like a joke. According to some, those two would be better off at the United Nations. I mean I have heard plenty silly theories in cycling forums, but this one takes the cake.
 
Oct 16, 2009
3,864
0
0
Visit site
Caruut said:
Today, I saw an arrogant and tactically naive race by GB. I also saw a great race - it was a rare chance to see genuine legends of my favourite sport going head to head live.

Most British people saw a valiant and heroic effort that fell short not one that was doomed to failure from the start the way they laid out their cards from the start.

In the end, I think everyone went home happy. My relatives spent all day chiding me for supporting Fabian, not Cav, yet they all loved it. Like I said up thread, there was applause in the bar I watched the final 10km in as Vino crossed the line.
I agree. In hindsight, it was pure arrogance of GB to believe they could control a 250 km race with 4 guys. As Boonen said, they didn't even ask for help. After the Tour we were all so impressed we thought they could do anything, and they obviously thought so too. GB were indeed victims of their own success, but not in the way Cav meant.
 
Jul 6, 2012
223
0
0
Visit site
I was only able to watch the first half and had no idea I'd return to see a Central Asian victory! Better than I ever could have imagined.

Thank you for everything, Vino!
 
May 30, 2012
2
0
0
Visit site
I've only been watching road cycling seriously a few years and certainly haven't seen many 1 day races however..

i think the final box hill timings below seem to illustrate quite well the knife edge where the race tilted away from GB
http://www.london2012.com/cycling-road/event/men-road-race/phase=crm012100/doc=detailedresults.html

it shows the established breakaway of 22 riders with a lead of 21s over 11 escapees (canc, sanchez, vino, uran etc) with the peloton just 18s back on them.

it seems to me that GB absolutely had to catch this key move of 11 before they joined up with the breakaway as it created 3 quality team units that would ride cohesively - Swiss (4 riders), Spain (3 riders) and US (3 riders) ie 7+ (fresh) guys willing to ride against the GB/Germans' 7 riders.

What is also noticeable is that at this point all the Germans except Degenkolb were hanging well back and on the replay even he didn't appear do any work on the final ascent or just after.

12 minutes later the escapees had made the junction and it is only about this time you see Germany committing to the chase.

Obviously Germany only wanted to lend just enough support to GB to make sure there is a bunch sprint but with all GB riders too knackered to leadout/position Cav. If they had all been in close attendance and really pushed with GB in the last stages of the ascent and in those vital 12 minutes to catch the 11 escapees would the field have then come back for a bunch sprint as the original breakaway was looking fairly flaky? A big pull from Tony Martin would have been ideal but losing him was a major (or fatal perhaps) blow for GB & Germany. Perhaps GB could also have sacrificed a man to close the gap at this point?

The 3 man Belarus team have been generally overlooked. Kiryienka put in a good shift at the front in the run up to box hill, the only other guy to help out GB, presumably in support of Hutarovich. Kiryienka withdrew after 5 laps but if not perhaps they could been another ally?

Overall it seems to me that GB really weren't too far away from forcing the bunch sprint, possibly just needing to close that 18s gap within that window. Germany just played their hand a bit too late but were hampered without Martin.
 
Dekker_Tifosi said:
Pushed into?

They started riding at 4km and never asked for help

I think they believed that once box hill was out of the way other nations would come up and do some work to bring the break back. As it was they never really recieved any significant help until the last 25km by then it was too late.

Interesting that Miller said they had taken the final loop of Box hill steadily as they didn't want to stetch Cav however when Cav said he was comfortable Miller still believed they would claw them back with help so kept the steady pace. A definate mistake now.
 
alias rat said:
I've only been watching road cycling seriously a few years and certainly haven't seen many 1 day races however..

i think the final box hill timings below seem to illustrate quite well the knife edge where the race tilted away from GB
http://www.london2012.com/cycling-road/event/men-road-race/phase=crm012100/doc=detailedresults.html

it shows the established breakaway of 22 riders with a lead of 21s over 11 escapees (canc, sanchez, vino, uran etc) with the peloton just 18s back on them.

it seems to me that GB absolutely had to catch this key move of 11 before they joined up with the breakaway as it created 3 quality team units that would ride cohesively - Swiss (4 riders), Spain (3 riders) and US (3 riders) ie 7+ (fresh) guys willing to ride against the GB/Germans' 7 riders.

What is also noticeable is that at this point all the Germans except Degenkolb were hanging well back and on the replay even he didn't appear do any work on the final ascent or just after.

12 minutes later the escapees had made the junction and it is only about this time you see Germany committing to the chase.

Obviously Germany only wanted to lend just enough support to GB to make sure there is a bunch sprint but with all GB riders too knackered to leadout/position Cav. If they had all been in close attendance and really pushed with GB in the last stages of the ascent and in those vital 12 minutes to catch the 11 escapees would the field have then come back for a bunch sprint as the original breakaway was looking fairly flaky? A big pull from Tony Martin would have been ideal but losing him was a major (or fatal perhaps) blow for GB & Germany. Perhaps GB could also have sacrificed a man to close the gap at this point?

The 3 man Belarus team have been generally overlooked. Kiryienka put in a good shift at the front in the run up to box hill, the only other guy to help out GB, presumably in support of Hutarovich. Kiryienka withdrew after 5 laps but if not perhaps they could been another ally?

Overall it seems to me that GB really weren't too far away from forcing the bunch sprint, possibly just needing to close that 18s gap within that window. Germany just played their hand a bit too late but were hampered without Martin.
You are not taking into account that GB team was pulling for Cav and therefore had to be careful on Box hill to not leave him behind. We have been acustomed in the TDF to see Sky pulling for Wiggins who doesn't get dropped in such hills. Cav climbing was the Achilles tendon on the GB strategy as well as being the "raison d’être"
 
Mar 19, 2009
1,311
0
0
Visit site
BullsFan22 said:
Really cool to see Vino win today!! What a rider he is and if this is to be his last race ever, what a way to sign off!!! Hopefully there is no controversy, no failed dope tests, no conspiracy (LOL)...That was a great race to watch, especially the last third or so. Sorry for what happened to Spartacus today, but happy to see the overrated Brits shut out.

I agree it was the first interesting big pro race I've seen in a while.....Its been so boring this year apart from the Giro. Good for Vino to go out in style....
 
Apr 21, 2009
73
0
0
Visit site
Memos regarding the Olympic Road Race. Sorry if a few of these are repeats - I haven’t read any posts this morning.

Team GB:Memo 1: Equation: [4 riders plus the occasional German riding fast tempo for 240+ km unequal to 11 riders in breakaway, then 20, then 35 riders in breakaway]. Tactic: epic fail

Memo 2: Mmmm: So this isn’t a stage tour? Right, Olympic Road race is one day race every 4 years. There is no tomorrow.

Memo 3: Mmmm: So riding Tempo for 200km to keep Cav with us up Zig Zag hill also meant the rest of the Peloton were riding tempo. Not too tired to attack. Mmmm.

Memo 4: Cav should have lost 2 more kilos. That would have helped.

Memo 5: Perhaps we were a bit arrogant not to chase that last attack down?

Memo 6: Rio 2016. Remember, not a stage race, not a stage race. No tomorrow. Different tactic required.


Vino: Vino not tired riding tempo, Vino Smash!


Cancellara: Memo: Must learn to turn my wheel when cornering. (Bad luck that - would have been really nice to see Cancellara go with 10k left).


35 Riders in last Break:
Memo 1: Cancellara’s crashed. OK so no attack 10k from the finish. That should make it easier.

Memo 2: Wait, Vino’s still here. He always goes 2-3k from the finish. Hold Vino’s wheel. Hold his wheel.


Vino: OK, same tactic. Worked before. Vino go 2-3k from finish. Dumbass riders won’t follow Vino. Vino smash.


Team Oz (with Race Radios):
Stuey: To Matty (White). Matty I’m f**ked. Maybe I can finish top 10, but no chance to win or place.

Matty: To Mick, Cadel. Gerro and Gossy. Stuey’s f**ked. We gotta get on the front and help Team GB. We have to get a sprint finish.

Matty: Sh*t: We don’t have race radio!


35 Riders in last Break:
Memo 1: Vino’s gone, Vino’s gone. Why wasn’t I on his wheel like I said I would be?

Memo 2: OK someone else will chase him down. If I go now I’ll knacker myself and I won’t be in a position to win a medal.

Memo 3: Hang on, no-one’s chasing him down. I’m definitely not going to win a medal.


Vino: Dumbass riders. Vino smash.


Uran: I must write 100 times……with 200-300m to go the race is forward, don’t look back, with 200-300m to go the race is forward, don’t look back, with 200-300m to go the race is forward, don’t look back……………………..


Vino: Vino SMASHED. Vino smart. Vino winner. Vino now retire. Vino go into politics. Dumbass politicians better beware of Vino.