Olympic Road Race Men

[JibberJim]

Be interesting to see Froome could go in a race like today's too.

The fact he went before Wiggins despite doing less work on the front suggests he'd've struggled - he appears to be much much happier working hard up hill or on his TT bike than he does on the flat on his road bike. Maybe he can sort that out, but at the moment he's far from a classics rider.

 

[El Pistolero]

Oh well, at least we have a medal already at the Olympics.

 

[UlleGigo]

By the by, the award for worst tactics of the day must go to Austria with Eisel working for Cav. Great stuff.

 

[sagard]

I'll cut Uran some slack. Did Friere not catch a group of eight or nine sleeping with similar move in the Worlds?

Sure wish Cance would have stayed up. Fun race when the riders are all in.

 

[JRanton]

You must be new to British reactions to defeat. Buckle up.

We'll just have to console ourselves with 1 and 2 in the Tour and seven stage wins from four different British riders.

It's a tough old life following British cycling.

 

[Frosty]

BBC News reort on race "instead Vinokourov,one of cyclings convicted drugs cheats...." weep

as far as written stuff goes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19026202

nothing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19012445

nothing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18909585

mentions it there right at the bottom

 

[Franklin]

I'll cut Uran some slack. Did Friere not catch a group of eight or nine sleeping with similar move in the Worlds?

Sure wish Cance would have stayed up. Fun race when the riders are all in.

Zoetemelk another example of riding away when everyone is napping.

But those cases were against a group which is arguably more understandable (who takes responsibility?) Whereas Uran only had to look at one guy.

 

[The Sheep]

You think the BBC will be the only non-cycling outlet to report that Vino was a drugs cheat and an unrepentant one at that?

No but they were clearly very bitter about cav not winning, that's why they lashed out to the winner.

 

[theyoungest]

For a long while, it looked like the Brits would pull it off. But then I saw Wiggo's face at 40 k to go, and I thought "wow, I didn't see him suffer like this in the Tour". Apparently the race was harder than it looked.

Personally I liked to see Gesink back at a reasonable level. Unfortunately he had to work for Boom, who seems to have lost all tactical capabilities, and probably just isn't as strong as Gesink.

 

[Gubby Allen]

There weren't many days when you could have the road races though - in fact it was pretty much the only date - marathon finishes in the stadium so can't be first day after the opening ceremony and you can't close the roads on a work day. So whilst I'm sure they were happy to have a favourite in the first medal (was it - or did a Judo one get in first?) but I doubt it was that much of a conspiracy.

If GB wanted a gold medal to start it all off, the lottery of the road race, which never ends in a sprint would not have been picked.

The womens chances tomorrow were always stronger. If they wanted to nail on a medal, they'd have put either Triathlon in the first day.

Shooting has already dished out medals anyway.

It was more likely one of the blue ribbon (or is it riband) events rather than a medal hope.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

No but they were clearly very bitter about cav not winning, that's why they lashed out to the winner.

I just saw news report on BBC.

It was okay.

 

[Frosty]

The fact he went before Wiggins despite doing less work on the front suggests he'd've struggled - he appears to be much much happier working hard up hill or on his TT bike than he does on the flat on his road bike. Maybe he can sort that out, but at the moment he's far from a classics rider.

Well yeah but maybe he had been working harder. The fact he does stage races suggests that is what he thinks/they think he is best at. Just wonder if he could do something though if he turned his mind to it - good engine, good turn of speed.

 

[UlleGigo]

We'll just have to console ourselves with 1 and 2 in the Tour and seven stage wins from four different British riders.

It's a tough old life following British cycling.

I guess I also forgot to mention British reactions to victory which are probably even worse.

 

[thehog]

That seems a bit harsh. Everyone knew what they needed to do for Cav. It was not as if it was a surprise. As soon as the first break went GB would needed to chase. Given in the end neither the Germans or the Aussies did any significant chasing even in the dying stages I doubt anything would have been different at the start.

You could fault them for not trying to get someone in the break though but who would you put?

Why did GB need to chase the first attack from kilometer 4?

That I do not understand.

 

[hrotha]

I'll cut Uran some slack. Did Friere not catch a group of eight or nine sleeping with similar move in the Worlds?

Nope. That was a pretty standard "one rider attacks, no one else wants to be the sacrificial lamb and bridge" move with, what, 700 m to go?. This was Urán looking back for like 3 seconds with 200-250 m to go, i.e. just when you'd expect the sprint to start.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'll cut Uran some slack. Did Friere not catch a group of eight or nine sleeping with similar move in the Worlds?

Sure wish Cance would have stayed up. Fun race when the riders are all in.

That was epic.

Everybody swings to the right and looks at each other.

Everybody swings to the left and looks at each other. Except one who stays right.

Everybody looks at each other, counts up the faces, realises they're one short. Everybody looks up the road. Óscar's only gone and won.

 

[Gubby Allen]

No but they were clearly very bitter about cav not winning, that's why they lashed out to the winner.

I can assure you that they were not. 90% of the BBC staff wouldn't even know his name. Sue Barker has called him 'Kinokourov' twice now.

I haven't seen an ounce of bitterness, Cav spoke straight afterwards and was quite upbeat.

 

[El Pistolero]

That was epic.

Everybody swings to the right and looks at each other.

Everybody swings to the left and looks at each other. Except one who stays right.

Everybody looks at each other, counts up the faces, realises they're one short. Everybody looks up the road. Óscar's only gone and won.

Oscar probably won that race by accident anyway.

 

[Andre.J]

Good medal for Colombia, but what Uran did was by not looking at Vino was beyond stupid....he could have won the Gold. Colombia should be proud nonetheless.

I was surprised that the chasers didn't bridge the gap to Vino and Uran...they had plenty of time.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

We'll just have to console ourselves with 1 and 2 in the Tour and seven stage wins from four different British riders.

It's a tough old life following British cycling.

First time for everything, I guess.

 

[Cimber]

No radios, small team= real racing!

Hell yeah. Even Copenhagen would have been interesting like that

 

[BillytheKid]

We'll just have to console ourselves with 1 and 2 in the Tour and seven stage wins from four different British riders.

It's a tough old life following British cycling.

That was the problem today, they were still at the TDF and not at the Olympic Road race. Much more a Classic's race. Great crowd, and a good course. Sometimes it just does not turn out like you plan.

 

[JRanton]

For a long while, it looked like the Brits would pull it off. But then I saw Wiggo's face at 40 k to go, and I thought "wow, I didn't see him suffer like this in the Tour". Apparently the race was harder than it looked.

Personally I liked to see Gesink back at a reasonable level. Unfortunately he had to work for Boom, who seems to have lost all tactical capabilities, and probably just isn't as strong as Gesink.

I don't think it was really that hard, it was just that the four Brits were working virtually from the first KM to control the race. Before the race I was expecting Martin and Grabsch to do much more work than they actually did and then when Grabsch did start working in the last 30km it was too late. Martin really didn't do that much work on the front before climbing off.

 

[spalco]

The fact he went before Wiggins despite doing less work on the front suggests he'd've struggled - he appears to be much much happier working hard up hill or on his TT bike than he does on the flat on his road bike. Maybe he can sort that out, but at the moment he's far from a classics rider.

Or he told himself "**** Cav, I wanna win the TT".

 

[Irish2009]

Cant imaginr the Beeb saying "David Millar (GB) convicted drug cheat and the winner nobody would have wanted".

Can't understand why GB didnt put Froome in the early break so they didnt have to chase? and then to expect help from the Germans just because they f**ked up as well, just shows that without race radios lots of good racing occurs.

Pity Cancellara crashed, the confusion after it was enough to let Vino slip away, Swiss would have kept it togeather for a Cancellara attack near the finish.

Maybe not a great result, but great racing.