Olympic Road Race (women’s) 2024 (August 4rd)

[Libertine Seguros]

Yup. Wonder how it would have played out without the crash, but I honestly think the strongest won today. Kopecky might have something to say about tahat, that bridge she did obviously took lots out of herm, but Faulkner was a beast today. Looking like Remco just shredding riders off the wheel, grande!

Kopecky can say what she wants, she doesn't bridge to the front without Faulkner doing 100% the work to break the others on Butte de Montmartre and then 75% of the work to tow them back to Vas/Vos. If Kopecky was bluffing to make Faulkner do more work and then asked the clearly empty Vas and Vos to chase on her behalf expecting to be towed to the gold despite being the freshest of the four, then she's an idiot. In any other circumstances, Faulkner was the strongest today and 100% earned the gold medal.

 

[yaco]

Bigger upset. Faulkner for the gold or Kuss for the Vuelta?

What a ride!

Kuss for the Vuelta. Faulkner is still developing despite her age.

 

[kingjr]

My eyes definitely deceived me. Complete disasterclass in those final 4 km.

Strongest won today though.

I wouldn't call this a disasterclass, their legs were all dead.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Language Lotte!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Kopecky can say what she wants, she doesn't bridge to the front without Faulkner doing 100% the work to break the others on Butte de Montmartre and then 75% of the work to tow them back to Vas/Vos. If Kopecky was bluffing to make Faulkner do more work and then asked the clearly empty Vas and Vos to chase on her behalf expecting to be towed to the gold despite being the freshest of the four, then she's an idiot. In any other circumstances, Faulkner was the strongest today and 100% earned the gold medal.

Well I agree, but going deep like that for 10 minutes really hurt you and I don't think Kopecky ever truly recovered from that effort, but Faulkner was obviously immense. She went really, really fast considering how relatively much she dropped Wiebes, Vollering etc. when she bridged. She was just dead in the end, and Faulkner deservedly won

 

[Didinho]

When are they gonna learn in a slow sprint to just get next to the front rider instead of needing to go a full bike length faster.
Vas didn’t use any slipstream and just come a bit short.

 

[yaco]

Faulkner could have got a medal in the ITT if the USA did not start a triathlete in her place.

 

[Didinho]

Faulkner could have got a medal in the ITT if the USA did not start a triathlete in her place.

She wasn’t even selected for today in the first place.

 

[memyselfandI]

I understand why Vos decided not to take a pull even though she was strong today. She already have Oly gold, so why drag others to the line? You can be sure if she took away with Faulkner she'll take another gold. And enough time for a victory salute too.

But thumbs up for USA, they did those two decisive moves of the day.

 

[dobrien]

When are they gonna learn in a slow sprint to just get next to the front rider instead of needing to go a full bike length faster.
Vas didn’t use any slipstream and just come a bit short.

Gutted for Blanka; she certainly would have deserved a medal but she definitely muffed that sprint. Too bad.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Faulkner could have got a medal in the ITT if the USA did not start a triathlete in her place.

Her not riding the ITT might have been a blessing in disguise though, since she could very well have crashed during it, too. She could also focus a lot more on this race than those who arrived in Paris a week earlier.

 

[JR1012]

Stupid crash decided the race.

But great race. Better than yesterday.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Well thats the olympics done for another 4 years.

 

[meat puppet]

It's funny how the tables were turned. Women produced interesting racing with gaps that are somewhat believable in the age of professionalism and whatever.

I wish racing was more like this and less like what the mens' 2024 has been. I mean how is this not more entertaining?

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I'm not sure I've previously seen anyone attack a flat run-in inside 4 km to go and win by almost a minute

 

[awavey]

Eagerly looking forward to the couch potatoes on this board telling us what the correct tactics should have been and what every rider should have done to maximize their chances of winning.
That seems to be an inevitable post-race ritual here.

Brilliant race, made better by the lack of race radios.

For every alternate scenario you can game theory think up, there's a completely plausible counter scenario to it. I think that's what actually made the race in the end it was completely impossible to predict the outcomes or who should have done what instead when.

But I'm expecting alot more "If only..." comments from the riders post race than yesterday's Remco was just quicker style.

 

[yaco]

She wasn’t even selected for today in the first place.

I posted at the time that the USA selection criteria was madness when you select Knibbs ( triathlete ) who had never ridden a RR in her life. Luckily, Faulner made the track team and could ride the RR.

 

[dgodave]

Wow. Exciting race!

 

[yaco]

Her not riding the ITT might have been a blessing in disguise though, since she could very well have crashed during it, too. She could also focus a lot more on this race than those who arrived in Paris a week earlier.

Bear in mind that nearly every one outside the top two crashed in the ITT.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Language Demi!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Bear in mind that nearly every one outside the top two crashed in the ITT.

That's why I called it a likely blessing in disguise.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Are we psychologically prepared for the moment Vos retires?

 

[Sciatic]

Faulkner solo incoming.

Good call!

 

[Sciatic]

Did Faulkner not realise she'd won or just too shellshocked to post up and get the big photo

On the replay you can see the smile and relief on her face, so I think she knew. Must be up there with most subdued gold-medal winning celebrations in Olympics history.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Bigger upset. Faulkner for the gold or Kuss for the Vuelta?

What a ride!

Unless it's like, Oliver Zaugg at Lombardia, fluking a GT - races that are designed to eliminate fluke winners - will always be a bigger upset than a surprise winner of a one-day race. The surprise is not that Kristen Faulkner won, because that can happen, it's that Kristen Faulkner won by being the strongest rider on the day and winning by outmuscling the likes of Vos and Kopecky, not by outsmarting them. You can argue that the final 3k she won it in tactics, but she won the right to do that by being the strongest on the final lap and taking what looked like a suicidal risk that exposed her to the risk of giftwrapping the race to Kopecky and dooming herself to 4th - but crucially, gave herself the chance to win.