It wasn't by far the only factor in how great this olympic road race turned out to be, but it was a very important contributing factor : reduced number of riders. Give the 10 biggest nations 8 or 9 riders for that race, and you have France and Spain and Belgium locking it all up for Alaphilippe, Valverde or GVA... You have quality teammates in number for the main teams to either bring back the break or just set up a high enough tempo to deter most attacks until the very end. Give Spain and France and others more riders in this race and they burn through a pair of teammates to bring back the Nibali move before the last big climb.
We have seen over and over how team strength is a cancer for this sport be it in one day races or in stage races. Every year or so for the last 5 or 6 La Doyenne sees teams as strong as Orica, Movistar or Katusha ensure that it all stays together as far as possible and the decisive climb is now that ugly Ans ramp after 255kms or racing ! We have seen how Purito won his Lombardias we a team controlling everything until the last climb where he could just shoot up with his usual explosiveness.... On stage races and GTs we have seen how strong GC contender teams like Sky can just block a race by ensuring a high enough pace that no one can attack and everybody fears the boomerang effect. We have seen many times strong teams just block the race Liquigas Giro 2012 style even when their leader isn't that strong. The best GT or stage races have been when the strongest rider finds himself in a weak team having to work by himself (Contador in the 2015 Giro against the Astanas, SK in this year's third week of the Giro against the Astana's again).
Homogeneity has been a normal consequence of ever more professionalisation of this sport (and less magical doping with a more level playing field probabaly, but that's another subject). 20 or 30 years ago the top 5 riders in a category were miles ahead the 50st rider, but today on a GT like the Tour de France you have really strong guys being 40st or 50st on the GC + teammates for strong teams as strong as many leaders.
To fight agains the effect of this homogeneity, namely the fact that it all comes down to the very last kms and those marginal semi percentage points, reducing team sizes deserves at least a real try out. Team managers would oppose it because they crave control and big strong teams gives them exactly that : control over the race so that it all comes down to Ans.... But this is the opposite of what this sport needs. Disorder and unforeseen racing is what we want. Nowadays we have come to rest too much on daunting weather or unlucky crashes (hello SK), these are part of the race but shouldn't be the only way to get a good show. It's unfair on the riders that they either have to go throuhgh 120km/h gales like in Gand Wevelgem 2015 or crash on a snow bank for us to start vibrating about the race.
There were tryouts for reduced team races, such as the tour de Pologne in WT in previous years, but the same way there were tryouts for races without oreillettes (see the infamous riders strike on the Tour de France a few years back against it), the UCI has always folded against big teams and managers' pressure who see big teams with many strong teammates and oreillettes as ways of efficiently controling the race and the outcome of it. And they are right !!! If i am manager in a big team I want many riders because I can ensure my leader Froome or Quintana always gets brought safelty in a winning position to the middle of that last climb where he can do his thing, because I know I can pull my Gerrans or my Valverde all the way to Ans where he can work his magic, because I have my good teammates to control it all at the bottom of the Poggio and let my Kristoff or my Degenkolb win that sprint.
Anyway sorry for the long rant, but really reduced teams need to be tried out soon in big races. It is absurd to have teams of 8 guys on a one day classic for example.
We have seen over and over how team strength is a cancer for this sport be it in one day races or in stage races. Every year or so for the last 5 or 6 La Doyenne sees teams as strong as Orica, Movistar or Katusha ensure that it all stays together as far as possible and the decisive climb is now that ugly Ans ramp after 255kms or racing ! We have seen how Purito won his Lombardias we a team controlling everything until the last climb where he could just shoot up with his usual explosiveness.... On stage races and GTs we have seen how strong GC contender teams like Sky can just block a race by ensuring a high enough pace that no one can attack and everybody fears the boomerang effect. We have seen many times strong teams just block the race Liquigas Giro 2012 style even when their leader isn't that strong. The best GT or stage races have been when the strongest rider finds himself in a weak team having to work by himself (Contador in the 2015 Giro against the Astanas, SK in this year's third week of the Giro against the Astana's again).
Homogeneity has been a normal consequence of ever more professionalisation of this sport (and less magical doping with a more level playing field probabaly, but that's another subject). 20 or 30 years ago the top 5 riders in a category were miles ahead the 50st rider, but today on a GT like the Tour de France you have really strong guys being 40st or 50st on the GC + teammates for strong teams as strong as many leaders.
To fight agains the effect of this homogeneity, namely the fact that it all comes down to the very last kms and those marginal semi percentage points, reducing team sizes deserves at least a real try out. Team managers would oppose it because they crave control and big strong teams gives them exactly that : control over the race so that it all comes down to Ans.... But this is the opposite of what this sport needs. Disorder and unforeseen racing is what we want. Nowadays we have come to rest too much on daunting weather or unlucky crashes (hello SK), these are part of the race but shouldn't be the only way to get a good show. It's unfair on the riders that they either have to go throuhgh 120km/h gales like in Gand Wevelgem 2015 or crash on a snow bank for us to start vibrating about the race.
There were tryouts for reduced team races, such as the tour de Pologne in WT in previous years, but the same way there were tryouts for races without oreillettes (see the infamous riders strike on the Tour de France a few years back against it), the UCI has always folded against big teams and managers' pressure who see big teams with many strong teammates and oreillettes as ways of efficiently controling the race and the outcome of it. And they are right !!! If i am manager in a big team I want many riders because I can ensure my leader Froome or Quintana always gets brought safelty in a winning position to the middle of that last climb where he can do his thing, because I know I can pull my Gerrans or my Valverde all the way to Ans where he can work his magic, because I have my good teammates to control it all at the bottom of the Poggio and let my Kristoff or my Degenkolb win that sprint.
Anyway sorry for the long rant, but really reduced teams need to be tried out soon in big races. It is absurd to have teams of 8 guys on a one day classic for example.