Race thread: Olympics 2020/21 Tokyo, Men's Road Race, 234k

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Evenepoel, Dumoulin and Roglic not looking too hot for wednesday based on today's result.

How many of the top 10 didn't do the TdF?

 

[Pulpstar]

Excellent ride by Carapaz. The podium was the right one, glad WVA got 2nd and Pog 3rd - the rest of the chasers didn't deserve anything.

 

[spalco]

I'm not a big fan of Wout Van Aert but i feel so bad for him. Such a strong rider that's not afraid to take a turn but got Sagan'd once again just like in the Worlds last year.

Eh, he got the maximum out of what was possible in the end today imo.

An olympic silver is a fine achievement.

 

[Andy262]

Quality podium and glad Carapaz won. Would have been nice if McNulty had had the legs.

 

[Billie]

How many of the top 10 didn't do the TdF?

Adam Yates and Schachmann 9 and 10.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

and then back to CX

Can we change Pog's thread title to "Pogacar is the new Pidcock"...

 

[Hugo Koblet]

How many of the top 10 didn't do the TdF?

Only Yates and Schachmann in 9th and 10th!

 

[Pantani_lives]

Carapaz was always a candidate. He just needed that one moment of doubt to get rid of Pogacar and Van Aert, and he found it.

 

[titan31]

Almeida with a ninja like 13th in the end

 

[DenisMenchov]

I'm not a big fan of Wout Van Aert but i feel so bad for him. Such a strong rider that's not afraid to take a turn but got Sagan'd once again just like in the Worlds last year.

That's just speaks so much about Sagan's 3 consecutive golds at the Worlds

 

[Volderke]

Rim brakes for the win (and 3rd).

 

[Savant12]

Last 25km were exciting to watch. Great race!

 

[SafeBet]

Last 40 km of the race were great. Carapaz was probably the strongest, but Van Aert was just WOW. The way he almost closed the gap on his own was incredible. And he managed to even win the sprint for second.

Glad Richie won anyway, he's such a fun rider to watch.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

How many of the top 10 didn't do the TdF?

Yates and Schachmann.
Edit: beaten heavily

 

[RedheadDane]

Almeida with a ninja like 13th in the end

Once he dropped out of that most important of competitions, there was just no point in getting any better.

 

[Faserr]

Nice race in the end. Happy for Carapaz.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Was the colour on my TV off, or was the blue on these jerseys swapped for black in the race jerseys?

I lived in Ecuador for a couple of years, so I'm delighted in the result: they will be ecstatic.

Nice paint job on his bike.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Wow the Japs heavily applauding a group coming in 16 mins down.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Almeida with a ninja like 13th in the end

He was kind of a dark horse. Expected to see more of him, but not terrible either.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm not a big fan of Wout Van Aert but i feel so bad for him. Such a strong rider that's not afraid to take a turn but got Sagan'd once again just like in the Worlds last year.

The classic problem of being so strong that everybody knows you'll beat them at the end. People would be unlikely to help him anyway, but after his Tour exploits why would anybody collaborate with Wout, especially after McNulty was dropped by Carapaz - you're fighting for silver but tiring yourself out if you collaborate, and you're fighting for silver but being fresher if you don't. If he hadn't been as strong in the Tour he might have got better collaboration or, hell, if Roglič hadn't crashed out, so that he expended his energy more as a domestique than as a stagehunter, but then again would you trade the Tour that WVA just had to upgrade the Olympic medal from silver to gold? I don't think I would, but YMMV.

 

[JosefK]

Can we change Pog's thread title to "Pogacar is the new Pidcock"...

Pog's wheels are round. Wout stretched out his wheels oblong-like to nab the win.

 

[Breezy1985]

Quality podium and glad Carapaz won. Would have been nice if McNulty had had the legs.

No offense to McNulty but the US will win a ton of medals so delighted for the 3 winners.

 

[IndianCyclist]

If Evenepoel had managed to get in the front group, Belgium would get gold

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Wow, what a race. As expected, all important action started on Mikuni. When Pogacar and McNulty attacked I didn't think Van Aert would catch them at the end of the climb. He did an incredible effort on Mikuni, wow. OTOH Pogacar clearly didn't have his best wattage there. The decisive break happened later: at a plateau before a smaller climb when Carapaz and McNulty (again!) attacked. Afterwards another huge effort by Van Aert who decreased the gap from 45 to 14 seconds. They almost had them but then Carapaz attacked Brandon on another small hill and I felt it was decisive. Pogi almost passed Wout on a sprint! I thought he did it but Wout threw his bike better. Obviously a stellar podium, two guys from the TdF podium and Wout almighty. I feel bad for McNulty who was man of the day when it comes to attacks.

 

[woodburn]

The BBC are absolute clowns.

I like Bettiol to win this but don't write off McNulty. He looks good and we know he's got a great TT engine. Exactly the type of guy who gets let go for just a bit too much time while the more out and out favourites look at each other