Rio 2016 Olympic Road Race and Time Trial courses

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

I don't understand why is nibali number one favourite for rio... rio's climbs are very steep and quintana and contador are very capable of dropping him.

I don't think he is the number one fav, Valverde might be but this is a 250k hilly classics one day race which finishes after a technical descent on a relatively flat run in, Contador and Quintana never ever had any kind of results in such races.

Euh LBL '10? Lombardia '12?

In LBL contador was one of the best tiders, and in Lombardia he was the best besides purito.

I was talking about results, finishing 9th in a bunch with Mollema and Nairo or the same 6 years ago in LBL with another bunch of mostly now retired riders do not make exactly a favorite. Don't get me wrong, Bertie is capable to win on a parcours like in Rio but neither I nor the bookies give him much chances compared to riders who have similar capabilities and proved recently that thwy can succesfully fight for the win.

Results don't matter when he's proven he can do it.

Results don't show how much of a beast nibali is in one day races for example. Won only one big classic.

 

[hrotha]

But he's podiumed another two, which isn't bad. Meanwhile, Contador and Quintana never even do these races. Contador in particular has proven he's among the strongest the few times he's raced, but one-day races are about more than sheer power. Experience is key.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

But he's podiumed another two, which isn't bad. Meanwhile, Contador and Quintana never even do these races. Contador in particular has proven he's among the strongest the few times he's raced, but one-day races are about more than sheer power. Experience is key.

We saw that this year with Boonen at Paris-Roubaix, he didn't win but he created that move from 100km after Sagan and Cancellara were caught behind. If he hadn't, Sagan and Cancellara would likely have just ridden away with 20 to go. A less experienced rider wouldn't have done that.

 

[Miburo]

That's true, and a shitload of luck too.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

I don't understand why is nibali number one favourite for rio... rio's climbs are very steep and quintana and contador are very capable of dropping him.

I don't think he is the number one fav, Valverde might be but this is a 250k hilly classics one day race which finishes after a technical descent on a relatively flat run in, Contador and Quintana never ever had any kind of results in such races.

Euh LBL '10? Lombardia '12?

In LBL contador was one of the best tiders, and in Lombardia he was the best besides purito.

I was talking about results, finishing 9th in a bunch with Mollema and Nairo or the same 6 years ago in LBL with another bunch of mostly now retired riders do not make exactly a favorite. Don't get me wrong, Bertie is capable to win on a parcours like in Rio but neither I nor the bookies give him much chances compared to riders who have similar capabilities and proved recently that thwy can succesfully fight for the win.

Results don't matter when he's proven he can do it.

Results don't show how much of a beast nibali is in one day races for example. Won only one big classic.

Results exactly shows what kind of a one-day rider Nibali is. One big win, couple of podiums, couple of smaller races wins. That's it. He's good, very good on courses like Rio, but not a beast certainly

 

[Rollthedice]

Nibali's first big win was a classic GP Ouest Plouay in 2006, it was a UCI Pro Tour race back then beating Flecha.

 

[Rollthedice]

Wrong post.

 

[Cannibal72]

Results also don't show how Nibali has illuminated various editions of MSR and LBL, because other teams' trains dragged him back and he then dropped off. That shouldn't be a problem here. The same applies for Contador; it's not necessarily results that matter, it's experience at the pointy end of a major one-day race. Quintana seldom even starts classics, so he's severely lacking in that kind of knowledge; Nibali and Contador aren't. However, they both have not shown huge amounts of tactical nous in classics in the past. In fact, to my mind Nibali and Contador have the same problem with this race: the chance, higher than with just about any other rider, that they'll make a suicide attack too early on. (Of course, since he'll likely be working for Piti, this is less of a problem for Contador.) Other than that, they should both be able to demonstrate their experience in classics.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

for this os classical experience isn't much needed. it's basically a very long mountainstage with small teams and if one thing quintana has proven very well the longer the race, the better he is. I remember his first ever lombardia in which he was one of, if not the strongest without any experience either

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

for this os classical experience isn't much needed. it's basically a very long mountainstage with small teams and if one thing quintana has proven very well the longer the race, the better he is. I remember his first ever lombardia in which he was one of, if not the strongest without any experience either

Not. You must have dreamed it

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

nope. it was 2012 lombardia.

 

[damian13ster]

Quintana won't get enough of a gap over the climb to hold everyone back on descent and flat part. Valverde and Nibali will be right there for sure, possibly couple of other riders if the pace isn't very intense

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

for this os classical experience isn't much needed. it's basically a very long mountainstage with small teams and if one thing quintana has proven very well the longer the race, the better he is. I remember his first ever lombardia in which he was one of, if not the strongest without any experience either

I disagree. The Lombardia course was very, very simple and extremely little tactical nous was needed. It was a one-climb affair up the steep Villa Vergano. For some perspective, Kessiakoff came 10th in that race, although I missed it so did not watch it, so cannot comment on whether Quintana was the strongest or not, but it seems weird. In a race with 5-man teams, tactics and experience count. Which moves to follow, which to send teammates in, and whatever. Quintana doesn't have this, or at least hasn't shown it.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

I don't understand why is nibali number one favourite for rio... rio's climbs are very steep and quintana and contador are very capable of dropping him.

Very steep compared to Poggio maybe.

 

[diego721]

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

 

[PremierAndrew]

It's tough. Uran Henao and Quintana can all put forward strong cases to be leader.

They reduced the amount of flat after the final climb, which strongly favours the climbers, and after the change, I'd be surprised if anyone with less climbing ability than Valverde wins (assuming a breakaway doesn't succeed).

If it's raced super hard, I'd be surprised if Quintana can drop Froome and Contador, and in an easy race Quintana's got no chance of winning a sprint anyway.
So I'd have Uran as my leader.

Starting to think Dan Martin is a serious contender for this after his performances in the Dauphine

 

[liamito]

Re:

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

Anacona or Pantano instead of Lopez I'd say yes. Now it seems like he just picked the top-5 Colombians of the current CQ ranking.

 

[GP Blanco]

Re:

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

Who will do the TT alongside Uran?

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

They're not the top favorites, they will follow moves. They need to have their rider in every significant move, at least their choice of riders suggest that.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

I would have selected Pantano, Atapuma or Anacona instead of Lopez. Lopez is too young and they already have some leaders. They need strong helper.

 

[yaco]

I have posted previously that Columbia are the favorites - They have a well balanced team and the best climbers - And they will ride as a team.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

I have posted previously that Columbia are the favorites - They have a well balanced team and the best climbers - And they will ride as a team.

Colombia have a strong team with very good climbers but I'd say it's anything but balanced, not one person there can pull on the flat, apart from maybe Uran but he's not gonna pull for anyone I don't think. They dont have a clear leader which is also a problem, especially considering they don't have any proper roleurs. Effectively, they have one pure climber who is probably protected (Quintana), one guy who has shown very good performances in these types of races so should be protected (Uran), one punchy classics rider who has should be protected (Henao) but only two guys to protect them, both pure climbers with very little skill on the flat. Lopez is very young also. They have an amazing team for the climbs, but I'm not sure how much of a 'team' it is and nobody to pull on the flat if there is a split.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

Who will do the TT alongside Uran?

Bump. Quintana?

Very strong team. As has been noted, Lopez probably isn't optimal if you want a 100% helper, but whatever. Its the best 5. Yolo.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Colombian Olympics RR Team has been announced:

Nairo Quintana
Esteban Chaves
Rigoberto Urán
Sergio Luis Henao
Miguel Ángel López

Great team for the climbing, but IMO they should focus in Rigo or Sergio because of the descend and last plane kms, I'm a little worry for the absence of someone capable of work in the flat.

I would have selected Pantano, Atapuma or Anacona instead of Lopez. Lopez is too young and they already have some leaders. They need strong helper.

So the "Big Five", with Lopez taking the place for Betancur of course.

I have told many people who these riders were few years back and that there should be many victories among them. Sad to see what happened to Betancur. But the dream to see them all in a "dream team" for the Olympics is a great feeling for me and for many Colombians. Few years back most of their memories were filled with Lucho and Parra's victories but few months later we started seeing Henao and Uran performing well in the Giro and then the rest is history.

 

[blaxland]

I hope Mathews is aus captian this year,but me thinks gerrans will be there to mix up his chances.Lets hope they don't mess it up again.climbs are not tough enough for pure climbers..