The Olympic Road Race 2016. Rio de Janeiro. 253km

[Poursuivant]

Very sorry not to see Frank Schleck win the ORR, however great to see an American Team, with the excellent Greg Von Avermart, kill it at the win.

Out of everyone, you chose schleck?

 

[thehook]

Anybody have a link for a REPLAY? I had to work and missed the race...UGH!

 

[Breh]

Taaramae just stopped 50 metres from end and climber over the ad boards to abandon

Still wondering why this happened

 

[This Charming Man]

Very sorry not to see Frank Schleck win the ORR, however great to see an American Team, with the excellent Greg Von Avermart, kill it at the win.

Out of everyone, you chose schleck?

Happily surprised he made it through such a gory race, sorry to see all the fine athletes with such gory injuries, Porte Nibali, Thomas, et al get well soon, way to go, thank you for your aggression. I do not get, so many great bike handlers going down, and receiving serious injury.

 

[Yingge]

Re:

Well, it looks like we did a good job of a race.. I'm soooo happy that I was there...
..................................
Please, dont know how but make a push(!?) to make this a WT race...

Much as I too would love to see a WT race on this course each year, I suspect that the UCI would tame it down to an extent that the difficulty would be greatly diminished ... not to mention finding a spot in the calendar that will cause teams to send their best riders.

What really helped this one was the small teams (max of 5), no radios, the repeating of the 25km or so loops with little respite in between (even the long return section along the beach between the two circuits turned out to be a mad chase to close gaps), the 'sting in the tail' of those last 3 loops, and of course the big carrot of the Gold medal with 4 years bragging rights waiting at the finish line.

Of Interest, does anyone know if the Cobblestone section has been such for a long time, or specially constructed for the ORR? That did catch a few out rather painfully, when bidons started bailing out.

 

[Juan Pelota]

Re:

Taaramae just stopped 50 metres from end and climber over the ad boards to abandon

Still wondering why this happened

Hahah, what? Someone needs to solve this mystery.

 

[slosada]

Didn't he retire a before the last loop? He's seen 3 times: At 24.4 to go riding downhill, when Thomas, GVA and Aru are being dropped in Canoas, at 22.2Km to go he's seen on the side of the road cheering for Kangert (with Purito and Meintjes). A little later (22.1Km to go) he's descending again (when Valverde follows Bookwalter)... So he basically returned home without completing the parcours, having retired in the second Canoas ascent.

 

[movingtarget]

Great race, Had everything including a dangerous descent. Great win for GVA, It has taken him a while to convert podiums into wins but currently he is in the best form of his life.

 

[Tank Engine]

A brilliant race. Some cobbles, crosswinds, steep pitches with a drag race at the end. It was great to see Kwiatek in such form. Italy worked very well as a team. Such a shame that Nibali, Henao and G came down on the final descent, but we got a very worthy winner. GvA is a great all-rounder.
The combination of course, small teams and no radios was perfect. Attacks all over the place in the last 60-70km with several riders surviving from the attack on the first big ascent.

 

[Ejostil]

Now there is a question. Could Kwiat win it all if he didnt engage so early and rode conservatively. I think we all, including him, underestimated his form.

 

[filipepc]

Good race. Very attractive.

A little dangerous, and it´s always sad when the leaders crash. My favorite to this race was Nibali and a think he would have win it. But that´s the race, crashes happen, so let´s move on.

I was expecting more from Valverde and Froome in this course but in one days race anything can hapen.

 

[bassano]

Re: Re:

GVA deserved it more than Majka.

Why?

Exactly, majka was stronger in uphill, he had bad luck his companions crashed, GvA had no chance to win it without that crash, majka had

 

[bassano]

Re: Re:

GVA deserved it more than Majka.

Why?

His whole career? ALl of those years attacking, making races and coming short?

What career has to do it with that race, you are deserving winner when you deserved it in race, not by career

 

[Volderke]

Re: Re:

GVA deserved it more than Majka.

Why?

His whole career? ALl of those years attacking, making races and coming short?

What career has to do it with that race, you are deserving winner when you deserved it in race, not by career

Maybe he deserved it for attacking 60km before the finish, doing pulls, pulling in the lead group, attacking, keeping everything within touching distance instead of trying to go full gas following guys that climb better (Nibs, Majka, Henao)? So he deserved it for racing the race and not only following wheels, something Majka did.
The only guy probably deserving this more was Henao OR Nibali, depending on who caused the crash. The one causing the crash obviously didn't deserve it, as taking risks in a descent is part of racing and fully depending on your own skill and choice to go full *** at that moment.

 

[SKSemtex]

Dont take me wrong here, I do think Sagan is much better rider .
But for me Gregs win yesterday in GCs playground and their rules was something like Eminem beating
all ...... in their rap field. . SIMPLY THE BEST.
Please do not ban me I am not racist
LOL WRONG THREAD

 

[Tank Engine]

Re: Re:

GVA deserved it more than Majka.

Why?

Exactly, majka was stronger in uphill, he had bad luck his companions crashed, GvA had no chance to win it without that crash, majka had

The gap at the hairpin on the descent (before the crashes) was 10-12 seconds. There would be half a dozen guys chasing (including GvA, Birdsong and G) against Nibali, Henao and Majka on a flat section of nearly 10km. I wouldn't say that GvA had no chance without the crash(es).

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

[/url]

Taaramae just stopped 50 metres from end and climber over the ad boards to abandon

Still wondering why this happened

Hahah, what? Someone needs to solve this mystery.

https://twitter.com/ReinTaarame/status/762108719224217600

i dont wanted cross the line because last two laps i stayed in feeding zone

Admirably honest: didn't want to record a false result. He used the route to get to the finish, but hadn't finished the route.

 

[Gigs_98]

What annoys me right now is that some people say the race was too hard. We have one of the best one day races of the decade and only because some riders crashed the route still gets critisized. The point is that the descent wasn't more dangerous than for example the descents in lombardia, it was almost only one turn where all the crashes happened and also that only because some riders took too high risks.

Btw, the austrian broadcasting station orf once again proofed their stupidity and wrote on their website: "riders like sagan didn't even want to start in the race because it was so dangerous" Yeah because thats what sagan fears the most, cobbles and descents

 

[Kwibus]

Seriously Giggs what morons work in Austria. Mother of god....

 

[rainman]

The descents in Lombardy may be just as steep and winding but don't have 30cm gulleys on each side. No doubt something to do with tropical storms in Brazil. If you drifted into one of those there was no way back, a nasty crash was a certainty. But I dont think Sagan DNS had anything to do with dangerous descents, he enjoys stuff like that.

 

[Valv.Piti]

What annoys me right now is that some people say the race was too hard. We have one of the best one day races of the decade and only because some riders crashed the route still gets critisized. The point is that the descent wasn't more dangerous than for example the descents in lombardia, it was almost only one turn where all the crashes happened and also that only because some riders took too high risks.

Btw, the austrian broadcasting station orf once again proofed their stupidity and wrote on their website: "riders like sagan didn't even want to start in the race because it was so dangerous" Yeah because thats what sagan fears the most, cobbles and descents

Haha, dafuq.

Those people obviously has no clue how cycling, shouldn't be allowed to speak. Makes me kinda sad. Then rather have a flat parcours in Qatar without dangers, no?!

 

[Jungle Cycle]

Re: Re:

Well, it looks like we did a good job of a race.. I'm soooo happy that I was there...
..................................
Please, dont know how but make a push(!?) to make this a WT race...

Much as I too would love to see a WT race on this course each year, I suspect that the UCI would tame it down to an extent that the difficulty would be greatly diminished ... not to mention finding a spot in the calendar that will cause teams to send their best riders.

What really helped this one was the small teams (max of 5), no radios, the repeating of the 25km or so loops with little respite in between (even the long return section along the beach between the two circuits turned out to be a mad chase to close gaps), the 'sting in the tail' of those last 3 loops, and of course the big carrot of the Gold medal with 4 years bragging rights waiting at the finish line.

Of Interest, does anyone know if the Cobblestone section has been such for a long time, or specially constructed for the ORR? That did catch a few out rather painfully, when bidons started bailing out.

It has always been this way... since is a protected area got a LOT of criticism with locals, non sport locals, when they paved the"S", witch was made to protect the Paralympics...

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Is there any chance, that this could become a one day classic like the RideLondon Classic or that the Tour do Rio will grow because of the Olympics? Maybe not in August, but in the european winter? Or is cycling just too small in Brazil?

 

[jens_attacks]

didn't you see the crowds? it seems at romanian level

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

didn't you see the crowds? it seems at romanian level

So Sky should sign Alex Diniz and make him a star. Then there will be crowds.