The 'Official' Olympic thread - sub section - Cycling

[Stoichkov]

Jeez - the media coverage of this before, during and after has been appalling.

The Olympic RR is a lottery and unfortunately in cycling, the majority of the bunch are just waiting to 'see what happens'. Bringing it to 1km to go with it all together was always a huge ask.

Did any see the BBC last night? They had Gaby Logan with McEnroe, Kelly Holmes and Michael Johnson on the sofa.

McEnroe started going on asking if the riders knew about time gaps. Gaby clearly had no answer but it was Dame Kelly Holmes who recused the situation by wading into the conversation to clarify to Gaby, John, Michael and the NATION that she didn't know anything about cycling tactics.

And, I saw this: BBC - David Bond: Cavendish and co disappoint in road race with this being the best bit: But perhaps the harder questions will come from those who wonder whether the magnificent Team Sky mission to win the Tour de France has had an impact on the Olympic medal quest.

The back story to that piece I think was that the fact that Cavendish had snapped at him after the finish in response to a (daft) question.

 

[essbee]

I was in Putney watching it - and hats off to the police - particularly the out riders who
were great fun.

 

[Marxo]

We waited for years and years for the success that we've had in British cycling in recent times, by all accounts success brings kids into sports. Hopefully this will give us a great future in cycling, in turn eventually the presenters and so forth in the media will become 'educated' about the sport and not say stupid things every time they open their mouths. It'll probably not be soon! The rubbish spouted about the road race etc. is still very very aggravating though!

 

[1066familyman]

Watching the women's race on telly at the mo. Only one of the Brazilian sisters had a go at a lone breakaway so far and she's now dropped back into the peloton. Small field compared to the men's.

Good news in terms of the men's ITT. No breaks for Spartacus and it's looking like he'll be ok to ride on Wednesday. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery and a close fought ITT

 

[1066familyman]

"12:27 BST
Another Tweet from Fabian Cancellara
The Swiss is delighted to report that neither his arm nor his collar bone are broken, so he may recover in time to duke it out with Bradley Wiggins in the Men's Team Trial."

The above from here Olympic road race: women's cycling – live! | Sport | guardian.co.uk

 

[Was not Was]

I'm so cross about the way the Beeb put the coverage in the hands of people who didn't have the knowledge (all of them except Boardman) or relevant experience (Boardman doing race commentary) to do the job. When I got home yesterday evening, I watched some of it and was sadder about it than I had been about the result. Very poor (and let's be clear that the lack of data made it worse but was not the root cause).

On the race, though, having been in Box Hill village for the nine circuits and marvelled at the crowd noise, the question I've been mulling over is: would the bunch sprint have happened if the riders had had team radio? For most of the loop and the run-in, it'd have been impossible to communicate, wouldn't it? And even with a great captain like Millar, that must've made a difference. With team radio, the Germans and Australians would surely have been being urged to push the pace in those last couple of loops and the route back to London ... What do you think?

 

[Was not Was]

"12:27 BST
Another Tweet from Fabian Cancellara
The Swiss is delighted to report that neither his arm nor his collar bone are broken, so he may recover in time to duke it out with Bradley Wiggins in the Men's Team Trial."

The above from here Olympic road race: women's cycling – live! | Sport | guardian.co.uk

I love his tweets. Very enigmatic. Well worth following.

 

[1066familyman]

Didn't Millar himself say that, without moaning about the crowd as he was pleased to see such a big turn out, the noise they made did contribute to reduced communication in the team?

Having said that, there's many in cycling who would like a return to the old days of pre race radio as they say it would make things more exciting not always knowing exactly who's up the road and the exact time gaps etc.

Although if anyone could track down Robert Millar and ask him about that infamous '85 Vuelta then I'm sure he'd disagree about doing away with race radios.

 

[1066familyman]

And in light of all the talk about yesterdays race and who should or shouldn't have worked to help ensure a bunch sprint etc etc.

This is a piece of British cycling history well worth reading.

thewashingmachinepost

 

[Was not Was]

Didn't Millar himself say that, without moaning about the crowd as he was pleased to see such a big turn out, the noise they made did contribute to reduced communication in the team?

Yeah. I dont think there's any doubt it would have helped GB. My question though is whether it would really have made enough difference? I think my view is 'yes' because it would have had an impact on other nations' tactics too, in a way that would have favoured a bunch finish.

 

[Was not Was]

This is a piece of British cycling history well worth reading.

thewashingmachinepost

Nice one. Good read.

 

[Frutos]

Apparently three of the women in the road race are trying to run away from a depleted pelican, but it sounds like two of the Brits (Pooley and Armitstead I think) are going quite well.

 

[Marxo]

And in light of all the talk about yesterdays race and who should or shouldn't have worked to help ensure a bunch sprint etc etc.

This is a piece of British cycling history well worth reading.

thewashingmachinepost

I remember it very well, it was certainly the view of the press here in Belgium that there was a Spanish conspiracy which wasn't good for the sport. Another interesting Millar story: the Pascal Simon mentioned in that piece was one of several brothers riding at the time, Millar was married to their sister and started a serious row when an article was published where he told how horrible it was in that family, something to the effect that they were always bickering with each other, he wasn't very popular in France for a while!

 

[Timbo]

Now I'm watching the Womens road race. I wont pretend to have a clue whats going on but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.

Which of our riders is allowed to win?

 

[Stat Brother]

I'd give it to Lizzie!

 

[Beach Hut]

Hopefully a medal shortly, what type though

 

[TotallyFreaked]

fantastic race, has turned out much better than the mens

 

[Beach Hut]

FFS we cannot even get an accurate split - somewhere between 35 and 50 seconds according to the BBC

 

[Frutos]

Looks like Armitstead is on for a medal, question is which colour.

 

[Ernest]

Great stuff this, hope she gets a gold