Olympic RR

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  • portuguese mike
    portuguese mike Posts: 695
    Slightly OT but when did medal (as opposed to meddle) become a verb? I suppose the riders were aiming to podium where they?

    Apologies for the pedantry but it's such an Americanism and it drives me mad (perhaps i should get out more).
    pm
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Moomaloid wrote:
    Gutted for Andy, dunno why the other two didn't pull more to keep it to 3 of them.
    Because they didn't need to. Both Sanchez and Rebellin must have fancied their chances in an uphill sprint against Kolobnev and Rogers and, as the results shows, they were right to. Andy Schleck had to work as it was his best chance of a medal but the other two had seen how strong he was so could be a little bit more cagey in the break.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    ** SPOILER ALERT **


    Wow, I feel bad for Andy who rode an amazing race. Went at just the right time, blew the field apart and had himself in a breakaway that was close enough to the end that he was guaranteed at least a bronze (only him and two others).

    But holy crap! Cancellara is a locomotive!! That guy singlehandedly pulled them back, dragging with him the two guys dropped from Schleck's group. He cut a 15 second deficit in no time flat! And he had NO TEAMMATES the entire race! I wish Fabian could have gotten gold, he deserves it.
  • captain_oakley
    captain_oakley Posts: 222
    Thank god the Italians did'nt win it.

    Felt sorry for Andy Schleck, but as an earlier post said Rebellin & Sanchez were
    always going to be the stronger at the finish. Liked his kit as well.

    Now about riding for your Pro Team and not your Country...........!! :lol:


    'Romancing the Bone'
  • ruswilks
    ruswilks Posts: 72
    Did anyone notice Contador and Leipheimer's customised Trek Madones for today? Levi%20Bike.jpg
    Alberto-Road-Bike.jpg
    I guess they were hoping they would be shown a bit more in the finale! Was anyone else riding Olympic one-offs? I saw the CSC guys on the white Cervelos with the Olympic rings...
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    The paint job on Contador's (and Valverdes) bikes may them look like they belong to this guy:-


    Ronald%20McDonald.jpg
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    The view from Beijing

    I tried to go up to the wall today to watch the cycling and there was just about every barrier in place to stop people getting there. The train and buses not running. And when we eventually got there we were kept 50 feet back from the actual barriers (later reduced to 20 feet when they realized we weren't going to overthrow the government). But huge empty miles of road where fans should be - but still marshalled by volunteers. There were only about 30 of us at that section but I counted over sixty officials (one of which spent at least half an hour videoing us).

    There were fans apparently at the finish, but they had got there very early. I was at the top of the climb, so saw them coming through - but no big screens & no opportunity to walk the course.

    It's bizarre. China clearly love having the Olympics, but are so determined for nothing to go wrong that they keep the fans as far away as possible. The paranoia is tangible.
    Today I went through an underpass to cross the road and they had an X-ray machine for bags.. Unfortunately an American got murdered here today so that flew out the window.

    The irony is that the general Chinese people are great and the rank and file cops know that what they have to do is stupid.

    In summary, the Road Race is one of the big opportunities to show of the city and the passion of the people and they blew it.

    PS - smog not to bad (most of it is haze), heat and humidity crippling.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,718
    I liked those little shower things by the roadside which the riders went under to cool off.

    Looking out of my window I reckon I will be riding under large one of those tomorrow morning unless the weather brightens up :(
    http://fendrieneu.home.blog
    My blog and pod...
    Beers of Belgium Cycling Club UK
  • Odelay!
    Odelay! Posts: 58
    Hats off to TdF winners Contador and Sastre for their super-super-domestiqueing.

    The climb wasn't hard enough for Andy Schleck, given his lack of sprint. It was the same for Frank in L-B-L.
  • ms_tree
    ms_tree Posts: 1,405
    portuguese mike wrote:
    Slightly OT but when did medal (as opposed to meddle) become a verb? I suppose the riders were aiming to podium where they?

    Apologies for the pedantry but it's such an Americanism and it drives me mad (perhaps i should get out more).

    I agree - it's like 'hospitalise/hospitalize. It drives me mad, too
    'Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.'
    Neil Gaiman
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908
    RichN95 wrote:
    The view from Beijing

    cheers for insight
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • andyrac
    andyrac Posts: 1,197
    Odelay! wrote:
    Hats off to TdF winners Contador and Sastre for their super-super-domestiqueing.

    The climb wasn't hard enough for Andy Schleck, given his lack of sprint. It was the same for Frank in L-B-L.

    Agree, especially Sastre - how much work did he do? And he was in the chasing pack originally.
    Felt a bit sorry for Andy Schleck - did most of the work in the breakaway - but didn't get a medal. Good team performance from CSC-Saxobank though.

    Should riders ride for their country or their Pro-teams depending on the strength of their countries?
    All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Sastre was fantastic - wasn't so impressed with Contador - when he dropped off he had a big grin on his face, didn't look like he'd really done all he could.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • andyrac
    andyrac Posts: 1,197
    Was it me or did the co-commentator say 'Candellabra'?

    After the Tour De France coverage - I thought the graphics were poor and the data regarding gaps, groups, etc
    All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    AndyRAC wrote:
    Was it me or did the co-commentator say 'Candellabra'?

    On more than one occasion, too. Cringeworthy. Not to mention Hugh Porter bigging up "Kolobov" :oops:
  • Odelay!
    Odelay! Posts: 58
    Agree, especially Sastre - how much work did he do?
    Sastre was fantastic - wasn't so impressed with Contador

    Agreed - I didn't mean to put them on equal footing. Sastre seems impressively humble... here he is taking a photo of Valverde to show folks back home that he really met him:

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/ ... w/DV366870

    and only one of the men in that photo is ever going to win the Tour

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