Olympic RR/TT/TRACK Cycling.. (may contain spoilers)

cyclingprop

Was on Constitution Hill yesterday - great atmosphere, despite the moron northerner who decided to push in front of a couple of families who'd arrive early to secure a spot.

A shame most people didn't wait for everyone to get home, but the cheers for the riders, police, support cars, marshals, boris bikes (!) when they came through were electric.

Fab may end up with a "nice scar" depending on just how much skin he lost yesterday, as any one I'm disappointed with the result but that's racing. I would have liked to see more teams working for it though.

Today made it to Putney (just in time) to see the ladies heading out, before I got drenched. Friendly Manc policeman who said hello as I walked back over Putney bridge in the pouring rain. When I cheerily suggested he would end up wetter than me without a coat, his response "I'm from Manchester, we take more clothes off in the rain" was classic.

Great result for Lizzie today. Again, a shame for the boys yesterday. But the biggest winner I think is London, and British Cycling with the number of supporters out to cheer on around the course. I'd love to see a regular 'London Classic' one day style race, if the ToB doesn't end up with a TdF style capital city finish. The mens and ladies road races show we can do it - now is the time if any.

rjsterry

For all Hugh Porter's nonsense, what was even more laughable was one of the evening roundups with a discussion involving Michael Johnson, McEnroe and IIRC Kelly Holmes. They were asked to comment on the cycling and to a man admitted that they didn't really understand cycle racing, and couldn't comment constructively beyond "Oooh, such a shame". It's not as though it's astrophysics, is it?

anonymousblackfg

Great racing today, a good jolly up to the turn by Kingston hospital, then even the Doris was keen to hot foot it back in the pissing rain to see the conclusion. The pristine Canyon wasn't happy with that water on the road.

I'd encourage all to have a look at David Bonds blog the comments so far are excellent though he's now edited the blog but I'll get an official complaint off from work tomorrow.

cjcp

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Great racing today, a good jolly up to the turn by Kingston hospital, then even the Doris was keen to hot foot it back in the pissing rain to see the conclusion. The pristine Canyon wasn't happy with that water on the road.

I'd encourage all to have a look at David Bonds blog the comments so far are excellent though he's now edited the blog but I'll get an official complaint off from work tomorrow.

Were you in the stand by The Albert or on the pavement?

I was on Queen's Road, just by the New Road junction. Absolutely fantastic seeing them charge through in the rain.

veronese68

A mate of mine got picture of the day on the This is London website.

It certainly was persisting down at that point. I'm the fool in green with the inflatable hand.

DonDaddyD

Why were people on the same naional team using different bikes?

Why was there no team radios?

roger_merriman

DonDaddyD wrote:

Why were people on the same naional team using different bikes?

Why was there no team radios?

radio's same as the smaller teams and race length ie the Olympic Rules.

tailwindhome

roger merriman wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Why were people on the same naional team using different bikes?

Why was there no team radios?

radio's same as the smaller teams and race length ie the Olympic Rules.

The riders would have been using their trade team bikes.

Specialized gave their riders a bright red Tarmac for the event

mudcow007

Fantastic racing yesterday i thought well done to Lizzie coming second

but i dont get Cav's rant at the interview "stop asking stupid questions, do you know anything about cycling?!"

the interviewer asked a valid question "were you tired after the TdF?"

DonDaddyD

mudcow007 wrote:

Fantastic racing yesterday i thought well done to Lizzie coming second

but i dont get Cav's rant at the interview "stop asking stupid questions, do you know anything about cycling?!"

Typical defence mechanism response. He finished far less than he expected. Anyone questions it and he'll challenge their cycling knowledge as a means of justifying/explaining his apparent failure. - I don't think he did fail.

To be honest he needs it. The news reports were taking the stance of how did he finish 29th or something like that, as though it was a track race. That said it was ridden like a stage race where time as oppose to placing was arguably more important. All that said Cav's team failed to put him into a position. I don't see that Cav failed. But as the road went flat you'd kind of expect him to chase that group down, maybe not his job, but it certainly would have been him taken charge of his supposed destiny (to win Olympic gold)....

anonymousblackfg

CJCP, I was on the road, by the hospital car park entrance, luckily next to a load of short people.

As for David Bond... it was his whole report which effectively said, questions have to be asked, wiggo and froome did nothing and couldn't hack the pace.

DonDaddyD wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

Fantastic racing yesterday i thought well done to Lizzie coming second

but i dont get Cav's rant at the interview "stop asking stupid questions, do you know anything about cycling?!"

Typical defence mechanism response. He finished far less than he expected. Anyone questions it and he'll challenge their cycling knowledge as a means of justifying/explaining his apparent failure. - I don't think he did fail.

To be honest he needs it. The news reports were taking the stance of how did he finish 29th or something like that, as though it was a track race. That said it was ridden like a stage race where time as oppose to placing was arguably more important. All that said Cav's team failed to put him into a position. I don't see that Cav failed. But as the road went flat you'd kind of expect him to chase that group down, maybe not his job, but it certainly would have been him taken charge of his supposed destiny (to win Olympic gold)....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/davidbond/20 ... nt_in.html

or the twitter reaction

http://m.topsy.com/#trackback?url=http% ... nt_in.html

rick_chasey

In fairness, there was a lot of guff about the RR.

They made out it was a foregone conclusion and it never was. No one day race is a foregone conclusion, especially with such small teams.

They also don't understand the tactical problems being favourite has.

bigmat

Rick Chasey wrote:

In fairness, there was a lot of guff about the RR.

They made out it was a foregone conclusion and it never was. No one day race is a foregone conclusion, especially with such small teams.

They also don't understand the tactical problems being favourite has.

Agreed - was astonished by the press yesterday morning, like Cav had somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Its a one day race with small national teams, the result is always difficult to predict and GB came as close to controlling things as I have seen in an Olympic road race. They just lost control at the wrong time. I reckon Cav could have done more though - he may as well have buried himself on the run in, even if he'd had nothing left for the sprint I would have thought it would be better than to finish with fresh legs thinking what might have been. Understand why he slated the Aussies - at what point does "we've got a man in the break" stop meaning you shouldn't chase? O'Grady was never going to finish top 3 and GB / Germany clearly weren't bringing them back, so why just sit in like a bunch of planks? Women's race was good, great result for Lizzie. Strongest rider won though which is always good to see.

TheEnglishman

I don't understand why so many of the teams in the peleton raced so negatively. Was it a case of 'we're not letting Team GB win anything - even if we dont'? Which seems crazy to me.

rick_chasey

TheEnglishman wrote:

I don't understand why so many of the teams in the peloton raced so negatively. Was it a case of 'we're not letting Team GB win anything - even if we dont'? Which seems crazy to me.

Welcome to the world of professional cycling .

In order to win, sometimes you need to be prepared to lose.

veronese68

BigMat wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

In fairness, there was a lot of guff about the RR.

They made out it was a foregone conclusion and it never was. No one day race is a foregone conclusion, especially with such small teams.

They also don't understand the tactical problems being favourite has.

Agreed - was astonished by the press yesterday morning, like Cav had somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Its a one day race with small national teams, the result is always difficult to predict and GB came as close to controlling things as I have seen in an Olympic road race. They just lost control at the wrong time. I reckon Cav could have done more though - he may as well have buried himself on the run in, even if he'd had nothing left for the sprint I would have thought it would be better than to finish with fresh legs thinking what might have been. Understand why he slated the Aussies - at what point does "we've got a man in the break" stop meaning you shouldn't chase? O'Grady was never going to finish top 3 and GB / Germany clearly weren't bringing them back, so why just sit in like a bunch of planks? Women's race was good, great result for Lizzie. Strongest rider won though which is always good to see.

I agree with both of the above posts. What was it about them not being given the information on how far ahead the break was? I think I even read or heard that it was an olympic rule that time gaps are not given, although I think that is utter nonsense as the ladies seemed to get that information albeit rarely.

iPete

mudcow007 wrote:

Fantastic racing yesterday i thought well done to Lizzie coming second

but i dont get Cav's rant at the interview "stop asking stupid questions, do you know anything about cycling?!"

the interviewer asked a valid question "were you tired after the TdF?"

Well he clearly objected to being asked what was probably a daft question when that wasn't the reason the race was out of their reach, hence the reaction of wtf, were you watching or understanding. It was the large bunch of riders in the peleton happy to do nothing except work on their tan lines, not the TdF.

But the press do love to hype up and pull down. Has anyone seen the BBC conducting the 'we just lost speeches' whilst at the events and before GB have even crossed the finish lines!!

Paulie W

Until the final ascent of Box Hill it looked as if Team GB just about had it under control - although the TV coverage was such that it was difficult to be sure. When a large number of riders fired off the front about half way up the climb that's when they (and Germany and possibly Australia) should have responded instead of riding tempo. Millar seems to suggest that Cav could have gone with this but the decision was taken to carry on at tempo - it was a misjudgement not a reflection of naive tactics.

I think the negative tactics thing is a bit unfair on all but Germany and to a lesser extent Australia. All the other big teams made a real race of it.

Paulie W

Veronese68 wrote:

What was it about them not being given the information on how far ahead the break was? I think I even read or heard that it was an olympic rule that time gaps are not given, although I think that is utter nonsense as the ladies seemed to get that information albeit rarely.

I find it hard to believe that Sky and other teams didn't have spotters at various points of the course identifying riders in the break and doing their own time checks - it seemed that Froome and others dropped back at various points to get information.

rick_chasey

Paulie W wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

What was it about them not being given the information on how far ahead the break was? I think I even read or heard that it was an olympic rule that time gaps are not given, although I think that is utter nonsense as the ladies seemed to get that information albeit rarely.

I find it hard to believe that Sky and other teams didn't have spotters at various points of the course identifying riders in the break and doing their own time checks - it seemed that Froome and others dropped back at various points to get information.

No race radios innit.

I didn't see any chalkboard motors.

Road racing doesn't need much technology, but it needs three motors with chalkboards and stop watches.

For TV, it needs time gaps, how many km to go, and who's in what group.

Paulie W

Rick Chasey wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

What was it about them not being given the information on how far ahead the break was? I think I even read or heard that it was an olympic rule that time gaps are not given, although I think that is utter nonsense as the ladies seemed to get that information albeit rarely.

I find it hard to believe that Sky and other teams didn't have spotters at various points of the course identifying riders in the break and doing their own time checks - it seemed that Froome and others dropped back at various points to get information.

No race radios innit.

I didn't see any chalkboard motors.

Road racing doesn't need much technology, but it needs three motors with chalkboards and stop watches.

For TV, it needs time gaps, how many km to go, and who's in what group.

I know they didnt have radios but they could have gone old school with the spotters!

veronese68

Rick Chasey wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

What was it about them not being given the information on how far ahead the break was? I think I even read or heard that it was an olympic rule that time gaps are not given, although I think that is utter nonsense as the ladies seemed to get that information albeit rarely.

I find it hard to believe that Sky and other teams didn't have spotters at various points of the course identifying riders in the break and doing their own time checks - it seemed that Froome and others dropped back at various points to get information.

No race radios innit.

I didn't see any chalkboard motors.

Road racing doesn't need much technology, but it needs three motors with chalkboards and stop watches.

For TV, it needs time gaps, how many km to go, and who's in what group.

I saw whiteboards in the wimmin's race, not for the men though. Did they just forget them, or did we not see them?

bigmat

iPete wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

Fantastic racing yesterday i thought well done to Lizzie coming second

but i dont get Cav's rant at the interview "stop asking stupid questions, do you know anything about cycling?!"

the interviewer asked a valid question "were you tired after the TdF?"

Well he clearly objected to being asked what was probably a daft question when that wasn't the reason the race was out of their reach, hence the reaction of wtf, were you watching or understanding. It was the large bunch of riders in the peloton happy to do nothing except work on their tan lines, not the TdF.

But the press do love to hype up and pull down. Has anyone seen the BBC conducting the 'we just lost speeches' whilst at the events and before GB have even crossed the finish lines!!

I actually think the question wasn't that bad - post TdF fatigue may have had an effect on the chase, Millar Wiggins and Froome certainly looked stronger at the worlds last year. Stannard seemed to have done his bit and then came back, which suggests that something wasn't quite right. However, I expect that Cav had already been asked so many stupid questions by that point that he had reached breaking point!

jonginge

Veronese68 wrote:

I saw whiteboards in the wimmin's race, not for the men though. Did they just forget them, or did we not see them?

There were whiteboards in the men's race but they weren't shown very often. To the riders or the viewers.

The sub-contractors providing the timing data are blaming twitter users for overloading cells... *shakes head*

lostboysaint

Anyone know if there's a start-time list for the TT and where to find it?

rjsterry

JonGinge wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

I saw whiteboards in the wimmin's race, not for the men though. Did they just forget them, or did we not see them?

There were whiteboards in the men's race but they weren't shown very often. To the riders or the viewers.

The sub-contractors providing the timing data are blaming twitter users for overloading cells... *shakes head*

Where I was stood in Headley, some of the spectators were working out their own time splits. That side of things does seem to have been sketchy at best.

el_presidente

lostboysaint wrote:

Anyone know if there's a start-time list for the TT and where to find it?

I've been looking for this too, I suspect it may not have been drawn yet. If there are showers around it could make a big difference.

clarkey cat

got Wedneday off - will be watching from just by Burhill Golf Club. Can't wait!

sketchley

I've got wednesday off, planning on being somewhere between Thames ditton and Kingston, not decided exactly where yet. Might even head for Bushy park, will be taking stop watch and ipad and recording my own time gaps. Is there an app for that?

rick_chasey

Watching TTs is pretty dull.