Olympic RR *SPOILERS*

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  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Only 1 rider of the top 5 did the Tour.

    4 out of the top 10
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • GentlemanBear
    GentlemanBear Posts: 280
    my one good shot from the race today - whilst they were all still together at 10.30

    eP6cV.jpg
  • finchy
    finchy Posts: 6,686
    GentlemanBear wrote:
    my one good shot from the race today - whilst they were all still together at 10.30

    eP6cV.jpg

    Cadel looks interested. Were you standing next to a large-breasted woman?
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    RichN95 wrote:
    knedlicky wrote:
    As I mentioned in another thread, two of Cyrille Guimard’s suggestions how to improve the Tour de France (with which I agree but I'm not Prud'homme) were to reduce team size to 7 riders and to eliminate radios.
    I think today validated Guimard's suggestions.

    It's not that simple. You also have to acknowledge that the different sized teams make an impact too. For example, if Sagan had had a few team mates (like the Velits bros) they probably would have chased. Kazakhstan and Colombia would have played their cards differently with five riders instead of two. Imagine if Sky and Liquigas were allowed nine riders at the Tour, but FdJ and Europcar only got three.

    I agree, people seem to be applying logic that might work in a GTour but when it comes to these smaller teams and the way they are created then its a different ball game really.

    I don't think today's race show's anything on how a GT could be 'improved'.
  • GentlemanBear
    GentlemanBear Posts: 280
    johnfinch wrote:
    GentlemanBear wrote:
    my one good shot from the race today - whilst they were all still together at 10.30

    eP6cV.jpg

    Cadel looks interested. Were you standing next to a large-breasted woman?

    Ha ha! No, but I did have a three-year old on my shoulders eating monster munch so maybe he fancied some beef-flavoured corn snacks?
  • finchy
    finchy Posts: 6,686
    GentlemanBear wrote:
    Ha ha! No, but I did have a three-year old on my shoulders eating monster munch so maybe he fancied some beef-flavoured corn snacks?

    I think that Cadel Evans would be more of a Space Raiders man.
  • OffTheBackAdam
    OffTheBackAdam Posts: 1,869
    Boonen's moaning, looks like Belgium's plan was to let GB do all the work to pull any breaks back!
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen- ... mpic-medal
    "We planned everything the way it went, the only thing that went wrong was that Great Britain didn't close the gap,"
    Remember that you are an Englishman and thus have won first prize in the lottery of life.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,535
    OffTheBackAdam wrote:
    Boonen's moaning, looks like Belgium's plan was to let GB do all the work to pull any breaks back!
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen- ... mpic-medal
    "We planned everything the way it went, the only thing that went wrong was that Great Britain didn't close the gap,"

    Got to feel sorry for him. Sitting in all that way and not getting a chance at the sprint. :roll:
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    No team in the peloton really can moan more than any other, including GB.

    The break needed chasing back, GB were one of a few teams who should not have let that break of that calibre ever happen to that extent, and by the time they had let it go, it was clearly too late.

    GB were never going to bury themselves to leave cav on his own at the end, and Belgium etc should have known that, it couldn't have been more obvious.

    Got far higher hopes for the girls tomorrow.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,650
    iainf72 wrote:
    Both Horner and Rogers have said it was one of the most dangerous races they've ridden

    When was the last time they raced proper one dayers?


    :roll:
    _
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,650
    No tA Doctor wrote:
    OffTheBackAdam wrote:
    Boonen's moaning, looks like Belgium's plan was to let GB do all the work to pull any breaks back!
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen- ... mpic-medal
    "We planned everything the way it went, the only thing that went wrong was that Great Britain didn't close the gap,"

    Got to feel sorry for him. Sitting in all that way and not getting a chance at the sprint. :roll:


    What he meant was it was a shame he didn't have a radio to get his Belgians up ahead to come back and help the chase.
    _
  • ms_tree
    ms_tree Posts: 1,405
    iainf72 wrote:
    Only 1 rider of the top 5 did the Tour.

    4 out of the top 10
    So much for Boardman's prediction - the winner will have ridden the Tour! :oops:

    My philosophy - never make plans - they have the nasty habit of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it. Oh, and don't get greedy.
    'Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.'
    Neil Gaiman
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:
    Both Horner and Rogers have said it was one of the most dangerous races they've ridden

    When was the last time they raced proper one dayers?


    :roll:

    Well, it was the terrible weather, all those hairy descents n that, surface was so bad, look at box hill for instance, it must have been, there were so many crashes.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    No tA Doctor wrote:
    OffTheBackAdam wrote:
    Boonen's moaning, looks like Belgium's plan was to let GB do all the work to pull any breaks back!
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen- ... mpic-medal
    "We planned everything the way it went, the only thing that went wrong was that Great Britain didn't close the gap,"

    Got to feel sorry for him. Sitting in all that way and not getting a chance at the sprint. :roll:

    Some on here will point out that Belgium had Roelandts (two wins in four years) in the break so were unable to chase on behalf of the best one day rider of his generation (once Gilbert had blow himself out).

    Boonen's comments actually support what I've always thought about scrapping race radios - that it just makes teams conservative and they will stick to set plans.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • PuttyKnees
    PuttyKnees Posts: 381
    Naive question here: Is this what a classics course looks like (apart from the pave)?

    Got a great position in Mickleham. We weren't very surprised when a second break went away on the final(ish?) loop of Box Hill. Surely it was inevitable that riders hoping to avoid a sprint finish would attack hard after watching GB chase for 2 hours? I was surprised that Boonen wasn't aggressive, but kind of hard to tell from our location.
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    mfin wrote:
    Got far higher hopes for the girls tomorrow.
    Another V, another gold.
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,650
    From where I was standing, I felt the British tactic were a little arrogant.

    Normally favourite teams play it down and try and work around their favourite tag - and rightly so - being a favourite is possibly the toughest tactical position to be in.

    Yet they didn't seem to adjust at all. 5 men leading it out for 200km of 260 odd in hindsight sounds ridiculous.

    When I turned my phone on and saw some of the racing before they got to the hill, I couldn't believe the brits were already on the front. Seemed mad.

    Swiss were outstanding.
    _
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    Ms Tree wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:
    Only 1 rider of the top 5 did the Tour.
    So much for Boardman's prediction - the winner will have ridden the Tour! :oops:
    But it was the winner who did ride the Tour.
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,159
    Gutted seeing Fab go past a few minutes down holding his shoulder. GB rode well but there's only so much a single country can do. Far bigger fails from the nations that crammed the breaks then let two riders leave them behind. Never expected Cav to win (PTP pick in hope) but when I left the big screen in Hyde Park and the break was less than a minute ahead other than Gilbert going solo I thought it would easily come back and Cav had made the climbs easier than most of us would have expected. Hopefully Wiggins and Froome will recover for the TT but Martin has to be favourite after his early bath. On the plus side I met Ned Boulting as he was getting on a Boris bike outside Hyde Park.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    RichN95 wrote:
    Boonen's comments actually support what I've always thought about scrapping race radios - that it just makes teams conservative and they will stick to set plans.

    You can deduce that to some kind of certainty from Boonen's comments and today's race???

    What about looking back on the thousands of races that have taken place before radios ever came in to play?
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,650
    PuttyKnees wrote:
    Naive question here: Is this what a classics course looks like (apart from the pave)?

    Got a great position in Mickleham. We weren't very surprised when a second break went away on the final(ish?) loop of Box Hill. Surely it was inevitable that riders hoping to avoid a sprint finish would attack hard after watching GB chase for 2 hours? I was surprised that Boonen wasn't aggressive, but kind of hard to tell from our location.


    Classics routes have all sorts, but generally they tend to head to smaller roads that twist and turn.

    Belgian races like the Tour of flanders (and all its smaller cousins) criss cross all over a very small part of Belgium known for poor roads. They then throw them into selective super narrow cobbled steep hills (hellingen).

    So similar to today, only tougher roads, tougher climbs, and very finely tuned to exact the best spectacle (usually.....).
    _
  • petemadoc
    petemadoc Posts: 2,331
    pants result and pants TV coverage. Vino is a feckin slime ball, yuk. Bad day for pro cycling IMO.

    Once it was clear GB weren't going to close the gap there was lots of talent in the "first peloton" to support, gutted to see this **** stain win.

    Was looking like a good race until Cancellara crashed :cry:

    Expected more from Boonen, missing le tour for that.... oh dear

    It was hilarious when the commentator was getting excited about the sprint for 4th place WTF!!!

    Allez Wiggins for the TT
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,650
    10 points to the Syrian guy who got dropped on the first climb and went on untill the broom wagon insisted he pack it in.

    Looked properly bummed out in the bus too.
    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Pross wrote:
    Hopefully Wiggins and Froome will recover for the TT but Martin has to be favourite after his early bath.
    I think Martin dropped out because he was struggling. He had another crash earlier this week. I don't see where he's suddenly going to get form that's been missing all year from. Phinney on the other hand was good.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Stone Glider
    Stone Glider Posts: 1,227
    Went for a ride this morning, got back, showered, had lunch, watched much of the last hour. Funny sort of race, weren't the crowds huge?

    Shame it turned out to be Vino but I prefer him to one or two Spanish and Italian riders I can think of.

    Looking forward to the Women's race, more of a balanced feel to it, even though Marianne Vos will win.
    The older I get the faster I was
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    PeteMadoc wrote:
    pants result and pants TV coverage. Vino is a feckin slime ball, yuk. Bad day for pro cycling IMO.

    Once it was clear GB weren't going to close the gap there was lots of talent in the "first peloton" to support, gutted to see this **** stain win.

    Was looking like a good race until Cancellara crashed :cry:

    Expected more from Boonen, missing le tour for that.... oh dear

    It was hilarious when the commentator was getting excited about the sprint for 4th place WTF!!!

    Allez Wiggins for the TT


    Interesting point this. In fact the Belgians must be quite disappointed as hasn't Gilbert been targetting this race at the expense of early season classics?

    I expected more from Tommeke but from what I've read on here about his tweets he expected more from the Brits.
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    edited July 2012
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    From where I was standing, I felt the British tactic were a little arrogant.
    5 men leading it out for 200km of 260 odd in hindsight sounds ridiculous.

    When I turned my phone on and saw some of the racing before they got to the hill, I couldn't believe the brits were already on the front. Seemed mad.
    I seem to remember so debate between GB riders around when they were going over the climb at Shere (about 10km from Box Hill), possibly they had just got a timing update from the board and realised the break had 5 mins on them already and had just realised it wasn't going to quite to plan.
    Swiss were outstanding.
    Yes, such a shame we didn't see Mr C turn on the gas through Chelsea and power past the pair in front (though in reality Vino's winning move was prompted by the uncertainty immediately after the crash). Remember his acceleration in Beijing to bridge to the break in the final kms of that race – I reckon he was about to out-do that with a memorable, decisive win.
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    mfin wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    Boonen's comments actually support what I've always thought about scrapping race radios - that it just makes teams conservative and they will stick to set plans.

    You can deduce that to some kind of certainty from Boonen's comments and today's race???
    I can't deduce it with certainty, neither can anyone say with certainty that I'm wrong. It's just my considered opinion and what Boonen said argees with it: "It was so hard to communicate. You had to stick with your first plan because you can't tell anyone anything"
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,650
    Another comment.

    Cancellara looked like he was gliding up the top each time he went up (I was maybe 600m away from the cake-stop @ box hill).

    Boonen looked good too. Puncture with 10km to go and still is 2nd in the bunch sprint isn't bad.

    Evans is always smaller than he looks on TV.
    _
  • PuttyKnees
    PuttyKnees Posts: 381
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    10 points to the Syrian guy who got dropped on the first climb and went on untill the broom wagon insisted he pack it in.

    Looked properly bummed out in the bus too.

    Loads of cheers for that guy, plus the Algerians/Malaysian/Brasil guys who got dropped when the pace upped. Sad for the chap, but I think he was lapped.

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