Olympic RR *SPOILERS*

LesDiablesRouges

Hilarious race. I couldn't believe the utter idiocy that team Sky erm um I mean Team GB thought they would control the race the entire way. Their tactics were atrocious.

It's pretty clear they didn't clue into the idea that TDF stage race =! one day classic type race with no race radios and only 5 team members. It's like trying to marshal Paris Roubaix it ain't going to happen.

As for blaming countries that's utter bollocks. They owe you nothing and if you expect help from them then you've already lost.

Wiggins was the best bet as he was the strongest British rider today and Team GB would have been better off trying to get a rider in a break.

Every big cycling country save for GB and Germany got themselves into the large break and at least gave themselves a shot at winning. You can criticize them for lack of results but at least they were in a position to win which not something that can be said for GB and Germany.

ddraver

If you'd says all if that before the race I might have cared....

frenchfighter

iainf72 wrote:

The British tabloid press seem to have some kind of sense of entitlement going on about cycling. But I suppose its too be expected.

Froome's missus tweeted that the SRM's show the race was harder than the difficult Tour stages.

Didnt see that. Maybe she pulled it as she was told it was nonsense.

knedlicky

thegibdog wrote:

Timoid wrote:

Germany screwed up more. No plan, no interest in getting Greipel into position. Half hearted late efforts aside. What were they hoping for.

I think the problem was that the Germans shared Boonen's view that the British team would close the gap down.

I think that’s true. And now the Germans are regretting they didn’t have a Plan B either. To send Degenkolb into the break would have been their best bet, although one could also say Knees should have been in their team instead of him, as driver to close the gap.

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Cogidubnus wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haFlFveUTf4
Bond interview

That's painful to watch... the BBC really have no idea about cycling.

It actually made Cav go up in my opinion of him, after a few moments earlier he having dropped considerably in my opinion of him, for his off-the-mark opinions of other teams' behaviour.

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Tomorrow's edition will see them leading the calls for Armitstead to receive a Queen's honour.

The ease and speed with which they are given out nowadays, I imagine she’ll get one. Maybe they can also give one to Pooley for lifelong achievements (like Oscars are sometimes given to those who don't actually manage to get an Oscar for one particular film).

ddraver

So on the one hand you don't like Cav cos he's a Dick, but on the other hand you like him cos he's a dick?

FransJacques

Everyone's fogetting about the Swiss, the strongest and smartest team in the race.

GB were stupid to let Cancellara up the road?

Take the radio out of their ears and they're just strong idiots.

No_Ta_Doctor

ddraver wrote:

So on the one hand you don't like Cav cos he's a Dick, but on the other hand you like him cos he's a dick?

That's the great thing about Cav. I love him, and I reckon he's a complete dick sometimes.

Jez mon

No tA Doctor wrote:

ddraver wrote:

So on the one hand you don't like Cav cos he's a Dick, but on the other hand you like him cos he's a dick?

That's the great thing about Cav. I love him, and I reckon he's a complete dick sometimes.

I'd say that's a good summary about my feelings towards Cav too.

Also, as Iain said earlier on in the thread, Horner says it was a very dangerous race.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympic ... p;ns_fee=0

The main issue seems to be that we drive on a different side of the road, didn't hear anyone complaining when we had a stage of le tour over here.

RichN95.

knedlicky

ddraver wrote:

So on the one hand you don't like Cav cos he's a Dick, but on the other hand you like him cos he's a dick?

Yep - you’ve actually defined it in a way, by starting one of your descriptions of Cav with a capital letter, your other description with a small case letter.

Capitals is arrogant allusions of one's importance; small case is real person with all the sensitive warts.

alihisgreat

RichN95 wrote:

"It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," said German Andrè Greipel. "There was not a single spot to pee."

I'm starting to like Greipel more

He's always just been 'that pale German guy with massive legs' to me.

dolan_driver

The clown (sorry journalist) from the Sun said:

"Second was Rigoberto Uran, who comes from Colombia. No, don’t even think it."

Is he trying to say that Uran is fond of the nose candy?

DD.

dave_1

knedlicky wrote:

ddraver wrote:

So on the one hand you don't like Cav cos he's a Dick, but on the other hand you like him cos he's a dick?

Yep - you’ve actually defined it in a way, by starting one of your descriptions of Cav with a capital letter, your other description with a small case letter.

Capitals is arrogant allusions of one's importance; small case is real person with all the sensitive warts.

I think the BBC Sports Editor asked a logical, valid question with a perfectly sound guess behind it. Cavendish is just rude. It was too close to the TDF but most importantly Mark Cavendish does not and did not have the versatility to win the Olympic Road Race..it would have been really strange to see him win it on 1 skill alone-such a prestige event should never be winnable on 1 skill.

milton50

thegibdog wrote:

Timoid wrote:

Germany screwed up more. No plan, no interest in getting Greipel into position. Half hearted late efforts aside. What were they hoping for.

I think the problem was that the Germans shared Boonen's view that the British team would close the gap down.

frenchfighter wrote:

Boonen: "They seemed a little too self-confident to me,” the former World champion said. “Everyone thought that the gap to the breakaway would be closed down, and I myself believed that they had everything under control.”

The Germans' plan was probably to let the British close the gap down and then they could lead out Greipel for the win with the British team spent. By the time the German team realised it wasn't going to happen and started to help out it was too late.

I agree that GB were tactically naive to think that they could control the entire peloton (and all the inevitable breakaways) with only four men. That said, isn't it an even bigger mistake to not only plan your whole race on GB chasing down all breaks but then, when it became obvious that they couldn't, leaving it far too late to give them even the smallest help? Seems like Germany made the bigger mistake to me.

alihisgreat

Milton50 wrote:

thegibdog wrote:

Timoid wrote:

Germany screwed up more. No plan, no interest in getting Greipel into position. Half hearted late efforts aside. What were they hoping for.

I think the problem was that the Germans shared Boonen's view that the British team would close the gap down.

frenchfighter wrote:

Boonen: "They seemed a little too self-confident to me,” the former World champion said. “Everyone thought that the gap to the breakaway would be closed down, and I myself believed that they had everything under control.”

The Germans' plan was probably to let the British close the gap down and then they could lead out Greipel for the win with the British team spent. By the time the German team realised it wasn't going to happen and started to help out it was too late.

I agree that GB were tactically naive to think that they could control the entire peloton (and all the inevitable breakaways) with only four men. That said, isn't it an even bigger mistake to not only plan your whole race on GB chasing down all breaks but then, when it became obvious that they couldn't, leaving it far too late to give them even the smallest help? Seems like Germany made the bigger mistake to me.

I was thinking about it.. but you just don't know what really happened on the road. eg Greipel may have told the guys that he didn't have the legs.

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

The British tabloid press seem to have some kind of sense of entitlement going on about cycling. But I suppose its too be expected.

Froome's missus tweeted that the SRM's show the race was harder than the difficult Tour stages.

That makes sense.

260km, everyone's fresh, no-one's holding back.

dodgerdog

There were two key issues as I saw it, as they headed into Headley village on the last lap the time gap was 37 secs by my watch but the failings (if you think of them that way) were two fold,

- Team GB did not closely look at who was breaking clear to understand how strong the breakaway was becoming :? . I cannot believe that with 50Km to go on just about any stage of the tour Team Sky would have let Nibali, Cancellera, Leon Sanchez et al take jump out of the peloton and bridge a 40 sec gap :oops: . I guess the only difference is that on a pro tour stage they have the benefit of race radio and the team ability to monitor who is going clear rather than having to do the thinking/watching themselves. :evil:

- Team GB having talked themselves up so much that every other team thought they were effectively superhuman and could defeat any breakaway and abidicated all responsibility on this flawed assumption. I think the biggest loser in all of this is Griepel :roll: as it would appear he felt too weak mentally and physically to allow the german Team to help close down the gap and hence make the sprint finish even an option. The German team marked Team GB on each lap of the Box Hill circuit without doing anything other than wheel suck, fine if it delivers your bloke to the finish but spectacular own goal if it fails as it did so clearly. :x

Calder

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

....

I agree that GB were tactically naive to think that they could control the entire peloton (and all the inevitable breakaways) with only four men. That said, isn't it an even bigger mistake to not only plan your whole race on GB chasing down all breaks but then, when it became obvious that they couldn't, leaving it far too late to give them even the smallest help? Seems like Germany made the bigger mistake to me.

I was thinking about it.. but you just don't know what really happened on the road. eg Greipel may have told the guys that he didn't have the legs.

Don't make me laugh! We're talking about the olympics here, not some second rate race. You don't just get a few miles in and say to your team mates, "Oh, sorry lads, I think I'm feeling a bit weak today...."

You give it everything under all circumstances, and if possible you give it a little bit more than that.

SteppenHerring

Dodgerdog wrote:

There were two key issues as I saw it, as they headed into Headley village on the last lap the time gap was 37 secs by my watch but the failings (if you think of them that way) were two fold,
...

Yep - by my watch at Headley Cricket Club, the gap was 50 seconds or so. I thought it was all sewn up. Maybe if they'd known it was that close they would've hit the gas down the A24 and made the catch. We shall never know.

ddraver

Sounds like De Heer Boonen is still smarting from Paris Roubaix 2010...

ilovebigwig

Timoid. wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Ireland didnt figure at all in this race. Martin, Roche and McCann were their riders. They all finished in the Cav group. At least one of them should have tried to have gone with the first group.

Agreed. We were embarrassing. Our best chance was sitting at home cursing the selectors. McCann doesn't have the class, but Roche and Martin should hang their heads in shame. Not so much as a dig off the front. Poor.

Agreed again - they caught a lot of TV time hanging around at the back, very disappointing.

ddraver

Dodgerdog wrote:

- Team GB did not closely look at who was breaking clear to understand how strong the breakaway was becoming :? . I cannot believe that with 50Km to go on just about any stage of the tour Team Sky would have let Nibali, Cancellera, Leon Sanchez et al take jump out of the peloton and bridge a 40 sec gap :oops: . I guess the only difference is that on a pro tour stage they have the benefit of race radio and the team ability to monitor who is going clear rather than having to do the thinking/watching themselves. :evil:

- Team GB having talked themselves up so much that every other team thought they were effectively superhuman and could defeat any breakaway and abidicated all responsibility on this flawed assumption. I think the biggest loser in all of this is Griepel :roll: as it would appear he felt too weak mentally and physically to allow the german Team to help close down the gap and hence make the sprint finish even an option. The German team marked Team GB on each lap of the Box Hill circuit without doing anything other than wheel suck, fine if it delivers your bloke to the finish but spectacular own goal if it fails as it did so clearly. :x

- Well that's the exact argument for not having race radios, Who ever was on the front would have only seen a flash of white red and blue go away and would nt have known if it was Canc, Sanchez and Nibs or the national equivalents of the Saur Saujason nobody...

- Agreed - Goss basically admitted that Aus were never going to chase on CN. The germans were the same. Shame, but that's the problem/best part with 1 day racing.

Paulie W

ddraver wrote:

Well that's the exact argument for not having race radios, Who ever was on the front would have only seen a flash of white red and blue go away and would nt have known if it was Canc, Sanchez and Nibs or the national equivalents of the Saur Saujason nobody...

Does anybody know if Sky/Team GB (or others) had old fashioned spotters along the road - pre race radios wasn't the spotter an important source of info about breaks?

rick_chasey

Paulie W wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Well that's the exact argument for not having race radios, Who ever was on the front would have only seen a flash of white red and blue go away and would nt have known if it was Canc, Sanchez and Nibs or the national equivalents of the Saur Saujason nobody...

Does anybody know if Sky/Team GB (or others) had old fashioned spotters along the road - pre race radios wasn't the spotter an important source of info about breaks?

Not easy to relay information without radios by the side of the road.

All they'd hear is "CANcelara............................"

Paulie W

Rick Chasey wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Well that's the exact argument for not having race radios, Who ever was on the front would have only seen a flash of white red and blue go away and would nt have known if it was Canc, Sanchez and Nibs or the national equivalents of the Saur Saujason nobody...

Does anybody know if Sky/Team GB (or others) had old fashioned spotters along the road - pre race radios wasn't the spotter an important source of info about breaks?

Not easy to relay information without radios by the side of the road.

All they'd hear is "CANcelara............................"

Not easy but not impossible. Cant remember where I read it now but the spotters wouldn't necessarily relay the names in a break but would suggest a response through some kind of set of signals!!

rick_chasey

I'd say it's not workable - given they go so fast.

graeme_s-2

I watched the race from The Temperance in Fulham as per Rick's recommendation/organisation. Had a great day. Managed to grab a pic of Wiggins leading the peloton on the way out:



We legged it back onto the street to cheer them by just after they came back over Putney Bridge. I clocked the gap from Vino to the peloton at 53 seconds then and knew it was finished.

Have to say GB rode like trojans, but they were always going to rely on other countries working for a bunch sprint to get a medal. Agree with the others that the Aussies and Germany totally cut their noses off to spite their faces with their tactics. I know Australia had O'Grady in the break, but if they thought he was going to get a medal from that group then they were dreaming. Goss would have been almost certain to get a medal of some colour from a bunch sprint.

With the benefit of hindsight it does seem like GB should have either left the break a bit further out, or shut it down just after they crested Box Hill the last time. I suspect even if they had shut it down we'd have seen attacks from the peloton's strong men that could well have stayed away to the finish.

The only thing I think might have improved our chances would have been to have dragged Thomas off the track a few years ago and had him spend the last few years doing as many 1 day races as possible for Sky. Then started the road race with 1 less helper for Cav and Thomas with the instructions to go out and try to win from a break. I think if we'd had one of the existing team in the break we would have basically been in the same situation as Australia. It's no good having someone in the break if they have no realistic chance of a medal.

Paulie W

Rick Chasey wrote:

I'd say it's not workable - given they go so fast.

Well, it is workable because it used to be how it was done. How effective it was is another matter!

petemadoc

ddraver wrote:

Btw - Brussels and Brugge are both lovely cities and well worth a visit. I was very impressed by Belgium as a whole actually, it has a very bad, and totally undeserved rep. Lots of excellent beer and friendly people -The roads really are terrible though!!

Belgium freeking rocks!!

Been going for years. Beer, cycling, frites, mayonnaise, beer, friendly people, beer... did I mention beer

thiscocks

much better without race radio. Congrats to Vino on a great end to his career.