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In the hope of leaving doping and general anti-Olympic feeling in other threads, how about one that's actually about the sport?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/salzwedel-wiggins-and-the-team-are-breaking-world-records-in-training-for-olympics/
Looks like a fast track, then!
Also, for the MTB, who's going to challenge Nino? Looking very good for gold right now.
Sagan?! 😉
When is all the cycling being shown?
I think the xc will be a great race, I reckon the podium will be Kulhavy, Absalon, Nino although maybe not in that order. I've absolutely no idea how Sagan will perform, there's absolutely no question of whether he's strong or not but whether he can handle the explosive/bursty nature of xc racing is another question entirely.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/australian-team-ready-for-olympic-road-race/
And just over 12 months ago I was chatting to Scotty Bowden about how to live cheap. In Europe for the summer. Come on Australia
Really hoping the MTB will be a great event and we'll get some good camera positions to really highlight the technical rock features on the course. (and watch the back markers bounce down them on their heads obviously!)
Can't see past Schurter in the mens. With Neff having a habit of melting when it gets hot and PFP being off form all season, Langvad may well romp away with the womens.
I reckon the podium will be Kulhavy, Absalon, Nino
Almost certainly. Can't see Sagan troubling the top XC riders. The women's race will be good too, Neff not been as dominant recently. Could be Langvad, Rissveds, Spitz, Pendrel, Gunn-Rita, Nash, PFP... a few of those have had a hard season in the World Cup, and a few have had a quiet season planning to peak for the Olympics, it will be a good race.
The mens road race is an interesting one. A one day race on a course that no-one really knows (as in it's not been raced much before so there isn't a familiar pattern to the racing). Some think it's good for the one day racers, some for the GC riders, it's going to be fascinating to see how it develops. It'll be a hard race to control too with small teams often lacking in cohesion. I really have no idea but have a feeling about Nibali if they can drop many of the faster finishers.
Chris Froome is competing on Saturday, right?
Chris Froome is competing on Saturday, right?
Yes. Lots of options for the GB team though depending on how it pans out.
Can't wait to see what random stunt Froome pulls in the RR after all his attacking downhill, running uphill, echelon splits madness in the Tour.
Mad Tony Martin style break from Km 0? Unicycle?
¯\_(?)_/¯
Yes. Lots of options for the GB team though depending on how it pans out.
That's what screwed it for them last time. Everyone knew that they had one plan, it was called Cav. So as soon as the break went, no-one else would work since it would come to a bunch sprint and Cav would win.
At least this time, no-one actually knows what their plan is, they've got a number of possible options and can hopefully go into it with a bit of free rein to improvise. The only problem I can see is that Sky don't do improvisation, they're generally quite bad at reading a race and reacting to it - that's why it took them all this time to win a Classic.
That and the fact that they'll be heavily marked.
The only problem I can see is that Sky don't do improvisation, they're generally quite bad at reading a race and reacting to it
Froome looked pretty good at improvising in the Tour. G and Stannard both looked pretty good at improvising in the classics this year. Yates looked good at improvising riding pretty much solo to a white jersey at the Tour. And as for Cummings... 🙂
Yeah, they've learnt a lot - certainly in the early days they went in with a Plan A and never deviated from that, no matter what the race itself was doing. They didn't have a Plan B or C...
That was their downfall at the Olympics in 2012 as well.
Although to be fair, that was their one tactic at the Worlds and Cav won that one as planned so it can work occasionally.
This time, at least they've got Yates and Cummings in there as non-Sky riders.
Looks like a fast track, then!
“They’re breaking the world record in training. That’s no secret and a couple of people have seen it. How much faster, I don’t want to elaborate,” Salzwedel told Cyclingnews just before leaving for Rio on Wednesday.
The records were either in Manchester or Newport.
I do wonder if the Aussies are also breaking records, but just not talking about it.
I'm looking forward to the road races and time trials too, then getting in as much track cycling viewing as possible.
Froome is a diversion, Cummings up the road with the team working for Thomas would be my tactics
Froome is a diversion, Cummings up the road with the team working for Thomas would be my tactics
Watching the preview on the Beeb now, and was thinking exactly this! Looked for the thread, and there you are!
Reckon you're spot on there. However, would add Stannard to the "up the road" options. Put either Cummings or Stannard in the break (Assuming there is one!) then use Froome as the decoy, keep everyone looking at him, while working for G. Then, if G gets away, glory. If not, hope that Stannard or Cummings can hold on for a win.
Lots of options!
Stannard won't make it up the hills so won't be seen as a serious threat in a break, but could do a lot of work for Cummings in a break. Doubt they'd both be allowed to get away.
Agree, Froome is the diversion.
The "hills" come late in the race, so yes, I agree, he could get away and cause trouble before then.
I doubt they'll get two away in the break (as Sky did in the RL race the other day), but just think that having two who are good to get in to a breakway gives the team more options. Wouldn't matter too much which one gets in, I suppose.
Good going to have spoilers already. Came here looking for the results and feeling disappointed 🙁
G is who is work for, he can climb, he's a clever rider and he's got 1 day experience. Saying that, you'd not bet against Cummings either. Froome? No, not sure I can see him.
Getting very excited about this! 🙂
Should be interesting, as long as it doesn't clash too much with the DH qualifying.
Eddiebaby, DH quali was yesterday. Race is today - just so you don't miss out!
Looking forward to the road race. GB team have the talent to win as long as they get their tactics correct
When is the XC on telly?
big descent and flat after the last climb makes me think that there could be a fairly significant selection of riders before the finish. I'd hope Thomas and Froome should be able to make that selection particularly if Thomas doesn't have to put much in before it, as opposed to his TdF role working for Froome.
Stannard or Cummings up the road early on, let the other countries chase it back and tow T&F to the last climb, then fight it from there.
Hoping to see Dan Martin or one of the Colombians take the road race, would settle for Rodriguez or Valverde though!
valverde winning would be like a Vinakorov win, everyone politely looks embarrassed and starts to discuss the weather, the price of fish and Sagan in the XCO event
In the hope of leaving doping...in other threads, how about one that's actually about the sport?
What a quaint idea 😉
That aside, looking forward to it and fingers crossed for Cav. Just have to fit a quick ride in for myself first but glued to cricket!!!
Just thinking about those short sharp hills in Rio, I struggled to walk up some of them! The level of fitness is unreal, I struggle to cycle commute 5 days a week. Hope froome wins, he deserves his success
Road races and xc both quite tantalising.
Agree Sagan is an outside bet, but we can hope.
Road race is so hard to predict, 3x 500m climbs then 24km downhill and flat to finish.
Nibali is a good call, maybe Jarlinson Pantano, Valverde.
But I can imagine froome wanting to have a go by attacking on the final climb, and if he gets a decent gap...
Thanks for the heads up mrtickle. I'm in London all day so I'll just have to ignore this place and any spoilers and watch it at midnight.
is there a live stream for this?
[I can't get the BBC where I am at the moment]
iPlayer?
When is the XC on telly?
20th and 21st August.
[quote=crazy-legs ]Although to be fair, that was their one tactic at the Worlds and Cav won that one as planned so it can work occasionally.
The difference is the size of the teams - with 9 at the worlds they could sit on the front from a long way out and control it, with only 5 at the Olympics they couldn't do that. The Olympics is set up to be less controlled and more random with smaller teams - suits those with an eye for an opportunity, fortunately we have a few of those, but so do plenty of other countries.
GB at the front already apparently 😕
Panzerwagen ftw 🙂
Looks like a fairly strong breakaway forming! I can feel echoes of 2012! I thought Steve Cummings was there to get into breaks!
"Comfort break"? I always assumed they just let go in the saddle...
Maybe when the hammer is down, but you don't normally need to go then. It's a standard thing, just that the TV doesn't normally show it in major pro races where the coverage is being done by people more used to covering cycling.
Problem (in my limited view) with 2012 no one aside from GB was prepared to do any work to try and reel in the breakaway which was a large enough group to be self sustaining. Will try and catch the last hour or so today
Having resorted to cyclingnews for info on who's in the break as the TV coverage is rubbish at that (typical amateur Olympic coverage), most obviously no Italian or Spaniard, and right on cue who's at the front of the peleton!
For info, from cyclingnews:
Breakaway: Simon Geschke (Germany), Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Svan Erik Bystrom (Norway), Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), Pavel Kochetkov (Russia).
[url= http://95.85.28.62/livestream.php ]http://95.85.28.62/livestream.php[/url]
cheers lightman 🙂
"****ING IDIOT!!" - my money's on Yatesy 😉
poor bugger Stannard, shoved to the front already and told to bring it back
Just joined appears Porte had a problem but good young Scotty got him back. Invested here as I've been out with Porte and raced in a 24 with Scotty Bowden who's number 4 on the Aus team. Last time I saw him we were talking how to live cheap on the euro circuit.
WTF? BBC1. Where's the bloody cycling gone?
Red button or iplayer
getting nothing but blank screens on the red button (even after a retune )
getting nothing but blank screens on the red button (even after a retune )
Same here. Help!
those gutters look lethal, don't think I'd want to commute by bike in rio !
OK on mine
******* bbc
and the bandwidth on iplayer is shocking
iplayer back up to snuff now 🙄
iplayer is crystal clear here
his saddles dropped you muppets nothing to do with his gears
Red button doing nothing, so pleased I've finally got iPlayer as standard on the TV
carnage on those cobbles
standard of riding seems a little variable....... riding into bushes!
Properly steep in places too.
all these tiny "rental" team cars look odd 🙂
Some poor mechanicing going on, judging by the amount of dropped chains.
they're taking the piss a bit with some of these 'consultation' sessions back at the team cars 😉
What are you lit watching it on? Land channels or iPlayer. All I get is rowing or hockey...
iPlayer - they have a load of live Olympic streams (Youview box plugged into my TV)
Red button on BBC, via Sky.
Double entry.
they're taking the piss a bit with some of these 'consultation' sessions back at the team cars
It's because of the stupid decision not to allow radios: You either allow them for all pro events, or none.
I don't mean that - they're supposed to ride at the same time, not get towed.
lol possible undersized bottles 🙂
Why does it have to be all or none, and why is it stupid? I quite like the idea of the riders having to think for themselves rather than being choreographed from the team cars.
I thought everybody back at the team cars were recovering from mechanicals though? (in which case you normally get a bit of slack at being towed for a little)
I thought everybody back at the team cars were "recovering from mechanicals" though?
FTFY
😆
whens the jousting start ? 😯
Ah. iPlayer. Gotcha. 8)
Why does it have to be all or none, and why is it stupid? I quite like the idea of the riders having to think for themselves rather than being choreographed from the team cars.
I personally think it should be all or none: You can't go changing the rules from race to race, but that's my view.
Many of the "sticky hands" are people collecting bottle or snacks from the team cars, as well as those with mechanicals, or "mechanicals".
Hmm, I want to go surfing
Is that all of the British team up in the top 7? Are they going to try something, or just wear themselves out?