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Looks more like Rochdale than Rio.
from (ocho) Rio to dorking...
Not even a big KA fan (not quite sure why - maybe just because she beat Emma in Beijing!), but OZ shouldn't even be there, so very happy with that result.
Doper beaten!
Woop woop!
atlaz - Member
Can someone explain why we had someone who wasn't good in the road race and arguably couldn't do enough to get a medal in the TT rather than our women's national TT champ?
Might be better off asking why our national federation chose not to qualify any men or women for the mtb events?
Doper beaten!Woop woop!
+1. The fact that she was even there at all is annoying, much less that she was 2nd.
Good event that - let's see how the Men get on.
[quote=crazy-legs ]Emma was 4th in the British Cycling National TT Championships, about 40 seconds behind Hayley Simmonds. HS is a specialist TTer who would have been no good at all in the road race.
She wouldn't have been any good on that course. Emma was encouraged to make a comeback by the GB cycling coaches on seeing the course because the climbing was likely to suit her - she's almost certainly a significantly better climber than any of the girls who finished ahead of her in the nationals.
From the looks of that result it's unlikely she'd have made the podium in any case, but I can't help wondering how much of the 2 minutes she was off that was due to the conditions, which clearly didn't suit her at all.
And we're off in the mens. Top Namibian beard.
Dan Craven is away - left his TT bike behind.
As soon as I heard it was very windy, I thought her small frame wouldn't help her.
I'm surprised they thought it was that much of a climber's course, given that only 15% of the time was spent climbing.
Whilst Armitstead got all the negative publicity for going to CAS, Zabelinskaya seemed to have gone under the radar. Hardly raced at all since her comeback, so not much in-competition testing. And as to out of comp testing by her home federation during the last few years.......
[quote=mikey74 ]As soon as I heard it was very windy, I thought her small frame wouldn't help her.
My comments aren't hindsight - I suggested that a couple of pages ago before they started.
I'm surprised they thought it was that much of a climber's course, given that only 15% of the time was spent climbing.
I'm wondering from the pre-race comments whether it was going to be a hillier course and they then changed it to something flatter? It clearly wasn't anything like as tough as the Beijing TT course. You'd think it would have been decided before they did selections - it's not like Pooley is rubbish on the flat though.
Namibian rider with a pair of Gatorskin tyres FTW! 🙂
Can't believe there was no LBS that had some clip-on aero bars for Craven to use. 😆
With those sunglasses, Dan Craven looks like he's out for a sunday club run
Proper Olympian spirit from Dan Craven there "TT? yeah I'll give it a go mate"
I hardly want to discuss Zabelinskaya, but ISTM she epitomises the reason why the IOC should have given a blanket ban to the Russian team if they'd actually had any balls - given that CAS in it's wisdom has said that they can't ban anybody just because they've had a previous doping violation. Clearly her doping incident came right during the dodgy period and the Russian Federation decided not to even sanction her for it - in my mind (like CB it seems) she doesn't even exist and van der Breggen came second.
Oh and the UCI are pussies as well for letting her take a retrospective 18 month ban, which appears to have made zero difference to her.
Looks like the descent is drying out, in patches
I thought that, I guess with it being windy and (presuambly) warm, should dry quickly
The air temp. was 21 degrees at the beginning of the women's, so presumably it's higher than that now.
Why the longish delay between the different starter groups?
My heart is in my mouth every time I see a rider crossing the yellow lines on that twisty descent.
Doesn't look like that's drying out much, or likely to.
I rode the Rio route a month ago 8) The new tarmac on the cobbles wasn't there then. There are certainly some punchy climbs on it!
On that day, they were also resurfacing the long beachfront section for the road race and had closed it to cars, so we were the first to ride it, without traffic too.
Why the longish delay between the different starter groups?
Traffic on the course. Given that the Men do 2 laps of that circuit, you'll end up with riders on their first lap entering the circuit at the same time as the early riders are coming round again to start their second lap which would just lead to traffic issues.
Traffic on the course. Given that the Men do 2 laps of that circuit, you'll end up with riders on their first lap entering the circuit at the same time as the early riders are coming round again to start their second lap which would just lead to traffic issues.
I thought it was something like that, cheers.
Why the longish delay between the different starter groups?
Something to do with creating a gap in the field since its 2 laps of a circuit.
[quote=aracer ]I'm wondering from the pre-race comments whether it was going to be a hillier course and they then changed it to something flatter?
...have found the comments from CB I remember "there's a little bit less climbing than I was expecting", "little bit less climbing than Emma would have hoped for" - don't know whether he hadn't checked before or they've changed it - certainly from what I'd heard before I was expecting a lot more climbing than there actually seems to be.
@martinhutch Looks like it's raining on one part of the course and drying out on another. A shot of someone going over the summit checkpoint, it's dry with the support car not having its wipers on then a shot on the flat section by the cobbles where you struggle to see the rider because of the rain on the lens.
The TT is on the western loop of the Road Race course, which is less hilly than the Vista Chinesa climb on the Eastern loop, but still some nasty steep bits.
Having ridden in Rio a fair bit, they should have used the climb to Christ the Redeemer as a finish, but I guess they wanted a stadium on Copacabana.
Geraint Thomas just started.
Cancellara going well
Froome starting slow 😯
First check (10km)
Spartacus 15:12
Dennis 15:13
G 15:18
Dumoulin 15:27
Panzerwagen 15:28
Castroviejo 15:31
Froomey 15:32
Demoulin and Froome waaaay back...
Start slow, finish fast... Always the best TT strategy.
[quote=shermer75 ]Demoulin and Froome waaaay back...
If 15s and 20s is waaaaay back
Froome was 22s off the best time at the first check in the TdF mountain TT. Just saying.
Looking slippery out there.
G E R A I N T.
Panzerwagen has been shelled
not too worried about Froome yet, it's a longish TT and he had to measure his early effort when he won the tour uphill TT. He'll finish strongly, as will Dumoulin probably.
Hmmm, Froome dog looks to be losing it 🙁
Spartacus has just turned on the afterburners
Cancellara meanwhile looks to be measuring his effort nicely, he's going well.
Sooooo exciting!!
Change of bike for Dennis
Impressive work by the mechanic
What was wrong with his bike?!
It wasn't going fast enough any more
Slow-mo shot showing the left tri-bar broke
Broken tri bar
Broken/snapped tri-bar
I guess the battery ran out with all those hills..
Okay, tri-bar snapping, too much power?
Froomey out of it for the win, though it's all quite tight from 2nd to 5th - gold is Cancellara's if [s]his motor batteries don't run out[/s] he can hold it.
Well that's one thing decided, G stayed upright
'G' well done lad, considering the crash.
Wow, Castroviejo took almost a minute out of G in the last third, having been only 30s up before.
Looking good for Spartacus.
Cancellara riding this so well, a well deserved win if he gets it. Can't see that time getting beaten.
Looking like Spartacus, Dumoulin, Froomey
Love the patronizing 'slow down' marshals at the end. There's about 8 of them!
Great gurning from TM as usual
Bronze
Great for Cancellara. Happy to see him win. Good result for Froome too
Cancellara absolutely demolished them all. Phenomenal ride, great way to sign off his career.
Awesome win for Spartacus
Really chuffed that Geraint was in top 10 🙂
Will Cancellara ride again after that? Got to be hard to get himself up for the rest of the season, when he's just achieved his main target of the year.
The other question is what on earth happened at that second time check where he was shown as being well down?
They're not marshalls, they're scousers..
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Love to see Cancellara win, pure class.
Crowd looked more like the tour of Dubai or a local crit than the Olympics though.
G with pair of 9's for the Olympics, good work lad.
Cheer
Boo
Cheer
Sweet jesus, those GB track tops are hideous.
Even wearing that Froomey still looks a lot more happy than Dumoulin - I guess he'd already achieved his objective for the season and this was just a bonus.
GB tops designed by Stella McCartney innit.
Yeah. Inspired by the look of barfing up one of her mum's ready meals.
GB tops designed by Stella McCartney innit.
There's been some bad ones over the years but that is an absolute ten out of ten, top of the class, gold medal winning minger of a design.
I blame Stella McCartney for the number of fourth places GB have got. It's the highest position you can achieve and not have to wear the track suit for the cameras.
I've just mentioned those jackets in another thread over there >>>>>>>>>
They look like something you'd find on a tourist tat stand on a street corner in London.
Pleasing win for Spartacus there. Nice to get something decent from his last season.
I guess he's got to be in contention for the Worlds ITT so I'd imagine he'll have a crack at that. Not sure what else he's got on the calendar. Was he going to the Vuelta? Il Lombardia?
Be a major disappointment for Dumoulin that. I wonder how much his Tour injury cost him?
Its a shame that Fabian is retiring as we wont see the Olympic TT champion ride after this year.
Pretty much the right result on form, I'd say! Shame for Dumoulin that he was a bit crocked.
So, what's up next?
Team Sprint tomorrow!
Massive congrats to Cancerella, absolutely killed it in miserable and difficult conditions. I recall he was looking good for a medal until his fall in 2012 ?
So, what's up next?Team Sprint tomorrow!
Yes, I've seen that the Team Sprint gets in the way of the proper bits of track cycling, namely the Team Pursuit.
Sprint. Meh, wash your keyboard out!