Olympic Road Race - 6th August 2016 Rio

omri

It was a great race yesterday, I wonder how would any of the grand tours look like if they had no radios and only 5 member teams and possibly down to two weeks. Nibali and Henao had a bad luck, but that's racing, you make a mistake you pay the price. Pity Majka didn't manage to the end - it's possible that Kwiatkowski was working for him from the start. I'm surprised how "Sky" crew crumbled except Geraint.

1bryan

JK.BMC wrote: »

That's a weird definition of irony????

And he had been cleared of all drugs related accusations, hence it's forgotten.

So get to the point- what are you really saying?

why is it weird? Its pretty much a textbook definition of irony tbh.

Its almost the opposite to what happened in the Armitstead case. The fed actually looking for him to be banned, as opposed to them fighting on his behalf.

I think my point is pretty clear.

CrowdedHouse

I didn't realise you have to start the road race in order to do the TT. So that's why Dumoulin did a few Kms yesterday

Kaisr Sose

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I didn't realise you have to start the road race in order to do the TT. So that's why Dumoulin did a few Kms yesterday

I think that's unfair – Imagine Athletics said you had to run the marathon to run the 10,000m (or vice versa)

philstar

is it compulsory that the Olympic road race has a cobblestone section?? it looked brutal

Beasty

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I didn't realise you have to start the road race in order to do the TT. So that's why Dumoulin did a few Kms yesterday

In the Paralympics I know two cyclists who have to take part in the tandem Road Race so they can compete in the track sprint event. The rules there are you have to take part in at least 2 events but there is only one track sprint event (and there are much better team options in the track pursuit). Fortunately the RR follows the track event, although as they are the fastest tandem duo on the planet (having done a standing start kilometre in under a minute) I suspect they will be bringing home the track gold regardless

pelevin

Nibali's apparently broken both collarbones. Looking back, the Italians really deserved something from that race the way they rode it in the latter stages. Caruso, Aru & Nibali getting into the decisive group when for instance no Spanish or French getting there, Caruso giving everything on the flat section to hold off the peloton, Aru ramping things up selflessly on the ascent before Nibali then further splitting things. Beautiful stuff in terms of in-the-moment racing & teamwork.

It can be a brutally hard sport though in physical demands & 'punishments' to riders & where Nibali gained on the descent in the Giro with Kruiswijk's crash following Nibali's aggressive descending, here he was the loser. With so many coming down on that descent, it was clearly very dangerous.
Seemed like Nibali & Henao were the stronger of the 3 that were together, & at a guess would have had the gold & silver between them, but instead they've got nothing but injuries. Henao receiving a fracture to his iliac crest and trauma to his thorax, but thankfully apparently not as serious as that may sound.

Beasty

For all it being a great race, it does make me wonder if it was worth all that carnage

See Porte has a broken scapula and misses the TT

Mint Sauce

Beasty wrote: »

For all it being a great race, it does make me wonder if it was worth all that carnage

See Porte has a broken scapula and misses the TT

Could have been worse only for the netting. Nearly all the road had a foot deep concrete gutter either side. No room for error or run offs on them descents.

rtmie

Boardman was saying on BBC commentary from the very start of the race that he was seriously concerned that that descent would cause a lot of serious injuries.

pelevin

Beasty wrote: »

For all it being a great race, it does make me wonder if it was worth all that carnage

See Porte has a broken scapula and misses the TT

Certainly a great race but that descent with that murderous looking concrete & especially when the racing was full steam ahead was obviously more than one accident waiting to happen all right.

MPFGLB

Beasty wrote: »

For all it being a great race, it does make me wonder if it was worth all that carnage

See Porte has a broken scapula and misses the TT

I agree ...could have been just an exciting race with a rolling parcours and a few climbs but with easier descents...it was afterall the first part of the race that made the selection

The wind, cobbles , small teams & no radios ...and the fight for glory among some teams is enough to make a race....but all dangerous parcours should be restricted

Boardman was scathing about the descent long before the race ever got there ...he said it was too dangerous and so it proved...Porte, Nibali, Heano all seriously injured...not woth it all ....

dastardly00

I haven't read any media today about the race, has it been apparent how the Nibali-Henao crash happened. As in, did one fall and brought the other down, or did they touch wheels etc.

dastardly00

philstar wrote: »

is it compulsory that the Olympic road race has a cobblestone section?? it looked brutal

No not compulsory at all. It's different each Olympics.

All My Stars Aligned

On the no radio thing. Did they try to introduce no radio stages on some stage of the TDF a few years back? I seem to recall the riders kicking up over it. Anyone remember what their objections were?

Tigerandahalf

If you had no radios how would riders in the peleton know what the gap to the front is?

Would they be reliant on motorbikes for info with the chalkboard?
That would make it hard to cover breaks up ahead.

MPFGLB

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

If you had no radios how would riders in the peleton know what the gap to the front is?

Would they be reliant on motorbikes for info with the chalkboard?
That would make it hard to cover breaks up ahead.

Yes...exactly ...this is what is needed ....you will know gaps from motos and it willbeup to you to keep track

many races do not have radios....and it works

pelevin

And smaller teams would definitely make the racing better too, including for sure the sprint stages which are seriously formulaic. The anarchic alive element to racing would go way up.

Tigerandahalf

MPFGLB wrote: »

Yes...exactly ...this is what is needed ....you will know gaps from motos and it willbeup to you to keep track

many races do not have radios....and it works

How long are radios in cycling?

Diarmuid

Beasty wrote: »

For all it being a great race, it does make me wonder if it was worth all that carnage

See Porte has a broken scapula and misses the TT

It certainly was bad luck for Porte but he does seem to be a poor (for a pro) descender. It's not like he hasn't crashed before on a descent and he was following wheels when he crashed.

Nibali and Alaphilippe both crashed because they were clearly taking chances on the descent to gain an advantage. Again, both riders have history doing this.

It almost impossible for us to say whether it was worth it. I'm sure Porte doesn't think so, but what about GVA, Majka?

Beasty

TT posts moved to dedicated TT thread

buffalo

Someone in work says one of the male racers broke both collarbones... any idea who did that?

Melodeon

buffalo wrote: »

Someone in work says one of the male racers broke both collarbones... any idea who did that?

T'was Nibali:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-rio-cycling-nibali-idUSKCN10H0R5

buffalo

Melodeon wrote: »

T'was Nibali:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-rio-cycling-nibali-idUSKCN10H0R5

ouch, didn't realise he'd done that much damage in the crash.

ThisRegard

Ouch, it's bad enough trying to manage at the beginning with 1 broken one. I wouldn't want to be the person volunteering to help with his bathroom business.

petethedrummer

ThisRegard wrote: »

Ouch, it's bad enough trying to manage at the beginning with 1 broken one. I wouldn't want to be the person volunteering to help with his bathroom business.

He'll be grand...

Bidets are common bathroom fixtures in many southern European countries, especially Italy, where they are found in 97% of households (the installation of a bidet in a bathroom has been mandatory since 1975)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet

Hungrycol

Sorry to drag this post up again but I had an epiphany!

Why can't the Olympics run a week long stage race to start and finish in the host city? It could really bring the Olympics to other parts of the country and sure the track cycling goes on for weeks why not the road race? Scrap the ITT.

Eamonnator

Hallelujah !!
Praise the Lord!

godtabh

Hungrycol wrote: »

Sorry to drag this post up again but I had an epiphany!

Why can't the Olympics run a week long stage race to start and finish in the host city? It could really bring the Olympics to other parts of the country and sure the track cycling goes on for weeks why not the road race? Scrap the ITT.

The olympics are generally a one city event. Probably explains why its a one day event. Also how teams are formed would be a big thing.

Beasty

The other thing is we've actually had cycling pretty much back-to-back throughout. They want to spread things around a bit (so there's limited overlap between Swimming and Athletics, the 2 most popular sports, for example). You also need to run an equivalent women's event.

Currently we have 2 days of RRs, 1 day of TTs, 6 days of track, 3 days of BMX and a couple of days of MTB.

We've already seen the track programme squeezed in terms of medals to accomodate BMX (meaning many popular track disciplines no longer feature at the Olympics) and most sports now use the Olympics as a showcase to try and attract more participation and coverage of their other events

So in summary, certainly at present, its a complete non-starter....