Rio - Track Cycling events - no spoiler tags required

neris

https://twitter.com/Plastic_Peloton/status/765301934257475584

Lusk_Doyle

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

He did actually. He said he hoped he was ok.

Also, on other social media lots are saying he didn't even look behind. I'm fairly certain that he did a small bit further down the straight and sure anyway, he was coming back around in what, 15 seconds?

nak

You'd think no one had ever crashed on the track before. Didn't see any venom directed towards the rider responsible for the crash in the women's keirin. Only a psychopath would cause a crash intentionally. The comments on Sticky Bottle are delightful; Cavendish's wife is even getting dragged into it.

Have been taken out myself on the bike by other people's inattention. In one case there was no apology even when I required medical attention, crashing is part of racing and people make mistakes. The way the omnium was run probably didn't help, the events were a lot closer together than normal, not much time for recovery.

lennymc

what benefit would cavendish have got from deliberately crashing into the korean rider (who wasnt in contention), apart from risking putting himself out of action for both the olympics and the worlds. I think it looks worse than it was tho, but it was a racing incident. Cav went down, the Korean rider went up, they met in the middle.

C3PO

Cav made a mistake ... the Commissars looked at it and decided to take no action ... why the vitriol towards him? Maybe he should have been sanctioned, I don't know enough about the rules of Omnium to have an opinion, but I don't see how the lack of punishment can be construed as Cav's fault?
As Nak says - only a lunatic would deliberately collide with another competitor at that speed, he would be as likely to fall as the other cyclist!

neris

nak wrote: »

You'd think no one had ever crashed on the track before. Didn't see any venom directed towards the rider responsible for the crash in the women's keirin. Only a psychopath would cause a crash intentionally. The comments on Sticky Bottle are delightful; Cavendish's wife is even getting dragged into it.

Have been taken out myself on the bike by other people's inattention. In one case there was no apology even when I required medical attention, crashing is part of racing and people make mistakes. The way the omnium was run probably didn't help, the events were a lot closer together than normal, not much time for recovery.

i think those comments on sticky bottle are from Facebook keyboard warriors whove not been on a bike since they were 8. Some stupid comments

Lusk_Doyle

lennymc wrote: »

what benefit would cavendish have got from deliberately crashing into the korean rider (who wasnt in contention), apart from risking putting himself out of action for both the olympics and the worlds. I think it looks worse than it was tho, but it was a racing incident. Cav went down, the Korean rider went up, they met in the middle.

Ah yea, but this is evil Cav who drowns baby kittens...

Lusk_Doyle

neris wrote: »

i think those comments on sticky bottle are from Facebook keyboard warriors whove not been on a bike since they were 8. Some stupid comments

Awful. It's no wonder so many people in the public eye steer well clear of social media. You'd go mad.

CramCycle

I can see why he looks guilty, it looks like he peered down twice, his move over was very sudden and there was not even the typical look back that you would get as a human reaction.

This said, to do that on purpose, and so skilfully, would be incredible. The risk to him is almost as high.

I am not a fan of Cav but it looks more like he looked but either missed or misjudged.

Definitely should have gotten a warning, swerved down to sharply without due care, a ban though, tough call. If it was intentional it would be the ballsiest move in awhile and would indicate severe mental disconnect. I don't like the guy, and I know he is driven in ways I would never be on the bike but would he risk taking himself out, I don't know, i think he would have had them anyway, why take the risk?

nak

neris wrote: »

nak wrote: »

You'd think no one had ever crashed on the track before. Didn't see any venom directed towards the rider responsible for the crash in the women's keirin. Only a psychopath would cause a crash intentionally. The comments on Sticky Bottle are delightful; Cavendish's wife is even getting dragged into it.

Have been taken out myself on the bike by other people's inattention. In one case there was no apology even when I required medical attention, crashing is part of racing and people make mistakes. The way the omnium was run probably didn't help, the events were a lot closer together than normal, not much time for recovery.

i think those comments on sticky bottle are from Facebook keyboard warriors whove not been on a bike since they were 8. Some stupid comments

Some of them are from people who race regularly, road and off-road though, track not so much. A photographer who took pictures of Cavendish at the tour has been given threats and abuse on Instagram this morning. Strange world we live in, they must be very unhappy having so much hate towards someone they've never met. Viviana was ok about it when interviewed.

Don't understand where the idea that British riders keep getting away with cheating came from, the commisaires are from several countries and have also never heard any allegations of corruption regarding Brian Cookson.

Kav0777

CramCycle wrote: »

I can see why he looks guilty, it looks like he peered down twice, his move over was very sudden and there was not even the typical look back that you would get as a human reaction.

This said, to do that on purpose, and so skilfully, would be incredible. The risk to him is almost as high.

I am not a fan of Cav but it looks more like he looked but either missed or misjudged.

Definitely should have gotten a warning, swerved down to sharply without due care, a ban though, tough call. If it was intentional it would be the ballsiest move in awhile and would indicate severe mental disconnect. I don't like the guy, and I know he is driven in ways I would never be on the bike but would he risk taking himself out, I don't know, i think he would have had them anyway, why take the risk?

I don't think he was looking back at the Korean guy, I think he was solely focused in Viviani who was behind the Korean.

pelevin

My view would coincide with CramCycle's above. I thought it looked very bad from Cavendish, people around me & without real cycling knowledge & bias against him convinced he did it on purpose. It was just the strangeness of doing it on purpose would have me giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was unintentional but still his fault. Either way though I found it strange the lack of punishment. In road cycling the commissaires wouldn't concern themselves with an incident in a sprint having to be intentional to punish or DQ the transgressor. This looked worse in terms of taking a very bad line & taking out someone than almost any sprint I've seen, & though not at high speed still enough to send Park to hospital. So why did he escape punishment?

To add, as could easily have happened if Viviani had like Park been unable to continue, & Cav ending up with gold . . . imagine the consequences then.

Have seen more or less nothing of the track-cycling till that race & while I like Boardman who has dignity & gravitas, I thought the BBC coverage of . . . not sure her name & Chris Hoy on the sidelines - was little but cheerleading. More or less totally avoided the crash incident in their talk, & I see Hoy in a series of 8 tweets of the race just omitted to mention the crash had even happened. However big your name, if you're just a propagandist don't masquerade as an objective analyst. Though maybe that's what it's perceived the masses want.

magicbastarder

clare balding?

pelevin

magicbastarder wrote: »

clare balding?

That's the one.

nak

pelevin wrote: »

Have seen more or less nothing of the track-cycling till that race & while I like Boardman who has dignity & gravitas, I thought the BBC coverage of . . . not sure her name & Chris Hoy on the sidelines - was little but cheerleading. More or less totally avoided the crash incident in their talk, & I see Hoy in a series of 8 tweets of the race just omitted to mention the crash had even happened. However big your name, if you're just a propagandist don't masquerade as an objective analyst. Though maybe that's what it's perceived the masses want.

Hoy doesn't have to pass judgement and for him as an ex track rider who has been involved in many crashes, it's probably not something he would see worth dwelling on. There have been several crashes on the track so far in the Olympics and there will probably be more, but you won't see any others attracting that much attention.

People have lost 3 week Grand Tours from being involved in crashes, heartbreaking, but it's part of racing.

pelevin

nak wrote: »

Hoy doesn't have to pass judgement and for him as an ex track rider who has been involved in many crashes, it's probably not something he would see worth dwelling on. There have been several crashes on the track so far in the Olympics and there will probably be more, but you won't see any others attracting that much attention.

People have lost 3 week Grand Tours from being involved in crashes, heartbreaking, but it's part of racing.

He's supposed to be an analyst. If he's afraid of commenting on the most dramatic incident in the race for fear of "passing judgement" . . . well then imo he's a joke of an analyst, just a cheerleader. Chris Boardman otoh was unafraid to say that was Cav's fault & it looked very bad for him in terms of expected punishment. For me Boardman's reaction is dignified, unafraid of upsetting the British public, Hoy's lame.

mcgratheoin

pelevin wrote: »

For me Boardman's reaction is dignified, unafraid of upsetting the British public, Hoy's lame.

Hoy's too close to the team, most of them were teammates of his in 2012 and he's probably still involved in some capacity so I can understand his cheerleading - I'm not sure any of us would be any different. Having said that, it's a pity that the BBC don't have a track cycling equivalent of Michael Johnson to provide a bit of impartiality and context.

Also - have to say I loved Cav's quip about having to wait to be interviewed by the BBC "You'd be straight on for Brad, wouldn't you?"

stecleary

MediaMan wrote: »

Viviani takes Gold in the blubbering competition!

If anyone ever suggest the Olympics mean nothing to the pro just show them Viviani last night.

pelevin

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Hoy's too close to the team, most of them were teammates of his in 2012 and he's probably still involved in some capacity so I can understand his cheerleading - I'm not sure any of us would be any different. Having said that, it's a pity that the BBC don't have a track cycling equivalent of Michael Johnson to provide a bit of impartiality and context.

Too close certainly if you compare to Michael Johnson but also maybe lacks some of that integrity Johnson seems to have also. Wasn't he part of the trio in the last Olympics one of whom stupidly admitted to purposely falling to gain a re-start, & that this was a pre-ordained tactic? If that's not a lack of 'objectivity' in terms of what's correct sporting behaviour, what is?

Beasty

pelevin wrote: »

Wasn't he part of the trio in the last Olympics one of whom stupidly admitted to purposely falling to gain a re-start, & that this was a pre-ordained tactic? If that's not a lack of 'objectivity' in terms of what's correct sporting behaviour, what is?

Pretty standard "tactic" for all teams back then. The commissaires have tightened up since though

Beasty

Final day of track cycling with 3 Golds up for grabs

2pm (our time) sees the quarter finals of the women's Sprint, the start of the men's Keirin and the 500m TT in the women's Omnium

Then at 8pm we have the Sprint semi-finals interspersing the Omnium Flying Lap and Kierin semi-finals before all 3 events come to a conclusion with the Omnium Points race, and finals of the Sprint and Kierin

Then it's over to BMX for the next 3 days....

pelevin

Beasty wrote: »

Pretty standard "tactic" for all teams back then.

Bunch of lowlife cheats!

pelevin

Just looked at this interview with Cavendish https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2016/aug/16/mark-cavendish-i-feel-terrible-about-omnium-crash-with-south-korean-cyclist-video

He says it was "entirely my fault." So just repeating what I wondered earlier which is why he wasn't punished. In a road race sprint he'd obviously have been disqualified or had the result affected quite heavily in some manner for such an incident. Surely this would have warranted something. It's no small thing for even the protagonist to accept such an incident which put someone in hospital was entirely his fault, as well as affecting the points for the overall competition in various ways - Viviani missed out on sprints I believe & Gavira may have been affected detrimentally when trying to gain a lap. I'd have thought at least something like a 10 point penalty would accrue, & he could also easily have ended up in gold at Viviani's expense. I'm perfectly willing to believe him saying it was an accident & that he feels very bad for what happened Park but just wondering about the lack of action by commissaires.

Beasty

So what penalty do you think Viviani should have got for his manoeuvre?

There's no facility for points penalties (although riders can be relegated in a sprint)

pelevin

Beasty wrote: »

So what penalty do you think Viviani should have got for his manoeuvre?

There's no facility for points penalties (although riders can be relegated in a sprint)

Viviani's was obviously much lesser seeing as no one came off the bike whereas Cav's put someone in hospital as well as 2 others on the ground where even he admitted full culpability, & they or at least Park had no hope of avoiding the collision. I'm asking a very reasonable question I'd say seeing as it was clearly dangerous cycling & as said some kind of equivalent in road cycling would be harshly dealt with. Seems odd to me there wouldn't be discretion to penalise the kind of recklessness that as said could have easily 'won' the gold for Cav. Why was Boardman expecting a meaningful penalty against Cav if it's not in the rules. A yellow card sounds a joke if that effectively means nothing without doing something similar a second time.

Hunterbiker

Beasty wrote: »

....

Then it's over to BMX for the next 3 days....

BMX racing is mental. I remember it from the London games and thought they were mad. Should be good.

Beasty

Standings in the Omnium with just the Points Race to go:

Trott - 196
D'Hoore - 172
Hammer - 172
Edmondson - 168
Berthon - 140
Wild - 140

Trott has only dropped 4 points across 5 races!

ednwireland

Trott flying

Lusk_Doyle

ednwireland wrote: »

Trott flying

Cycling. What are you watching?

youreadthat

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Cycling. What are you watching?

Can't wait for Olympic hover bikes in the 2050's!