Olympic Road Race (Men)

[lisanne]

Gerro is doing really well! Although another 90km + on this circuit will be hard for them!

[Chuck]

Starting to worry that our main guys, O'Grady, Evans, Rogers are not going to get a look in here.

3min 30secs down with numbers (and some class riders) in the lead group.

I hope I'm wrong. Gerrans is a good rider but Sastre and Kirchen are class.

[CB]

It's an uphill finish though, and gerrans has a decent kick. If he can be there at the end he's a good chance to push away in the last 100m, just like he did in the TdF.

this Turter guy is still really annoying me. He can't pronounce the letter 'g'.

nothin'

goin'

workin'

climbin'

descendin'

[Chuck]

Ok pulled back a minute on the lead group, I may have panicked a little early

[Chops]

Michael Turter - one of Australia's best ever track riders.

Doesn't mean he can talk though ....

He sounds like Nathan Buckley!

[Chops]

It's an uphill finish though, and gerrans has a decent kick. If he can be there at the end he's a good chance to push away in the last 100m, just like he did in the TdF.

this Turter guy is still really annoying me. He can't pronounce the letter 'g'.

nothin'

goin'

workin'

climbin'

descendin'

You know I mean...

[CB]

coupla' 'undred meters

[lisanne]

I didn't like it when Turtur said that the tuck position on the downhill isn't a great idea, that it was too dangerous....umm these guys are pro's dude, they know what they are doing!

[toolonglegs]

great to see rodgers back in the action.He says that this course is perfect for him.

[Vipul]

YAY!! cancellera came third atleast.
monster effort by Rogers, by unlucky.

[stryker84]

What a finish. Thought Schleck might've had a chance at a medal if the two groups hadn't merged, but you could see he knew he was gonna be in trouble when he saw Cancellara in the chase. And Cancellara, what a ride...

PS, Glad to see I'm not the only one who was irritated with Turtur. Good points, but he can barely pronounce even our own riders' names ("Mah-kel Roagers" ) let alone any of the internationals (Cansellara, Re-BEEL-lin... ugh), and his accent, ouch! especially next to Phil's. And how much does he interrupt! How rude...

[s-s-a]

OMGosh how exciting was the last 20km!? I almost couldn't watch the final km...

Awesome riding from all of them, especially in those conditions.

Yeehaa more cycling tomorrow - which is good because it's forecast to snow down to 600m in the ACT and my house is higher than that.

Steph

[Kev365428]

PS, Glad to see I'm not the only one who was irritated with Turtur. Good points, but he can barely pronounce even our own riders' names ("Mah-kel Roagers" ) let alone any of the internationals (Cansellara, Re-BEEL-lin... ugh), and his accent, ouch! especially next to Phil's. And how much does he interrupt! How rude...

I was in the car for the last 30 minutes of the race and was listening to Ray Hadley on 2GB call the race. Great league caller - shocking cycle race caller

When Cancellara made his move on the leaders, Ray called him Cancarella no less than 10 or 12 times. Each time I'm yelling at the radio "It's Cancellara ya dope!"

Kev.

[toolonglegs]

Great win for Sammy!...great ride by Rodgers!..next year the tour de france is his!!!.
Bringing out my tricolor for tommorow..go Jeanie...50 years old and a favourite!.

[Chops]

God damn it...

After all that, I missed the last 30 minutes to go drinking and watch Freo with other supporters. Bad move.

[mikesbytes]

That exit thru the toll gate looked a bit mickey mouse

[Aushiker]

I didn't like it when Turtur said that the tuck position on the downhill isn't a great idea, that it was too dangerous....umm these guys are pro's dude, they know what they are doing!

I think he was talking about a specific rider sitting on the top tube and getting down very low and I think the other commenter agreed with him.


Regards
Andrew

[Parrott]

Cancellara is a missile . I must admit when I saw him coming accross and closing the gap so fast I was hoping he could win. Going to be good to watch in the race of truth, cause truthfully I thought he was better than those fellas.

[Chuck]

Cancellara is a missile . I must admit when I saw him coming accross and closing the gap so fast I was hoping he could win.

Me too (if Michael Rogers couldn't).

Not sure why he sat up a bit when he reached the leaders though. He's not the "pure man" as Phil likes to say so his best chance (my opinion only) was to keep his momentum going and see what the others had left.

I know the others would have tried to jump on his wheel but would they have been strong enough to stay there.

In the Paris Roubaix earlier this year he was in the winning breakaway with Boonen and another (Italian ?) rider who's name escapes me.

Neither Fabian nor the other rider were going to be any chance in the final sprint with Boonen so I was surprised/disappointed that Fabian, with his TT pedigree, didn't try to break Boonen with a long TT type of effort a fair way from the finish.

It may well have proven futile (I know Boonen would have attempted to suck his wheel) but what did he have to lose, he had a podium sewn up why not have a crack at glory rather than waiting for certain defeat when they entered the velodrome. At the very least he may have taken the sting out of Boonen's legs.

Big Tom actually gave him a pat on the bum as they were about to enter the velodrome, maybe he was saying thanks for not attacking and letting it all come down to a sprint.

Still I'm sure Fabian might think it's a bit rough being criticised by an E grade rider .

He is a fantastic rider and I hope he does well in the TT. Bronze behind Evans and Rogers would be great

Really looking forward to the TT now.

[Parrott]

I reckon he might have had too much sting taken out of him by closing twice the gap, at twice the speed, that two were struggling to close. It was awesome to watch none the less.

I hope Schumaker is riding the tt, if he is it will be a good fight between him and Cancellara, we haven't got a hope of beating those two. Schumaker was a machine in the tour tt's can still see the look of determination on his face at the final tt.

I heard Fabian's legs were cramping at the end of the Paris Robaix, would explain why he didn't keep the pressure on harder. I agree with you, he needed to try everything to either drop Boonen or take the sting out of his legs.

[moosterbounce]

Once again I'm angered by the bloody media. On the news (can't remember which channel last night), they said "Australia's strong men's cycling team led by Cadel Evans failed to win a medal today...". For goodness sake!!

Congrats on the efforts boys

[Chuck]

Once again I'm angered by the bloody media. On the news (can't remember which channel last night), they said "Australia's strong men's cycling team led by Cadel Evans failed to win a medal today...". For goodness sake!!

Congrats on the efforts boys

Agree with you moo.

They don't seem to understand just how competitive cycling is at the top level.

6th place and 15th (about 30 seconds ? behind the winners) after 245 kms is a terrific effort.

[Chuck]

I reckon he might have had too much sting taken out of him by closing twice the gap, at twice the speed, that two were struggling to close. It was awesome to watch none the less.

I hope Schumaker is riding the tt, if he is it will be a good fight between him and Cancellara, we haven't got a hope of beating those two. Schumaker was a machine in the tour tt's can still see the look of determination on his face at the final tt.

I heard Fabian's legs were cramping at the end of the Paris Robaix, would explain why he didn't keep the pressure on harder. I agree with you, he needed to try everything to either drop Boonen or take the sting out of his legs.

My critique was a bit harsh, the effort to bridge the gap was awesome and, as you said, was great to watch.

He is a terrific talent on the bike and the showdown you've alluded to should be a beauty. I'm still hopeful our boys can have an impact as well.

[ohmygewd]

Once again I'm angered by the bloody media. On the news (can't remember which channel last night), they said "Australia's strong men's cycling team led by Cadel Evans failed to win a medal today...". For goodness sake!!

Congrats on the efforts boys

Tell if l read this right but l actually thought Cadel sacrificed a medal as he rode for Australia by giving Rogers every chance of winning when he attacked, created a break, dropped off two gold medal favorites and then didn't respond when Schleck , Rogers and co break? It was if he insured that the main favorites didn't respond either thus giving Rogers (who has the freshes of legs) a chance.

Great effort by the whole team and especially Rogers who was a bit unfortunate to be dropped and was spent before he got to the line.

Great effort by the Spaniards (having Spanish in laws don't help either), they rode a great race. But...Contador the best rider in the world? Gezz, the best rider in the world dropped out a bit early?

[sogood]

Saw photos taken by some local roadies for the men's race. The final climb up to the finish looked really sharp. No surprise it killed off Michael Rogers' chance for a medal.




And this photo below caught Chiara, Cadel Evans' wife sitting on the wall, right next to the final climb.