Paris Olympics

[elantra]

Terrible timing for the cycle racing.
MotoGP is on at Silverstone, sprint last night and all of the main races tonight.
Cycle racing is like watching paint dry in comparison.

Yes, most of the time. But yesterday’s Olympic Road Race was stunning and dramatic.
(Well the last half hour or more was!)

The course and crowds were electrifying.
Remco looked as if he was completing a well-planned mission to time-trial away from his chasers - until he had a flat about 3 or 4 km from the finish- on one of the most iconic plazas in Paris !
It was rather heart-stopping right then.
But a frantic bike change and he was off again, still in the lead.

All the while, Madouas was alone in the netherworld with the small bunch of big boys closing in on him.
The whole world must have thought he would be swallowed up and spat out but somehow he got the silver medal with only metres to spare.

Here’s a bit of the action:

[warthog1]

A bit hard to work out what was going on there but gave a good feel for the crowd atmosphere. Thanks Elantra

[find_bruce]

First 5 hours was just tedious - 273km is too long with the pace at the start barely dawdling - the break managed a lead of 15 minutes before the peloton woke up. 227km of tedium followed by 46km of racing doesn't strike me as a great way to promote the sport to outsiders

It annoys the crap out of me not seeing them have a go.

Foo

If you bring a knife to a gun fight, hiding is a good strategy. According to Matthews "it didn't go according to plan" but I'm with you, their "plan" looked more like a fantasy

Hopefully the Women's race tonight will be better

[stevenaaus]

> 273km is too long
With small teams too. The reason being... Parity with the (much shorter) women's race, or so we can can see such spectacles as 3 on 3 basketball.

I'll have to watch the last half hour. Sounds like a good one.

[AUbicycles]

I am just on highlights, on the length the endurance and capabilities is a good test. It is interesting that there are different stage types so a bunch finish would yield other results. For the RR trying to push the overall athletic performance and have such a breakaway is optimal.

[foo on patrol]

A very good ride by Kristen Fauklner for the Gold medal.

The Aussie girls were travelling well till the crash in the narrow section where they lost touch with the front riders.

Foo

[find_bruce]

SO much for my Belgium v Netherlands predictions, Faulkner did well to escape with barely 3 km to go - hesitation as to who was going to chase meant the chance was lost

[P!N20]

Track cycling starts today/tonight.

Monday, August 5 Track Cycling: Women's Team Sprint 17:00-19:40
Tuesday, August 6 Track Cycling: Men's Team Sprint 17:30-19:55
Wednesday, August 7 Track Cycling: Men & Women Team Pursuit 12:45-15:30
Thursday, August 8 Track Cycling: Men's Omnium, Women's Keirin 17:00-19:55
Friday, August 9 Track Cycling: Men's Sprint, Women's Madison 14:00-15:45
Saturday, August 10 Track Cycling: Men's Madison 17:00-19:55
Sunday, August 11 Track Cycling: Men's Keirin, Women's Sprint and Omnium 11:00-14:15

[g-boaf]

Some triathletes have gotten very sick:

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/ ... e682fb564c
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/artic ... -falls-ill

It was ridiculously stupid to try and have the swimming portion of the event in that river. Why not just put that part of it in one of the Olympic pools and be done with it. Some other triathlon events do that already.

[vosadrian]

They could not have done it in a pool. That is not Triathlon. Open water swiming skills are very different to pool. Many good pool swimmers are crap in open water. in a 50m pool, you would not know what lap everyone was on and who was winning.

[Cycling Wombat]

A bloody brilliant ride by Remco Evenepoel for the Gold.

The Aussie riders never looked like being any good through out the race but after watching the Australian riders at these events over the last 4 Olympics, they never ride any good and are always looking for someone else to have a crack or chase a break away, it's very disappointing.

Foo

I'm not an expert on bike racing but... to me it seems like the Aussies race like it's a grand tour stage and expect the peleton to bring back any break away. In the Olympics though it seems to be an every man for himself situation. They had 4 riders and they could've worked together to break away themselves. Instead they just made up the numbers in the end.

[warthog1]

Track cycling starts today/tonight.

Monday, August 5 Track Cycling: Women's Team Sprint 17:00-19:40
Tuesday, August 6 Track Cycling: Men's Team Sprint 17:30-19:55
Wednesday, August 7 Track Cycling: Men & Women Team Pursuit 12:45-15:30
Thursday, August 8 Track Cycling: Men's Omnium, Women's Keirin 17:00-19:55
Friday, August 9 Track Cycling: Men's Sprint, Women's Madison 14:00-15:45
Saturday, August 10 Track Cycling: Men's Madison 17:00-19:55
Sunday, August 11 Track Cycling: Men's Keirin, Women's Sprint and Omnium 11:00-14:15

Might watch some of that, thanks

[find_bruce]

Its a one day race with small teams & no radios & you have to have both the legs and the racing smarts to win. There are really only 4 types of winning "strategies"

1. Be the strongest rider. Attack when you are strong, splinter the field & leave everyone for dead. This was the strategy of Evenpoel. It requires your team to make sure you get to that point without burning too many matches. It's one van der Poel has executed numerous times
2. Follow every dangerous break until the end & be the fastest sprinter - this was the strategy of Van Aert - he marked van der Poel relentlessly.
3. Launch a surprise attack & hope everyone looks at each other rather than chasing you down- this was what Faulkner did. I don't think she was the strongest nor the fastest sprinter but she had a go & attacked. As so often happens the others waited for someone else to burn their matches & she was away
4. Get lucky

Personally in the mens race I think Matthews only chance was (4). I know Foo disagrees & the Aussie men should have attacked. Personally I don't think they had the strength & if they'd been aggressive and tried to force something to happen, the stronger riders would have followed them then beaten them up.

I think the best strategic race was the Frenchman Valentin Madouas - was in the dangerous late break until it was caught by Evenpoel & somehow found the strength to follow him till 15km to go

[Cycling Wombat]

Better to go hard and not die wondering though right. Haha

[g-boaf]

They could not have done it in a pool. That is not Triathlon. Open water swiming skills are very different to pool. Many good pool swimmers are crap in open water. in a 50m pool, you would not know what lap everyone was on and who was winning.

https://www.triathlete.com/culture/news ... ena-games/

I know, not exactly same thing but better than running the event in a polluted dirty river.

[foo on patrol]

Its a one day race with small teams & no radios & you have to have both the legs and the racing smarts to win. There are really only 4 types of winning "strategies"

1. Be the strongest rider. Attack when you are strong, splinter the field & leave everyone for dead. This was the strategy of Evenpoel. It requires your team to make sure you get to that point without burning too many matches. It's one van der Poel has executed numerous times
2. Follow every dangerous break until the end & be the fastest sprinter - this was the strategy of Van Aert - he marked van der Poel relentlessly.
3. Launch a surprise attack & hope everyone looks at each other rather than chasing you down- this was what Faulkner did. I don't think she was the strongest nor the fastest sprinter but she had a go & attacked. As so often happens the others waited for someone else to burn their matches & she was away
4. Get lucky

Personally in the mens race I think Matthews only chance was (4). I know Foo disagrees & the Aussie men should have attacked. Personally I don't think they had the strength & if they'd been aggressive and tried to force something to happen, the stronger riders would have followed them then beaten them up.

I think the best strategic race was the Frenchman Valentin Madouas - was in the dangerous late break until it was caught by Evenpoel & somehow found the strength to follow him till 15km to go

No far from it. They spent way to much time down the back half of the bunch and should had the balls to go when there was a good number of riders go off the from. They would have known who the their strong rivals were and despite how well that first break away group were working together, the calibre of rider wasn't high and I'm not being demeaning to those riders.

They expected everyone else too work for them and drag everyone up to the break away riders and that's not how you win "Indivudual" races like the Olympics, Commonwealth or Worlds.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

The Womens Team Sprint World Record broken three times in a row in the heats.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

A blinder of a finals for the women TS. GB 1s-NZ 2nd and Germany 3rd with GB breaking the WR twice and a total of the WR time being brokens 5 times.

The NZ girls have come a long way in the last couple of years, so I will be interested in how they improve over the next 1-2yrs.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

I missed the Team Pursuit rides but the Aussies have the fastest qualifier by only .2sec, with the Poms in 2nd.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

Mens Teams Pursuit take on GB for the Gold medal but broke the they now own the World Record time of 3.40.730.

Mens Team Sprint they got the Bronze but the Netherlands did two World Record rides in a row with the Gold ride time of 40.949

I'm happy that Mathew Glaetzer finally got his Olympic medal.

Foo

[P!N20]

Mens Teams Pursuit take on GB for the Gold medal but broke the they now own the World Record time of 3.40.730.

Amazing. Good chance they will give it a nudge in the final.

[foo on patrol]

Mens Teams Pursuit take on GB for the Gold medal but broke the they now own the World Record time of 3.40.730.

Amazing. Good chance they will give it a nudge in the final.

I bloody hope so.

Foo

[g-boaf]

I'm happy that Mathew Glaetzer finally got his Olympic medal.

Foo

Indeed, well done to him!

[Derny Driver 2]

I missed the Team Pursuit rides but the Aussies have the fastest qualifier by only .2sec, with the Poms in 2nd.

Foo

The TP boys have the legend Tim Decker there, he's a genius with this event and they have been coached by him for about 6 years. There will be no mistake in the final. Kell leads off and gets them up to speed and will swing off with 5 to go. Look for Sam to unleash his 1700 watts with a double lap turn at the end to bring them home like he did in the last ride.
You'll never meet nicer more humble unaffected guys than these 4 and they deserve this. They've worked so hard for such a long time. 2.30am Australian time.

[P!N20]

I haven't seen bars that narrow since 2008!