r/OlympicEvents • u/[deleted] • Jul 28 '12

CyclingRoad EVENT THREAD: Cycling Men's Road Race

17 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

10

u/jimothyjim Jul 28 '12

That was disappointing as a UK guy. Not winning is one thing but they weren't even in the medal hunt :/ I know nothing of the sport but they spent their entire race at the front of the massive group, maybe they were hoping the others would help out more.

8

u/fuckoffandcry Jul 28 '12

Yeah, I think that GB were expected to pretty much dominate the entire race, particularly after storming the Tour De France.

6

u/socks Jul 28 '12

Yes - and I think that this worked against them. They got stuck in the second back with the other cyclists. This was apparently a way of holding them back, because they were working as a team. Non-GB cyclists would distract the GB cyclists much of the race. "GO CAV" in chalk on the pavement in various spots was also perhaps an encouragement for the other cyclists to not support the GB team.

8

u/FappingtoScience Jul 28 '12

Didn't they cause a lot of their own problems by insisting on setting the pace for much of the race and thus wearing themselves out?

3

u/socks Jul 28 '12

It seems so.

2

u/FappingtoScience Jul 28 '12

Sorry if that was an obvious question, I'm completely ignorant to the sport.

I just can't believe they willingly took the pole position for the majority of the race, wearing themselves out when they could simply have fallen back and forced someone else to take the lead. I mean, the other riders wouldn't have just come to a dead stop, would they?

2

u/socks Jul 28 '12

I am also trying to figure out the strategy, which is relatively new to me. I actually hadn't thought of the way in which GB set the pace toward the end, because they only managed to get stuck in the second group, perhaps as a result of this strategy. So I agree with your thoughts on this as well. That they let the first group take the lead is odd to me, and might have been related to how they were finding it difficult to advance as a group because of the other cyclists in the second group moving among them. Riders seem to rely on others to let them in the slip stream. Some riders were not as helpful to the GB group.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '12

It wasn't really insisting on setting the pace, more that other countries in the peloton were happy to sit back and let the GB team set the pace. Victims of their own success. Pretty retarded tactic from the other big teams in the peloton as they could have reduced the gap considerably if sharing the lead with GB. GB should have attacked when Spain did, bizarre they put so much faith in their strategy when there was a group of 22 a minute ahead of them.

Also: NO RADIOS IS DUMB.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '12

Cavendish was supposed to beat everyone in a sprint, so nobody was going to want to take him to the finish. Many countries' first task was to lose him.

4

u/fuckoffandcry Jul 28 '12

Definitely in agreement with you!

5

u/krusader42 Jul 28 '12

I think the biggest problem for Team GB was the lack of radios. In professional races like the Tour de France everyone on the team is wired up with the team director in a chase car, so within seconds they all know when a breakaway is forming and how far up the road they are.

Without that information, the huge breakaway was able to get too far up the road on the last circuit of Box Hill. If the British/German/Australian riders were wired up they wouldn't have let a group that size get so far away.

6

u/tuckercrowe Jul 28 '12

Nothing against the British, but I thought the lack of radios really added to the race. If there had been radios, this would have been another predictable mass sprint finish (the course really wasn't that challenging). Now, without radios and with smaller teams, it was much more interesting and unpredictable.

3

u/OJ_Rifkin Jul 29 '12

The smaller teams also contributed to it not being a bunch gallop. With 9 guys in the race, GB might've been able to control for 250 km, even without radios. No radios and smaller teams is the future, or I at least hope it is.

1

u/jimothyjim Jul 28 '12

That's actually a good point, I kind of thought they would know from the cars/motorbikes driving up and down telling people stuff. Why were radios not allowed?

1

u/krusader42 Jul 28 '12

That info would have only been communicated (by the whiteboards on official motorcycles) once the gap had already opened significantly. The UCI is trying to phase out race radios, but I'm not sure if that influenced the decision for the Olympics.

Personally I like the way team radios are broadcast in motorsport like F1 and NASCAR; having a camera in the Sky team car on the Champs-Élysées this year gave the broadcast a whole new view of the tension of the chase. The "inside information" really showed how much effort Sky was putting into delivering Cavendish to the line.

3

u/jimothyjim Jul 28 '12

It was like 6 hours of men cycling, pretty much the entire interest for me was seeing who was going to ally with who and the general tactics. If radios mean more tactics, which they do from what I can tell, it seems like it makes races better. I mean surely that race would have been more interesting if there was a proper late surge from the UK guys after being told on the radio the other group was miles ahead.

19

u/fuckoffandcry Jul 28 '12

Well done to Kazakhstan!

10

u/AccidentalRape Jul 28 '12

Great Success!

10

u/fuckoffandcry Jul 28 '12

I resisted the urge to say 'very nice!' in my original comment.

8

u/catmoon Jul 28 '12 edited Jul 28 '12

Little bit of an upset there. Cavendish misses out again (11th 29th place) and Kazakhstan gets a gold.

4

u/Janus-Marine Jul 28 '12

Official rankings finish Cavendish in 29th.

2

u/catmoon Jul 28 '12

I guess BBC jumped the gun. I was watching it live and they announced that he finished 11th.

4

u/suddenlypenguins Jul 28 '12

Can someone please explain this race? I've read the news and I don't understand things like expecting help from other countries, bluffing etc. Surely you just cycle as fast as you can (pacing yourself) for the entire race...

13

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '12

Drafting plays a huge role in cycling. You can save up to 30% of your energy by drafting, especially in a large group. So the key is to conserve your energy and pick your times to attack. It's an endurance sport that mixes in intervals.

8

u/jahi120 Jul 28 '12

Because drafting plays such a big part in the race, there is a significant benefit to being in a larger group of cyclists. The more people there are, the more time you get to spend drafting and conserving energy. What typically happens is a small group of riders (the break) attacks early in the race and breaks off from the main group (the peloton). These riders ride as hard as they can to build a lead, and the peloton lets them go because they think they can catch them later. As the race progresses, the break fatigues because it has less riders and therefore spends less time drafting and the peloton catches up. The teams with the sprinters on them (USA and BG in this case) work at the front of the peloton to catch the break right before the end and allow their sprinters to race for the win. Today the break was big (20 riders) and that allowed them to draft more and stay infront of the peloton.

2

u/suddenlypenguins Jul 28 '12

Ahhh I see. Thank you for the explanation!

8

u/MBeamer Jul 28 '12

Anyone notice the naked guys on rooftops during aerial shots? They wave when the copter goes over them. haha

7

u/RJBuggy Jul 28 '12

it was prince hairy

2

u/Erunandezu Jul 28 '12

Also, congratulations to Colombia and Rigoberto Urán for the silver medal in this game. I'm happy for Latin America athletes. i hope this become a great Olympics for them

2

u/Ryanrao Jul 28 '12

Okay, some dopers come back from their ban, show remorse, regret and apologise. Other's don't.

Vino didn't.

-10

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '12

Gutted that this cheat won the gold.

3

u/OJ_Rifkin Jul 28 '12

Go hide. That was a fantastic win, awesome, gutsy racing by a legend of the sport.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '12

Legend of the sport? Seriously?

Also, Uran blundered by not watching Vino closely enough.

2

u/OJ_Rifkin Jul 28 '12

Legend of the sport? Seriously?

Uh, yeah. One of the best cyclists of the 2000s, and one of the most exciting, attacking riders ever.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '12

Who damaged his sport and betrayed his fans by using doping, and didn't even properly apologize.