Tokyo Olympics 2020 - Cycling

[splat]

41 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Where now? ????

Jokes aside, it's an awesome result for Carapaz and Ecuador... He rode a fantastic race and his timing to attack and drop McNulty was perfect. 

I'm always astounded how the chasing group just sits up and lets the attack go up the road and win like they did today. It just seems so negative. Like they are happy to see Carapaz (insert another name here) win rather than chase super hard and get beaten by Wout (insert another name here) in the sprint. I say this every time it happens. It seems dumb

For some reason that I can't quite fathom, Wiggo rubs me up the wrong way. Maybe I don't like him because I don't understand him.
But his opinion, for what its worth: 

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bradley-wiggins-olympic-games-was-like-a-junior-race-in-the-final/

[dsw]

13 minutes ago, splat said:

For some reason that I can't quite fathom, Wiggo rubs me up the wrong way. Maybe I don't like him because I don't understand him.
But his opinion, for what its worth: 

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bradley-wiggins-olympic-games-was-like-a-junior-race-in-the-final/

I think Brad has a very good point this time. 

The fact that it was man on man with no team radios etc probably played into the hands of a streetwise rider like Carapaz.

Race radios obviously has its place in the sport but I found it quite refreshing today to see the riders having to do a bit more thinking for themselves.

A few even seem totally lost   

[Wayne pudding Mol]

Carapaz rode a blinder but I think had Wout not been in the group behind, they would have done a better job - I mean they had him down to 14 seconds but no one wanted to work with Wout 

silly really because instead of fighting for 2 medals, the group were fighting for bronze 

I feel a bit for Wout as he is so marked - but I’m not crying for him, he seems to be doing ok with the cycling thing 

[Eugene Oppelt]

8 hours ago, Patchelicious said:

Come now, while it’s fun to play up fairy tale stories, he didn’t crash out, he got dropped. He got lots of coverage and support after he did. Waaaaaaaaay more than other riders who missed time cuts, so I doubt it was a case of having to pull himself up from a bad place mentally. He was one of the public’s heros of the Tour.

The spirit of my post was to honour his resolve - getting to the Tour de France with the barriers he continues to overcome is well reflected in how well he rolled today. @Patchelicious

Just got home after a LSD. Watching the final 100 kms.????

Edited July 24, 2021 by 'Dale

[Eugene Oppelt]

I am imagining what that gold Pina is gonna look like. ????

[DieselnDust]

8 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Ecuador's 3rd gold medal ever.... That's rad

What a race! Time to go run now. 

I did my mast trip. What a road race season we're having

[DieselnDust]

3 hours ago, Wayne pudding Mol said:

Carapaz rode a blinder but I think had Wout not been in the group behind, they would have done a better job - I mean they had him down to 14 seconds but no one wanted to work with Wout 

silly really because instead of fighting for 2 medals, the group were fighting for bronze 

I feel a bit for Wout as he is so marked - but I’m not crying for him, he seems to be doing ok with the cycling thing 

Fully agree. The cycling racer mentality of being tactical for first of the losers is really quite unique. It's not like the winner is crowned over a series of races. This is a one off winner take all, yet so many okes are willing to hang on the back just to claim they came in 10th. Carapaz deserved the spoils today. Wout did too but he found himself in disadvantageous circumstances but still laid it out there to try and get the win. Silver is a great constellation prize but he doesn't strike as the type who gets out of bed for 2nd place. Some of the others though....

[Jewbacca]

25 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I did my mast trip. What a road race season we're having

Yeah.. It has been a season where the copy book has been thrown out the window. I am really excited for the rest of the racing. The XCO track looks brutal and the women always bring flat out racing which is great to watch.

I ran with the dog... A quick Muizenberg Peak, Steenberg peak and St James peak loop from home. 

[WR 1.0]

3 hours ago, 'Dale said:

I am imagining what that gold Pina is gonna look like. ????

The winning paint job also looked very nice. IMHO 

[WR 1.0]

9 hours ago, Dirt Tracker said:

He's a kiwi, he's about the only commentator that is about for them. No idea  how he scored the olympic job and we're having to listen to it! Man had to keep turning the sound off. He's like the manager in Flight of the Concordes. Unreal. He was the same for the Cricket World Cup for Kiwis vs the english just buthchers everything. 

"Rich'ard Carapaz... or as they say on the continent Richard Carapaz" - Pure Gold. Loved how he missed that Carapaz came 3rd in the Tour this year and has won the Giro and kept reeling off his giro stage wins and his Tour Du Swiss result this year. 

He kept on saying Rick Shard Carapaz ????????

[DieselnDust]

3 minutes ago, WR 1.0 said:

The winning paint job also looked very nice. IMHO 

Kit was elegantly simple too

[WR 1.0]

Just now, DieselnDust said:

Kit was elegantly simple too

I only noticed the condor motiv afterwards 

[DieselnDust]

9 hours ago, kosmonooit said:

Something to do with the heat and humidity I mentioned?

I checked the weather for the course and it was pretty temperate. 20 degrees at 60%humidity. It spiked at 26degrees and 65%humidity. That's not an alarming wet bulb temp by any stretch

[kosmonooit]

The Event Commentary was Rochelle Gilmore and other guy (Kiwi?) I don't know, Eurosport feed somehow had them on the last 10 mins, some cock-up with the audio comms, it was terrible. We had the sound from a tennis match earlier.  At Rio it was Michelle and the Saffa Gerald, I think they were quite a good team. He told me 18 months ago he had the Tokyo gig but maybe Covid travel restrictions put an end to that.

It was Matt Stephens and Bri Smith on GCN / Europsort. The latter talks to much in my opinion.

On BBC it was/is Chris Boardman and Simon Brotherton (?) - not too bad at all. They did the outdoor cycling events for London, including mtb, which was quite poor.

 

 

 

[kosmonooit]

7 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I checked the weather for the course and it was pretty temperate. 20 degrees at 60%humidity. It spiked at 26degrees and 65%humidity. That's not an alarming wet bulb temp by any stretch

 

Maybe the numbers are misleading, although higher up in the mountains it probably was a bit more mild.

According to what I am reading and seeing (vlogs, news reports etc) the heat/conditions in Tokyo are debilitating.

Should I paste a few links FYI?

 

[kosmonooit]

Here's a freshly minted one:

 

Tokyo Olympics: Gold medals, shock exits, high temperatures and positive Covid tests on day one

 

"Athletes complained about exhausting conditions given the combination of high temperatures and humidity, with several tennis players asking for matches to be moved to start later in the day.

Cyclists in the men's road race in particular felt the strain, but Ecuador's Richard Carapaz managed to defy the conditions, convincingly winning his nation's second ever gold medal"