Olympics Thread

[Jim]

Heroic stuff by Cancellara in the olympic road race. Had a horrific crash, full speed into the barrier on a corner, about 10-20km from the finish, clearly did some serious damage to his arm/shoulder but carried on and finished.

Tears at the end but wow, what guts to finish the race. These distance cyclists have got bollocks of steel.

[Rover the Top]

But did he really finish? They showed him getting a lift off a car shortly after his crash. Surely that should disqualify him...

Given that I don't normally watch cyclling, I found it a very hard race to follow. The five Brits were always 50-60 seconds behind, yet the commentators kept changing their minds as to whether this was a good or bad thing. Then again, they didn't seem to know much about what was going on, they couldn't tell whether the guy who finished third was from Spain, Denmark or the Netherlands when he clearly had a Norwegian flag on his shirt... And claimed the guy who crossed the line first in the main group only just missed out on a medal when he actually finished 26th...

So, was it an unusual race? Because it all seemed a bit easy for the Kazakhstani in the end, and the British team never seemed to make any effort to get near the front...

[Jim]

Apparently regarding the commentators, they were getting very little timing information, nothing at all about which cyclists were in which position or group. They even had no idea who was in the break away group at one point. Really poor really. I thought it would have been organised better than that.

Also unlike the Tour de France, the teams are not in contact with their support so they can't find out how big a gap, or be told when to push etc, its all down to intuition which I think failed them a little.

From what the analysts are saying GB were relying too much on other nationalities to stay in the peloton and help them conserve energy, who basically weren't playing game and neglected to act when half the field broke away. I think a little hubris got to them after the Tour win.

I'm sure Cancellera carried on, he was definitely shown riding after his crash, albeit with a arm dangling by his side.

[Rover the Top]

And I'm sure he got a tow off a car. If only for a few yards. Because they showed it on the TV. I don't know the rules, but can't believe you're allowed to do that and still be considered to be in the race...

As for the commentators, I can appreciate they could have done with more information to explain what was going on. But they surely don't need a computer to tell them that if a group of 20+ cyclists have crossed the line, the next person to finish isn't going to come in 4th...

But elsewhere, we seemed to make a good start in the rowing. Impressed with the BBC's options, I could watch that this morning, break off to see what happened in the F1 qualifying, then pick up the rowing again where I left off on the BBC website.

[-BARON-23-]

And I'm sure he got a tow off a car. If only for a few yards. Because they showed it on the TV. I don't know the rules, but can't believe you're allowed to do that and still be considered to be in the race...

As for the commentators, I can appreciate they could have done with more information to explain what was going on. But they surely don't need a computer to tell them that if a group of 20+ cyclists have crossed the line, the next person to finish isn't going to come in 4th...

But elsewhere, we seemed to make a good start in the rowing. Impressed with the BBC's options, I could watch that this morning, break off to see what happened in the F1 qualifying, then pick up the rowing again where I left off on the BBC website.

It was a doctor's car checking his arm i think.

[Simon]

Olympics thread this now is then.

[Rovertheseas]

Like how Cavendish and co. blamed the Aussies for negative riding in the post-race interview. Of course they're not going to pull for the British, even to get Goss up to the lead pack. They already had Stuart O'Grady up there.

[Gibbon]

Didn't watch it, and I'm not really a cycling fan, but am I right that we're blaming other countries for not helping us win?

[Simon]

Didn't watch it, and I'm not really a cycling fan, but am I right that we're blaming other countries for not helping us win?

Yeah, something about them not helping when they were in a pelican.

[theadore]

BOO!!! hijacking my tour de france thread!

Went to a wedding so missed the last hour of the road race.

There are rules on what is allowed when at a car... although they're hanging on they will be pedaling too... but the docs car is different.

Cancellara is made of steel. I reckon he'll be back for a medal in the TT.

[theadore]

GB were a bit pissed that the other teams with sprinters weren't helping to set up the sprint... something that happens a lot in pro-cycling. The course wasn't really set for sprinters though... I personally wasn't surprised with the amount of breaks, and once there were most countries were represented up the road, so there isn't a reason to set their own guys up for silver in the sprint.

[Gibbon]

So we got our tactics all wrong and we're blaming everyone but ourselves?

[roversmillsy]

Yeah, something about them not helping when they were in a pelican.

[theadore]

So we got our tactics all wrong and we're blaming everyone but ourselves?

Basically yes. We put all our money on delivering Cavendish to the finish. Surprised that Geraint Thomas wasn't picked to have someone to put in the breakaways for a plan B.

Lizzie Armistead won silver in the womens race. Rode really well, but unfortunately didn't have the sprint at the end.

[Rover Ryan]

GBR leading 1-0 at HT against UEA. Should be more. Not seen a post, post and out for a while!!