2012 Olympic Road Race

Don't argue with someone armed..

Depends what they're armed with...

Bad breath? Colourful language?

Are you a BBC commentator?

She made the race for me.

And for my mother, so you're in good company.

She was everything that's already been said about her on this thread so far, and probably more. A heroic effort from Pooley - I was never less than thoroughly proud to be British each time she stepped up again. It was an epic race, and well done Adlington in the pool earlier too. Now for a fella to win something.

Are you a BBC commentator?

I'm not David Bond.

Well done Lizzie for getting that silver and not forgetting Emma for all her hard work.

Lizzie was brilliant, but rider of the day:

Spartacess.

I'm blown away by her strength, ability and aggression, and her selfless sacrifice for the team. She limped home, but her head was held high.

A five foot two giant.

I have no idea how someone that small can be that fast. She was amazing.

Landis has surfaced to praise Vino's victory. Not really the ideal chappie to be patting you on the back on the occasion. He said:

Thanks, Landis. That really helps.

I’m really glad Vinokourov won.

His victory goes a long way towards proving that the British Olympic authorities were right to want to exclude convicted dopers.

I make no accusation against Vino and his preparation for this race. Very possibly he now has the zeal for honesty of a truly reformed sinner, but as some one who has been hearing opinions about bike racing for some decades I know for certain there are going to be a very large number of people asking “What was he on?”

Without even considering how long it ought to take for a rider to recover from the Tour de France (three weeks racing = lowered haematocrit level), just think about what we know:

• Here’s a rider at the very end of his career who is not really going to be deterred by the possibility of a ban, but who obviously wanted to go out with a bang.
  
• He’s a former client of the sulphurous Michele Ferrari.
  
• He has been convicted of doping.
  
• We will assume he passed the dope test this time, but we know that tests are not necessarily infallible and that one of the purposes of expensive medical advice is to find loopholes.
  
  
  

I’m not at all clear what is meant by the term ‘Olympic spirit’ but I am certain the concept is damaged by having the games open to suspicion of cheating. I make no complaint here against Vinokourov, nor against the organisers of the London Games: it is the IOC, forcing the acceptance of convicted dopers, who are at fault here.

I’d like to go one step further than saying convicted dopers should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics: I want the games to revert to amateur status. For me professional sport and dodgy practices inevitably go hand in hand. “I could’a been a contender, Charlie, but all I got was a one way ticket to Palookaville.” I’ve enjoyed following professional bike racing, but I’ve never expected it to be pure: “Do they think we do this on Evian Water?” (J. Anquetil).

In my mind, this result shows that if we want to idealise sport it has to be amateur.

Got to say the Dutch team played a blinder too. Those constant attacks from Van Dyke and Brojh;auservih$* (can't spell her name) were superb, although not as well timed as Pooley.

One of the finest moments was when Pooley was caught behind a crash on the final turn onto the Box Hill climb and the delay threatened to leave Lizzie stranded. Pooley managed to not only get back but lead the field round the second hairpin.

amateurs are at it too!

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12503/Anthony-handed-two-year-ban-after-EPO-positive-at-Gran-Fondo-New-York.aspx

Why the break wasn't getting splits on the road was a disgrace whilst peloton was.

I only caught the tail end of the race on the roads back into town and there was certainly a lack of regular updates to the break but I did notice times being given by hand signals from one of the motor bikes from time to time.

So when are we going to do a forum ride of the Road Race course? Sat 15th September? i.e. after the Paralympics have finished.

It is a shit route when the roads are open. Don't bother.

I want the games to revert to amateur status.

Yes, because everything was pure and good back then, wasn't it? Except for the massive state sponsored doping programmes in the Eastern Bloc, frequently with neither the consent nor knowledge of the athletes.

It is a shit route when the roads are open. Don't bother.

Whilst this is true I'd still like to do it once "just because"

SW London is my least favourite part of London. Reminds me of Melbourne - well off people with big cars who demand their 'right' to the roads.

zanda did it a while ago, this was his verdict...

ok, did a good chunk of this yesterday and I understand why the silence was deafening.

worst surrey route ever, most of it's on wide A-roads....

I did not get chance to watch the mens race so only caught the highlights.

Did Froome and Wiggins keep going at the front till the end or did they drop out saving some for the TT?

Looked like Wiggo was still at the head of the peloton when they hit the Brompton Road which would only be 4 or 5k out.

Froome dropped out fairly early, Wiggins put a lot of effort in towards the end until it was obvious that the break wasn't going to be caught.

they seem to be saying they were relying on the mobile phone network to get gps data from the bikes to the broadcasting centre. Can't quite work out if they're saying that was plan A, or their fall-back after their private radio network was overloaded.

I read it as it was their Plan A and their Plan B consisted of people looking at their watches and guessing at the gaps. I don't think they even had a private radio network.

Either way it looks amateurish:-

If their Plan A was a private radio network then it was amateurish if this got squished by lots of nearby GSM/3G traffic.

If their Plan A was to rely on public 'phone networks to rely GPS information then they're idiots if they don't realise these networks start to fall apart when you have lots of people (i.e. spectators) swamping the masts.

The Olympic TimeTrails won't suffer from the same problems because they don't need live GPS data to calculate splits, only the times at static points on the circuit. Surely they can't fuck that up too?

In my mind, this result shows that if we want to idealise sport it has to be amateur.

Wasn't the rider who tested positive for EPO use in a recent Sportive an amateur?

amateurs are at it too!

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12503/Anthony-handed-two-year-ban-after-EPO-positive-at-Gran-Fondo-New-York.aspx

Wasn't the rider who tested positive for EPO use in a recent Sportive an amateur?

Is there an echo in here?

RHB probably means this

http://road.cc/content/news/20965-british-cyclist-dan-staite-gets-two-year-ban-positive-epo-test

Lizzie was brilliant, but rider of the day:

Spartacess.

I'm blown away by her strength, ability and aggression, and her selfless sacrifice for the team. She limped home, but her head was held high.

A five foot two giant.

I have sent this to her Dad, who I know through business.

I suspect that he will be wearing the "Proudest Dad in the UK" hat, for at least the next week.