Comments on: Mens Olympic Road Race 2012 – An Honourable Defeat

By: ken Downing

ken Downing — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:08:35 +0000

tejvan, i have no experiance of this kind of racing,however,i believe GB made a big mistake in letting the breakaway get so far infront and so big. When watching the tour sky were always intouch,never intouch in the olympic road.

By: Tricyklist

Tricyklist — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:52:06 +0000

The Silver medal winner in the Women’s Olympic Road Race was Lizzie Armitstead.

Armitage must have been in another race.

By: tejvan

tejvan — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:44:31 +0000

cheers Tim

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:48:10 +0000

Sorry, “…public long distance races…” would have made more sense as “…public long distance running races…” given the context. Changed it from “runs” to “races” without thinking. Anyway, you know what I meant. I’ll shut up!

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:40:32 +0000

Some points to think about here – thanks! I imagine one would really have to experience the benefit of the slipstream and the nature of the peloton to appreciate those tactics fully. Something not many of us will get to do. I’m sure you’ve mentioned slipstreaming in other posts, but as an everyday “utility cyclist” I would always prefer to give people more room!

I’ve enjoyed taking part in a couple of large-scale public long distance races – where even “fun” runners get to race alongside (or behind) Olympic heros – but running obviously has nothing like this tactical nature – just pacing really.

Seems like quite a study in game theory – maybe a big prisoners dilemma?

By: tejvan

tejvan — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 11:21:13 +0000

It wouldn’t have been altruism for the Germans to work harder. If they had brought back the breakaway, you would expect Griepel (the 2nd best sprinter in race) to get a medal – either gold, silver or bronze. I think the Germans were hoping GB would tire out trying to bring back the race – and then they could lead out Griepel, but they left it too late – and so with no-one in the group, they had no chance of a medal.

It’s always interesting tactics in a road race!

By: tejvan

tejvan — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:59:59 +0000

Well, good old Lizzie Armitstead did a great race to come second! Very nice to see after disappointment of Saturday.

By: tejvan

tejvan — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:59:14 +0000

At what point does the “breakaway group” become the “peloton”?

I guess if the breakaway has more riders than the second group on the road, you may start to call it the peleton.

One factor is which group is favourite / stage race winner in.

It was a much bigger breakaway than you would see in the Tour de France.
Also very organised.

In the Tour de France, a breakaway with 55 seconds at 40Km to go – would be very unlikely to succeed.

By: tejvan

tejvan — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:57:28 +0000

A one off road race like the Olympics is definitely difficult to win. The favourite often doesn’t win. I doubt few would have picked Vinokourov to have worked.

In hindsight, it’s easy to say they should have done it differently, and gone for a completely different strategy of getting people in breaks, like Froome, Wiggins, and Millar. If they had got in right break, they had a small chance of winning. But, that strategy is also a long shot. Many good riders got in the breaks like Gilbert, Boonen e.t.c. but they couldn’t win

Before the race, trying to hold it together for Cavendish to sprint did seem the best option. If the breakaway had been less organised or if the Germans had been more determined to set up sprint for Griepel – then GB tactics may well have worked.

I still think tactics GB went for – were best in given circumstances.

But, at next olympics Cavendish’s best chance for gold is to go back to track where there are less variables than on the road.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:52:21 +0000

Like many people I’m new to this sport, but having watched on TV on Saturday road racing seems strange to me.

You speak as if it’s obvious that the British Team are the best, but let’s be honest here. They didn’t miss gold by a narrow margin. Cavendish was 29th!

Of course I understand the dynamic of the groups and the peloton but for such an apparently amazing team could they really not have done anything differently? Were we really completely at the mercy of the Germans, depending on them to be more altruistic? At what point does the “breakaway group” become the “peloton”?

To my (very uneducated and rather disappointed) eye it seemed like they raced conservatively and missed the boat.