Associate
What did he say? I had to pop out and missed it.
Olympic Road Cycling
- Thread starter touch
- Start date
Soldato
He had a dig at the Australian team for riding negatively, and pretty much said that most of the other teams don't care if they lose as long as GB don't win.
Soldato
Basically nobody in the peloton bothered to help GB pace, and the breakaway got too far to catch because they were spent in the end.
Suspended
Is the Cav interview online any where? Really want to see it.
The whole thing is (or will be soon) on iplayer
Soldato
why does it matter what the group does? only matters what the team gb can do doesn't it?
they are riding for different countries aren't they?
so why didn't they see them getting away and then just go for it instead of saying other teams weren't going for it?
This pelaton thingy is just the main group isn't it? Isn't it supposed to be the lead group? i.e. the khazakhstan and columbia riders?
i don't much understand road cycling....
they are riding for different countries aren't they?
so why didn't they see them getting away and then just go for it instead of saying other teams weren't going for it?
This pelaton thingy is just the main group isn't it? Isn't it supposed to be the lead group? i.e. the khazakhstan and columbia riders?
i don't much understand road cycling....
Associate
The pack in front were, for a time, riding in an aerodynamically efficient group something like a chain gang (sorry if I got the wrong term) with different riders taking turns breaking the wind, while the others got to ride more aerodynamically efficiently tucked behind. Each were sharing the load of staying fast.
In the peloton, other than the odd german, the front position was always taken by a Brit. So our riders exhausted themselves keeping the pace of the peloton up. They didn't have the energy to catch up with the more efficient formation ahead.
Associate
All the teams have to work together in the peleton if you want to catch the breaks, the reason they didn't jump on every break is A) that uses allot of energy.B) Despite all Cav's brilliance in the sprints he's not the greatest climber and the team had to stay with him.
They guys who took gold and silver broke and took it in turn out front because they knew they had to help each other in order to win. This is something the rest of the peleton did not understand
They guys who took gold and silver broke and took it in turn out front because they knew they had to help each other in order to win. This is something the rest of the peleton did not understand
Well, all but the Germans and the Brits had a guy up in the break, so the other teams wont help chase the break down. And I think because it was on UK soil, the Germans thought it was up to the UK team.
This wouldn't happen these days in a professional race because they would be updated via radio about the threat of the break, and the teams would have at least 8 people to chase instead of 4.
Last edited:
It was their tactics, rather than poor sportsmanship or anything like that. The germans know that Cav is slightly faster than their sprinter (Greipel), so they dont want to use up all their energy to chase the front group down and force a bunch sprint only for him to lose to Cav anyway.
The german team was gambling on GB chasing down the break to make a sprint for Cav (but using up all their energy doing so) and then, having not done any chasing, the german team would all be fresh to give the best leadout they could to Greipel and hope that they can do enough to help him outsprint Cav.
By the time that the germans realised that GB couldnt catch the front group and started to send their own men up to help, it was too late for the peleton to catch them.
The breakaway today was quite large. If they are all working together (each rider taking a turn of being in the wind on the front of the group) then the 4 team GB riders each taking a turn on the front of the peleton are never going to catch them. You would expect everybody who did not have a teammate in the front group to help GB chase down that group.
Technically yes, but they also are all friends in their normal teams. For example, Eisel (Austrian, and Team Sky) did a lot of work to help GB/Cav.
Most of them went on the climb, GB needed to stay with Cav because he is not as quick on the hills and hope that they can chase down the breakaway group on the flat.
The 'peleton' is usually just the biggest group of riders.
It can be quite confusing if you're not sure whats going on
Associate
What i was like before last years tour de france, if you watch one of the big road races like the tdf or giro. You will grasp the basics quite quickly
I now love watching cycling and it's a such an interesting sport to watch.
Well it was good to watch from the roadside and it was an epic win for the gold and silver guys. I'm glad I managed to catch the finish on a screen in a church of all places 
Ms.69 got some great pictures in Kingston which I will put up when I get my mitts on them.
Question: are all the riders from this race TDF riders?
Ms.69 got some great pictures in Kingston which I will put up when I get my mitts on them.
Question: are all the riders from this race TDF riders?
Not all of them. Uran (2nd) didnt ride the TdF this year, for example. Although he is a pro on a big team (Sky), there are also riders from smaller teams who were not invited to the tour.