Alexandre Vinokourov, Gold Medalist.
If you didn't stay up to watch Channel 9's so called 'coverage' of the Men's Olympic Road Race last night it would have been a little surprising to wake up to this news.
For those of who did stay up, we were lucky enough to see one exciting race. There were attacks galore, a couple of crashes, and a standoff that lead to the break surviving. Then Colombian Rigoberto Uran attacked with Vinokourov following close behind, but in the end the Kazakh's experience won out and he took the gold.
It was an interesting race indeed. The group of 11 riders who established a break early on, which included Australian Stuart O'Grady, were in the box seat, whilst Team Great Britain were left to fend for themselves on the front of the Peloton. Noone was willing to help pull the break back, when they knew that if it ended in the bunch sprint Mark Cavendish was almost assured to be victorious.
After the race Cavendish had a few words to say including: 'We did everything we could. The crowd was tremendous the whole way around, but the Aussies just raced negatively.'
The fact is, (ducking for cover), Mark is quite right. And believe me, it is not very often I agree with Cav!
It is true noone wanted to help out, the peloton were riding defensively all that is, apart from Great Britain. There was a little help from Germany, but it was mainly left to Great Britain to do all the work.
Yes, Mark was probably going to win in a bunch sprint, but isn't that a defeatist attitude.? 'Oh well, we can't win if we bring Cav to the line, so stuff that' Last I knew there were three medals up for grabs at Olympic events. Isn't Silver and Bronze better than nothing? I'm sure Uran and Kristoff think so.
For the Aussies, yes Stuart O'Grady was in the break, but seriously he was never going to win. Perhaps the Stuey of ten years ago may have had a chance, but against the likes of the break which included Vino, Cancellara, Gilbert and LL Sanchez it would have been a tough, tough ask for O'Grady.
Again I question the tactics of Matt White. The question has to be asked. Why didn't the Aussies join in the chase? Why didn't the Germans do more?
The truth comes too little too late, and of course hindsight is a wonderful thing. But there are also other factors to consider that contributed to the outcome of the race, such as the smaller team sizes (5 riders) and of course no race radios.
But, as much as I'm not really a Vino fan (remember he stole the win on the Champs Elysees from Robbie in '05 when I was there to see my Robbie win!!!), he deserves the Gold. He rode smart, he took his chance and now has the Glory.
Do you agree with Cav? Do you think the Aussies should have harder raced for a medal?
Australia put Stuey in the break. Rogers also made another break.
ReplyDeleteSo they had a rider in the break and a sprinter in the bunch. Perfect tactics. Aggressive tactics.
UK put all their eggs in the Cav basket. So with other teams being aggressive and being in break. UK can only blame themselves for not being attacking and naturally putting themsrlves in position to be the lone chasers. Especially with only 5 man team alowed.
So, as you expect the agressive riders won.
Just highlights how selfish cav is with these comments of his.
Proud of Australia and the other attacking teams.
Yes, the Aussies were aggressive in the breaks, but were they winning moves? After all it was a one day race.
ReplyDeleteAnd Yes that Cav is selfish and pouty when things don't go his way although I still think that perhaps this was a lost opportunity for not only the Aussies, but other sprinters too.
And make no bones about it, I am proud of Stuey and also Mick (loved seeing him have a go) and of course it was great to see some attacking riders after three weeks of this years TDF too!
Thanks for your comment :)
You know what? I never thought of it that way and by god you're right. I can't think of what Stuey would have done to get himself a medal from that break, butif it ended p being a bunch sprint, we could have easily got sme kind of medal. Hindsight, hindsight. Damn you hindsight!
ReplyDeleteHindsight is a wonderful thing they say! Still so many factors in play though, and I'm certainly far from an expert ;)
DeleteDon't agree. Thought the tactics were sound. It's the German's that Cav should have a go at if he's going to whinge. Griepel won 3 stages at the tour; Goss zero Germany should have chased. There was no guarantee that Goss would have got a medal at all and still a chance that Stuey could have got there. I was more surprised that Aus didn't use Gerrans in the break or to attack with Rogers. Anyway, just glad that #teamgb didn't get the win or a medal at all, although seeing the unrepentant drug cheat Vino win left me flat. He should never have been allowed to ride again, just like all drug cheats.
ReplyDeleteFair enough, I see you point. I think another factor is that when the two breaks combined it just got too tough to chase them down. Perhaps, even if the Germans did more or the Aussies assisted, it may have not changed the outcome.
DeleteThanks for taking the time to comment.
Oh and yes, must say I'm not a Vino fan either really.
One isn't surprised on looking at the team. The bigger joke is the Mens TT with our two or chronos not selected. Selection of cyclists has been curious for many years. Why should we be surprised when they don't perform?
ReplyDeleteMust agree with you on selections, there's someone on the selection panels that needs to go ;P. On a brighter note, it's great that we have so much up and coming talent to choose from.
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