Did you enjoy the track cycling? London 2012

Photo from http://london2012.olympics.com.au/ and courtesy of Phil Walter/Getty Images

The world has stopped. Or so it seems. It is Olympic time if you didn't realise. For those of you into all things sports it is a time of salivation, for those of you who aren't it can be a torturous two weeks.

For me I am not hugely into the Olympics, there are a few sports that I like to watch; the swimming, rowing, some of the athletics, and of course the cycling - road and track.

The road events were over pretty quickly being placed in the first few days of the Olympics and last night the track cycling wrapped up with Aussie Anna Meares taking a Gold medal in the Sprint and Annette Edmonson Bronze in the Omnium.

The Aussies have had a less than successful Olympics which the Australian media has had a field day with, and the track cycling has been no different. We have certainly been outclassed in a lot of the events with the Brit's thoroughly taking advantage of their home town crowd (and enormous budget, and talent pool yes,) to ride brilliantly.

I must admit although I love the track cycling, I haven't been able to stay awake to watch it in the early hours of the morning. Who's idea was it to have the Olympics in the Northern Hemisphere??? So I have been following the action on Twitter and the Australian Olympic site to catch up each morning.

I did make it up this morning to see Sally Pearson take Gold for Australia in the 100m women's hurdles. Did you see that? Now that was a close one. Well done Sally!

And it was great to wake up to the news that Anna Meares had taken the Gold in the Sprints on the velodrome against none other than Brit Victoria Pendleton. Vicky is amazing but our Anna, even more so. If you don't know the Anna Meares story you must read it now.

So well done to Anna, Annette, and all our other cyclists on the track - you have done us proud. You have competed at the Olympics and medal or no medal that is something that the majority of us will never, ever experience.

Did you enjoy the track cycling?

Wiggins, Sanchez & Cancellara. Olympic Time Trial Wrap.

As much as it pains me to say it, Wiggins is the best time trialist in the world right now. You know, I don't even know why it pains me to say it. I loved watching him ride the track but when he crossed over to road, for some reason he became unlikeable. Must be the sideburns.

But credit must be given where it is due and it is certainly due. Wiggins finished 42 seconds ahead of Tony Martin and 1.08 ahead of Bronze medalist and Sky team mate Christopher Froome. Wiggins was focused and no doubt spurred on by his home crowd. I don't think anyone could have stopped him.

Perhaps the podium may have been different had Fabian Cancellara not been injured due to his unfortunately crash in the road race. The thing I love about Fabian is his humility. He could have pulled out knowing he really wasn't in contention but he didn't. Instead he rode injured and he rode the best race he could - and he is content with that.

Here is part of what Cancellara had to say after the race (courtesy of Cycling News)

"I just took a step back, said I'm just an athlete. I gave so much for this, I have so much support from my family from the team, and the supporters all around the world. You don't have a chance to represent your country every day at the Olympics so I just said to myself that I had nothing to lose. I lost everything on Saturday when it was almost on a golden plate with the situation we had with the Swiss team, but that's how sport and life go. Even a seventh place is not that bad."

Brilliant.

The worst news of the day was for Luis Leon Sanchez who broke his chain as he launched off the start line. If you watch the vision he actually snaps it even before he crosses the start line at the top of the ramp. Now, the rules are the rules but surely this unfortunate event warranted a restart! I could feel his pain as he threw his hands in the air as he waited for the new bike. I would have picked up that bike and thrown it straight into the damn crowd! And it definitely wasn't Sanchez's day as not far down the road once he got going - he punctured! Bad, bad luck or sabotage?

And of course special mention must go to Australia's Michael Rogers. Mick, a three-time world champion time trialist, finished a credible sixth. Not a bad effort all Mick and we are undoubtedly proud.

What were your thoughts on the time trial?
 

Time Trial Not An Easy Pick - London 2012

Wednesday sees the time trial specialists head out on the road to race against the clock.And it is going to be a good one.

Unfortunately for the Aussie's we will only be represented by Michael Rogers due to Cadel Evans' withdrawal due to fatigue.

Many have said Luke Durbridge should be given a chance and I totally agree. I actually think he should have been selected in the squad. He is young, talented and capable, however many a selection in recent years has left me scratching my head.

The problem is that Olympic rules state that participants in the Time Trial must also be included in the Road Race squad, therefore leaving Durbridge, this time ineligible. With Goss, O'Grady and Gerrans certainly not time trialists unfortunately the fate of Australia's Gold medal hopes lies with Rogers.

The other topic of conversation is Fabian Cancellara. After crashing out of the road race with a suspected broken collarbone, Fabian has since been in doubt. Thankfully, it was not broken as poor Fabian tweeted:

"Looks like a hard night with a lots of pain.happy is not broken but the pain will be on!For the timetrial nothing is shure yet 50/50change"

As Spartacus is one of my favourite riders I surely hope that he is right to ride.

Along with Cancellara, the other top contenders each bring their own 'baggage' to the time trial. Tony Martin hasn't had the best preparation after a few untimely crashes and Bradley Wiggins comes off a tough Tour de France and also Sunday's Road Race.

I think that there are a few riders who can well and truly challenge the major favourites. Names like Taylor Phinney, Christopher Froome, Silvain Chavanel and Luis Leon Sanchez all come to mind.

All in all the 44km circuit will prove challenging and offer some great racing. I'm looking forward to it.

Who do you think will take the Gold?

Is Cav right? - Men's Olympic Road Race 2012

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?

What's the problem with Phil Liggett?

Phil 'The Voice of Cycling' Liggett has been in the news, and not for his commentary skills, but rather is opinions. He made comment yesterday that he didn't believe BMX or Mountain Biking belonged in the Olympics.

Firstly I share with Phil his annoyance that some amazing track events have been abolished such as the madison, individual pursuits and the points races.

It is an absolutely atrocity that these events have been dropped. They are exciting events, especially for spectators and it is a huge shame that the eligible competitors no longer have a chance to win gold in these events. Some of my best memories of the Olympics are from the track cycling. My Mother loved the track races, and growing up, apart from the swimming, it was really the only parts of the Olympics that we watched.

But... I don't really agree with Phil that BMX and Mountain Biking shouldn't be Olympic events. Why not? Why shouldn't the best in their fields be able to aim for Olympic gold? Surely there are more less deserving sports included in the Olympics such as badminton, table tennis, kyaking. And then there are sports that have been included previously and discontinuted such as tug of war (yes true), croquet and golf (which apparently is making a comeback in 2016).

It all comes down to personal preference and I'm sure there are many out there who couldn't give a flying hoot what cycling events have been dropped, but for me it is sad.

So Phil, I feel your pain, for the most part.

And just on Phil, for the record I think he is great and have been surprised to find out that many don't love Phil and his commentating, actually shocked....

So tell me, what is the problem with Phil? Is it just that he is too opinionated or have I missed something? I really couldn't imagine cycling without him. 

Olympic Road Race Preview

This weekend London will become the sporting mecca of the world as it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games. One of the first events will be the Men's Road Race.

The 250km course set down for the race has been a topic of much discussion (you can see the course here). Many are divided on who this type of course will suit best, but even so, Mark Cavendish seems to be the undeniable favourite to win on his 'home' soil.

I am not so sure that it will be such a clear cut sprinting course. There is the much talked about 'Box Hill' to be navigated nine times, and the circuit is narrow and bumpy. There is serious doubt that it will end in a bunch sprint and if it does Cavendish will still have to contend with the likes of Sagan who may fair better at the end of the long lumpy race.

There is the other opinion that perhaps a break will survive with Aussie Simon Gerran's well suited to that scenario.

I believe though it won't be a small break that survives or a bunch sprint. I think there will be a split in the peloton and will come down to who is the strongest rider to survive the course and still take the sprint at the end. Or who has the guts and the legs to steal a break and 'go for gold'.


Aussie's are heading into the race with a good five man squad (did Matt White actually get something right? That's a post for another day), with Stuart O'Grady, Mick Rogers, Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans and Matt Goss. The rider in for the best chance in my opinion is Simon Gerrans, providing he has pulled up okay after the TDF where he didn't have the best of times. He will need full strength in his legs and his cycling brain in tip top shape and with some good team work from the likes of Stuey, Mick and Evans, could well be in the hunt.

Unfortunatley, if it does end in a sprint finish I don't think Goss will have the legs to overcome the likes of Cavendish, Sagan or Greipel. But I don't mind being wrong either!

All in all I can't say who will win. It is too hard to call with too many factors in play. Even after narrowing it down to the likes of Cavendish, Gerrans, Sagan, Freire, Cancellara, Boonen, Hesjedal, there would still be another ten or so riders that are capable, in form and hungry enough to win.

Who's your pick for the race? And which Aussie do you think is our best chance?