The final road event of the Olympics, the time trial is open to many but unlike the road race the medal prospects seem to be reserved for a select few. Here’s a quick look at the course, the contenders and the start times.
Month: August 2016
The Moment The Olympics Were Won
Anna van der Breggen wins the sprint by the Copacabana beach. A top pick for the race the manner of her win was unexpected as she and the other medal contenders had been dropped on the final climb to the Vista Chinesa only everything changed when her team mate Annamiek van Vleuten had a horror crash on the final descent, going from the race-winning move to an ambulance. This crash was the decisive moment of the race as van Vleuten was well ahead and could count on her time trialling abilities to take her to the line.
The Moment The Olympics Were Won
Greg Van Avermaet crosses the finish line in Rio. The obvious winning moment and in the absence of many photos from the race the image is a good cue as it shows him well ahead of Jakob Fuglsang and Rafał Majka. The Belgian arrived with these two rivals and the result seemed inevitable given his sprinting ability, a rare moment of certainty in a wild and unpredictable race.
The actual winning moment came with 70km to go when Van Avermaet jumped on the Vista Chinesa climb along with Damiano Caruso and Geraint Thomas, a move that put him at the front of affairs.
Men’s Olympic Road Race Preview
The Olympics come to town and what better way to show off Rio de Janeiro than a bike race under the gaze of the Cristo Redentor statue, past the Copacabana beach and a coastal run that includes cobbles, climbs through the jungle and some tense descents. It’s a fine route and add to this a stellar starting list, small teams to make the race uncontrollable and it makes for a mouthwatering weekend of racing.
The New World Tour
The UCI has announced the World Tour Calendar for 2017 with 10 new events promoted and a total of 30 days of racing added. The new events help plug holes in the calendar but risk diluting the prestige of the prime calendar and while the new races join the calendar a mooted rule change means the newly promoted events could still have a secondary status.
LA Confidential
Lizzie Armitstead has won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport over three missed out-of-competition anti-doping tests that could have seen her banned for four years. Athletes regularly miss tests, these things happen but the hushed nature of her provisional suspension and the way her absence from races was reported by some as a choice raises a lot of questions.
The Transcontinental
Are you sitting comfortably? If so this could be a problem. Perhaps you’re reading this at home or at work, maybe on a train or while waiting in an airport? Chances are you’d prefer to be out on your bike and better still imagine if you had nothing else to do today but pedal hard across France and Switzerland during the height of summer.
That’s what hundreds of riders are doing in The Transcontinental race at the moment. This isn’t a pro race on the UCI calendar, in fact it’s almost the opposite and this is what makes it fascinating.