Here’s a look at Mikuni pass in Japan. It’s not famous but it should be the decisive climb of the 2020 Olympic road race, if only for the men, so here are some notes in this climb outside Tokyo which offers double-digit gradients and if that doesn’t take your breath away then the views of Mount Fuji will… as long as the weather’s fine.
This is repost from February 2019 in order to take a closer look at hardest climb of men’s Olympic road race
As part of the series looking at roads featuring in major races, here’s a look at Yamabushi pass. Neither household name, nor familiar in the peloton, this is the first major climb of the 2020 Olympic road races and an ideal day’s ride out of Tokyo too.
The Tokyo Olympics courses are out and if it’s for 2020 it’s hardly 50/50 with the men’s course taking in more climbs, including skirting around Mount Fuji which could provide the image of the games… if the weather is clear. But for now the look isn’t good with the women’s course skipping these climbs and the peloton will be half the size of the men’s race too.
With the 2018 Winter Olympics starting in Pyeongchang there’s one fast-growing winter sport that won’t be there: cyclo-cross. Why not?
What was longest event at the Olympics this year? The answer is the men’s road race, six hours and ten minutes and by some margin. That’s roughly double the duration of the 50km walk and three times longer than the marathon, the 10km open water swim and the triathlon. Games like tennis or cricket can last for days but they stop for lunch. Cycling’s unique selling point isn’t distance but this is big part of its identity, race names like Paris-Nice evoke distances normally done by plane, train or automobile and even the combination of all three.
Only now some races are being shortened to make them snappier for TV. Are we in danger of losing something?
Track cycling begins today with a six-day programme to determine 10 gold medals, five for the men and five for the women. That sounds like a a lot given track cycling is a niche within cycling when compared to the road and its four gold medals but that’s half the fun of the Olympics, to see contests that don’t appear so often. Only if indoor cycling was indoor swimming there would be 32 medals up for grabs and the chance of winning titles multiplies given the repeat chances of comparable efforts.
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.
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.
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.
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.