Past editions, personal experience and even legends from yesteryear combine to help form your thoughts about a race. But since this is the first time we’ve had a team time trial in the world championships, at least in this format, it is going to be a new experience.
Yet for all the novelty and the 40 teams racing, this will be a race that should be decided between just a few squads.
Lance Armstrong has said he will not contest the charges brought by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and has issued a statement citing procedural matters and fatigue as the reason why he’s not going to challenge the agency.
Later today USADA is expected to announce a formal lifetime ban from all Olympic sports and to invalidate all his results obtained since 1998.
Here’s a look at the issues of the day, from Armstrong’s bold statement, to what will happen to the results and prizes, what happens next, whether for the others in the case like Radioshack-Nissan manager Johan Bruyneel or the options for the UCI.
Away from the Vuelta and USA Pro Cycling Challenge there’s an event in France called La Haute Route, literally “the High Road”. It’s not a pro race, it’s part holiday tour, part cyclosport and goes across the French Alps. And it’s this that gives us interesting glimpse of the future because it combines several aspects of sport, business, tourism and more into a seemingly winning formula.
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| Great Britain | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| Germany | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| France | 1 | 3 | |
| USA | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Australia | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Colombia | 1 | 1 | |
| Netherlands | 1 | 2 | |
| Kazakhstan | 1 | ||
| Denmark | 1 | ||
| Lithuania | 1 | ||
| Czech Republic | 1 | ||
| China | 2 | 1 | |
| New Zealand | 1 | 2 | |
| Switzerland | 1 | ||
| Russia | 2 | ||
| Norway | 1 | ||
| Hong Kong | 1 | ||
| Canada | 1 | ||
| Italy | 1 | ||
The 2012 Olympics have come to an end. The medal table is a reductive way to look at things as the count doesn’t include the emotions of the past two weeks nor does it reflect the subtle differences in prestige between different competitions.
The success of the British Cycling team on the track is making many jealous. Today L’Equipe reports the French are wondering just what the secret is, are the British using special ultra-low friction ball bearings in their wheels or perhaps exploiting new theories on energy and power?
If there is a secret technology it is staying hidden. However there’s a special machine which spins and helps give the British team an advantage that other squads don’t have. A lottery draw machine.
Here’s a look at this advantage plus a focus on some of the technological advantages used by the British track cycling team.
There’s a pause in the Olympic cycling program with the time trial not until Wednesday and then activities start in the velodrome on Thursday. Remember you can download an iCal file for your electronic diary for the dates and timing of all events.
The Olympics are very different from everything else we are used to. A rider who makes a mess of the Tour of Flanders can hope to make amends in Paris-Roubaix. Have a jours sans in the Tour de France and you can hope it’s someone else’s turn the following day. Even if things go wrong in the world’s there’s always next year. But the Olympic road race? It’s not until 2016 and the Rio race promises to be very hilly.
Scan the start list of the men’s road race for the Olympic Games and you’ll spot several sprinters and fast finishers. Mark Cavendish, André Greipel and Peter Sagan for example. Who is the fastest?
The answer is obvious, it’s rider number 42: Mickaël Bourgain of France. He’s four times world champion in the team sprint event. On the track.
The race transfers to Corsica and the opening stage of the 2013 Tour de France is a 200km race from Porto Vecchio to Bastia. There’s a climb with 10km to go but the chances of a bunch sprint are high and many of the sprinters will want a chance to wear the yellow jersey.
Back in March Bradley Wiggins came to visit the course ahead of riding Paris-Nice. The route has probably been on his mind since October when the route was released. For all the talk of “we’re taking this day by day“, Stage 19 and the road to Chartres has been a fixture. Except today feels like his birthday, a victory parade.
But that’s for tomorrow. Wiggins can win the stage but Chris Froome might be out to prove a point and the top-20 overall is not settled yet, many riders have personal goals to achieve. Tour founder Henri Desgrange once said that to win the Tour “il faut être moyen partout” or “you need to be average everywhere” meaning consistency was needed. But having only been marginally outclimbed by his team mate Chris Froome in the race and having dominated the time trials, Wiggins exceeds the maxim of Desgrange. A second stage win in the yellow jersey is on the cards.
If yesterday was the greatest hits of the Pyrenees, today is the experimental album. At just 143km, the stage has some tough climbing ahead of a summit finish.