nicole cooke for the TT?

[alecstilleyedye]

having been (bizarrely) not counted among the favourites, how about nicole cooke to take a second gold? you don't become junior time trial champion and win the tours of france and italy without being decent against the clock.

added to that, she says she feels in good form, and the course should suit her.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

having been (bizarrely) not counted among the favourites, how about nicole cooke to take a second gold? you don't become junior time trial champion and win the tours of france and italy without being decent against the clock.

added to that, she says she feels in good form, and the course should suit her.

Sure, the course suits here in a race, but look at her style: she isn't such a good tester as some others in the field. She's primarily a combative day-racer, not an aerodynamic speed queen.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

the olympics always seems to throw up winners who have won their "own" events, who due to form and perhaps the adrenaline rush that comes from having won, win a second event that they weren't a bookies favourite for pre tournament.

kelly holmes is a good example.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

True - I wouldn't rule her out, but the I would be looking at Vos, Armstrong, Worrack or Zabirova (amongst others)...

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i don't want to have to look at vos on the podium *shudder*

 

[Keith Oates]

I'd second that, alecs, there something not right with her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[yello]

I'm sure Nicole will give it her best shot, and that may well be enough, but I think it has to be said that she's not favourite for the event. But I'd love to see her take a 2nd gold.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

vos seems to be short on form, otherwise she'd have made the final group at the end of the race, seeing as she sat in throughout the rest of it.

if cancellara can be beaten twice in the tdf, then the tt is not the guaranteed stage win (gold medal) that many people think it is.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

vos seems to be short on form, otherwise she'd have made the final group at the end of the race, seeing as she sat in throughout the rest of it.

She had no team fighting for her as Cooke did (remember what happened to Cooke last time without a decent team...?) and she missed the break. It happens. None of the same conditions apply in the TT, which is an entirely individual event.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

but you don't need a team to follow wheels and then make sure you get in the right break. she had the german girls (rivals for the sprint at that) trying to bring every attack back, while she sat in the bunch saving the energy which should have enabled her to join the leading 5 at the end.

it was a almost a foregone conclusion that nicole cooke would win in that circumstance, so i'd put vos' disappointing finish down to lack of form, although it's possible that the conditions caused cooke to slip away unmarked.