Olympic RR **spoilers**

[Chuffy]

Poor ol' Froome-dawg.....

Perhaps Team GB's plan was a good one... it just relied on everyone playing their part

Yes, but Germany had exactly the same plan, ride for Greipel. Who would have guessed that their way of executing it was to not ride and win nothing?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Froome is bound to be saving himself a bit for the TT, I really don't know what some of you expect here. And that's exactly why it was a stupid idea to imagine that he should have been in the break. Even Wiggins sat up (relatively speaking) when he realised it wasn't going to happen.

And for those who don't get what I meant by a Plan B with Stannard, what I would have done is this: when it was clear that no-one else was going to help drive the peloton, (i.e. at the latest, 30ish km to go) and there was no chance of getting Cav to the front, I would have slowed the mass chase and sent Stannard up the road to bridge to the escape. He has the engine to do this, and was by far the freshest of the British riders having only done the Tour de Pologne (where he was awesome) not the TdF. Britain still might not have even got a medal, but that would have at least given the team more of a chance than we had be sticking to a plan that had already been found out.

The Olympic RR is always unpredictable - no-one expected Sammy Sanchez to win last time - and the limited team sizes always mean that individual riders or smaller countries can spring the unexpected. Colombia were a perfect example here and really a great demonstration of the eurocentrism that still characterizes expectations, with two riders in the break and yet no-one paid any attention to them until Uran jumped with 6km to go. Yet should we be surprised? Certainly those who have apparently been following Team Sky all season shouldn't be: both Uran and Henao have been riding both aggressively and intelligently for the team all year.

 

[Chuffy]

I think the only problem with that is that would have left Cav + 3 instead of +4 which over the Box Hill circuits wouldn't have worked.

The idea of a plan B might also be referred to as hedging your bets, and British Cycling don't do hedging their bets. The agree a plan and ride to it. Most of the time, it has to be said it works as well.

Also, Millar's role was to be road captain. Hard to do that when you're several minutes up the road from your team.

 

[thom]

Millar would have been a decent candidate wouldn't he?

Agreed (though he's not as good sprinter as Geraint).

 

[Chuffy]

Froome is bound to be saving himself a bit for the TT, I really don't know what some of you expect here. And that's exactly why it was a stupid idea to imagine that he should have been in the break. Even Wiggins sat up (relatively speaking) when he realised it wasn't going to happen.

Wiggins is the better bet for the TT and he was pulling his lungs out both before Froome dropped off and after. He had much more to gain than Froome by dropping off early (not forgetting that Froome was by far the stronger rider in the TdF...) but still bust a gut. Froome looked like someone taking care of himself. Would love to be a fly on the wall in the team hotel...

 

[GlasgowGaryH]

Anyone of us in the break would of been better than all over 1 minute behind is my point

 

[yello]

Whilst I personally won't offer a 'Plan B' (since I know nothing!), I'm just a little surprised that Team GB stuck so resolutely to the idea of getting Cavendish to a sprint finish when it seemed clear to some that it wasn't going to happen. Maybe TeamGB had decided they wanted Cavendish on the podium rather than any Team GB shirt? Whatever, as early as the 3rd or 4th ascent of Box Hill, it was being remarked that the breakaway was a strong one, and then when the Gilbert/Nibali group joined, it must have looked ominous to some (not me I hasten to add, I thought they could still be chased down, right up to maybe 20km to go). Perhaps the play had been played by that stage though, and they had to see it through??

I'm not being critical of the riders here, particularly not Wiggins as he seemed to ride himself into the ground, but I'm just surprised there wasn't more, um, on-the-road creativity I guess.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Everyone is being hugely unfair on Froome here. He ride his guts out in the tour and probably feels he could have won it given his head (as in last years Vuelta). Then after stepping back like a good team man and letting Wiggins take the glory he goes into the Olympic RR as a domestic for Cavendish. You can understand him feeling like a spare prick at a wedding and it is no surprise that he sat up when he realised he was chasing a lost cause. He has every right to save what he can for the TT, it's an individual event and he can ride for himself for once.

As for his looks, those sort of remarks are very mean and bitchy. I doubt many of the people making them are poster boys themselves.

 

[thom]

Info on the lack of info form OBS : http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/28/bbc-olympic-broadcasting-services-cycling
gps problem

 

[Chuffy]

Everyone is being hugely unfair on Froome here. He ride his guts out in the tour and probably feels he could have won it given his head (as in last years Vuelta). Then after stepping back like a good team man and letting Wiggins take the glory he goes into the Olympic RR as a domestic for Cavendish. You can understand him feeling like a spare prick at a wedding and it is no surprise that he sat up when he realised he was chasing a lost cause. He has every right to save what he can for the TT, it's an individual event and he can ride for himself for once.

As for his looks, those sort of remarks are very mean and bitchy. I doubt many of the people making them are poster boys themselves.

If he felt awkward riding for Team GB and Plan A then he should have ducked out. Once in - it's all or nothing. Sitting up well before your team mates just looks like you're taking the piss.
As for looks, I'm gorgeous me. And he looks like a shifty ant-weasel, which is even more unattractive.

 

[Danny]

If he felt awkward riding for Team GB and Plan A then he should have ducked out. Once in - it's all or nothing. Sitting up well before your team mates just looks like you're taking the piss.

He just looked shattered to me.

 

[yello]

As for looks, I'm gorgeous me. And he looks like a shifty ant-weasel, which is even more unattractive.

TPIUWP....

...on 2nd thoughts, scrub that.

 

[Chuffy]

TPIUWP....

...on 2nd thoughts, scrub that. I think there's precedence

I have several. Which would you like?

 

[dellzeqq]

If he felt awkward riding for Team GB and Plan A then he should have ducked out. Once in - it's all or nothing. Sitting up well before your team mates just looks like you're taking the piss.

quite so. It's not as if there weren't other people available.

Froome hopes to become a team leader. When that happens he's going to have to call on others. I don't think he's got the temperament for the job.

The course, particularly the circuit, was tight - ideal for a breakaway. Given the small size of the team I wonder if Plan A had more to do with a laudable desire to do right by Cav than (for want of a better word) practicality.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm not au fait with road race tactics so the lack of timings didn't bother me. Purely as a piece of TV, I found the whole race simply wonderful to watch. BTW, didn't the English countryside look beautiful?