Author Topic: Olympic Road Race Predictions  (Read 29313 times)

Rig of Jarkness

  • An Englishman abroad
Olympic Road Race Predictions
« on: 05 July, 2012, 07:16:16 am »
1. Boonen
2. Cancellara
3. Sagan

I expect Vos to win the women's race.
Aero but not dynamic

Jakob

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #1 on: 05 July, 2012, 07:35:52 am »
I expect you to be lynched for not having:

1. Cavendish
2. Cavendish
3. Cavendish.

 ;D

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #2 on: 05 July, 2012, 09:34:08 am »
You have 40k of pan flat (more or less) after the last wee bump. If Cav is there or thereabouts after the last circuit, I'd reckon he is odds on. Boonen and cancellara for the long one, but Wiggo is on the team to see to that.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #3 on: 05 July, 2012, 11:02:09 am »
1.Cavendish
2.Cavendish
3.Cavendish

He's already shown in the Tour that despite his weight loss, he still has the power to beat all comers in a straight sprint - as long as he stays upright...

And unlike the Tour, he'll have the full weight of the team behind him in the Olympics (or should that be in front of him?). I really don't see Box Hill being a problem.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Gus

  • Loosing weight stone by stone
    • We will return
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #4 on: 05 July, 2012, 11:08:31 am »
It will rain and there will be crashes.

1) Cav
2) Kittel
3) Bonne....n

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #5 on: 05 July, 2012, 11:10:36 am »
With other countries having the best chance of a win in a sprinter (eg Germany, Australia etc) the race is even more likely to end in a bunch sprint and GB probably won't have to do all the work... Go Cav!
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Gus

  • Loosing weight stone by stone
    • We will return
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #6 on: 16 July, 2012, 02:14:18 pm »
It will rain and there will be crashes.

1) Cav
2) Kittel
3) Bonne....n

I have to adjust this soon.

Boonen seems to have broken a rib in  the Tour of Poland and might be out.
Kittel Abandoned TdF sick will he recover in time ?
Hushovd is not going to Olympics, he is struggling after he was sick and have just declared he won't ride. 

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #7 on: 16 July, 2012, 02:40:25 pm »
Greipel is looking more and more like he could be a serious contender at the Olympics. And he'll have a very strong team to take him to the line - Degenkolb, Sieberg, Grabsch and Martin.

That's assuming Degenkolb can get over Box Hill nine times, of course - he'll find it far more taxing than Cav.

d.

"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #8 on: 17 July, 2012, 04:04:11 pm »
Sagan? Latching onto the back of the anglo-deutsch-oz train.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #9 on: 17 July, 2012, 05:44:52 pm »
Sagan? Latching onto the back of the anglo-deutsch-oz train.

Can't see it myself - not against Cav and Greipel with full lead-out on a flat sprint - but I can see Sagan winning the World Championships in September on a course that seems to have been designed for Gilbert...

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #10 on: 17 July, 2012, 06:42:01 pm »
Cav.
Led out HTC style, firstly by Stannard, Frome, Wiggo then the final launch by David Millar. Hopefully going so fast that the German and American teams can't get past them.
If not Cav, then Greipel.

Rig of Jarkness

  • An Englishman abroad
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #11 on: 17 July, 2012, 07:49:23 pm »
Sadly, my first choice Boonen is now in doubt, apparently he has a cracked rib from an early crash in the Tour of Poland.  My revised list is
Cancellara
Sagan
Greipel
Aero but not dynamic

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #12 on: 17 July, 2012, 10:30:53 pm »
Who cares? It's only the poxy Olympics, not proper sport.
The journey is always more important than the destination

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #13 on: 17 July, 2012, 10:54:34 pm »
The Box Hill Mob for glory and shinies!  :thumbsup:

(BBC's live text commentary were riffing on Wacky Races after le Tour's tack attack, and one of the commenters suggested this for Team GB)
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #14 on: 17 July, 2012, 11:03:44 pm »
With the current state of play, half the teams won't turn up because their coach driver will have taken them to Box Hill near Bath as he can't read the sat nav. Of the rest, the hill will be invaded by crazed spectators as G4S will have failed to get more than 3 security guards to man the whole thing. And at the finish a french or italian sprinter will make a wild move to take out Cav and Greipel in a mass pile up.

In four years time the non-british participant with the highest placing will fail a retrospective dope test..

"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #15 on: 18 July, 2012, 12:33:06 am »
Greipel is looking more and more like he could be a serious contender at the Olympics. And he'll have a very strong team to take him to the line - Degenkolb, Sieberg, Grabsch and Martin.

That's assuming Degenkolb can get over Box Hill nine times, of course - he'll find it far more taxing than Cav.

d.

Haven't got access to any results but from memory didn't Degenkolb shoot up a stiff climb and catch Kern on the break in the Giro last year. Of course I could have dreamt it.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #16 on: 18 July, 2012, 12:37:06 am »
My prediction is that the Olympic Road Race will inconvenience us on our trip from Lpoo St. to Paddington. We will therefore start the journey about an hour earlier than we otherwise would have done.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Gus

  • Loosing weight stone by stone
    • We will return
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #17 on: 18 July, 2012, 12:42:08 am »
I think you will be safe Wowbagger. I predict all riders get suspended for drugs so no race, and all are cleared in court after the olympic.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #18 on: 18 July, 2012, 01:06:17 am »
Greipel is looking more and more like he could be a serious contender at the Olympics. And he'll have a very strong team to take him to the line - Degenkolb, Sieberg, Grabsch and Martin.

That's assuming Degenkolb can get over Box Hill nine times, of course - he'll find it far more taxing than Cav.

d.

Haven't got access to any results but from memory didn't Degenkolb shoot up a stiff climb and catch Kern on the break in the Giro last year. Of course I could have dreamt it.

You may well be right. He did OK in some of the lumpier spring one-day races this year too, IIRC, so maybe I was being a bit harsh on him.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #19 on: 18 July, 2012, 05:10:52 pm »
Cancellara is my favourite but I wouldn't rule out Sanchez either...Cav is an unknown as he has hidden himself well at the TdF.  If he is there, and the team, and in particular Stannard give him a lead out, then he is still the quickest, it all depends on Box Hill.
Spinning, but not cycling...

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #20 on: 26 July, 2012, 04:48:57 pm »
The Swiss, Belgians, Spanish and Italians will have an interest in getting a breakaway going, Team GB might have allies in the USA, Germany and Norway in chasing down the breaks.

If a late breakaway survives, it's a toss-up between LLS or Cancellara - unless Sagan is with them...

If it's a bunch sprint, Cav, Greipel and Sagan, order unknown. And LLS will cause a crash when he slams on the brakes in disgust after Wiggo leads out the peloton past him at 1km to go. ;D :demon:
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #21 on: 26 July, 2012, 04:59:10 pm »
With the current state of play, half the teams won't turn up because their coach driver will have taken them to Box Hill near Bath as he can't read the sat nav. Of the rest, the hill will be invaded by crazed spectators as G4S will have failed to get more than 3 security guards to man the whole thing. And at the finish a french or italian sprinter will make a wild move to take out Cav and Greipel in a mass pile up.

In four years time the non-british participant with the highest placing will fail a retrospective dope test..
And the teams that do get to the start will be delayed as G4S dismantle their bikes and equipment looking for explosives and bottles of Pepsi.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

simonp

Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #22 on: 26 July, 2012, 05:03:46 pm »
Cav.

welshwheels

  • stop eating cheeseburgers big boy!!!!
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #23 on: 27 July, 2012, 06:08:08 pm »
I would like cav to win but for some reason my brain will not let me rule out  philip gilbert    :thumbsup: sorry cav I think this year is going to be a dissaster for you  :'( my winner : philip gilbert
struggling up hills since 1981 !!!

FatBloke

  • I come from a land up over!
Re: Olympic Road Race Predictions
« Reply #24 on: 27 July, 2012, 06:16:48 pm »
My prediction for the Olympic Men's road race is that it will be a lot more interesting to watch on TV than to be there. For me, this is a moot point as I will be at Greenwich Park watching horses prancing about in the Individual Dressage!    :-\
This isn't just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional blood sport. It can happen to you. And it can happen again.