Tokyo Olympic - cycling

[cygnet]

Sure, the Dane crashed out Tanfield but that was after the race was over. Unlike many folk (who haven’t raced bikes), I am a bit less concerned about crashes.

I think one of the questions that concerned the Comms, (in this shortened Olympic programme of racing) is: the Danes race had finished. GBs race hadn't. (They were still racing a time)

The current rules are a clash between pursuit and TT, and have failed to acknowledge the potential for what happened.

[TimC]

However, the UCI have failed on several levels here. The GB team should have been flagged when Tanfield went off the back to warn both GB and Denmark that the team was split. There should also have been a noise signal as Denmark approached Tanfield that the Danes had caught GB and the race was over

Are those rules? Not seen anyone else mention them. Very interesting.

https://www.uci.org/docs/default-source/rules-and-regulations/3-pis-20210610-e.pdf

See 3.2.086 and 3.2.097.

[Legs]

Top Ganna!

[TimC]

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It's interesting that in the third-place final, Australia caught NZ. The gun wasn't fired until the third Ozzie had passed the NZ lead, and then the event was stopped - neither team was allowed to continue for a time. That goes against the UCI rules, but I guess they may have been modified for this event.

And the 'right' result in the race for Gold!

[Beardy]

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It's interesting that in the third-place final, Australia caught NZ. The gun wasn't fired until the third Ozzie had passed the NZ lead, and then the event was stopped - neither team was allowed to continue for a time. That goes against the UCI rules, but I guess they may have been modified for this event.

And the 'right' result in the race for Gold!

Third pursuant passing lead pursued is not consistent with first pursuant crashing into third pursued! GB were beaten hands down, that is beyond doubt, but I still hold that crashing into an opponent when you are not looking where you are going should incur a penalty.

[Karla]

What a shame for Denmark, I wanted them to win 


More crashes too!

[Croft]

Not relevant to the Oz-NZ ride or the Den-GB one, but if there are 4 remaining in a team, is a "catch" when the fourth or third person is caught?

[TimC]

(click to show/hide)

It's interesting that in the third-place final, Australia caught NZ. The gun wasn't fired until the third Ozzie had passed the NZ lead, and then the event was stopped - neither team was allowed to continue for a time. That goes against the UCI rules, but I guess they may have been modified for this event.

And the 'right' result in the race for Gold!

Third pursuant passing lead pursued is not consistent with first pursuant crashing into third pursued! GB were beaten hands down, that is beyond doubt, but I still hold that crashing into an opponent when you are not looking where you are going should incur a penalty.

GB were indeed far inferior to Denmark in their race - using Charlie as Ed's replacement without properly holding him in reserve cost them dearly. He performed much better today, though they went out much slower than they did yesterday. It's good that Madsen has apologised for his riding and his behaviour, but there should have been a sanction for it.

The rules thing is interesting (but no more than that!) as both teams should be allowed to complete the distance in order that they can record a time - at this level, it's likely that both teams may be going for National, Olympic or World records. The race is over at the point that the pursuant team (assuming they are riding as a unit) is within 1m of the pursued, so strictly speaking the gun should have been slightly earlier. I couldn't see any flags to warn that there was one off the back either, and there were none in the GB/Den race. Perhaps there's a red flag shortage in Japan.

[Peter]

Not so sure about the records thing: the Olympics are intended to produce Olympic medallists - anything else is a by-product, surely.

[TimC]

On checking the rules, the allowance to continue riding after the catch only applies to the first two rounds of heats, not to the finals.

[Peter]

Get your record in early, then!

[cygnet]

The heats are TTs, only the "finals" are pursuits.

If you have the two fastest teams going for gold, a catch should be unlikely.

[spesh]

That was a brilliant performance by Matt Walls in the Omnium, but I can't help thinking that barring the Elimination race, it's now just minor variations on the same theme...

[Karla]

Well yes, that's been the Omnium's problem since forever.

[Peter]

A true sportsman, how an Englishman loses:-

“It isn’t [a disappointing result]. I don’t expect to be the best in the world all the time. It is really hard to win, at the end of the day," he said.

“I gave it my best shot, and I just wasn’t good enough.

"For whatever reason, I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be physically, and these boys are just better.”

Jason Kenny

Call me old-fashioned but I really like that.

[Nick H.]

The losing margin for the Danes in the team pursuit final was so, so tiny that the deciding factor may have been the aero tape and vests which they weren't allowed to use.    On the other hand the Hope/Lotus bike, which is claimed by Hope to have a "2-3% advantage" might turn out to be so fast that the UCI would have to ban it. I hope somebody does a fair test of it soon. I suspect that if GB had won there'd have been a lot of brouhaha.

OR maybe it has been secretly tested and found to be not so special, and the 2-3% claim is just to psych out the opposition. It does seem strange that nobody outside team GB has bought one. Hope said it would be "available to order from Jan 1 2020."

[woollypigs]

\o/ Trotty and Archibald - Great Britain’s Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald have won the gold medal in the women’s Madison at the Tokyo Olympics.

[Salvatore]

Wow. That was emphatic.

[woollypigs]

Dame Trotty \o/  Reports suggest that Laura Kenny is set to become a dame in the new year's honours after becoming Great Britain's most decorated female Olympian.

[Beardy]

Much as I wish her well, I find myself a little repulsed at the idea of a successful person in a personal endeavour being ‘recognised’ buy the same establishment that freely sells ‘honours’ to party donors.

[Jaded]

Olympic cycling is hardly ‘personal endeavour’.

[andyoxon]

That was quite some Keirin final! 

[drgannet]

That was quite some Keirin final!

It would be a good place to retire...

[Socks]

Shame about the Derny bike just being a standard electric bike.  They could at least have re-created an electric version of the little motorbike that was used in the past.  And got the rider to wear a big leather coat.

[spesh]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear Team GB had momentarily hacked the Aussie Olympic Team's Twitter account. 

.@MatthewGlaetzer showed exceptional form in the Olympic Men's Keirin Final to finish in 5th place.

Congratulations Matthew Glaetzer - outstanding tactics and inspiring so many!
Australia is so proud!

https://twitter.com/AUSOlympicTeam/status/1424205971392319491

Some of the replies are a bit salty, alleging Glaetzer sold the race to Kenny. To be fair to Glaetzer, he was probably more expecting someone like Lavreysen to launch from behind than for Kenny to go for a long one the instant the derny peeled off. The rest of the field must have been expecting Glaetzer to chase so he could tow them towards Kenny, so by the time they all woke up, it was too late.