Olympic Road Race

[Keith Oates]

Valverde showed that he is now one of the favorites for this title by winning the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday. It's beginning to look very interesting as to who will get the gold medal with Schumacher also being a potential winner after his TdF performances. Anyone care to make a prediction for the first three places!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[zimzum42]

Three Chinese riders after the rest of the peloton get stopped for a passport check....

 

[yenrod]

 

[Steve Austin]

Whats the circuit like? is it lumpy?

 

[Scoosh]

Three Chinese riders after the rest of the peleton get stopped for a passport check....

Three Chinese riders after the rest of the peleton get stopped for a urine sample ...

 

[John the Monkey]

Whats the circuit like? is it lumpy?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/olympics08/?id=stages/road_race

Comparable to a mountain stage of the Tour de France, the Beijing course will favor climbers much more than sprinters, and the continual up-and-down of the circuit phase of the race is where the medalists will be made.
"It goes up, goes up some more and comes down then you go up again," said Australian Cadel Evans (second in the 2007 Tour de France, and an early medalist favorite) after the race. "It's ten kilometres of climbing with some steep sections in it and not much recovery and then one big long downhill but even then it was a headwind all the way down and not so easy."

(from http://bicycling.about.com/od/olympiccycling/a/Oly_road_course.htm )

 

[Ludwig]

I will be more interested in the athletics. The 100 metres should be amazing if Bolt, Powell and Gay line up in the final. No one sadly, really takes any notice of cycling and all the other minority sports.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I watch only the cycling because it is one of the few sports that is now mostly clean. Too many dope cheats in athletics (Which is more of a minority sport than cycling outside of the US).

 

[Keith Oates]

I will be more interested in the athletics. The 100 metres should be amazing if Bolt, Powell and Gay line up in the final. No one sadly, really takes any notice of cycling and all the other minority sports.

I think there will be many people around the world that are interested in the cycling at the Olympics, although I do agree it is not as well followed as some of the other sports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tetedelacourse]

How many riders from each country take part? Do you have to qualify? What's the entry criteria?

 

[Skip Madness]

How many riders from each country take part? Do you have to qualify? What's the entry criteria?

Places are allocated to each nation according to their national ranking in the various UCI tour systems. I think it is then up to the nations to select their teams. The number of riders each nation gets is also dependent on their national rankings. Here's the allocation:

Men (145 riders):

Five riders:

Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, United States

Four riders:

Great Britain, Norway, Slovenia, Ukraine

Three riders:

Argentina, Belarus, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Iran, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden

Two riders:

Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Switzerland

One rider:

Algeria, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Hong Kong, Libya, Moldova, México, Namibia, South Korea, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Women (67 riders):

Three riders:

Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States

Two riders:

South Africa, South Korea, Venezuela

One rider:

Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Denmark, Estonia, Japan, Kazakhstan, México, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Thailand

 

[Tetedelacourse]

Thanks for that. Andy Schleck it is then!

 

[rich p]

It's a bit like a one day classic witout the cachet IMO. It seems like one of those events that is misplaced in the Olympics. I can see a TT or a hill climb having more meaning.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

It's not which country has the biggest team, but which trade team has the most riders spread between the various countries. Then the briefest mention that it will be 'contract renewal time for 2009' in the near future, and any idea this is an inter-nation competition goes clean out the window.

 

[girofan]

It's not which country has the biggest team, but which trade team has the most riders spread between the various countries. Then the briefest mention that it will be 'contract renewal time for 2009' in the near future, and any idea this is an inter-nation competition goes clean out the window.

Or down the toilet!!!!