Olympic cycling

[ex-khobar Andy]

I stayed up to watch the women's road race last night. It eventually ended at 4:30 AM Eastern but was well worth it all the way. We watched the men the prior night.

The winner after a breakaway group of 3 early on, and who then managed to get away from the others with 40K to go, was Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer who is also a PhD mathematician so she has a career choice if the cycling doesn't pay the bills. But due to the lack of race radio, the rest of the cyclists did not know that she was in the lead - always five or so minutes ahead until close to the end - and the Dutch cyclist Annemiek Van Vleuten thought that she had won it when she crossed the line a couple of minutes after. Van Vleuten would have been a popular winner because she crashed in a horrific way (three lumbar fractures and concussion) in 2016 while leading.

There's a good account of the result on CNN here.

In a multi-stage team event like the Tour de France, each team has an assigned wavelength and each rider has at least a receiver in his/her earpiece and some have a transmitter. The cars too, so that if a rider needs a new bike or a drink they know and can get to the rider. Team tactics are important and the team's race director is calling the shots.

The Olympics road race is a one shot deal and in theory at least there are no teams although in practice the Dutch (for example but I am sure there are others) had four riders who had an acknowledged best performer in van Vleuten and the lesser riders could do their bit to support her - bringing her back from a wheel change, taking the lead for a bit to give her a relative rest, etc. They could talk among themselves and work it out. But although they caught 2 of the 3 original breakaways no-one knew that Kiesenhofer was still up front. (The 2 from the original breakaway, and the other Austrians, probably did but why should they tell the Dutch?)

Nothing against Kiesenhofer and she was certainly a worthy winner. But we will never know if van Vlueten had the legs to catch her had she known that she had only a couple of minutes to make up. I understand the lack of race radio but I think back to the old days of Formula 1. Information was given to the drivers with blackboards and chalk and guys with stopwatches. It would seem to be a simple matter to have sort of gantry over the road every 5K with a clock which is zeroed when the leader passes under it and which tells subsequent riders where they are relative to the leader.

[Bicycle Bill]

In a multi-stage team event like the Tour de France, each team has an assigned wavelength and each rider has at least a receiver in his/her earpiece and some have a transmitter. The cars too, so that if a rider needs a new bike or a drink they know and can get to the rider. Team tactics are important and the team's race director is calling the shots.

Which is one of the reasons that, had Mark Cavendish been able to get to the finish line first on the Champs d'Elysee last Sunday and broken Eddy Merckx's record for most stages won by a single rider, most people who know anything at all of the sport would still consider 'Fast Eddy' the best TdF rider in history.

Cavendish has gotten most of these wins through technology, team strategy, and tactics.  Setting aside for the moment the radical changes that the bikes themselves have undergone since the days of even Greg Lemond and Bernard Hinault, like ultra-light materials and custom-designs/geometries for specific events like time trials or mountain stages (and electric shifting for the derailleurs?  I head Phil Liggett refer to a rider's batteries going out at least two or three times ... WTF??) — Cavendish has had the luxury of being able to take it relatively easy on days which were not tailored to his specialty (sprint finishes), just staying out of trouble, letting early breakaways go off the front while resting in the main peloton, constantly being updated via radio, secure in the knowledge that his directeur sportif knew exactly what was happening on the road ahead of him ... and on those days when he WAS going to contend for the win, let him know when it was time for the peloton to reel in the upstarts and for he and his lead-out teammates to make their move to the front to set up him for the penultimate five kms or so before the final climactic 200 meters or so.  Outside of the information passed on from the chalkboards on the race motos (and the occasional brief exchange through the window of the team car), earlier riders like Merckx had none of these advantages.

But for better or worse, we're stuck with it.  Like Pandora's box, the genie of the lamp, or even a tube of toothpaste, there's no putting it back once it's been let loose.

-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

Yes, Technology has made a difference, and it has always been so. Love the historical story that quick-release hubs came from an instance when Tulio Campagnolo lost a hub-nut in the snow on a mountain stage of the TdF.

snailgate

[ex-khobar Andy]

Per BB:

Which is one of the reasons that, had Mark Cavendish been able to get to the finish line first on the Champs d'Elysee last Sunday and broken Eddy Merckx's record for most stages won by a single rider, most people who know anything at all of the sport would still consider 'Fast Eddy' the best TdF rider in history.

Cavendish has gotten most of these wins through technology, team strategy, and tactics.

And to emphasize your first point, Cavendish himself would be first in line to say that Merckx is the best in history. Absent what we all now know, there might have been a case for Armstrong.

But that second part is just fatuous. That same technology and tactics has been available to Sagan, Greipel, Ewan, Boonen and all the rest for the last however many years. Cavendish's peculiar talent has had much to do with it. And he has always been very quick to thank his team - Renshaw, Mørkøv and everyone in between.

[Gob]

I've just painted this here wall, someone has to watch it dry.

[Burning Petard]

Can't say I am one for watching paint dry, but I do like watch a bicycle race on tv. I also like to watch an american baseball game where the final score is one-zip. But that I want to see in person. Every pitch could be the one that blows the game wide open. The usual tv coverage however makes it about as interesting as watching Gob's paint dry.

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

Can't say I am one for watching paint dry, but I do like watch a bicycle race on tv. I also like to watch an american baseball game where the final score is one-zip. But that I want to see in person. Every pitch could be the one that blows the game wide open. The usual tv coverage however makes it about as interesting as watching Gob's paint dry.

snailgate

You should have seen the Red Sox v Yankees game Sunday - nearly a no hitter for the Yankees pitcher with the Yanks up by 4, then the Sox went nuts in the bottom of the 8th and won the game 5-4 after an edge of the seat exciting top of the ninth.

Baseball is the perfect game. Definitely best in person, but watching a good game with a friend at home isn’t bad either.

[Econoline]

My father often listened to (White Sox) baseball on the car radio while driving. Years later it occurred to me how amazing it was that he never fell asleep at the wheel and killed us all.