in message <
[email protected]>, Simon D
('
[email protected]') wrote:
> triddletree explained on 26/03/2006 :
>> Simon D wrote:
>>> Simon D formulated the question :
>>>
>>>> triddletree laid this down on his screen :
>>>>
>>>>> Simon D wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Tony Raven brought next idea :
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ermm...another 2-2.5hrs to go!!!. I think I'll leave it to the
>>>>>>> PVR to watch and revisit after I've had my beauty sleep.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What a lightweight ;o)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> There's an hours less kip tonight :-(
>>>>
>>>> Tell me about it.
>>>>
>>>>> And anyway its only women's racing ;-) <ducks>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Brave. Or foolish... 8-o
>>>
>>> Or (now that we're getting near the end) possibly wise ;-)
>>
>> I'm pleased to see that clubruns have now made it to the Commonwealth
>> programme ;-)
>
> Mmm. It's a bit challenging to get much "feel" for a race from a
> written commentary, but it sounded a bit Australia-ed out.
A bunch of five went clear in the first lap. Four of them - one each from
England, New Zealand, Canada and Malaysia - worked hard for seven laps,
building up a four minute lead over the field, while Natalie Bates of
Australia just sat in the wheels doing bugger all. On the seventh lap
you could see her having increasingly urgent discussions with her coach
on the radio, and then she just went. At which point, the four who had
been working well together started playing silly buggers, and frittered
away their four minutes lead over the peloton in a single lap. If they
had continued to work together they would certainly have got silver and
bronze among them.
Bates, once she'd decided to go, rode the final two laps as a time trial;
out on her own, she actually increased her lead over the peloton to four
minutes 27 seconds, before winning be 3 minutes 5 seconds.
Nicole Cooke had a very frustrating race, with no team to support her,
and the Australians (particularly) obviously marking her and closing her
down every move she made. At the end, as solo rider in a field with at
least four very strong teams, getting bronze was pretty damn good.
There was apparently a bad crash in the first lap, but I didn't see it.
Anyone see the mens' race? My mate Gareth apparently failed to finish,
anyone know why?
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; ... exposing the violence incoherent in the system...
