Olympic Road Race
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That's a handy list Grates. But do you think Rebellin is the only Italian with a chance to win?Grater said:
The olympic road race should be really interesting, given the pretty hard profile and only 5 teammates and the always exciting guessing "who are they really riding for?" (The team, the 2009-team, the nation, just getting attention or Ballerini cash payment).limerickman said:
San Sebastian, which is currently under way, is pretty close in "toughness" to the Olympic RR. All of the Italians are there (Bettini, Cunego, Pellizotti, Rebellin and Bruseghin), and all of the Spaniards, except Freire. That might give a clue of what to expect.
Hushovd is still struggeling with his health, and will not go to Beijing. Arvesen was anyway to be the captain of the Norwegian team, the course suits his caracteristics very well. (By the way, Arvesen won his U23-world title in San Sebastian.) He will also benefit from the CSC-collaboration across nations (Schlecks, Sorensen x 2, Voigt, O'Grady, Larsson, Ljungquist, ..., Sastre might be more loyal to the Spaniards?). Rest assured you will see 4-5 of these collaborating in a dangerous break towards the end of the race - that could be a major headache to the Italians and the Spaniards.
I've been able to read some course descriptions off some websites. Does anyone have a link to a profile diagram of the course?
Profiles are always distorted by the scale they choose for the left hand axis. The circuit part has a climb from about 250m to 650m above sea level in about 10km (the circuit is 24km total from memory). That's only an average grade of 4.0%. But there are some steeper sections within that average.Ullefan said:Look at those climbs, I couldn't even walk up, are they going through Tibet
Valverde is the Captain for Spain, Sammy S. is the reserve Capt. Freire the 3rd.EvilJediJ said:
I don't know why Spain brought Contador and Sastre along, can't imagine with the route what they can possibly do. I'd chosen Flecha and Rodriguez instead of those two...
Contador doesn't appear to be in very good form. He couldn't make the final selection at San Sebastian so it's unlikely a really hard course would be of any great benefit to him.EvilJediJ said:
Valverde would seem to be the #1 favorite, with the likes of Bettini, Rebellin and Schumacher as other likely winners.
No no, that is to scale. Those are 92% climbes...they are allowing full-on EPO use, as well as fixed ropes....it is going to be CRAZY!Crankyfeet said:
Attention attention: broken record alert!
Zabel to win.
I was hoping "the old man" would get a stage in the TdF but what better way to ring in retirement than as the Olympic Champion?
C'mon Erik you have enough silverware in the trophy cabinet - let's get some GOLD!
Zabel to win.
I was hoping "the old man" would get a stage in the TdF but what better way to ring in retirement than as the Olympic Champion?
C'mon Erik you have enough silverware in the trophy cabinet - let's get some GOLD!
I think the sprinters are going to struggle. Even the better climbers like Freire and Zabel. Just my opinion. The effect of doing seven climbs of 10km each at 4% one after another is going to build-up the lactic in those legs... just trying to keep up with the better climbers. That's about 80km of climbing if you factor in the climb on the initial phase to the circuit. Admittedly it's only at an average grade of 4%.Eldron said:
Even if the sprinters make it to the finish in the bunch... I think they're going to be struggling with too much lactic acid and low glucogen levels. This is going to be a long, hard race.
The finish is interesting... a 10km descent at approximately 4% followed by a short uphill 4% finish for what seems like the last kilometer.
Valverde, Schumacher, Bettini, Rebellin, Kirchen and even Evans (if he was fit), maybe Freire if I've got it all wrong, which is likely.
Allemagne : - Gerald Ciolek (Team Columbia)Eldron said:
- Bert Grabsch (Team Columbia)
- Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner)
- Jens Voigt (Team CSC-Saxo Bank)
- Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner)
http://www.podiumcafe.com/2008/8/1/584297/very-partial-list-of-olymp
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