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halfmanhalfbronco

Olympics MEGA-THREAD.

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22 hours ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

The Opening ceremonies will be live in the pre-dawn hours and then broadcast on replay tomorrow night and (good ole JR voice) OH MY GOD IS THAT CYCLING’S MUSIC!

Walk Out Steve Austin GIF by WWE
That’s right, cycling is one of the first medals up for grabs. My TV guide says the road race will start airing on USA at 7 pm pacific right in the middle of the opening ceremonies all the way to the 2 am finish. 

Olympic-road-race-course-profile-mens.jp
That is a rough Olympic road course. 

The number of riders each country gets in the race ranges from 5 to 1. The top 6 countries in the UCI rankings get 5, tier 2 gets 4, and so on. The traditional cycling powers of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands get to bring a full compliment of riders. Columbia would have been in that group, but a positive Covid test scratched Danny Martinez from their climber loaded team.

America gets to bring two riders, Brandon McNulty and Lawson Craddock. Both are good pros that are solid in the mountains, but 230 km in the mountains is gonna be tough for just two guys. I don’t think we’re gonna medal on this one.

The favorites are the Belgians and the Slovenians. If you’ve opened the Tour thread in the past month by accident you’ll recognize the names, Pogacar, Roglic, Van Aert. The Belgians also have a co-leader with Van Aert named Remco Evaenpool who set the peleton on fire last year winning every stage race he entered in his rookie season before a gruesome crash broke his pelvis. The 21 year old has tons of talent. Belgium has 5 guys, including the defending Olympic champ in the service of Van Aert and Evaenpool. Slovenia only has 4 guys, but when two of them are the Tour Champ and the Vuelta Champ, it’s almost a wash. Columbia has a loaded team of climbers. Great Britain should be strong. Italy and Spain are led by old timers but they’re two of the best ever.

A one day race with high stakes will not be raced like a stage in the Tour. There’s a good chunk of the peleton that is going to ride hard as teammates for a few hours and then quit the race. Finishing only matters to one man teams like whoever Burkina Faso is sending. If anyone gets a flat tire or crashes tough cookies, there will be no waiting. The race is on from the word go.

Dumb question... but are there any bonus points awarded for the climbs or any intermediate sprints? Or is it a good ol' fashion1-2-3 across the line?

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8 hours ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

Nvm, this is a replay. Facepalm deserved.

Dude you really thought we were playing the Swedes twice in a row?  This is amazing.  Our meticulous, lawlor.  Mr "this female biker just switched to a new diet, let's see how it plays out in the games". 

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27 minutes ago, misplacedcowboy said:

Dumb question... but are there any bonus points awarded for the climbs or any intermediate sprints? Or is it a good ol' fashion1-2-3 across the line?

None of that pretend racing. Win a medal or gtfo and ride the car to the finish.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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12 minutes ago, halfmanhalfbronco said:

Dude you really thought we were playing the Swedes twice in a row?  This is amazing.  Our meticulous, lawlor.  Mr "this female biker just switched to a new diet, let's see how it plays out in the games". 

Hey man, there was a yellow team of 6 foot blondes stomping us. I was distracted.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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19 minutes ago, halfmanhalfbronco said:

Dude you really thought we were playing the Swedes twice in a row?  This is amazing.  Our meticulous, lawlor.  Mr "this female biker just switched to a new diet, let's see how it plays out in the games". 

No shame in watching some sweaty Scandinavian babes jog around for 90 minutes a 2nd time

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On 7/22/2021 at 8:00 PM, thelawlorfaithful said:

The Opening ceremonies will be live in the pre-dawn hours and then broadcast on replay tomorrow night and (good ole JR voice) OH MY GOD IS THAT CYCLING’S MUSIC!

Walk Out Steve Austin GIF by WWE
That’s right, cycling is one of the first medals up for grabs. My TV guide says the road race will start airing on USA at 7 pm pacific right in the middle of the opening ceremonies all the way to the 2 am finish. 

Olympic-road-race-course-profile-mens.jp
That is a rough Olympic road course. 

The number of riders each country gets in the race ranges from 5 to 1. The top 6 countries in the UCI rankings get 5, tier 2 gets 4, and so on. The traditional cycling powers of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands get to bring a full compliment of riders. Columbia would have been in that group, but a positive Covid test scratched Danny Martinez from their climber loaded team.

America gets to bring two riders, Brandon McNulty and Lawson Craddock. Both are good pros that are solid in the mountains, but 230 km in the mountains is gonna be tough for just two guys. I don’t think we’re gonna medal on this one.

The favorites are the Belgians and the Slovenians. If you’ve opened the Tour thread in the past month by accident you’ll recognize the names, Pogacar, Roglic, Van Aert. The Belgians also have a co-leader with Van Aert named Remco Evaenpool who set the peleton on fire last year winning every stage race he entered in his rookie season before a gruesome crash broke his pelvis. The 21 year old has tons of talent. Belgium has 5 guys, including the defending Olympic champ in the service of Van Aert and Evaenpool. Slovenia only has 4 guys, but when two of them are the Tour Champ and the Vuelta Champ, it’s almost a wash. Columbia has a loaded team of climbers. Great Britain should be strong. Italy and Spain are led by old timers but they’re two of the best ever.

A one day race with high stakes will not be raced like a stage in the Tour. There’s a good chunk of the peleton that is going to ride hard as teammates for a few hours and then quit the race. Finishing only matters to one man teams like whoever Burkina Faso is sending. If anyone gets a flat tire or crashes tough cookies, there will be no waiting. The race is on from the word go.

That last hour was fun. It was an interesting race but the Mickey Mouse operation that is the amateurism of the Olympics really shines through. All the mechanical adjustments that were necessary at the the start, the shared team cars, the mess of feeding the riders. The Tour this is not.

No race radios was kinda great. All the guys having to keep track of what’s going on in the race by themself harkens back to older eras. With nobody in your ear telling you the situation, the riders really had to be savvy and the behind the scenes stuff became real important. You don’t see breakaways get 20 minute leads in big races anymore. That used to happen all the time. But at the same time, there are levels to this game. The elite professionals weren’t worried at all. It took just two guys working, the defending Olympic Champion and a Slovenian domestique, to pull back 15 minutes from the break once the race got going. The fact that the break was ever allowed 20 minutes highlights a dirty secret...the top pros don’t care that much about the Olympics. Their super bowl ended last week. That’s why I’m starting the MOAR FEWER WORLD TOUR RIDERS IN THE ROAD RACE MOVEMENT. It would mean infinitely more to the guy from Botswana to finish the race than for Tadej Pogacar to barely try and win Bronze. He didn’t even get out of the saddle when he attacked on the hardest climb. Pogacar was working for someone else right until almost the end...his UAE teammate Brandon McNulty. That kind of alliance making is part of why I like cycling, but it’s not in the spirit of the Olympics. Get the World Tour pros out of the road race, they’d barely notice.

Speaking of McNulty, helluva ride kid. He’s gonna win a medal in the time trial, I can feel it.

Van Aert...this is why being a Grand Tour favorite would be no fun. The crosshairs are on your back from every direction and everyone expects you to do all the work. Which he did admirably. Only one guy got away. His gold is coming in the time trial.

Carapaz, my man. It’s hard not to like a guy who goes for it every time, Tin Cup style. He might be a jerk, he might be doped to the gills, but this dude will smash his head through a brick wall before he ever quits. Watch your back Pogacar, Carapaz doesn’t think he’s beat.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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