Road Bike Racing - Olympic road race: Prognosis?

Who's going to be the new Olympic Champion?
These are my favorites:

Van Petegem/Vinokourov ***
Bettini/Ullrich **
Dekker/Merckx *

Aren't you leaving out some possibilities?

how about Jens Voigt???

Most likely...
What are your options?

Laurent Brochard! or Vino

These one day races are a crap shoot. I mean there are always some people who you can rule out, but it's so so hard to pick a winner.

www.mrbookmaker.com



Brochard is 60:1 for the win, what a sweet payday that would be.....

Vino is 12:1 for the win, and 4:1 for a medal.

Bettini pays 2.25 to 1 if he gets a medal

You really need to see a course profile before any choices can be made.

Link to the Road Profile (http://www.uci.ch/imgArchive/Road/Olympics/ROADprofile.pdf). (Maybe someone can pretty it up and paste it directly in the thread for me? :))

More UCI info Olympic Road stuff can be found here (http://www.uci.ch/modello2.asp?1stLevelID=C&level1=1&level2=16&idnews=1619).

Well thanks, Girl27.

Why is it so hard to get a course profile with grades, distances, etc. Grrrrr!

I vote for Vino...

Koffee

g'day,

Stuey O'grady or Rocket Robbie McEwan...the course suits,

cheers,

Hitchy

The odds on McEwen are short too.....

Hard to go against Vino but 1 day races are hard to predict.

Will the Aussies lead McEwen out?

What's the latest news on Petacci?

Pettachi's not racing the olympics..

I still need a detailed course profile!

Hard to go against Vino but 1 day races are hard to predict.

Will the Aussies lead McEwen out?

What's the latest news on Petacci?

G'day,

the Aussies will definately ride as a team......If its a bunch sprint I'd expect to see mcEwen or O'grady getting led out. Cookies form probably isn't there at the moment. the Aussies will look for a gold meadal for the team rather than the individual glory. I'm expecting big things in this race from the boys!,

cheers,

Hitchy

I've googled the hell out of this, but I can't seem to find a course profile! I don't know what's up with that. :-/

Koffee

I've googled the hell out of this, but I can't seem to find a course profile! I don't know what's up with that. :-/

Koffee


G'day,

possibly, like 98% of the other stuff in Athens....they haven't finished making the course yet!.....i mean how long have they been building that 'parthenon' thingy....LOL,


cheers,

Hitchy

the one profile that was posted is the only one i have seen around.

Well, nobody seems to put his money on
Van Petegem... Still I think he's going to
be very close. He has been in Athens already
in the beginning of the year to check the
parcours. The olympic race is one of his main goals
this year. About McEwen: Although the race is
only 210 km long, the repetitions of the steep
climb will probably be to hard for him.

Regards,
H.

This is a race that will not end in a bunch sprint. Reports are that it's a tough course with lots of heavy climbing. This hurts riders like McEwen and possibly O'Grady. Bettini's still the favorite along with Astarloa. Look for my man Hushovd on the podium, providing he can get over the hills with enough energy left.

This month's "Bicycling" mag, has a pretty good description of the entire course. They had a group of riders do the loop. It's a pretty interesting article. It sounds like a really hard course. Some really hairy stuff, like sharp corners at the bottom of fast downhills, will probably have more to do with the selection than anything else.

I'd put my money on Bettini or O'Grady. I say O'Grady. If he wins, check back in this thread where I will gloat loudly. :p

G'day,

a little more info on the RR profile & route at:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/olympics04/?id=stages/road_race

cheers,

Hitchy

Ouch. I've ridden some of those streets... that's going to be tough. But lemmie tell you, the national monuments and Greek sites they'll ride past are going to be breathtaking... Acropolis? That's going to take them on a route overlooking all of Athens, and it is going to look great from the television set!

Koffee

1) Valverde
2) Bettini
3) Vino or Astarloa

Cycling news has an okay map & profile (http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/olympics04/?id=stages/road_race).

Max van Heeswijk (from US Postal), he's a good allrounder and has won around 10 races this season.

Levi Leiphiemer, what can i say I have to supporrt an american

The finish of the race will be slightly uphill, 8 from Van Heeswijk's total of 9 victories this year were slightly uphill going sprints. This race is made for him...

No one thinks Hincapie can do it? I think the American team will be riding in support of him no?

No one thinks Hincapie can do it? I think the American team will be riding in support of him no? The impression I get from interviews is that the US team will be ' every man for himself ' - either that or maybe they don't want to advertise their tactics ... ah yes, very sneaky ;)

Van Heeswijk's not in the same class as a Bettini, Freire, or Valverde.

We'll see.

George Hincapie will take it in breakaway with 3 other riders.

i was going to tip georgie as well, just as a homer. he's strong enough to get in a break, if one develops. if nothing else, it should be really interesting to see how strongly sprinters team...er...nations try to keep the bunch together to set up their boy.

Georgie can't sprint with the likes of Freire, Hushovd, Bettini, McEwen and O'Grady. Bettini's got the entire Italian team working for him.

Americans always George but he rarely comes through.

I don't believe Hushovd or McEwen can follow when the
real specialists of this work will start off. Freire is a
possibility, although we haven't seen anything from him
since Milano-San Remo.
Bettini will run short again...
Watch the Belgians, they will certainly grasp a medal!!!

Yeah, I don't expect a bunch sprint. We'll see a select group come off the last climb. Bettini should be there, along with riders like Astarloa, Vino, Boogerd, Ullrich and Zabel.

I'm with Kris and Smoothie I think both George and Levi will do well.
Joe

Here's the odds. From Mr. Bookmaker

Bettini 6.5-1
Valverde 10-1
VAN PETEGEM 10-1
VAN HEESWIJK 10-1
Ullrich 11-1
Vino 12-1
Freire 14-1
O'Grady 14-1
McEwen 16-1
Zabel 16-1
Astarola 18-1
Dekker 22-1
Hushovd 22-1
Hincapie 30-1
Boogerd 33-1
Hamilton 33-1
Levi 80-1

Bettini
Paulinho
Merckx

And a classy win it was also!

I knew Georgie would win. :)

A masterful ride by Bettini, justifying his pre-race favouritism.........

Attacked on three occasions on the climb, each time stretching the field and provoking responses from the most attentive of the leaders, Vinokourov and Ullrich. Softened'em up on the 15th, broke away with Paulinho on the 16th, rode in from there..........

Tough race to control, with 5 man teams and hot sunny weather. Lots of big-name retirements did nothing to aid the chances of Valverde, or Ullrich, say. Kazhaks tried hard to chase down the leaders for Vino but when the lead went from 25 to 45 seconds during the last lap, it was obvious that the impetus had gone from the bunch. Kudos to Merckx for not taking that approach. He broke clear in the last 6-7 kilometres and TT'ed his way in. Deserved his podium place and medal.

http://img51.exs.cx/img51/1896/olympicpodium.jpg

Ahhh. The feel-good podium of the year. :)

Bettini must have been stoked when he realized that the only man who could stay with him was DivII rider, Paulinho. That final stretch of riding was a great show of innocence versus experience.

And Axel used his head to get the bronze - taking a big step in the near-impossible task of riding out of his father's shadow.

I couldn't be happier for Bettini. He's a brilliant rider, and a respectable man. Vai Paolo!