Olympics! (spoilers)

Now we have something / quite-a-lot to discuss and celebrate.
User avatar
kylecycler
Posts: 1378
Joined: 12 Aug 2013, 4:09pm
Location: Kyle, Ayrshire

Re: Olympics! (spoilers)

Post by kylecycler »

mattheus wrote: 9 Sep 2021, 12:39pmEuros ... interesting topic. I was thinking last night during the T-of-B coverage that the Euros get very little coverage, and Brits don't seem too interested. (maybe cos they clash with Vuelta and TofB et al? Dunno ... )

Anyway, that Richard Moore interview was ace; he did a great job, and I would say very diplomatically. (You're rubbish in a bunch, they all knew you were a no-hoper ... but actually well done, what a great win! Is what he avoided saying ...) She seemed very aware of her own limitations, and had a lot of interesting things to say.
Yeah, the Euros seem to be a bit of a backwater in pro cycling. I think, mind you, that they're clashing this year with other events at least partly because the schedule is still all messed up due to Covid.

There's even another women's race - ironically the one Anna Kiesenhofer has raced almost every year - the Tour de l'Ardeche, which is going on this week, so she'd to miss it for the Euro ITT, which is a shame. It's also a shame she isn't doing the Euro Road Race, don't know why, but there you go.

Glad you listened to the Richard Moore interview - well worthwhile - she's a fascinating character and he's a good bloke.
st599_uk
Posts: 1091
Joined: 4 Nov 2018, 8:59pm

Re: Olympics! (spoilers)

Post by st599_uk »

kylecycler wrote: 9 Sep 2021, 11:11am
Anyway, she goes again today in the European Championships Individual Time Trial, her first event since the Olympics. She'll be up against time triallists such as the Netherlands' Ellen van Dijk and Switzerland's Marlen Reusser. It was initially thought that she might also be doing the Road Race on Saturday, but evidently not. Van Vleuten will defend her jersey in that (she's never done the European ITT) - last year's edition was an eventful, exciting race.

Unfortunately, GB hasn't sent a team to the European Championships, male or female, so we'll not be represented. Don't know why.
She was in the Entry list for the Road Race, and Italy didn't use all of their 4 spaces, so perhaps a last minute drop out.

Italy still has entry quarantine for UK arrivals if they aren't fully vaccinated at least 14 days before entry - we're only really getting round to athlete age persons 2nd jabs now.
A novice learning...
“the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
User avatar
kylecycler
Posts: 1378
Joined: 12 Aug 2013, 4:09pm
Location: Kyle, Ayrshire

Re: Olympics! (spoilers)

Post by kylecycler »

st599_uk wrote: 13 Sep 2021, 11:25pm
kylecycler wrote: 9 Sep 2021, 11:11am
Anyway, she goes again today in the European Championships Individual Time Trial, her first event since the Olympics. She'll be up against time triallists such as the Netherlands' Ellen van Dijk and Switzerland's Marlen Reusser. It was initially thought that she might also be doing the Road Race on Saturday, but evidently not. Van Vleuten will defend her jersey in that (she's never done the European ITT) - last year's edition was an eventful, exciting race.

Unfortunately, GB hasn't sent a team to the European Championships, male or female, so we'll not be represented. Don't know why.
She was in the Entry list for the Road Race, and Italy didn't use all of their 4 spaces, so perhaps a last minute drop out.

Italy still has entry quarantine for UK arrivals if they aren't fully vaccinated at least 14 days before entry - we're only really getting round to athlete age persons 2nd jabs now.
I saw that - up until a week or so before the Road Race there were 8 Austrians entered including Anna Kiesenhofer. I thought they might be going to send her up the road and use the other 7 as blockers! :D

The reason GB didn't send a team to the Europeans seems to be more complicated than just Covid, vaccinations and quarantine, though. Covid certainly played a part, but British Cycling released this statement:
“The primary objective of the Great Britain Cycling Team is to achieve the highest number of podium results at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games. All GBCT strategic decisions, including major event attendance, are made in alignment with achieving this objective.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games have resulted in increased budget and staff resource pressures which bring with them limitations on the level & quantity of activity we are able to commit to.

“As a result of the above, GBCT will not be attending the UEC European Road Championships scheduled to take place from September 8-12 in Trento.

“Budget and staff resource will be focussed on the UCI Road World Championships in Flanders, taking place from September 19-26.”
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/why- ... mpionships

They've just released the roster today for the Road World Championships in Flanders:

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/09/british ... ad-worlds/
st599_uk
Posts: 1091
Joined: 4 Nov 2018, 8:59pm

Re: Olympics! (spoilers)

Post by st599_uk »

They entered a team of 8, but only had 4 spots (there's some crazy UCI system to work out how many places each country gets in a race), then they only used 3 of them.
A novice learning...
“the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
User avatar
kylecycler
Posts: 1378
Joined: 12 Aug 2013, 4:09pm
Location: Kyle, Ayrshire

Re: Olympics! (spoilers)

Post by kylecycler »

st599_uk wrote: 14 Sep 2021, 9:25am They entered a team of 8, but only had 4 spots (there's some crazy UCI system to work out how many places each country gets in a race), then they only used 3 of them.
Ah, right, I see. I wondered, right enough. Still, the tactics with 8, especially given Kiesenhofer's tendency to go off the front, would have been interesting!

You know more than me so you'll likely know this too, but at the next Olympics the women's allocation will be the same as the men's: 90 each as opposed to 130 for the men's and only 67 for the women's, as it was this year. Just a shame it means fewer for the men, though. It's all a bit weird.
st599_uk
Posts: 1091
Joined: 4 Nov 2018, 8:59pm

Re: Olympics! (spoilers)

Post by st599_uk »

The IOC has a commitment to Gender Equality - so they're moving to equal numbers of events in all sports, and mixed events in many.
https://olympics.com/ioc/gender-equality

I still find it odd though that with their Sustainability pledge, they didn't pick Nord-Rhein Westphalia for the 2032 Olympics. As the metropolitan area of Los Angeles is similar to the area of land covering Bonn, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Aachen, Essen, Monchengladbach, Leverkuesen and Duisburg and there is already multiple large stadiums including at least one 80k seater, international standard locations for the majority of the sports* and more than enough hotel rooms - it seemed an obvious idea.

They were aiming to use the investment to build better public transport links and were pointing out that 500Million live within 6 hours by train.


* I think the organisers said all they had venues for over 90% sports already
A novice learning...
“the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
Post Reply