Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics

[dancingbrogues]

Just been watching the BMX track in Beijing. Amazing how unfinished and ugly it looks compared to London's, and the seats were half empty for a BMX final ... I don't think all the venues have matched up to Beijing, but the British know how to seed a lawn.

[Mainad]

Just watched the finals of the BMX events. What is it with the British riders that they can't keep on their bikes? Shanaze Reade came off her bike in the final at Beijing and now Liam Phillips has done the same in the men's final in London!

Maybe BMX riding isn't for us Brits after all? Maybe we should stick to what we know best - track cycling in the velodrome!

[micheal_warren]

After finishing 4th in Beijing, Sarah Walker from New Zealand has won the SILVER medal. A huge result from her in an event that at times can be a complete lottery.

[Guardian]

Final medal results for both BMX events on August 10.

Women's BMX:

- GOLD: Mariana Pajon (Colombia)

- SILVER: Sarah Walker (New Zealand)

- BRONZE: Laura Smulders (Netherlands)

Link: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-bmx/event/women-bmx/phase=cbw001100/index.html

Men's BMX:

- GOLD: Maris Strombergs (Latvia)

- SILVER: Sam Willoughby (Australia)

- BRONZE: Carlos Mario Oquendo Zabala (Colombia)

Link: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-bmx/event/men-bmx/phase=cbm001100/index.html

[Fox334]

Only second Olympic gold medal ever for Columbia. They had great Olympics, nice to see capped off by a gold medal.

Also, is it just me or is South America having a sleeper Olympics? Four South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela) got gold medals so far.

[Guardian]

Now that the BMX events are over, two more cycling events are left for London 2012. They are the mountain bike cross-country events for the men and women. August 11 sees that the women go first for Olympic medals.

Link: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-mountain-bike/schedule-and-results/day=11-august/all-day.html

[Daze]

Just watching the mountainbike cross-country.

Hadleigh Farm is such a nice setting for this event.

[Rob2012]

Dominant French performance in the women's mountain bike, British rider could only manage 8th. Roues magiques!!

[Fox334]

Pendrel, who's from the same hometown as I am, was ranked number one in the world coming in but finishes ninth. Quite disappointing

[dancingbrogues]

Pendrel, who's from the same hometown as I am, was ranked number one in the world coming in but finishes ninth. Quite disappointing

It favoured the racers who like bone-dry, warm conditions - quite unusual in Britain. I would have liked to seen it wet and slippy, so it would have become about technique just as much as power and speed - I think she would have been much higher if this were the case.

[Fox334]

It favoured the racers who like bone-dry, warm conditions - quite unusual in Britain. I would have liked to seen it wet and slippy, so it would have become about technique just as much as power and speed - I think she would have been much higher if this were the case.

Probably. I think there might also have been a tactical error from her part early in the race which left her spent. Oh well, Cycling, much like Football, is a funny game - every dog has it's day and every champion have off days. I /am/ hoping for a downpour tomorrow, though, not so much out of concern for Canadian medal chances (not expecting anything on the men's side) but because it makes the sport more entertaining, IMO. I just love seeing those guys going through the finish line covered in mud. Mountain biking without mud is like Baseball without dirt - just not the same.

[Guardian]

Final medal results for the women's cross-country mountain biking event for August 11:

- GOLD: Julie Bresset (France)

- SILVER: Sabine Spitz (Germany)

- BRONZE: Georgia Gould (United States)

Link: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-mountain-bike/event/women/phase=cmw021100/index.html

[Guardian]

The men takes the stage on the last day of the Olympic Games in the mountain bike event.

Link: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-mountain-bike/schedule-and-results/day=12-august/all-day.html

[Guardian]

Final medal results for the men's cross-country mountain bike event on August 12:

- GOLD: Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic)

- SILVER: Nino Schurter (Switzerland)

- BRONZE: Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy)

Link: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-mountain-bike/event/men/phase=cmm021100/index.html

[Brekkie Boy]

I'm sure after Beijing the UCI forced teams to put their equipment out in the "open market" at reasonable cost so that any team could buy into it. This was in direct response to the same tired accusations against British dominance that apparently the French are still going on about now. That move was supposed to stop British domination. It didn't.

Furthermore, this is the first Olympics in a while that the velodrome has not only been open to rival teams months before, but has also hosted a World Cup. One of the Canadian team said she was massively surprised the British had allowed their velodrome to be used for a world cup event only months before the Games, as they'd expected us - like past hosts - to keep it to ourselves.

So the equipment is on the open market and we've foregone the usual home advantage with the venue that a host nation normally enjoys.

But if people will moan....

As for hiding the equipment, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is the team getting its own back. People accuse Team GB with no evidence to try to unsettle our cyclists, so why not turn the tables, up the ante and add to the paranoia? Certainly if I was being accused with no evidence I'd be tempted to wind people up a bit!

The ironic thing is it's the French who make the British wheels, and they're the same wheels they've used since Athens 2004.

The UCI though need to embrace the British success, not try and dampen it. The one rider per nation thing just backfired completely as all it did was weaken the competition and led to very one sided heats earlier in each competition. It didn't reduce the number of athletes at all as the second riders were generally there for the team event too.

The programme needs expanding too with at the very least the Individual Pursuit being reinstated (either replacing the Omnium or preferbly in addition to it). There is no excuse on scheduling as the UCI's own World Championships have a full programme over 5 days while the Olympics is a much reduced programme over six. I don't see how the IOC could object to an extra couple of medal events, but if they did need to drop something I'd axe the Mountain Bike events. They don't work that well for the crowd or the TV audience and dropping them would save the cost of an additional venue and accomodating around 80 athletes too. Yes, it's harsh on the mountain bikers but no more harsh than all the track events which have been pulled in recent years.

The UCI also need to review their judging and appeals procedure - the World Champs earlier this year were ruined by races being overturned and it happened a couple of times during the games here too. The audience want to see the person who crosses the line first declared champion, and that's the way the athletes want to do it too. Some infringements are fair enough but many are just petty and effectively disqualifying them seems a very harsh penalty - if they do feel the need to stick to these rules surely some sort of time penalty would be a better factor so if someone dominates their opponent but makes a split second infringement they don't lose the title.

[Daze]

Just watching the men´s mountainbike, which I had recorded.

Hadleigh Farm is such a nice venue.

[gotosy]

Alessandro Zanardi takes road cycling gold in the men's Individual H 4 Time Trial

Eleven years after losing both legs in an horrific Champ Car accident at the Lausitzring, former F1 pilot Alex Zanardi has claimed gold medal in the first of his Paralympic handbike events at Brands Hatch

http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/cycling-road/event/men-individual-h-4-time-trial/index.html?v=20120905-155109583

[gotosy]

Zanardi celebrates winning Paralympic gold at Brands Hatch

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz25breycWE

[gotosy]

Italy's Alessandro Zanardi, showing great skill in picking the best racing line around the final turn, claimed his second gold medal of the Paralympics when he emerged victorious from a sprint finish in the H4 men's road race at his old stomping ground of Brands Hatch.

...

Zanardi, who won the men's time-trial, has a chance to claim a third gold medal tomorrow in the team relay event.

tgr.ph/TwRDZF

[gotosy]

Alex Zanardi wins SIlver Medal at team relay event and ends his paralympic participation with three medals

[gotosy]

UCI opens inquiry into Olympic champ Vinokourov’s alleged $200,000 bribe to fix race in 2010

Olympic road race champion Alexandre Vinokourov is under investigation for allegedly bribing a rival to fix a race, as ongoing fallout from the Lance Armstrong doping affair threatens to claim another of cycling’s biggest names.

The International Cycling Union pledged Monday to open its own probe into revived allegations that the London Games gold medalist from Kazakhstan paid off his opponent in a two-man breakaway to ensure he won the 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic.

The UCI acted after receiving a file on the case from an Italian prosecutor who is leading a wider investigation of corruption in cycling linked to Dr. Michele Ferrari, a former adviser to Armstrong.

“The UCI takes these issues extremely seriously,” the governing body said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “We will ask Alexandre Vinokourov and Alexandr Kolobnev to attend a meeting at our headquarters in Aigle as soon as possible to provide the UCI with their response to the contents of the Padua inquiry dossier.”

Vinokourov allegedly paid Russia’s Kolobnev nearly $200,000 after arranging a fix during their breakaway in the April 2010 one-day race. The allegations were first made by a Swiss magazine last year and were denied by Vinokourov, who threatened to take legal action.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera published further information Saturday, including details of emails it claimed were exchanged by the riders in the days after the race.

“The UCI has been requesting information concerning these media allegations since December 2011, when they were first raised by the Swiss magazine L’Illustre,” the governing body said. “To date, the information provided to UCI was not sufficient to take legal action.

“Now, in the light of this additional information, gathered as part of the Padua inquiry, we will open an official inquiry into this issue.”

The probe could reveal further corruption at the top of professional cycling as the sport struggles to deal with the Armstrong doping affair.

Padua prosecutor Benedetto Roberti helped the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in building the case that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last month.

The Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory was Vinokourov’s biggest after returning from a two-year suspension for blood doping at the 2007 Tour de France. He won the Belgian race with a long sprint to the line, finishing six seconds ahead of Kolobnev.

Vinokourov retired from professional cycling soon after winning the road race in London in July. The 39-year-old rider, who won silver in the road race at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has iconic status in his native Kazakhstan and has been expected to pursue a career in national politics.

If the UCI probe leads to sanctions for Vinokourov, the International Olympic Committee could examine whether he should have been eligible to race in London.

http://www.washingto...953e_story.html

[Durban Sandshark]

Bradley Wiggins--BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oov5nWKn-p8

(You do get to see Andy Murray's with Lennox Lewis, Jessica Ennis' and her controversial apparent snubbing of Kate Middleton, along with Wiggins' in this)