Danes were on WR pace with only a lap to go before the crash. Danes walk off the track, GB cyclist rolls around and crosses finish line. To be confirmed, but it looks like GB will go through.

No real winners here. Not how you like to see medals decided. Not sure why it elicits an LOL.

It’s a lol because the guy in front was not looking where he was going. That’s a fundamental part of riding a bike at any speed. It was one of the stupidest things I’ve seen in the Olympics especially when you consider how fast they were going, or maybe that’s why they were going fast? Ha

Got to feel sorry for the Kiwis who were inside the old world record, finishing around a minute before GB did, but don’t get to go for the gold medal!

Yes, it was a very poor mistake by the Dane. But did you not notice he took out the British cyclist or was that just part of the humour.

It’s a lol because hopefully the British get in and the Danes don’t despite the Danes being on track to win. It’s an idiotic mistake. It’s bad he took out the British rider.

I think the LOL was pretty harsh. It was a huge mistake he’s going to live with for a very long time, but I can see how it happened - he’d looked up and seen team GB in a position he wasn’t going to catch, them, so stuck his head back down. Very unusual circumstances for the third rider to be that far behind.

Certainly looks like a fast track. German women's pursuit WR. I doubt the Kiwis will be last to ride a WR here, but still miss out on a gold medal, though it's hard to imagine it will be under the same circumstances.

Still an official announcement yet to come through re the Danes and UK.

The fact he made an error doesn't make it funny.
I just find your post mean spirited.

Yeah, indeed it does. I don’t think that was expected coming in to the games, but it’s been crazy exciting racing so far!

I’d say you’re right about seeing a fair few more world records!

Danes are through apparently. I think that’s wrong. What that guy did was dangerous and they should be dqed. Compare and contrast his response to crashing through his own idiocy to all the falls which have happened on the track in athletics.

Big thing for me is it's so clear there's been bugger all competition in the last year.

Between the women crashing into each other on cool down, the danes, and only 3 of the 8 sprint teams actually managing to hold the wheel in the final round then it jsut shows training is no substitute for competion.

But I do worry about the keirin and the maddison.....

To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many team pursuit squads falling apart either. It’s definitely looked like a junior track meet at times, whilst being unbelievably world class at other times!

That's it. Empty stands with only the coaches / team mates there adds to that vibe.

The teams have been training hard and so the fitness and strength is right up there, but the impact of the adreneline and the effects of the nerves / fatigue of racing heats is what's showing up as differences between the riders and so they are losing each other. And that's why the maddison, points, scratch and kierin are going to be crashfest lotteries.

And Denmark in gold final, gbr last. Very very brave call to rule the pursuit was over when tyres touched.

Denmark were half a lap short of finishing weren’t they? In which case, I totally don’t understand the decision, even if it will lead to a more interesting final! I’ll be interested to see the commisaires reasoning, as by my understanding of the rules there are no reasons for awarding the race to Denmark.

It's a pursuit, so race won at either 4km or when last rider caught, whichever first.

Danes claim gun went as they collided and so race over.

As a pom I can't argue this is the least unfair outcome from basic principles, but for a sport built on obscure rules it's an odd one.

Either way, GB days of ruling the track are well and truly over.

If a team gets within 1 meter of the other team they are considered as being caught and Denmark will automatically have won.

Frederik (the rider that crashed Tanfield) has said he saw that he was dropped but did not expect to catch him as quickly as he did. Also apparently the officials need to raise flags to signal that the British team are split which they failed to do.

Obviously it's a horrible way for it to end but with the time that Denmark was going they were going to qualify for the finals. Plus the British most likely only got into the fourth spot due to Australia's issues meaning there was no way they would ever contend for a medal anyway.

Is that a rule change, because in days gone by a catch required overtaking, and I thought it required the third rider to overtake the third rider.

The rest of your post I can’t disagree with.

Also as a pom (in the past!) I would rather see Denmark in the final, I’m just confused as to how the can justify it.

If the rule is as above then fair enough - I’d love to see a reference from the UCI rules if anyone has found it!

Whilst the Danes clearly were a different level to GB, they should have been DQd as punishment for reckless riding. Piling into the back when not looking where the feck they are going is just dumb dumb dumb and dangerous.

3.2.081 A team is caught when the opposing team (at least 3 riders riding together) arrives at
or within a distance of one metre of it.

3.2.097 When the commissaires see that a team is about to be caught, they shall, in order to avoid a collision with the other team or hinder its progress, signal to the former team with a red flag and a whistle that it may not perform any more relays and must remain at the bottom of the track until the opposing team has passed.

https://www.uci.org/...3-pis-20210610-e.pdf

Pages 18-20

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

So after perusing the UCI technical regulations, ilanias did indeed correctly state the current rule (my apologies for not knowing it currently), so the UCI, possibly for the first time in their history, have indeed correctly followed their own rules! Regulation 3.2.081 for anyone who care!

ETA - thanks to ironclm above who found the rule whilst I was looking it up!

Thanks for digging up the relevant rules. It seems the Danish riders can indeed not be blamed for the crash as they were expecting to be warned before getting too close to their opponents.

I think the thug on the front is entirely to blame. He wasn’t looking where he was going and his behaviour afterwards was disgusting.

The right team advanced to the final but his behaviour was totally unacceptable.

The Danes shouldn’t have even been in the race as they should have been disqualified from the previous round.

It's definitely funny. If someone was injured, maybe not. But the crashing and then yelling at the guy he ran into from behind: very funny.

---

http://www.jt10000.com/