Up above someone posted that all those riders ride for the same trade team except the Dutch rider. WTF? That makes the whole thing 10 times worse.

That might be a little awkward on the team bus.

Of course sitting up could have been the difference. I'm not assuming she would have been able to get the others to work, but it was the only way she was going to win the race. She gave it away by not being willing to lose.

If you're in a group of three with two riders that you know can out sprint you every day of the week, the prizes go three deep, there's a rider up the road, and the chase behind is closing fast, you bury yourself to secure the podium, and get in the prizes.
A bronze medal in the Olympics goes a long, long way, and puts money in the pocket. 4th place? Not so much.
It's called professionalism.

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So true. Thanks for putting this back on track.

Scott

And apparently responsive, so yay. They're saying 3 minor lumbar vertebral fractures. Whole body CT scan revealed nothing else. All per CNN.

I'll admit I don't know the quality of these riders. Do we know the Italian is a particularly poor sprinter as compared to the others?

Yeah, that's a fair statement, I think. That would have been the case for the U.S. bringing Coryn Rivera, who, if she could get herself over the climb, can clean up the sprint. But I don't think she'd have made the selection today.

Thanks. And for the record, i wasnt drunk

The whole caddy steak knives thing is from Glengarry Glenross

There is no WAY Coryn would have made it over the climb in the top group. Hell, Evie and Megan got dropped, and they are way better climbers. Abbott is the best climber in the world, and she blew all but one rider off her wheel. Coryn, sadly would have had ZERO chance on this course.

Edit: I'm also quite shocked at how early Megan got dropped on the climb. Evie hung in for awhile and I thought she had a chance to bridge. Funny how the two who were "didn't deserve to be on the team" were the biggest players for the USA in the race.

Relatively good news and I hope her recovery goes smoothly

Good points Dev, I agree. At a minimum, the corners should be lined with crash barricades. The Olympic standard is much higher. How many broken bones in two days of racing? The organizers are lucky they don't have a fatality on their hands.

Hopefully, the triathlon course does not include the same descent?

Scott

Has there ever been a race where so many contenders and race leaders have crashed due to the danger of the course?

It is beyond unacceptable. I have never seen a single stage or one day race with this level of hazard built into the course. The lives/livelihoods of the top professional in the sport were compromised by the IOC. Considering how much the IOC has the organizers spend on facilities prep, this prep of the road course was unacceptable. All those concrete "walls" on the side of the road needed to be flattened and removed with some construction. Seriuosly, imagine a downhill ski race with a 1 foot high concrete barrier at the edges. No way that would meet the standards that FIS sets for the safety of its athletes. I hope team BMC, team Sky and team Astana and the Dutch Cycling Federation take out a lawsuit naming the UCI and IOC for insufficient worker safety precautions in course design. Seriously those concrete barriers were definitely a workplace safety hazard. Its irresponsible to have not removed them with some pro active construction. Would have been easy to do and then place proper padding and FIS downhill caliber netting. The netting looked barely strong enough for mosquitoes.

I disagree with this mindset. That course was as dangerous as the riders chose to make it. That's decending, and bike racing in general. Abbott elected to go at her own pace downhill. It kept her safe and she almost took it all. I thought the course was great. Have to believe that tactical decisions caused most of those wrecks ("I'm gonna bomb this decent for an advantage")- though I can't say that definitively as it seems many of them were off camera.

Fess up. You were across the street with Roma.

The race played out just like the men's race. Climber gets away chase group roll him/her up on the long flat run in. Abbott rode a hell of a race. Did what she could do. Can't second guess much.

I agree. It's a bike race. The course was not a secret. Narrow roads and fast descents are dangerous. But it's just those types of courses that reward skill. Otherwise we could just put them on trainers and see who has the highest FTP.

Well I disagree with your mindset. Racing means trying to go as fast as possible and yes, that includes risk management and racing on the edge just like they do in short track speed skating, downhill skiing, cross country skiing (the descents and some really gnarly ones). But if you err slightly on the wrong side of the risk balance, does not mean that the course should not be design to the point that an athlete has to chose between racing fast and death/near death. If something goes wrong the course should be designed to minimize the injuries of the athlete that has lot control. Heck in short track speed skating they have pads all the way around the turns so if an athlete looses it at 50-60 kph then don't slam head first into the boards.

I think we want fast racing and a show and we want athletes to take risks where the outcome is win or lose, not win or being incapacitated/career ending/death. Right now Sergio Henao has a broken pelvis. Who knows if he bounces back. He is one of the top climbers around

Yep. This.

Abbott rode within her abilities and came out better for it.

I liked the layout of the course, the cobbles, climbs, descent and finish. And we want the riders to push the limits of each element. My issue is with the surrounding infrastructure. The organizers could have done more to protect the riders. The rider today broke her back crashing into a cement wall / gutter lining the course. Is that really the best we can do?

Speaking to the BBC after the race, Olympic cycling champion Chris Boardman couldn't hold back his views on the course safety. "I’m actually quite angry about it because I looked at the road furniture and thought nobody can crash here and get up".

Scott

You're comparing a small indoor arena with an open road mountain descent. It's a ludicrous comparison.

No not same decent. Does have huge hill and semi sketchy corner, but atleast last year barriers had cushions.

Here is spectacular flip over barrier by Ryan Bailie:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=niGp705XStE

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

What are you suggesting? Line the outside of every turn with hay bails? Possible, I guess. But, as an amateur racer, I see that on crit courses. But I've never seen that on any road or TT course I've ever done, except maybe finishing chutes. Check out the descents in the TdF, Giro. Or the Classics. They're 99% unprotected. Staying on the road is considered a rider responsibility.

Those are triathletes. That's a whole other deal. :)

Give him credit, cyclist would have sat up called for team car and quit.

He went on to finish 14th and made Aussie team.


(I kid I kid)

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

No it is not. In XC skiing we have 5-10K loops with lots of descents that are well protected if you crash. Downhill runs are up to 2 miles long. The IOC spends a ton of money on infrastructure. I get it that in the Tour de France or Giro or Vuelta they can't get it "perfect" over 3000K, but here in Rio on only 5-8K of descents, in less than 2K of problem areas they could do a lot better given how much IOC spends on other facilities. A bit more could be spent on rider safety. This was not an open mountain descent in the wilderness of the Dolomites or Sierra Nevada or Hautes Alpes (and you'd never see this set up in any of the Grand tours anyway). Boardman is completely right to be livid about the lack of concern for rider health.