Basically because of no specialist domestiques on the USA team, plus aptitude for the specific course.
Ummmm who was the US going to pick to domestique for GJ out of the eligible American women?
I do find it hilarious that he’s bitching about selection processes being so far out when he’s essentially hidden his gold medalist from any ITU races over the last year.
But it’s Doc, and his opinion matters.
Do you need a domestique? Seems like it’s a nice to have, not a prerequisite. Inherently, I expect the 3 Americans will work together, but they won’t have a sacrificial cyclist the aggressive counter or launch attacks. They will just sit in and let everyone else do the work.
The optimal selection process is easier for some countries than others. If you only have one serious medal contender, it makes sense firstly to pick that athlete early and allow them to focus entirely on peaking at the Olympics without having to worry too much about qualifying races, and secondly to use your other selections to pick athletes who may be able to help your medal contender in certain scenarios such as working to reel in a break. The problem is when you have multiple medal contenders - you either pick your best 3 athletes and risk missing out on medals because they’re all working as individuals and have the same strengths/weaknesses, or you have to sacrifice potential medal winners in favour of domestiques who may end up not having much impact on the race if the tactics don’t work out that way. The latter approach is potentially very unfair to individuals who have spent 4 years working towards Olympic selection and get overlooked due to subjective criteria rather than who is fastest. Also may open the federation up to legal action if the non-selected athletes feel they have a decent case to make.
I do agree with Sutto that the tactics may play against GJ. Olympic races have tended to be more unpredictable than WTS (with the exception of the men’s race in 2012 which went pretty much exactly to form), and although her swim and bike have improved hugely she does still look vulnerable to a determined break. Everybody knows what if Gwen goes into T2 in the lead pack then it’s basically game over in terms of the gold medal, so in a one-off event where there’s no ranking points or prize money available for coming 4th, there will be a lot more athletes than usual prepared to go for broke in the swim and bike even before you consider the potential impact of domestiques. Add in a technical course and the fact that some countries may have swim/bike specialists who are prepared to sacrifice themselves, and makes for a very different race.
While I really like Helen Jenkins, she will not even be the first woman from the UK across the line.
Rio is setup for a domestique to help. But again what US eligible woman could fit the role. Katie kind of could have but she’s not the swim/biker that I think could have pulled back time for GJ. She’s just good enough to stay at front but I don’t strong enough to actually help pull back if that makes sense.
Talk about trying to play mind games week’s out from the Olympics. Having listened to Brett and his former athletes in interviews he has an great ability to read people. Similar to how Phil Jackson is described. This piece seems like nothing more than an attempt to pull attention away from his athlete, move the focus to another athlete, all while trying to create animosity among the USA women. As I see it, there are no other US women capable of being a domestique to Gwen outside the 2 women already attending the games with her. Outside of this piece, I am not aware of anyone else that things the US got it wrong with their womens selection. If anything, people were upset they didn’t name the 3rd spot sooner. I also question if Brett would have the same thoughts if he happened to coach Katie and she was subsequently left off the US team for a so called domestique.
But it’s Doc, and his opinion matters.
Why do you call him Doc? Why not call him ol’ Rapey? It is a far more accurate description than Doc. (half pink)
Ummmm who was the US going to pick to domestique for GJ out of the eligible American women?
I do find it hilarious that he’s bitching about selection processes being so far out when he’s essentially hidden his gold medalist from any ITU races over the last year.
But it’s Doc, and his opinion matters.
Nicola got injured in her ITU race…that’s why you don’t see her swimming
Yes I know that. She ducked all of last year and rio test event.
Yes I know that. She ducked all of last year and rio test event.
I think she just came back to training in half 2015 according to Sutton’s blog
Sutto probably knows ITU racing better than anyone else… certainly far better than anyone on this forum
However, as a coach of a contender (despite her injury), he might just be trying to play mind games with her opponents. Or he may be shooting straight. Plant the seed of doubt and watch it grow…
So again I’ll ask, who was the US suppose to use as a domestique.
“Doc” is brilliant w mind games. Helen Jenkins for the win? He’s trolling the hell out of all of us.
Eta: No disrespect to Helen Jenkins w that comment either. Just can’t see how he sees her as the favorite.
But it’s Doc, and his opinion matters.
Why do you call him Doc? Why not call him ol’ Rapey? It is a far more accurate description than Doc. (half pink)
I wish folks would stop referring to people who are not doctors, doc. Its stupid and complete insult to the awesome jobs doctors do. This guy is about as far away from a doctor as you can get. Well, him and chiropractors.
But it’s Doc, and his opinion matters.
Why do you call him Doc? Why not call him ol’ Rapey? It is a far more accurate description than Doc. (half pink)
I wish folks would stop referring to people who are not doctors, doc. Its stupid and complete insult to the awesome jobs doctors do. This guy is about as far away from a doctor as you can get. Well, him and chiropractors.
and, in fairness, the man does have more rape convictions than he does PhDs.
-mike
Rio is setup for a domestique to help.
No, it is set up for a team to attack
.
And exactly why if your not on that train you better have help.
Unless your saying the USA is the team train that is riding away?
USA doesn’t have fire power to team trial it away. And if they do all they’ll do is drag rest of front pack with them.
Rio is setup for a domestique to help.
No, it is set up for a team to attack
But it’s easier for a team to attack if they have athletes who have been specifically selected for their swim/bike strengths, and are happy to burn all their matches attacking on the first 2 legs without having to worry about their run. Assumes of course that you have athletes of the necessary calibre to be in the lead pack on the swim and then do the hard yards leading out or chasing down a breakaway, and who are also prepared to go to an Olympics and not race for themselves.
Don’t think that a domestique has ever had that much influence on the medallists in an Olympic race to date, but the theory seems pretty sound given the right personnel to execute it.
I wish folks would stop referring to people who are not doctors, doc. Its stupid and complete insult to the awesome jobs doctors do.
I agree in this case, but occasionally it’s OK, e.g. Dr. J.
There is no team that can ride away on that course without bringing others with them. So what your more than likely to see is individuals make moves that creates gaps. 1-2 British + Duffy + American trying to put time on others for example.