What areo “gains” could she have made to make it to the line for gold ? Things that would get her to the line before getting caught
Man that was close and that what if game will get in your head. Hopefully she doesn’t visit Slowtwich. If she does, I’m sorry. Great ride.
All I know is that all my cheering, shouting, begging, bargaining and cajoling through the TV seemed to have been for naught:(
Hugh
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What areo “gains” could she have made to make it to the line for gold ? Things that would get her to the line before getting caught
Man that was close and that what if game will get in your head. Hopefully she doesn’t visit Slowtwich. If she does, I’m sorry. Great ride.
Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes Don’t forget wheels. Those were a little shallower, probably for lower weight…sigh.
That being said, the breakaway would have worked as hard as necessary once she was in sight and they were gaining ground. they only worked as hard as they needed to to set-up the sprint. That Italian rider ( I think Italian) I think knew she wasn’t a sprinter and that 3rd was better than 4th, so she drove that group to the lead.
What areo “gains” could she have made to make it to the line for gold ? Things that would get her to the line before getting caught
Man that was close and that what if game will get in your head. Hopefully she doesn’t visit Slowtwich. If she does, I’m sorry. Great ride.
this one. not for the miniscule 5W at 25mph aero gains, but because it provides a stable platform upon which she can do the IAB, which will produce the most aero gains.
Those were a little shallower, probably for lower weight…sigh.
She got all her separation on the climb. Don’t laugh at lower weight.
There’s a lot of armchair stuff going on here. It was likely not her plan to go solo. It was a situation forced upon her.
Winning an olympic gold on that course for someone like her requires a solo ride to the finish. She’s doesn’t have classics ability or sprints.
The lack of equipment for the time trial position or ability to use it basically meant she wasn’t ready to ride to win. I can’t second guess her descent skills since it was raining and… damn. Dangerous downhill course.
Still a great ride.
Winning an olympic gold on that course for someone like her requires a solo ride to the finish. She’s doesn’t have classics ability or sprints.
The lack of equipment for the time trial position or ability to use it basically meant she wasn’t ready to ride to win. I can’t second guess her descent skills since it was raining and… damn. Dangerous downhill course.
Still a great ride.
Winning an Olympic gold medal also means she had to get to the top of the climb first. She’s probably the best climber in the world. She makes her money by getting to the top first. I don’t think some here understand climbs in road races. If you let a 2-3 second gap open on a climb, it often means you’re done. Particularly Mara who’s not a good descender. You can’t “make it back” by being aero.
Take a look at Lachlan Morton at the Tour of Utah. He had a long descent after the the climb in the final stage. No one’s tut-tutting him on a complete lack of aero gear, right? On Lachlan, you should have used an aero helmet and Zipp 808’s to drop Talansky!
covered also in the “Olympic” thread …
IMHO … she lost by not being able to “ride aero” on her road bike. Constantly getting out of the saddle, kind of an upright position, arms splayed, etc. Just like on the TT bike, rider position is probably the biggest thing. I know this, because guys always bitch at me and want to reshuffle the order in breaks so they don’t have to ride behind me.
covered also in the “Olympic” thread …
IMHO … she lost by not being able to “ride aero” on her road bike. Constantly getting out of the saddle, kind of an upright position, arms splayed, etc. Just like on the TT bike, rider position is probably the biggest thing. I know this, because guys always bitch at me and want to reshuffle the order in breaks so they don’t have to ride behind me.
I would agree with this more than the equipment stuff. She could have descended better and had a better body position when if flattened out.
As in the other thread I think some are just tut-tutting her because she’s a woman because no self respecting male rider… oh never mind.
It wouldn’t be ST if the armchair triathletes don’t second guess racing tactics, aeroness, weight, etc.
Winning an olympic gold on that course for someone like her requires a solo ride to the finish. She’s doesn’t have classics ability or sprints.
The lack of equipment for the time trial position or ability to use it basically meant she wasn’t ready to ride to win. I can’t second guess her descent skills since it was raining and… damn. Dangerous downhill course.
Still a great ride.
Winning an Olympic gold medal also means she had to get to the top of the climb first. She’s probably the best climber in the world. She makes her money by getting to the top first. I don’t think some here understand climbs in road races. If you let a 2-3 second gap open on a climb, it often means you’re done. Particularly Mara who’s not a good descender. You can’t “make it back” by being aero.
Take a look at Lachlan Morton at the Tour of Utah. He had a long descent after the the climb in the final stage. No one’s tut-tutting him on a complete lack of aero gear, right? On Lachlan, you should have used an aero helmet and Zipp 808’s to drop Talansky!
Winning an olympic gold on that course for someone like her requires a solo ride to the finish. She’s doesn’t have classics ability or sprints.
The lack of equipment for the time trial position or ability to use it basically meant she wasn’t ready to ride to win. I can’t second guess her descent skills since it was raining and… damn. Dangerous downhill course.
Still a great ride.This.
I was thinking the same when I saw her stand up ~20% of the flat 10k to the finish.
Makes you question the “coaching” she got before this race… it’s not like the race dynamics was a surprise.
I apologize, I’m not the most familiar with womens cycling, but limited budgets might mean that she doesn’t have the full line of her sponsors products available to her. Does Colnago even do an aero frame?
. it’s not like the race dynamics was a surprise.
This is killing me.
That being said, the breakaway would have worked as hard as necessary once she was in sight and they were gaining ground. they only worked as hard as they needed to to set-up the sprint. That Italian rider ( I think Italian) I think knew she wasn’t a sprinter and that 3rd was better than 4th, so she drove that group to the lead.
+1
/end thread 
no one else has said it yet, so I will say it’s her earrings! she should have lost those!
Take a look at Lachlan Morton at the Tour of Utah. He had a long descent after the the climb in the final stage. No one’s tut-tutting him on a complete lack of aero gear, right?
People would be tut-tutting if anyone cared about the Tour of Utah (maybe, who knows what he looked like on the bike).
no one else has said it yet, so I will say it’s her earrings! she should have lost those!
She probably thought she had the most aero legs in the entire field, so she had that trump card to play (What does the Donald think?). Lose the earrings and USA for the win! The reality is that she never would be in gold medal position had Vanvleuten not crashed so if Vanvleuten makes it past that second last corner Abbot would have been in no man’s land and then caught by the next 3 even earlier since she would not have the motivation of the gold and the next three would have had to work harder to get from fighting for bronze only to silver + bronze…she would have ended up in 5th rather than 4th.
Her only card was having a 80+ second gap at the top of the climb on everyone. She would have lost 30 seconds on the descent, but after that, 50 seconds she may have held off (5 second per K).
Wut?
Is there any other scenario where she medals?
Scenario 1:
She pulls hard the last two climbs.
One or two other riders catches her right after after her slow descent.
She rotates/drafts all the way to the line and loses the sprint.
Silver or bronze.
Scenario 2:
She pulls hard the last two climbs.
No-one catches her despite her slow descent.
She’s prepared to stay away from all chasers for 10k.
Gold.
Which scenario fits her actions/execution?
She wasn’t prepared to win.
I’m pretty sure Mara is going through the “what if” list for… the rest of her life? I have nothing but admiration for her.
I saw her reach back to her pocket for food? in the last 8kms. I was thinking, eating NOW? maybe she was running out of gas. I think she stood up to pedal just to try to keep her watts up and gain some more momentum.
The pack of 3 only closed once they reached the beach road, which had a massive tailwind at that point. I think that contributed to their ability to close so fast in the last 2k.
Wut?
She wasn’t prepared to win.
The two-time Giro winner needs to come to Slowtwitch to learn how to bike race from triathletes. 
Carry on…