Well just got to watch the race and I will hold my I told you so to a minimum.
First off the US, Rider did outstanding(race would have been over here with McElroy) and held his run disadvantage to under 10 seconds to the group. Spivey did her job and made up the difference and ran away from the pack to give Pearson a great start. He then had a great swim like we know he can and barley held those wheels, but he did what he had to. Probably cost him winning that run in the 3 man pack, but no matter just being there was the important thing…
And hold shit Knibb, she use her swim to catch, then used her power to catch, and ran like I said she could months ago with the sports best. Her only problem is she is a horrible tactical, which really cost her the race win. Bad on turns, really bad on 180’s, and just doesnt have a good sense of when to attack or how to…
germans, Well the first 3 did their jobs and got their hero a shot in the lead 3. Lindemann is by far and away the most savvy bike racer in the bunch. She hasn’t the power of Knibb, but she knows how to sparse her gaps to negate that, and she worked it perfectly. She recognized the first attack when Knibb caught up and increased her speed to nullify anything there. Then she would get gapped here and there, but she could close down several bike lengths at the 180 turns, where Knibb was always in too big a gear to start out in. She recognized Knibb would pull them up to Potter, so why work, especially when you have been attacked several times…Perfect last leg, she deserved the gold medal…
GB…They fucked themselves by getting too far in front solo. Dickenson was awesome, one of the best runners of that leg I would bet, but that tactic really hurt them in the end. Potter was awesome, but she should not have had to solo the entire bike, which then did affect her run. They kind of shot themselves in the foot so to speak by being so fast so early, and with no Cassandra to have to run against, would have been better to have soft peddled a bit and hitched a ride in the group, then set up your run…
What an exciting race it was, thrills and spills, and forgotten underdogs doing the impossible. Ad Photo finish with Potter, would have been a 1000 to 1 on that pre race…