#LOLympics Road Race

#LOLympics

There’s so much goodness surrounding the Men’s #LOLympic Road Race, I don’t know where to start. So let’s sort through the link-vomit on my desktop and see what turns up.

First, my favorite part, before my most favoritist part, had to be turning off the television and leaving with 25km to go. Following through Twitter was a minor nightmare as everyone’s feedz were at different times. I swear it was at 19km to go for at least 15 minutes.

Then the feed began to change. There was some praying, some hoping, a smattering of desperation, a bit of elation, and a heap of outrage. Apparently, the single worst possible outcome ever was taking place. Disgraced cyclist Alexander Vinokourov, was in a 2 man break (3 if you count Uran’s mullet) that looked like it would stick. It did.

GYPSY TEARS WOULD BE APROPOS. — Cycleboredom (@Cycleboredom) July 28, 2012

¡¡VINO 4EVAH!!

From the moment the Kazakh crossed the line, my timeline was on fire like a Tengiz oil derrick. At first it was pure black or white, love or hate. While I’m not a Vino supporter, per se, I was elated that what was once a foregone conclusion was ****ed in the ear by the crafty vet. My initial reaction upon confirmation:

Vino?!?! YESSSSSSSS. Begin the whinge-fest!! — Cycleboredom (@Cycleboredom) July 28, 2012

There were a few pro-Vino tweets I had to RT. First, Jasen Thorpe:

RT @jasenthorpe: Best Olympics EVER. Thank you, Vino. < ¡¡GYPSY TEARZ!! — Cycleboredom (@Cycleboredom) July 28, 2012

And, of course, überfan Joe Papp:

ALL YOU VINO HATERZ SUCK MY BALLZ! — Joe Papp (@joepabike) July 28, 2012

 For the record, Rigaberto straight screwed the pooch on the sprint. No payoff conspiracies, just an incredibly ill-timed look back and AV carpe diemed the **** out of him.

Now an Attempt to get Serious

Once the all or nothing tweets started to fizzle out, not unlike Team Great Britain’s hopes in the final 20k, some interesting tidbits reared their heads. What made these tweets profound is that they transcended this race alone. Among a host of others, Markus (@Cyclefilm), spoke the truth:

U guys r never happy, r u? If Uran beat Vinokurov u’d be saying “How does a climber win a sprint? Something’s foul” Vino won and that’s that — ★ markus|neuert (@Cyclefilm) July 28, 2012

Truthisms regarding Twitter aside, there were meatier issues at hand. Cycling fans were not happy with Alexander’s win. Neither were some pros. Which brought about this thought. Riders, if you’re so disgusted with Vino’s win, then you should’ve done something about it. Either do everything in your power to prevent him from winning the race short of crashing him, or if you think he’s doping then publically call him out. If you know he’s doping and still you take no action, score yet another win for omertà. That’s on you, peloton. Police your own, or continue this ****ing ridiculous process of keeping your mouths shut as cheaters steal your $$$ and results.

Team GB’s Failure and Reaction

Also, reading the post-race whinging of Team GB was nauseating. The world was against you?! You purposefully placed yourself in that position. You talked yourselves up the entire year, ending with a stupifying crescendo in the past week. This in turn got the British press into a frenzy. What do you think is going to happen? Then you let a peloton-sized break go consisting of, well, the world. Who do you think is going to work with/for you?! Update: Cavendish tweeted this AM re: the “GB against the world” headlines:

Can’t understand how me saying yesterday that we couldn’t have done any more, but I feel other teams could have is “blaming” other nations. — Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) July 29, 2012

What are your thoughts? Some of you agreed that teams raced negatively, others thought the right rider won. The variables of no race radios, and smaller 6-man teams definitely seemed to have a significant impact. A glimpse of the future?

Taylor Phinney will Medal

I absolutely love the fight Taylor has in him. Watching him cross the line in 4th absolutely gutted at his result is a fantastic sign for the future. Luckily, he’s only 22. He’ll be 26 for the next games. If he races as long as the 2012 gold medallist does, he has 4 more Olympic games ahead of him. I like those odds.

Legitimate Links to Actual News

– Edward Pickering (@EdwardPickering) had a nice post on Cycle Sport expounding upon the nuances of the race, including how the race played out for the Brits.

– Seemed there were some grumblings regarding the BBC’s coverage, or more accurately, their lack of timing info. Turns out it wasn’t BBC’s fault, but that of the OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services). The @UCI_Overlord gleefully explained that our (and his) old friend Hein Verbruggen is on the board of directors. Cycling is in the hands of theives, folks.

This what happens when a company owned by an insider, Hein Verbruggen, is given a massive contract for services guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul…

— Not Pat McQuaid(@UCI_Overlord) July 28, 2012

– Chris Horner details the horrors of some unexpected changes in racing norms.

– Lastly, The Daily Mail keeps it classy, as always.