That don't look much like Mark Cavendish ... Alexandr Vinokurov, he of the school of former dopers, wins Olympic Gold in final road race. Photograph: Bettini
One hundred and forty-four cyclists took to the start line in London on Saturday for the men's Olympic road race and five of them were British. Those five held the hope -- and the best odds going for them -- that the race would come down to a bunch sprint, the other 139, wanted anything but, for to gain any other kind of a finish would leave the result open to a number of contenders, but to take it to a sprint up the Mall, would all but ensure a British victory by way of pre-race favorite, Mark Cavendish. The 139, not surprisingly, beat the five and a surprise name in Alexandr Vinokurov took home the Gold.
The British tactic was simple, try and control the race as best they could, hope for a little help along the way by the team-mates of the likes of sprinters, André Greipel (Germany) and Matt Goss (Australia), and try leadout the man from the Isle of Man to within 200 meters of the line. Ironically however it was the rival sprinter nations of Cavendish that cost him his shot at Gold and it was nothing to do with them beating him in the sprint. None of them believed they could beat him in a flat out run to the line, none of them considered a Silver or Bronze medal as a worthy alternative, and instead sat back on the gamble that the race might come back together thanks to the British chasing leaving one of them to beat a potentially tired out Cavendish.
But to win a race you have to be in the race, and I don't just mean taking to the start line. In terms of a sprinter, I mean in a race with a third of a kilometer to go. For Cavendish to get into the sprint with just four team-mates with which to chase down any break, he had to rely on the likes of Germany and Australia to help control the race, and as the race wore on it became painfully clear he wasn't going to get it. The little bits of luck that sometimes have to go your way, weren't on this day for Cavendish.
Attacks came early, and they came often. Anyone with any aspirations of winning Gold who knew they stood no chance in a sprint was trying to get into an attack and hoping that eventually a chance would fall short of bringing them back. Each time just when it looked like it might come together another group would go clear until which time a large group of over 30 riders formed at the head of the race that spelt real trouble for the British boys.
There were too many legs in that group, and they were left with the option of fighting to the end to try pull it together, or sitting up and risking it that someone else might chase. Their final option was to let someone like Wiggins go across into that group to win it himself, but given the nature of the finish -- the top of box hill for the final time was a long way out from the Mall -- it wouldn't have suited him at all.
After the race they said that Cavendish could have went with the break but instead they trusted in themselves that they could bring them back, though I find that hard to believe. Had Cav tried to get across to that large group when it split off the front, I believe he'd have cracked ruining any chance. Wiggins, Chris Froome, David Millar, and Ian Stannard, had to ride with their best bet until the other side of Box Hill and then chase the front group down.
As the kilometers ticked away the gap didn't come down enough and as one British rider after another slid off the back of the peloton, exhausted by their efforts, the dream of Cavendish and the British people, died.
Into the final kilometers and a big crash at the front of the lead group, which seen time-trial favorite Fabian Cancellara slam head first into the barriers on a tricky right hand turn, split the leading group, and from what was left at the front emerged Vinokurov and Rigoberto Uran Uran in a straight fight for Gold. Uran Uran had taken the lead out position, but blew his chance when he looked over his left hand shoulder to see where the chase was, or indeed Vinokurov himself, only to look back and find Vinokurov at the other side of the road, sprinting clear with all the momentum to take Gold for Kazakhstan.
I like to think that Vinokurov shouted to Uran Uran, "Oh no, we're caught," to get the young Colombian to look over his shoulder at which time he jumped for the line. Either way, it was one of the biggest wins of the 38-year olds life and one that puts him into retirement on a high.
Sadly for Vino however, he'll still go into retirement remembered as the ex-doper who won the Olympics, and rightly so. I've always believed a cheat deserves a second chance by his sport, but I also believe they only deserve a second chance in the mind of the fans if they hold their hands up and admit their failures, much as David Millar did after his doping ban in 2004. Vinokurov never repented from his 2007 positive at the Tour de France that partly made up the most farcical Tour since 1998, and he has come back as through nothing has happened with no anti-doping stance whatsoever. His sudden dip in the production of results since his drug ban suggests he is now clean, if not just old, which is a good thing, unless of course that also raises a flag in your mind because he suddenly won his first race in two years in what could turn out to be his final race?
On the flip side for Vinokurov, there was little coverage of his prior history with doping thanks in part to the race being in Britain and it being the race that Cavendish didn't win. All post-race analysis wasn't on the blood passport of Vinokurov, but rather what went wrong for Team GB.
The debate has surfaced as to whether GB got their tactics all wrong, both in the lead up to the race by pronouncing they were fully behind Cavendish for the win, or during the race for sticking so resolutely to their plan. I'm surprised though for I don't see what better option they had.
Looking like a stormtrooper, Mark Cavendish searches for the answers to his Olympic failure at the bottom of a bottle ... of water. Photograph: Bettini
If you disregard the gift of hindsight, there was the suggestion from some that they shouldn't have put all their eggs in the Cavendish basket so publicly in the lead up to the race, but by simply not talking him up as their pre-race favorite, wouldn't have changed anything. The rest of the riders in this race are not naive. They knew all too well that the climbs up Box Hill were not significant enough to ward off a sprint finish if they did not attack hard. By Britain simply stating that they didn't think Cavendish had a great shot wouldn't have forced their rivals to take their eyes off of him. The Tour de France only finished a week ago remember and Cav won two of the last three stages, one of which with a not too dis-similar in profile to the Olympic course.
Changing tactics mid-race was never a likely option. At what time do you suggest the change? When the break is clear and you know you're not catching them? That would be a little late. Should they have put a man in the break at the very start? Well the first break was caught so that wouldn't have worked, and even had you put a man in every break, you would only have served to have weakened your team overall. Only in hindsight can you select the best break to have put a man into, but without such a luxury, Britain had no choice but to do what they did. Mark Cavendish was to them what a pair of aces is to the poker player. They put the odds in your favour and give you a strong chance of winning, one you have to go with and one you certainly don't ask for a redraw on, but they still don't guarantee anything. Cycling, like many sport, comes with the only guarantee that by the finish, most of the competitors will be disappointed with the result.
That no other nation left in the bunch felt that helping GB in a chase in order to gain a bunch sprint that at the very least would still have offered two men a Silver and a Bronze, if not a surprising shot at Gold, says more to their inept tactics, if not their general lack of effort, than that of Team GB. Cavendish, Wiggins, Froome, Miller and Stannard were five against 139 and in any walk of life, when the odds are like that, you stand no chance. With that however, they can go home from this knowing they tried. Only a couple of dozen others can say the same.
