Van Avermaet wins mens road race Olympic gold in Rio
Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium chased down Rafal Majka of Poland at the finish of Saturday’s men’s cycling road race to win gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Nibali broke his collar bone in a big crash on the final descent. USA's Bookwalter finishes 16th after a brutal day.
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali and Colombia’s Sergio Henao both fell on the last nasty descent from the top of Vista Chinesa with under 15 kilometers to go on the stage.
This was followed by Britain's Geraint Thomas. All 3 riders desperately trying to stay ahead of the chasing peleton.
Geraint Thomas managed to get back on but was “proper disappointed” to crash and miss out on a medal in the men’s road race at the Olympic Games, coming 11th. He could have been in for a medal.
Majka, Nibali and Henao appeared to be on their way to podium finishes, after breaking free from an elite group of riders from the top of the final climb.
The descent’s steep, tight bends, dark and damp bends took their toll.
Italian cyclist Vincenzo Nibali broke both collarbones after crashing on a high-speed descent near the end of the Olympic men's road race on Saturday, a team official said.
Nibali attacked late in the race, tried to ride away from Colombia's Sergio Henao and Poland's Rafal Majka before he and Henao lost control on the final descent.
Majka luckily stayed upright as Nibali and Henao hit the pavement, but he didn’t have the legs in the final flat kilometres to hold off Van Avermaet and Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang on the long straightaway into the finish line at Fort Copacabana.
Van Avermaet, one of the best sprinters in the race had the best Sprint as Majka’s burnt all his matches trying to time trial to the finish on his own.
Mechanical problems were a theme of the race. Among the biggest names, Australia’s Richie Porte jumped his chain twice, and water flew all over the cobbled section of the first circuit that was ridden 3 times before turning back to Rio and heading towards the much tougher Sugar Loaf mountain circuit.
The break was caught with 45 kilometers to go by a strong chase group containing Froome and Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet. Britain's Cuming doing an emense job bring the breakaway back, who pulled over on the climb of the first lap of te finishing circuit having done his job for his team. The chaos really ramped up during the final circuit. The technical descent from Vista Chinesa claimed several casualties, including Porte.
Italy’s Nibali and Fabio Aru, Great Britain’s Adam Yates and Poland’s Majka bridged to the front group to take a 50-second lead over the peloton with under 30 kilometers remaining. The move left Spanish favorites Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez scrambling to get the peloton motivated. Froome slipped off the back of the lead group and never fully recovered.
Brent Bookwalter was the highest-placed American finisher, coming in 16th after a valiant ride off the back of the lead riders, coming in three minutes, 31 seconds off Van Avermaet’s time. "It was anarchy out there," he said. "Everything happened. People crashing, flatting, getting gapped out in the wind. It was a very hard day." said Bookwalter.
Taylor Phinney finished 91st after taking fourth at the London games in 2012, he struggled to stay in contention on the final finishing circuit.
It was a tough race, 238 kms which left around 50 riders in contention after the return to Rio from the first circuit, from a total of around 180 riders.
Ireland's Dan Martin said the race was one of the toughest he had taken part in."It was the most difficult day on the bike I've had in my career," he said after finishing 13th. "It was just a brutal, brutal day."
Van Avermaet recently won Stage 5 of this year's Tour de France and rode solidly throughout the 3 weeks.
“It was a pretty crazy race, a hard one; and the descent was pretty technical,” Van Avermaet said afterwards. “All the guys took risks. I was in good position and never really went over my limit. On the descent I so a lot of guys lying on the ground. I was counting them."
“I was a little confused how many were left on the front. Me and Fulsang went for it and tried to catch him. For me the last five to six kilometres everything went perfect.”
Prior to the race he was seen very much as an outsider, with the tough climbs appearing to pitch the race at those more at home in the high mountains. He admitted that he was also sceptical.
“I didn’t think it either,” he said, talking about his chances. “I just went early to anticipate the others and felt really strong. I knew I just had to hang on and hope for a sprint, and that’s how it went."
“For me, winning an Olympic title is something really big! I never expected this.”
Top 20, Rio Olympic Games 2016 Road Race
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) 6:10:05
2 Jacob Fuglsang (Denmark) ,,
3 Rafal Majka (Poland) +05”
4 Julian Alaphilippe (France) +22”
5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain) ,,
6 Fabio Aru (Italy) ,,
7 Louis Meintjes (Republich of South Africa) ,,
8 Andrey Zeits (Kazakhastan) +25”
9 Tanel Kangert (Estonia) +01’47”
10 Rui Costa (Portugal) +02’29”
11 Geraint Thomas (Great Britain) ,,
12 Chris Froome (Great Britain) +02’58”
13 Daniel Martin (Ireland) ,,
14 Emanuel Buchmann (Germany) ,,
15 Adam Yates (Great Britain) +03’03”
16 Brent Bookwalter (United States of America) +03’31”
17 Bauke Mollema (Netherlands) ,,
18 Kristijan Durasek (Croatia) ,,
19 Sebastien Reichenbach (Switzerland) ,,
20 Frank Schleck (Luxembourg) ,,
VIDEO: Rio Olympic Road Race Highlights
Stage 1 to Fribourg 165km
