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Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

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Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
The field shortly after the start.
VenueUrban Road Cycling Course
Template:Km to mi
DateAugust 9
Competitors143 from 55 nations
Winning time6:23:49
38.36 km/h (23.84 mph)
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Samuel Sánchez  Spain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Davide Rebellin  Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Fabian Cancellara  Switzerland
← 2004

The men's road race, a part of the cycling events at the 2008 Summer Olympics, took place on August 9 at the Urban Road Cycling Course in Beijing. It started at 11:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8), and was scheduled to last until 17:30 later that day. The 245.4-kilometre (152.5 mi) course ran north across the heart of the Beijing metropolitan area, passing such landmarks as the Temple of Heaven, the Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square and the Beijing National Stadium. After rolling over relatively flat terrain for 78.8 km (49.0 mi) north of the Beijing city center, the route entered a decisive circuit encompassing seven loops on a 23.8 km (14.8 mi) section up and down the Badaling Pass, including ramps as steep as a 10 percent gradient.[1]

The race was won by the Spanish rider Samuel Sánchez in 6 hours, 23 minutes, 49 seconds, after a six-man breakaway group contested a sprint finish. Davide Rebellin of Italy and Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, finishing second and third place with the same time as Sánchez, received silver and bronze medals respectively for the event. The hot and humid conditions were in sharp contrast to the heavy rain weathered in the women's road race the following day.[2]

The event was one of the earliest to be concluded at the 2008 Summer Olympics, taking place on the first day of competition.[3] Concerns were raised before the Olympics about the threat of pollution in endurance sports, but no major problems were apparent in the race.[4]

Qualification

Cycling at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Road cycling
Road racemenwomen
Time trialmenwomen
Track cycling
Individual pursuitmenwomen
Team pursuitmen
Sprintmenwomen
Team sprintmen
Points racemenwomen
Keirinmen
Madisonmen
Mountain biking
Cross-countrymenwomen
BMX
BMXmenwomen
Main article: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Qualification: Road

Qualification for the race was restricted to five athletes per National Olympic Committee (NOC), providing that these athletes qualified through the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) rankings, with the UCI ProTour considered to be superior to the UCI Continental Circuits. The number of qualification places allocated varied among the different UCI tours, which all maintain their own ranking system. Any NOC unable to fill its quota of athletes from the ProTour was permitted to enter athletes from one of the continental tours, and if that was not feasible, from the "B" World Championship. The number of places allocated to each tour were thus (in descending order): 70 riders from the ProTour, 38 from the Europe tour, 15 from the America tour, nine from the Asia tour, five from the Africa tour, and three from the Oceania tour. Five entrants qualified through the "B" World Championships.[5]

The final number of competitors was set to be 145, but only 143 athletes started the race. Four cyclists were scratched from the race shortly before it took place. Damiano Cunego of Italy had not yet recovered from the injuries he sustained in the 2008 Tour de France, so he was replaced by Vincenzo Nibali. Portugal's Sérgio Paulinho, the silver medalist at the 2004 event, was said to be in insufficient shape to race. After Russian Vladimir Gusev was fired by his professional team Astana for failing an internal doping check, he was replaced in this event by Denis Menchov, who later competed in the time trial. While training earlier in the week before the race, Switzerland's Michael Albasini crashed and broke his collarbone; there was not sufficient time to find a replacement for him.[6]

Preview

Pollution issues

Prior to the opening of the Games, the International Olympic Committee was keen to play down the risk that athletes faced from pollution; however, the organizing body considered re-scheduling of endurance events (such as the cycling road race) if the pollution levels were too high.[7] Athletes partaking in these events can consume 20 times the amount of oxygen as a sedentary person. A higher level of pollution in the air could adversely affect performance, damage or irritate an athlete's lungs, or exacerbate respiratory conditions, such as asthma.[8]

Independent sources showed that pollution levels were above the limit deemed safe by the World Health Organization on August 9.[9][10][11] However, the cycling event went ahead as scheduled with no objections from the athletes. Fifty-three of the 143 cyclists pulled out during the race; however, this is not unusual (over half withdrew mid-race at the 2004 Summer Olympics). Post-race, a number of riders highlighted the punishing conditions, in particular the heat (26 °C (79 °F)*) and humidity (90%), which were much higher than in Europe, where the majority of UCI ProTour races are held. Pollution, however, was not widely cited as a problem,[12][13] though Stefan Schumacher of Germany, who had been considered an outside favorite for victory in the event, said the elements and the pollution played a role in his withdrawal.[14]

Pre-race favorites

Paolo Bettini (left) and Kim Kirchen (right), rivals and pre-race favorites

Among the pre-race favorites was the entire Spanish contingent of riders.[15] It included two winners of Grand Tours in Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre, along with highly regarded countrymen Alejandro Valverde, winner of the 2008 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the reigning Spanish national road race champion, and Samuel Sánchez, who had won three stages in the 2007 Vuelta a España. They also had 2008 Tour de France points classification winner and three-time world champion Óscar Freire available to work on their behalf. Valverde was seen as the strongest threat among the Spaniards.[16][17][18] Other medal hopefuls included the defending Olympic champion Paolo Bettini of Italy,[17][19] Germany's Stefan Schumacher,[20] and Australian Cadel Evans, twice a runner-up in the Tour de France (2007 and 2008). It was thought that members of the overall strong squads from Germany and Luxembourg could also contend for victory.[21] The German team contained Schumacher and many veterans of Grand Tours such as Jens Voigt to work in support, while Luxembourg had the Schleck brothers Andy and Fränk, along with Kim Kirchen, all of whom had worn leader's jerseys during the 2008 Tour de France.[22][23]

Course

The Urban Road Cycling Course (one of Beijing's nine temporary venues) was 102.6 km (63.8 mi) in its entirety, and the men's race was a distance of 245.4 km (152.5 mi), the longest in Olympic history.[24][25] The race's starting line was located at the Yongdingmen Gate, a remnant of Beijing's old city wall, which is a part of the Chongwen District of northern Beijing. The course ended at the Juyong Pass in the Changping District.

The Yonghe Temple

The route passed through a total of eight districts: Chongwen, Xuanwu, Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Changping, and Yanqing. The course's scenery, described by The Guardian newspaper (UK) as "visually sumptuous",[26] included landmarks such as the Temple of Heaven, the Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square, the Yonghe Temple, and sections of the Great Wall of China, which were passed through as the course journeyed from urban Beijing into the countryside.[25] It also passed the architecture of the 2008 Olympics, including the Beijing National Stadium and Beijing National Aquatics Center (known colloquially as the "Bird's Nest" and "Water Cube").[26]

The men's race layout, which differed most significantly from the women's in that it was over double its length, saw the riders make seven loops back-and-forth between the Badaling and Juyong Passes.[24] The early sections of the race took place within central Beijing; consequently, the gradient of this part of the race was relatively flat. At approximately the 78.8 km (49.0 mi) point in the race the riders reached the Badaling section of the Great Wall, and began their first of seven 23.8 km (14.8 mi) loops. The riders encountered an increase in the gradient at this point, with the Badaling Pass gaining 338.2 metres (1,110 ft) in elevation over a distance of 12.4 km (7.7 mi) from the start of the circuit to the highest point. From there the cyclists rode over a false flat before descending a highway towards the Juyong Pass. The final 350 m (1,150 ft) of the race gave the riders a moderately steep climb to contend with, which was designed to ensure an exciting finale should several riders have been grouped together at the end of the race, as there were.[1]

Due to security regulations put in place by the Olympic organizers, no spectators were permitted to stand roadside along the course. This decision proved to be controversial: several prominent figures in cycling, including UCI president Pat McQuaid and riders Stuart O'Grady and Cadel Evans (both Australia), spoke out against it. McQuaid and O'Grady both felt that the absence of people along the course deprived the race of the atmosphere present at other cycling events, and said that it failed to take supporters' wishes into consideration.[27] Cycling Australia's reaction to the cyclists' complaints was to request that security restrictions be eased for the time trial to follow,[28][29] but they were not.[30]

Samuel Sánchez, gold medalist

Race

The men's road race began at 11:00 local time (UTC+8) and within 3 km (1.9 mi) of the start, Horacio Gallardo (Bolivia) and Patricio Almonacid (Chile) formed a two-man breakaway. They held a maximum advantage of 15 minutes,[31] but were never really seen as a threat, and in fact neither went on to finish the race. With no single team willing to force the pace, a 26-man breakaway formed at the 60 km (37 mi) mark, including Carlos Sastre (Spain), Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg), Jens Voigt (Germany), Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic) and Simon Gerrans (Australia). Shortly after the race reached the finish line to begin the first of seven 23.8 km (14.8 mi) loops, Gallardo was dropped by Almonacid. The lone Chilean leader was then caught by the now 24-man chase group at the summit on the second loop, after riding solo ahead of the pack for over an hour and a half.

Davide Rebellin, silver medalist

Under the impetus of Sastre and Kreuziger in particular, the 24-strong breakaway group built their lead to over six minutes at the half-way point of the race, after four of the seven circuits. At that point, the Italian-paced main field increased its speed in order to bring them back. Aleksandr Kuschynski (Belarus) and Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukraine) went clear of the leading group afterward and gained an advantage of a minute and 40 seconds over the Sastre group and 2 minutes, 45 seconds over the main field by the start of the fifth lap over the hilly circuit. The Sastre group was absorbed by the main field at the 60 km (37 mi) to go mark, leaving just Kuschynski and Pidgornyy out front. Not long after, shortly before the end of the fifth circuit, Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden), Rigoberto Urán (Colombia) and Johan Van Summeren (Belgium) attacked from the peloton and reeled in Kuschynski and Pidgornyy.[31]

Fabian Cancellara, bronze medalist

The next attack, one that would later be described as "audacious"[17] and "brave",[13] came from Christian Pfannberger (Austria), who went free of the main field toward the end of the sixth lap. His maximum advantage never grew to more than a minute, but he did stay away until well into the seventh and final lap, being caught with 20 km (12 mi) to go.[32] Within five minutes of fierce attacks, fewer than 20 riders were left in the front group,[33] a group that included Cadel Evans (Australia), Levi Leipheimer (United States), Santiago Botero (Colombia), and Jérôme Pineau (France), with Valverde and Bettini left behind them. Five riders, Samuel Sánchez (Spain), Michael Rogers (Australia), Davide Rebellin (Italy), Andy Schleck (Luxembourg), and Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia), came further clear from the group of now 13 due to repeated attacks from Schleck. Sánchez, Rebellin, and Schleck reached the summit of the Badaling climb, with 12.7 km (7.9 mi) to race, 10 seconds ahead of Rogers and Kolobnev, and 26 seconds ahead of the Evans group.[33] Bettini, Valverde and Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) attacked from the main peloton and joined the Evans group at the top of the climb.[34] The leading group's advantage over the two-man chase was 15 seconds with 10 km (6.2 mi) to go.[17]

With 5 km (3.1 mi) left, Cancellara attacked from the Evans group and caught up with the chasers that the group of three had left behind, Kolobnev and Rogers. The three of them successfully bridged the gap to the leaders with about 1 km (0.62 mi) to go, and there were six riders contesting the final sprint. Sánchez won the gold medal, Rebellin the silver, and Cancellara the bronze.[24]

Doping allegation

In April 2009, the IOC announced that six athletes had tested positive during the 2008 Summer Olympics, without mentioning names or sports. Later, rumours emerged that the athletes included two cyclists, one of them a medal winner.[35] The Italian Olympic committee then confirmed that a male Italian cyclist had tested positive for CERA during the men's road race, without identifiying a name. The next day, on 29 April 2009, the Italian Olympic committee confirmed that Rebellin was an involved athlete. Rebellin's agent has sent a request for the analysis of the B sample.[36]

Final classification

The notation "s.t." indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the one receiving the time above him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Source: Official results[37]

Did not finish

Many riders are not expected to finish one-day races, having worked in support for their teams (in this case, nations)[38] to place their riders with better climbing skills in good positions once the mountainous part of a course begins.[39] Many of these riders also sought to conserve themselves for the time trial that was to come. Additionally, if a rider was lapped by the race leader on the Badaling circuit, he would be forced to stop.[40]

There were 53 withdrawals in this race, listed in chronological order:[37]

References

  1. ^ a b "Road Cycling Day 1 Preview: Great Wall course serves up cycling vertical challenge". The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  2. ^ "Cooke grabs first GB gold medal". BBC Sport. 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2008-08-11. (...) with heavy rain making the road treacherous in places.
  3. ^ "Olympic Games Competition Schedule". Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG). Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  4. ^ a b Greg Bishop (2008-08-09). "Humidity Is the Problem in a Race of Attrition". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-12. (...) the racers found the real nightmare not in the pollution, but in the humidity and heat. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "UCI qualification system". Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  6. ^ "Four cyclists scratched from road race". The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  7. ^ "Bellis prepares for Beijing start". BBC News. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  8. ^ "Beijing pollution: Facts and figures". BBC News. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  9. ^ "Air quality guidelines – global update 2005 (pg. 12)" (PDF). World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  10. ^ "In pictures: Beijing pollution-watch". BBC News. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2008-08-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Air Pollution in Beijing". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-08-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Associated Press (2008-08-09). "U.S. cyclists Zabriskie, McCartney pull out of Olympic road race". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2008-08-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ a b "Sanchez clinches road race gold". BBC Sport. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  14. ^ a b Deborah Charles (2008-08-09). "Spain's Sanchez wins men's road race". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  15. ^ "Seven gold medals on opening day". Associated Press. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  16. ^ "Olympics: Cycling -- Men's Road Race". Sports Illustrated and CNN. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-10. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ a b c d "Sanchez of Spain wins Olympic road gold". Agence France-Presse. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  18. ^ Simon Brotherton (2008-08-08). "Why 250km cycle route will favour Valverde". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-08-12. Alejandro Valverde is the name that keeps cropping up in previews ahead of the men's Olympic Road Race
  19. ^ "Olympic road race preview". USA Cycling. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  20. ^ Francois Thomazeau (2008-08-09). "Olympics – Cyclists wilt as Beijing competitors feel the heat". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  21. ^ Fred Dreier (2008-08-07). "The 2008 Olympics - The Battle of Beijing". VeloNews. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
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  24. ^ a b c "Sanchez outsprints Rebellin for gold". The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
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  26. ^ a b William Fotherington (2008-08-09). "Olympics: Sanchez clinches road race gold for Spain". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-08-10. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ "UCI head regrets lack of spectators at road race". AOL. 2008-08-13. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  28. ^ a b Mat Mackay (2008-08-10). "Cycling race 'was silent murder'". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  29. ^ Ben English (2008-08-10). "'Ghost course' haunts cyclists Stuart O'Grady and Cadel Evans". The Australian. Retrieved 2008-08-12. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ Leo Schlink (2008-08-13). "China ignores pleas for better access to the cycling route". FOX Sports. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  31. ^ a b c "Beijing 2008 - *Men's Road Race Final". Yahoo! Sport. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  32. ^ "Beijing 2008: Pfannberger high spot before Spanish triumph". Team Barloword Official Website. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  33. ^ a b "Inside Cycling, with John Wilcockson - The pros finally embrace Olympic cycling". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  34. ^ "Team Canada's Michael Barry reports on his Olympic road race". VeloNews.com. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  35. ^ "Olympics: Six Beijing Games athletes test positive for CERA". Seattle Times. 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
  36. ^ Meadows, Mark (2009-04-29). "Doping-Silver medallist Rebellin failed Beijing test". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-04-29. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  37. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Cycling - Men's Road Race Final Results". The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  38. ^ "Olympics: Cancellara Mines Bronze in Beijing". CSC. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-10. (...) riders raced for the respective national squads in international competition.
  39. ^ Brice Jones. "Ups and downs". Cycling News. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  40. ^ "Competition format and rules". The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  41. ^ Slipstream Sports admin (anon) (2008-08-09). "Olympic road race: Vande Velde 17th". Slipstream Sports. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  42. ^ a b c "MILRAM pros gave out". Team Milram. 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  43. ^ a b c Gregor Brown & Greg Johnson (2008-08-09). "August 9: Men's Road Race, Complete live report". Cycling News. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  44. ^ Erik Matuszewski (2008-08-10). "China Wins Two Gold Medals to Open Olympics; U.S. Fencers Sweep". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  45. ^ a b Jeremy Whittle (2008-08-09). "Spanish rider claims men's road race". The Times. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  46. ^ "Juegos Olímpicos de Pekín 2008 en MARCA.com". MARCA.COM. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  47. ^ Michael C. Lewis (2008-08-09). "Former Rowland Hall student finishes 11th in Olympic race". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  48. ^ Tim Reynolds (2008-08-09). "US cyclists can't break through in men's road race". Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  49. ^ Jane Marshall (2008-08-10). "Road race a hill too far for Dean". Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  50. ^ Laura Robinson (2008-08-09). "2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Men's RR Report, Full Results, Photos". Pedal - Canada's Cycling Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  51. ^ Cathy Mehl (2008-08-09). "contador helps win gold for spain". Astana Cycling Team. Retrieved 2008-08-11.

External links

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