Cooke takes Womans Gold . . . Sanchez wins for Spain . . . Terrible for Spectators
August 11th, 2008 by Ricky Blayney
What a ride that was by Nicole Cooke and in the process it gave Britain it’s first medal of the Olympics so far — A Gold medal at that. She got into the right break that stayed clear to the line. With about 500 yards to go she lost contact with the others in her group but at the bottom of the short climb that took the riders up to the line just past the Great Wall of China but managed to ride on, hang on and then burst clear in the sprint. For a moment it looked like she had gone too early but she just keep the pace on and held off the Italian for the victory.
In the Men’s race the day before Samuel Sanchez took an impressive victory but not before one of the finest rides in the last 5k of a race that you will see by Fabian Cancellara. The big Italian broke from his group going into the final stages of the race and closed down a pair of two that were chasing the leading three. He then dragged that pair across to the leaders putting himself in with a shout of a medal. It was a huge effort and somehow he left himself with enough energy to sprint for the Bronze medal. He will be hoping to go for Gold in the individual time-trial later in the Olympics.
In all the circuit was a good one and an exciting one. It was one that gave everyone a chance of winning but threw in enough hills to separate the men from the boys. The only unfortunate thing about it all was the viewing for the fans. I couldn’t help but notice fans being kept behind barriers well away from the road in something that resembled the kind of distance you would be kept had rally cars being going around the circuit and not bicycles. On the climb there were few fans and none on the roads edge cheering on the riders in the style you see in the Tour de France. Apparentaly riders have complained about the lack of atmosphere and the organisers are going to look into this before the individual time-trials.
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