It's here, the Olympics. 267km of fun, with 9 loops of box hill to hopefully spice up the race. Belgium probably have the strongest team here, with Boonen and Steegmans two of the top three favourites, Pozzatto being the third.
The day is sunny with no wind, perfect for a cycling race
From the gun Kruopis attacks
Amazingly Ventoso and Farrar come round him, so much for them being outsiders
Deignan joins Kruopis behind the two sprinters
Duarte, Sorensen and Stybar now try to join the break
Six of them come together, but Ventoso attacks again as we cross the Thames
He soon settles back into the break though
40 seconds behind the bunch are chasing hard, Italy in particular don't want this to stay away.
And after 15km of racing the bunch is back together
Ireland want to be in the break today, as Scanlon sparks another attack.
Kreder and Ochoa Quintero are on his wheel.
Phinney isn't resting up for the TT as he now attacks, Ardila, Ventoso and Brea follow.
Stybar doesn't want to be outdone, so he too attacks.
Belgium and Italy are happy to let them go this time, and the lead quickly builds up to 2 minutes
Switzerland are not though, as Stadler now attacks. Farrar, Santos, Jurco and Beppu all follow
This spurs Belgium into action, as they and Italy up the pace
The five late attackers join the lead group
Coppel is leading the peloton just 30 seconds behind them.
And we have now raced 30 km, and again, we are all together
3km later and Ventoso is on the attack again, is he trying to set something up for Valverde?
He gets a gap of 45 seconds before Stybar tries to get clear
Martin then follows
And the three of them have come together when Ochoa Quintero attacks again
They are held at a minutes advantage for a while, before Strgar tries to attack, Duarte soon follows him.
All 6 of them come together
Now Peter Sagan puts in a surge of acceleration.
As he reaches the break Stadler attacks. Switzerland can't seem to decide whether to work on the front or put Standler in the break.
The break have a lead of two minutes now, and Stadler is stuck in no-mans land. But that doesn't stop Sorensen from attacking
GB have been riding defensively so far, but now Bibby joins the rush to get out in front
Following him is Cardoso.
Up front Stadler has joined the break
Now Beppu attacks, the pace in the bunch is resonably high still, so I'm not sure what all these riders are doing. The break is still only 2 minutes clear.
Sorensen and Bibby now reach the front
As do Cardoso and Beppu. We now have a 12 man lead group, two minutes ahead of the bunch, with 190km still to race.
It's bad news for GB as Wiggins falls in the peloton.
Germany feel a bit left out, and so Wegmann now attacks
The US are desperate to have a strong rider up the road, and Holloway now follows him.
Joining the attacks, Robert Gesink.
Wegmann and Sumerhill easily cross the gap
As we close in on box hill Venezuela decide they want another rider in the break, so Brea attacks
Wiggins has just made it back into the peloton, as Hacecky falls.
Gesink has just about caught the leaders as they turn onto Box hill for the first time. Brea is at 1'44", with the bunch at 2'27".
The bunch however, has burned plenty of domestiques, especially from Belgium, Italy and France. So with only 6 men in a team, and plenty of riding left to do. They could really struggle to control things as we head into the circuits around Box Hill.
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182]Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
So , we rejoin with the first summit of Box Hill about to begin, Sorensen is leading the break
Gesink immediately gets onto the back of the group.
As the peloton start the climb Duque, Boom and Mugerli all attack
Their tempo pulls back Brea, but Coppel and Roy keep the peloton with them.
Ulissi leads the bunch over with the break just over a minute ahead.
The bunch have all stayed together, but look how long the peloton now is.
Boom, Mugerli and Duque all attack again,
They soon cross the 44 second gap to the break
An 18 rider break is prety unwheeldy, so Holloway atttacks, quickly followed by Gesink and Wegmann.
Mugerli and Duque soon follow them.
We hit the first downhill, which doesn't look technical, with everyone still within a minute of ecah other.
Duque reaches the bottom 22 seconds off our 4 leaders, with the rest of the break 30 seconds further back
As he catches up the peloton have really slowed up, and they are now 2 minutes back.
Summerhill leads onto Box Hill No.2
Brea again tries to get across to the break
Johansson and Posthuma follow him, the Dutch are being very agressive today.
Steensen also attacks, as Gasparotto tries to control the pace.
Bakelants is sent to the front by Boonen and he starts to pull the attackers back.
Over the top Steensen and Postuma are a minute behind the main breakaway
While Bakelants soon backed off to let Cornu set a more controlled pace, Brea and Johansson are between the bunch and Postuma.
Deignan and Taaramae use this respite to jump free.
And a long pull by Sagan means the break now has 18 men in it again.
The pace has become more sedate, as Postuma and Steensen are allowed to catch the leaders. The Dutch now have 3 in this group.
Behind Deignan has joined Brea and Janahsson, while Taaramae has tried to push across to the leaders solo.
And it's time for Box hill Mark 3.
The pace is really slow, and Taaramae easily catches the break.
That's not the case in the bunch however, where Cunego has hit the front and pulled back the three men in no mans land.
They take a minute out of the breaks lead on that ascent, the gap is now just 100 secoonds. Alarcon thinks it's a good time to attack.
He gets across the gap, but the bunch is now just a minute off the pace. Amazingly, only Haecky isn't in the peloton.
Ulissi, Cunego and Wyss pull the break all back together on the downhill.
Duque attacks straight away, followed by Posthuma, Steensen, Mugerli, Alarcon and Boom.
Belgium and Italy swarm forwards once again.
But are happy for the 6 to have a minutes advantage as we hit Box Hill for the 4th time.
These riders are 6 of the weakest from the break, so the Italians/Belgians are happy to let the gap swell to 2 minutes by the top.
Nolan Hoffman now attacks the bunch on the flat.
Box Hill 5 starts with the gap at the biggest it's been all day, 3'30"
The bunch is happy now, and Box Hill six starts just as Hoffman catches the break. 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. 100km to ride.
Another dull lap, and we hit Box hill 7 with the gap at 6'41", 80km to ride, and the break being the biggest threat to the, now all but certain, sprint finish
The break are now the whole climb ahead, surely Belgium and Italy will pick up the pace.
Yes, Bakelants and Ulissi are now at the front, and the gap starts to fall.
The bunch is now lined out slightly, but that doesn't stop genuine medal contenders Rowe and Van Heerden from attacking.
Boom leads onto the penultimate climb of Box hill with now realistic dreams of an Olympic medal.
5'40" later, the peloton have just caught Rowe and Van Heerden, Bakelants needs to make this a vicious ascent if he wants to pull the break back.
Someone is finally dropped from the peloton as Ojavee falls.
We get someone else, as Castaneda, he of 56 hill, is finally dropped, along with Perry.
Ford, Rajala and Kristoff are also dropped.
Again the peloton is strung out, although the break still have a 5 minute lead.
Alarcon leads onto Box Hill for the final time, the gap is 4'50" with 50km to ride, and this really could be touch and go.
Bakelants again hits the front.
He causes 6 riders to get dropped as he pounds away at the pedals: J Rodriguez, Navardauskas, Westling, Brea, Machado and Arashiro.
Now Johansson cracks, and Roche gets caught out trying to get water.
Joeaare, Brammier, Cardoso and Forero all also are off the back.
But there is bigger news at the front, where Bakelants infernal pace has pulled 25 riders clear.
As Rast and Gasparotto drop back it all comes together, although the fact Boonen made the split, while Bennati didn't tells you plenty.
15 more riders are dropped: Rogers, Duarte, Coppel, Murakami, Ljungblad, Sano, Deignan, Danacik, Nishitani, Bozic, Kruopis, Veelers, Nordhaug, Beppu and Scanlon. Coppel and Duarte have both been at the front enough to justify their falling back here.
The break turn off the Box Hill loop with the gap at 3'30" and 40km to race.
So the race is well and truly on. The bunch should have enough to catch the break, but which of the sprinters has the legs to win. And will they be able to pull back any late attacks.
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182]Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
So the break are homeward bound now, but the pace of that final climb is still being felt in the peloton as 17 more riders have cracked: Visna, C. Van heerden, Kittel, Doi, M. Velits, Jurco, Strgar, Haavardsholm, W. Ford, Mandri, J. Sagan, Hushovd, Kreuziger, Santos, Speirs, P. Velits and Uran. Hushovd will be very dissapointed, as he was an outisde bet today, although this does free hagen from any teammate responsability.
Bakelants pulls off and you can see the whole peloton breathe a sigh of relief as they bunch up slightly more.
30km to go for the break and the gap is still 2'51"
In fact, the rest of the Belgian team seem exhausted, and Bakelants is forced to go back to the front, Portugal are chipping in, so Avelino must be feeling ok.
Bakelants immediately knocks 40 seconds off the breaks lead and strings out the whole peloton.
20km to go, and with Bakelants still on the front, the gap is down to just 90 seconds.
Roy finally helps out Bakelants as we approach the finish, with just 2 short kicks up standing in the way of the sprinters.
At just under 5% these are perfect for an attack, but Bakelants has everything under control. Boonen is sitting comfortably in 6th.
The hill is enough to drop Ochoa and Farrar, who showed themselves nicely earlier.
Sorensen and Wiggins also have to let go with 15km left.
Steegmans is sitting just behind Boonen now, while Pozzato, Vaitkus and Bellis have turned up on the left.
Hagen, Cunego and Ballan are also at the sharp end
Cancellara is trying to move forwards, with Costa, Van Garderen close by. Del Nero is the best placed Spaniard, while on the right, Bennati has been left to fend for himself, Vanderbiest, Daivs and Swift are all following him.
Under the 10km to go banner Mugerli leads, the gap is still 40 seconds.
Bakelants is still on the front of the bunch, Boonen seems to be following Roelandts, with Pozzato following him.
Docker and Stadler now have to drop off.
Bennati clearly isn't weak, as he powers into the top ten, Vanderbiest firmly on his wheel.
Davis, Swift and Rowe follow, while Summerhill moves forwards on the left.
8.5km to go, and Bakelants has stopped making an impression in the break, the gap is still 37 seconds. Summerhill Attacks! Del Nero immediately in his wheel. These two are both very strong riders.
Pozzato is off his saddle straight away following, Vaitkus tries to power his way back to them. Bakelants must be spent.
Summerhill pulls over to let Del Nero take up the pace, Pozzato is biding his time.
Del Nero sits up as they catch the break, Pozzato explodes past him, with Summerhill trying to follow.
Summerhill is trying to keep up.
Hagen is forced to pull back the break, Bellis and Cancellara are waiting.
5km to go and Pozzato has 23 seconds on Summerhill, and 34 on Hagen. Bellis got distracted and tried to sit on Hoffmans wheel, so Cancellara is now following Hagen.
Sinkewitz, Del Nero and Paulinho are the only other riders from the bunch to pass the breakaway riders.
Hagen pulls back Summerhill. Pozzato still has 25 seconds.
Del Nero has slotted in 3rd ahead of Sinkewitz, while Paulinho is trying to get into the chain.
Sanchez Gil is trying to move up on the left, while Bennati, Boonen, Vanderbiest and Swift have settled on Bellis' wheel.
Hagen pulls over and now Cancellara takes up the pace, Pozzato has just 2200m to go. Sanchez Gil is alongside Summerhill, who has also moved in front of Sinkewitz. The peloton can sprint now if they want to.
Bellis is pulling Bennati and Boonen towards the front as well, although Vanderbiest seems to be suffering.
Pozzatto aproaches the final corner and no one has caught him.
Sanchez Gil has been forced to take up the pace, with Hagen now on his wheel. No one wants to start the sprint, as they know it would be suicide. You would think Del Nero could convince Sanchez Gil to lead him out, but Sanchez is backing himself I guess.
Pozzatto grits his teeth
None of the riders at the front of the bunch start to sprint, so Boonen flies past them.
Davis follows him, while Hagen now notices what he has to do.
It's too late as Pozzato takes Olympic Gold, in the biggest win of his career, he timed his attack to perfection.
Boonen and Davis are next, they were the only riders who had a sprint left in them.
Boonen really should have won, and would have done if Bakelants hadn't killed all his teammates. Davis on the other hand played the Aussie hide in the pack strategy to perfection.
Hagen was the only rider who could pull back Pozzato, and would have had a medal if he had sprinted with more than 500m left, but he has to settle for 4th.
Bellis finishes very fast to pip Del Nero to 5th.
Valverde passes Sanchez Gil on the line. He started his sprint way back as well. Spain's strength here shows that they really should have chased down Pozzato.
Cancellara can only get 9th, ahead of Cunego, Summerhill gets 11th, while Bennati shows no hard feelings by celebrating his 12th position like he had won.
Swift then leads in the rest of the peloton.
So, are perfectly timed move by Summerhill, who let Del Nero do some work, before releasing Pozzato allowed the Italian to power to a solo victory, utilising well the fact Boonen didn't have enough riders to pull him back. Italy earned their win today, while France must feel that Vanderbeist let them down, given how much work they put in. A CT rider on the podium also gives some nice variety to the results.
