The Olympic road races were packed with excitement and intrigue that would have more than fitted into the queen stage of a grand tour, with two winners from the flatlands of Belgium and Holland on a route that should have favoured the climbers. The big news headlines came from the descent in both the womens and mens races where crashes directly affected the outcome of the race. However when you are pushing hard to stay in the lead this is often an outcome of professional bike racing (apparently – I will never know as I’m a complete scaredy cat downhill!)
Just look at the fortunes of Steven Kruijswijk at this years Giro d’Italia. I think the course was great and had a bit of everything that built up to a crescendo with the smaller teams and lack of race radios giving individual riders a chance against the traditional powerhouses. Admittedly there could have been a bit more consideration for crash barriers and padding in the key corners and those who did crash were ‘lucky’ to come away with injuries that could have been far worse.
With the time trial today we could be in for a stormer and again the course will not necessarily suit the out-and-out time trialer such as Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara and the smart money would have been on Tom Dumoulin until his crash at the Tour.
I’m hoping that Chris Froome can continue where he left off in Paris and grab a gold for GB but if not (and Geraint Thomas doesn’t grab another medal) then I’d love Dan Craven from Namibia to take the title – this is about as likely as me getting a call up for Team Sky but as a last minute addition due to injury drop outs, he has no time trial bike, a cracking beard and didn’t accept his place without first checking his twitter followers to see what they thought.
It’s a romantics dream but if Leicester can win the Premier League then maybe Dave Brailsford is about to give me a call! For the women I think Ellen van Dijk is the favourite but I would love a medal for Emma Pooley to keep the GB scoreboard ticking over.
Rob Clark, Rockley Operations Director
Passionate road cyclist
This year completed his third Etape du Tour
In 2015 he cycled hundreds of road miles completing the gruelling Etape du Tour and Ride London all to raise funds and awareness for Julia's House.
He is currently taking part in the Rockley #40for40 challenge (and quietly thrashing everyone!)