A bird's-eye view of sport, translated by two humans. With added waffling.

Sunday 29 July 2012

The Sporting Owl #2

They said it couldn't be done.  They said no-one particularly wanted it to be done.  But we've done it anyway - a second Olympic edition of The Sporting Owl!  Featuring an exclusive-ish report on (our visit to) the badminton at Wembley Arena, and Ria singing the national anthem of Suriname.  And a disturbing premonition of Beth Tweddle's untimely demise...


A beginner's guide to the Olympic road race

If you're having trouble getting to grips with road cycling, our handy guide (which first appeared here on my blog yesterday morning) should help.  We've reprinted it in full below.

The women's road race is happening RIGHT NOW.  Most of the points in my guide apply equally to the women's race.  And that statement will seem EVEN MORE accurate if you ignore all the names of male cyclists I originally included...

We'll report the results of both races in our next podcast, which (technology permitting) should appear late tonight or tomorrow morning.


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I'm sure we're all still coming down after yesterday's incredible Olympic opening ceremony, but THE SPORT STARTS NOW people. Don't forget about the sport!

Britain's best chance of a medal today comes at the men's cycling road race. As a public service, I've allowed myself to be interviewed about it by a hypothetical moron. If you're suddenly intrigued by road cycling because we're amazing at it, or have recently suffered a life-threatening head injury, this might get you through the day.

So, road cycling. Why do I care? 


Because it's a fast-paced tactical sport that produces intense moments of unforgettable drama. I can't remember whether I was going to make you a hypothetical patriotic British person, but if you are - we have a very good chance of winning a gold medal, and we've just dominated the shit out of the Tour de France. 


I can ride a bike. Why should I be impressed? 


They're riding 250km in less than six hours. Can you do that? No, I thought not. How about doing that almost every day for three weeks, as they do at the Tour de France? How about riding that distance at an average speed of more than 40km/h, including nine trips up a tricky little climb? Starting to sound almost impossible? It is. That's why they all deserve our attention and adulation. 


Where is it? Can I go and watch?


Yes, you can still go. There are two ticketed areas on the course - the start/finish at The Mall, and part of Box Hill, the only climb on the route which the riders will tackle nine times. The rest of the 250km route isn't ticketed, so you can pop along and cheer on the riders for free. If you can find a slight incline, that might help as the riders will come past you more slowly. These projected timings should give you a good idea of when to expect the riders to pass. If you're going to sit at home, the start time is 10:00 and the estimated finish time is 15:38.

Who's riding in the race then?

There are 144 riders - you can see the full list here. Broadly speaking, they're grouped into national teams of a maximum of 5 riders, though only Spain, Italy, GB, Belgium, Australia, the US, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany have qualified to bring a full team. If you're completely neutral and desperate for someone to cheer on, scroll down to rider number 82 - yes, that's right, JACK BAUER is competing for New Zealand. Is there anything that man can't do? A couple of big names missing from the start list due to injury and illness are Sammy Sanchez, who took gold for Spain at the Great Wall course in Beijing four years ago, and Thor Hushovd, who's won the green jersey for best sprinter at the Tour de France several times and would be a major medal contender for Norway.

Let's assume I'm a patriotic Brit. I mean, you can do that, right? Since you're making me up? Who's riding for us?

There are five British riders in the race. They won't have to achieve much to beat our results in Beijing - we entered four riders there (none of whom are returning) and none of them finished due to the extreme heat - but they're aiming a little higher this time around. Taking them one by one, Bradley Wiggins has just won this year's Tour de France, the most prestigious bike race in the world. Chris Froome (who competed for Kenya until a few years ago) came second in the same race and could probably have won it if he hadn't been riding under team orders to help Wiggins. "Manx missile" Mark Cavendish has been the best sprinter in the world for at least four years, and won the road race World Championship title last year. David Millar is a veteran rider who reads the race well and will be the team captain on the road. Between those four, they won an unprecedented seven of the 21 stages at this year's Tour de France. Finally, Ian Stannard is a hard worker who will help the team to chase down any attacks that look likely to jeopardise their plan for gold.

So what are Team GB going to do? What's their plan for the race?

Their plan will be to make sure that Mark Cavendish wins a big sprint finish on the Mall - the other four riders have no medal ambitions of their own (unless something happens to Cavendish) and are primarily there to give him the best possible chance of winning gold. If they can get him to the final kilometre in the leading group, there's a very good chance he'll win. But that's going to be very difficult to achieve. Everyone else in the race knows that Cavendish has the best sprint finish of all the riders, so the other teams will be trying to launch attacks throughout the race to gain a lead over the main field (or 'peloton'). For the same reason, the onus will be on Team GB to take the leading role (and therefore expend the most effort) in chasing down any such breakaways. Box Hill will present another challenge, as Cavendish is less suited to hauling himself over climbs than some of his other sprinting rivals - however, he's lost a bit of weight this year to try to beat Box Hill, and that didn't seem to have affected his finishing power at the Tour. Even if it does come down to a big sprint finish, there are several other riders who can beat Cavendish on their day.

How will they manage to apply those tactics out on the course?

It's going to be a bit more difficult than usual as the riders can't carry team radios in this race, so they can't get any information from their team managers. That's why a veteran rider like David Millar will be so important - he can use his expertise to read the race, determine whether a particular attack is likely to succeed and whether it contains any dangerous riders, and decide whether or not the team needs to chase it down.

You've mentioned David Millar a couple of times. I thought he was a drugs cheat? Isn't that a major problem for this sport? 

Well, you're partly right. He was banned for a year in 2004 for taking EPO, a drug which increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood and therefore improves endurance by boosting production of red blood cells. Unlike many other riders in the same position, Millar confessed straight away and has since established a role as perhaps the leading anti-doping advocate in the sport. He has been accepted back into the peloton and is widely respected among his peers. Despite all that, he would still have been unable to compete in the Olympics under the BOA's policy of Olympic bans for anyone convicted of a doping offence. However, that policy was struck out as unfair by the Court of Arbitration for Sport this year after a challenge by an American runner. David Millar is perhaps the best available example of a reformed drugs cheat who deserves a second chance. and Team GB will benefit hugely from his experience and decision-making in this race. Overall, cycling has become a lot cleaner over the past decade, and cyclists are subjected to more advanced testing throughout the year than any other sportsmen. Basically, don't let Lance Armstrong put you off. As far as it's possible to tell, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish have proved to everyone that you can still win clean.

OK, you've convinced me, I'm going to watch. Let's say it comes down to a big sprint finish. Who are Cavendish's main rivals?

After the Tour, I'd say his main rival is Peter Sagan from Slovakia (wearing number 36 in this race). Sagan is only 21 but managed to win three tough stages and take this year's green jersey at the Tour at his first attempt. He doesn't have any teammates in this race as Slovakia haven't qualified any other riders, so the lack of a team leadout for a traditional sprint is a slight handicap, but he's good enough to win alone. Box Hill gives him a slight advantage as he's also a competent climber - he even managed to attack on a couple of gruelling mountain stages at the Tour, so he's perfectly capable of winning from a breakaway group too. In a sprint, the other contenders are probably Andre Greipel (number 47), who won three Tour stages and has the support of a very strong German team, and Matt Goss (number 23), who was well placed in most of the big Tour sprints but comes out of that race with quite a lot to prove.  Belgium's Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert (numbers 16 and 17) could also play a part, but neither has particularly good form this year. Anyone could win if a breakaway manages to beat the main field to the line, but France's panache-dripping Sylvain Chavanel (number 54) is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

This is going to be one of the most exciting events at the Olympics, so do watch if you can. If you enjoy today's race, the women's road race (featuring Beijing's British Olympic champion Nicole Cooke) follows tomorrow, and the men's time trial follows on Wednesday, with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome both back and battling to beat time trial specialists Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and Tony Martin of Germany. Track cycling follows towards the end of next week.


So stay tuned throughout the day, support Team GB and let's all cross our fingers that Mark Cavendish can win our first gold of the Games!

Saturday 28 July 2012

The Sporting Owl #1

In this exclusive collector's edition of The Sporting Owl, Tom and Ria discuss all the burning Olympic issues - and moths.  Oh, and Ria sings the Djibouti national anthem.  As you do.  Recorded with all the professional sound engineering skill of two people shouting into a bucket of sand in an aeroplane toilet.


NB - this was recorded on Thursday 26 July