Monthly Archives for July 2012
Olympic Fever!
The race was pretty good, with everything from a wandering dog, Gilbert having a dig and of course Cancellara hitting the deck, taking the corner like a 4th-cat Hillingdon smashfest in the rain. I watched from my screen at the Olympic Park where Im currently on assignment editing. Obviously they put me as the go-to girl for the cycling events, so I pretty much had a ball seeing the race unfold and waiting for the images to spool onto our servers.
Our guys shot some really nice stuff, the gallery from the men’s race is here.
One thing that sucked was all the media jocking on Cav for somehow ‘failing’? typical bullshit from press that doesn’t cover anything to do with cycling 99% of the year, but ever since Wiggo took le tour seems like Britain suddenly woke up and decided they are cycling experts haha. Anyway id say it was a valiant effort by all riders, at the end of the day GB didn’t get a guy in that break and it was strong enough to stay away and launch the medals from. This is racing and that’s the way the cookie crumbles! What was pretty ace was seeing the throngs of salivating fans lining the course. From Boxhill to Buckingham Palace the winding roads out to Surrey, the appetite was palatable for impassioned fans to show their support for the riders. The mood was one of pride and excitement, but to see these kind of crowds on the roads that us capital-based riders frequent was something really special indeed…
And so onto the ladies race.. what an exciting race it was! With only two ascents of Box, it made for a good race with plenty having a dig at pinging off the front. The race was made ‘epic’ by the arrival of a monsoon like shower, in total contrast to the med-like conditions of the gents the day previous. With a break of Vos, Lizzie and Zabelinskaya hitting out with around 50k’s to go back to the finish on the Mall, an exciting and tense ‘will they wont they’ survival kicked in, with me shouting at the screen! Of course Vos is indeed the strongest rider, and I couldn’t have been happier for her to take the gold. I get continually p*ssed that she seems to get pipped every worlds… in my eyes she is without a doubt the greatest female cyclist to walk the planet. Bold statement yes I know, but look at the range of terrain and events she can smash. Lizzie was amazing to keep right up there with her, and it was only the Dutchwoman’s strong finish that managed to hold off the GB charge with a few feet in it max!
So yeah, all massive credit to VOS for being a total machine…. The bad-ass sdudes over at Vicious Velo wrote a really good piece about the ladies road race, and why is kicked so much ass. I suggest you head there and give it a read. The images I edited for our guys for the ladies RR can be perused here.
With the TT’s coming up on Wednesday, it could be quite a wide open race. Personally I think we might see a shock result, someone such as Gustav Larsson might put in a good showing. With Cadel out, Cancellara possibly hurting after his mishap in the road race, and Tony Martin perhaps burning a few too many matches riding at the front on Saturday it could make the performances of these heavyweights a little more human. We will see!