Go Nicole

Tony W said:

Good luck lass.

Oops. She *might* have caught the leaders if she'd made it around that
corner. Anyway, the Aussie girl deserved to win - it was a good attack
from a long way out.

Zog The Undeniable said:

Tony W said:

Good luck lass.

Oops. She *might* have caught the leaders if she'd made it around that
corner. Anyway, the Aussie girl deserved to win - it was a good attack
from a long way out.

I thought the german did very well. Obviously judged it to perfection and a
very creditable silver. Shame about the sprint. It was clear that the other
Aussie rode a very good controlling ride, always second int he chase group
so it never really got organised.

A creditable performance by Nicole none the less.

...d

in message <411fa14b.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable

(') said:

Tony W said:

Good luck lass.

Oops. She *might* have caught the leaders if she'd made it around
that
corner. Anyway, the Aussie girl deserved to win - it was a good
attack from a long way out.

Well, you know, I didn't think so. Judith Arndt put a great deal of
effort into the race, always working positively and leading the pack a
great deal of the time. Carrigan's last minute sprint showed she had
more legs at the end, but that wasn't so surprising given the tactical
race the Australians rode. Cooke wasn't going to win - wasn't even
going to get bronze - long before she went into the barriers. She
needed to make a solo attack and bridge across to the leaders, since it
was clear the group she was with wasn't pulling together. But she just
didn't have the legs to do it - a lot of guts and determination but not
quite enough stamina. Certainly the Australian domestique in that bunch
rode a very negative race (which is, of course, what she was there to
do at that stage), but that's the way the cookie crumbles (you may
groan now).

The person I was sorriest for was the Dutch rider who went down. OK, it
was her fault, but she looked pretty badly hurt. Anyone know if she's
OK?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

[ This .sig intentionally left blank ]

On 15/8/04 7:35 pm, in article
[email hidden], "Simon Brooke"

Quoted message said:

in message <411fa14b.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable

(') said:

Tony W said:

Good luck lass.

Oops. She *might* have caught the leaders if she'd made it around
that
corner. Anyway, the Aussie girl deserved to win - it was a good
attack from a long way out.

Well, you know, I didn't think so. Judith Arndt put a great deal of
effort into the race, always working positively and leading the pack a
great deal of the time. Carrigan's last minute sprint showed she had
more legs at the end, but that wasn't so surprising given the tactical
race the Australians rode.

But the race is always about who crosses the line first. Carrigan attacked
when Cooke was on the front so she couldn't respond. The Russian was always
racing for third, never gold so there were two out of the six not
cooperating.

Apparently Judith Arndt got fined for giving Carrigan the finger during the
sprint.

I couldn't believe the behaviour of the motorcycles though. They were
constantly in the wrong place and as for trying to film the sprint from
about a meter away, unbelievably stupid.

Surely the commissaires must have warned them (or is there too much money
involved with television to give them any control?)

...d

David Martin said:

On 15/8/04 6:48 pm, in article 411fa14b.0@entanet, "Zog The

Undeniable said:

Tony W said:

Good luck lass.

Oops. She *might* have caught the leaders if she'd made it around
that corner. Anyway, the Aussie girl deserved to win - it was a
good attack from a long way out.

I thought the german did very well. Obviously judged it to perfection
and a very creditable silver. Shame about the sprint. It was clear
that the other Aussie rode a very good controlling ride, always
second int he chase group so it never really got organised.

A creditable performance by Nicole none the less.

She lost.
She sat up and waved her hand around - a la Armstrong - work with me!
But they didnt, why should they.

Tony W vaguely muttered something like ...

Quoted message said:

Good luck lass.

Was it just the wife and I, or was the coverage, commentary and general
transmission of the cycling really rather [censored] ?

Compared to messrs Liggett and t'other 'un, it felt like watching paint dry
...

--
Paul ...

(8(|) ... Homer Rocks

"A [censored] is a [censored], no matter what mode of transport they're using."

"Paul - [censored]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tony W vaguely muttered something like ...

Quoted message said:

Good luck lass.

Was it just the wife and I, or was the coverage, commentary and general
transmission of the cycling really rather [censored] ?

Compared to messrs Liggett and t'other 'un, it felt like watching paint dry

So it was a bit more exciting than if Duffers had done it, then?
--
"Since you must keep improving, a $5 bike offers a lot more opportunities
to improve it, and can be improved cheaper. It's expensive to improve on
a $2000 bike." - Rick Onanian in rec.bicycles.tech

Quoted message said:

Was it just the wife and I, or was the coverage, commentary and
general transmission of the cycling really rather [censored] ?

Compared to messrs Liggett and t'other 'un, it felt like watching
paint dry ..

I thought he did an okay job of explaining what was going on, and the
tactics being used. Must be quite hard to commentate on something that
long when most of it is just people doing the same thing over and over.
Bit like formula one but without the pit stops - must be absolute hell for
the commentator until the final lap when it all gets exciting.

in message <[email hidden]>, David Martin

(') said:

I couldn't believe the behaviour of the motorcycles though. They were
constantly in the wrong place and as for trying to film the sprint
from about a meter away, unbelievably stupid.

Surely the commissaires must have warned them (or is there too much
money involved with television to give them any control?)

Absolutely agreed. I thought the motorcycles were positively dangerous
at times, and certainly sometimes interfered with the racing.

The thing that most humbled me was that one of the French women, Jeannie
Longo-Ciprelli, who was always in contention and lead the pack more
than once, is only three years younger than me. Ouch. I was impressed.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

... a mild, inoffensive sadist...

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The thing that most humbled me was that one of the French women, Jeannie
Longo-Ciprelli, who was always in contention and lead the pack more
than once, is only three years younger than me. Ouch. I was impressed.

I remember ber winning everything when I first started watching the TDF. So
where are Hinault/Lemond/Fignon now?

cheers,
clive

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 15/8/04 7:35 pm, in article
[email hidden], "Simon Brooke"

Quoted message said:

Well, you know, I didn't think so. Judith Arndt put a great deal of
effort into the race, always working positively and leading the pack a
great deal of the time.

Too right - but she rode like a pillock! You just don't sit on the front
like that. It was obvious (to everyone except Hugh, it seemed...) that
Carrigan was going to stuff her in the sprint.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Carrigan's last minute sprint showed she had
more legs at the end, but that wasn't so surprising given the tactical
race the Australians rode.

She *should* have had better legs - she'd sat on for a considerable
distance, and the only time she'd gone round Arndt was to attack her. Yet
*still* Arndt went straight back to the front when she caught her!

Quoted message said:

But the race is always about who crosses the line first. Carrigan attacked
when Cooke was on the front so she couldn't respond. The Russian was
always
racing for third, never gold so there were two out of the six not
cooperating.

Certainly the Australians showed the best teamwork & tactics.

Quoted message said:

Apparently Judith Arndt got fined for giving Carrigan the finger during
the
sprint.

In many ways I don't blame her for doing that, but she really didn't do much
to try to force Carrigan to the front. She rode *herself* into silver by
very naive tactics.

I know it's disappointing that Cooke "only" managed fifth, but it is
important to keep this in perspective. Road racing (esp. one-day events)
isn't a clean-cut, predictable sport, where anyone can ever be sure (or even
fairly sure!) of a win. That said, she didn't look like a winner many times
today, and maybe isn't on top form. Sometimes, when you come back from a
long lay-off, you get a burst of good form caused partly by freshness, which
proves not to be very long-term. It's very hard to prepare properly for
racing at that level in three months.

Above all, the point I'd make is that she's a brilliant rider who has a
fantastic future ahead of her - and hopefully an Olympic title in future,
even if she doesn't pull it off this year (which I don't think she will,
now).

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:33:38 GMT, JohnB <[email hidden]> wrote in
message <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I really _hate_ saying this, but I've watched a lot of women's racing
and I've never seen a race that can be termed as exciting.

Not in that sense, anyway ;-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

JohnB said:

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

Was it just the wife and I, or was the coverage, commentary and
general transmission of the cycling really rather [censored] ?

Compared to messrs Liggett and t'other 'un, it felt like watching
paint dry ..

I thought he did an okay job of explaining what was going on, and the
tactics being used. Must be quite hard to commentate on something
that long when most of it is just people doing the same thing over
and over. Bit like formula one but without the pit stops - must be
absolute hell for the commentator until the final lap when it all
gets exciting.

I really _hate_ saying this, but I've watched a lot of women's racing
and I've never seen a race that can be termed as exciting.

John B

I have never found womens cycling very exciting, not even on the track.

Simon D said:

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 15/8/04 7:35 pm, in article
[email hidden], "Simon Brooke"

Quoted message said:

Well, you know, I didn't think so. Judith Arndt put a great deal of
effort into the race, always working positively and leading the pack a
great deal of the time.

Too right - but she rode like a pillock! You just don't sit on the front
like that. It was obvious (to everyone except Hugh, it seemed...) that
Carrigan was going to stuff her in the sprint.

Quoted message said:

In many ways I don't blame her for doing that, but she really didn't do much
to try to force Carrigan to the front. She rode *herself* into silver by
very naive tactics.

So, given the choice of a bunch sprint with tired legs when you will get
nothing, vs a definite silver, which would you choose?

I think she rode a good race, kept it moving and got in the two breaks that
counted.

Quoted message said:

I know it's disappointing that Cooke "only" managed fifth, but it is
important to keep this in perspective. Road racing (esp. one-day events)
isn't a clean-cut, predictable sport, where anyone can ever be sure (or even
fairly sure!) of a win. That said, she didn't look like a winner many times
today, and maybe isn't on top form.

It was on the final hill that you could see she didn't have the legs, and
needed the others to work with her. The aussie wouldn't (obviously), the
russian knew she was the fastest finisher of the six and just had to keep
fresh legs, the venezuelan wasn't really in contention. The only real ally
was the dutch rider. There was no way they wanted to tow the others up to be
stuffed at the end.

Quoted message said:

Sometimes, when you come back from a
long lay-off, you get a burst of good form caused partly by freshness, which
proves not to be very long-term. It's very hard to prepare properly for
racing at that level in three months.

Above all, the point I'd make is that she's a brilliant rider who has a
fantastic future ahead of her - and hopefully an Olympic title in future,
even if she doesn't pull it off this year (which I don't think she will,
now).

Agreed. definitely one to watch.

In article <[email hidden]>, David Martin

Quoted message said:

I couldn't believe the behaviour of the motorcycles though. They
were constantly in the wrong place and as for trying to film the
sprint from about a meter away, unbelievably stupid.

I accept that the TV coverage would be much worse but I feel that the
motorcylists and the support crews should NOT be in amongst the
racers. I would also hate to be racing in a storm of exhaust fumes.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

Was it just the wife and I, or was the coverage, commentary and
general transmission of the cycling really rather [censored] ?

Compared to messrs Liggett and t'other 'un, it felt like watching
paint dry ..

I thought he did an okay job of explaining what was going on, and the
tactics being used. Must be quite hard to commentate on something that
long when most of it is just people doing the same thing over and over.
Bit like formula one but without the pit stops - must be absolute hell for
the commentator until the final lap when it all gets exciting.

I really _hate_ saying this, but I've watched a lot of women's racing
and I've never seen a race that can be termed as exciting.

John B

Simon Brooke said:

The person I was sorriest for was the Dutch rider who went down. OK, it
was her fault, but she looked pretty badly hurt. Anyone know if she's
OK?

According to the Dutch online newspaper badly bruised on hip and ribs,
kept in hospital for observation but nothing serious. Not sure yet if she
will be there for the TT later this week.
I suppose this would be her last Olympics anyway, I was surprised to see
her as she has been around for a long time. Almost as long as Longo 🙂

Roos

Quoted message said:

I really _hate_ saying this, but I've watched a lot of women's racing
and I've never seen a race that can be termed as exciting.

What is it that makes the mens races more exciting? Is there much more
overtaking etc near the end of the race? Are the sprints longer?

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So, given the choice of a bunch sprint with tired legs when you will get
nothing, vs a definite silver, which would you choose?

But she was - certainly once van Moorsel had crashed out - apparently the
strongest rider there. Hervlegs were the least tired of the lot. Look at the
way she was able to cross the gap to Carrigan; look at the way she brought
Carrigan straight back when she was attacked. In that situation, no, I
wouldn't ride for silver.

Quoted message said:

I think she rode a good race, kept it moving and got in the two breaks
that
counted.

I think that from her strength she deserved to win, and I admired her for
her efforts to keep what was a very negative race moving. But that she rode
a tactically poor race. Okay, she wasn't helped by the Aussies having two
riders up there. But by doing what she did she guaranteed herself a
working-over.