I think her car was driven by amateurs that didn't know they could have pulled up to the break for her feed. I say lose the radios all across racing, makes for more interesting viewing & smarter racers (eventually)
Truely a wonderful result. I'm sure she's spent thousands of hours riding solo before work and eating a simple vegetarian/vegan/mucusless diet to be prepared for this moment.
I think a lot of media are undermining Kaisenhoffer 's win, chalking it up to lack of radios and the Dutch. But she had to have the legs to take advantage of those factors. As you say, she 100% earned and deserved it.
There are a lot of riders with the legs to make that move work when given a leash that long. But she’ll never be given anywhere close to that gap again. I’m curious to see who comes rushing in to sign her. The reason she lost her contract several years ago (and why she went off the front today) is because she cannot ride in a pack and DNF’d a bunch of mass start races. I predict she won’t be signed and maybe not even interested in any offers presented to her. She’s best off sticking to TT’s.
She 100% deserves gold that's out of the question but when you see that the timegap was just over 1minut at the finish you know that with propper communication this would not have happened. Propper communication can also be clear signs with the gaps.
@@RB-xv4si she is a strong rider and good TT, wtf let her go in first place? Also why let a gap of 10 minutes then not police it at front. With this distance race and smaller teams they should never ever have left a gap more than 3 to 5 minutes, madness or complete lack of respect for other riders, and they got burned, deservedly so. Congrats to the winner, who dares wins.
Chris, There is really only one story, "Kiesenhofer" She attacks from the gun, spends the whole race away, Attacks the break and time trials to the gold medal in epic fashion. She rode the race of a lifetime and hopefully will enjoy it the rest of her life. As for the Dutch "learn to count to five and ride close enough to the front of the race to count the riders as they are caught. Maybe Kiesenhofer can tutor them in math.
Dont blame this result on lack of radios. If the Dutch team can’t keep count on the breakaway in this small peloton, they don’t deserve gold any of them.
No Chris, you are wrong and this race proves why. Race radios should not be allowed as this allows uncertainty in the field and allow heroic efforts to succeed, which is what fans want to see.
One of the greatest performances and victories, not only in cycling but in Olympics history. Forget the Dutch and forget your radios. Give credit to Anna because she planned her attack, executed it perfectly and deserves nothing but respect for her success.
Very disappointing to see that all cameras were focus on the Dutch Team and not the winner. After the race, the Dutch Team was only few feet away from the winner, discussing what has gone wrong. They didn't congratulate Kiesenhofer.
As far as I know the Olympics have never had radios. I hope they never do. Let the race come down to exactly what it is supposed to be the best rider on the day wins. It would unfair to have radios when you have teams with 4 and some teams with only 1in the team. van vluettenn an the rest of her team have no one else to blame but themselves. By not paying attention to what is happening during the whole race and being that confident that one of them was going to win. I think it was great that Kiesenhoffer won. Beat them all with shear determination instead of team tactics.
No Chris you know how it is to race with out radios, it makes you pay attention to what is going on and not fall asleep back in the peloton. I appreciate small things like that because it gives riders from lesser teams opportunities like yesterday, love it when the underdog wins.
@@LD-bv1pm And now YOU are making excuses for her winning. It's as pathetic as saying "There's no way she would've won, if the Dutch rider had been faster than her!"
I wanted VanVleuten to win today; she was soloing to an almost certain gold medal when she had that sickening crash in Brazil 2016. There aren't words for what Keisenhoffer pulled off today though. Yes the Dutch team screwed it up and yes, some of that probably wasn't really their fault. With that said, Keisenhoffer rode 137k off the front, ahead of a peloton containing some of the most dominant professional cyclists in history (who were competing for an Olympic gold medal) and she managed to cross the line first. She rode the last 41k solo and finished over a minute ahead of VanVleuten. That was a huge, extraordinary ride. Nobody will ever forget it.
It is lousy to shift blame to lack of radio or time gap communication. At one point. Van vluten asked the cameraman and was told the time gap was 5 minutes, and was made it clear to her that was the gap to the leader, not to the peloton behind her. And what made her think she pulled a 5 minute gap after her individual attack?
The butterfly effect was that there weren't any Dutch riders at the front of the race when the break went away. You remember who goes up the road when you see it happen, especially since Kiesenhofer was the first rider to attack. There were plenty of riders in the peloton who knew there were three riders up the road in the final including Vos. The riders make the race. Keisenhofer had a plan, executed the plan, and had the legs to make it work. She is the Gold Medalist!
when you are in a peloton, you don’t usually see who went up the road or how many riders went up the road, because even being a few riders back, it tough to see what is going on off the front. Just like there were riders who knew, there were riders who didn’t know.
@@CarbonRider1 Awareness is a part of racing. If you want to know who pinged off the front then, it would be important to be in position to know who has gone up the road. Not having radios brings parity to the race.
@@pinquisitor9552 she also knew 3 km before the finish. Belgian Lotte Kopecky (finished 4th) knew. She rode with her in Belgian Team Lotto Soudal. She wondered during the race why the dutch, the americans and the italians didn’t worked to reduce the distance with the Head Group. I think the problem with the dutch team was also too only captains and no domestiques.
Mate, she is well known for good results and was Top 15 in European championships. Ignoring her tells me the Dutch are too ignorant to acknowledge her. Living in NL, I even wanna go further and say common sense isn’t their strength.
Correct, since when would a gold medal be accidental. You win because you read the race and all the moves right like Carapaz did. The Dutch girls lost because they were frigging around at the back of the race for so long they had no clue anymore what had happened at the front. And you decide to not pay attention in the Olympic road race?! A fully deserved loss bred of arrogance.
blaming this fiasco on no radios is pathetic, the arrogance of the Dutch was the reason they lost,, the raised arms for silver was sweet tho,,,, uhhhh not. lol
How would radios have made this fair when there were 27 ‘teams’ (if I didn’t miscount) with just a single rider? And only 5 with 4. Kiesenhofer doesn’t even have a coach so it only would have given the Dutch an even greater advantage than they already had. It’s the Olympics, the dynamics are different. If road races only work in teams with radios now try to have it changed to a team event or scratch it altogether.
“race radio” is the race broadcast, commissar…etc. However, in pro races, riders are turned into their team radio. Being that she was off the front, race radio or a team radio wouldn’t have done much good other than to know the gap back to the chase group.
@@farmboyjude1078 yes 100%! I yearn for more old fashioned racing it would bring an element of surprise as opposed the today's mathematical cold calculus races.
I actually like that there are no rsce radios. It requires something more from the riders and leads to upsets like this one. Of course that's just me second guessing from the comfort of my Chesterfield.
I agree, Chris is wrong as there were plenty of riders who knew there was another rider up the road. They did not pay attention, I think no radios makes the race more entertaining actually
I agree. It was a pure effort in the spirit of the games. Perhaps we would have better racing in the grand tours if radios were banned with 50k to go ?
Indeed. In fact, why not have it with no signboards and no communication devices allowed in the team cars? (cars could still provide mechanical, water, and first aid, obviously). That way they'd have to actually race the entire course! I'd watch that.
@@gregoryschmidt1233 Yes - frankly road racing is boring - it is not clear often who are actually riding to try to win and who are just out for a days cycle
I want to add that this is also not a team race. Each rider needs to qualify individually, so some countries have 4 riders+ qualified and some (Austria) -- only one. Having radios will put smaller teams at even bigger disadvantage.
It was amazing and we should pay the highest respect to her for what she achieved instead of just talking about the Dutch. She was better than all the other riders on the day.
@@jonoharper4729 Also did you not see the race or listen to Chris? The German team blew 3 of their 4 members trying to contain the break. "rely on only the Dutch to work" Remind me again when the Dutch team did any work to help that German team?
@@jonoharper4729 FWIW Anna is an ex-pro rider by choice. She could have a pro contract if she wanted. She'd rather continue her work in mathematics though. A couple teams did try to contain the break but they worked so hard they blew up. Anna was simply too fast to reel in with any reasonable amount of effort after the break was handed 10+ minutes so early. 2/3 into the race, van Vueten who was the favorite to win, attacked off the front of the peloton by herself and barely put a dent into Anna's lead over 20km.
The Netherlands men’s football squad are notorious for infighting and internal strife. When they arrive at a major tournament in a state of harmony and togetherness, it’s thought remarkable enough to be a major talking point in the UK media. Seem to be part of the Dutch character.
Epic Olympic Gold. Everyone is expecting the seasoned pro favourites to sweep the podium, and an "amatuer" with a massive desire to win puts out a superhuman effort to win. Fabulous outcome.
Both Kopecky (Belgium) and Vos (The Netherlands) stated that they knew Keisenhofer was still ahead (this is why Kopecky didn't celebrate as she knew she was fourth instead of third). Only the Dutch team can be blamed here: too many ego's and poor communication among them.
Totally agree! No radios makes races more interesting and surprising. The Dutch were arrogant and overconfident. Very glad to see a non professsional rider win the race and smash the Dutch pride! Moreover, the Dutch did not congratulate her afterwards....so egregious and poor attitude.
You gotta race the race you’re in, not the one you want. I adore Annemeik VV but it wasn’t her day-Anna Kiesenhofer won fair amd square..and definitively at that. There’s no question who was the superior rider on the day…as for Race radios, i get your point about safety warnings but imo the racing is more interesting and challenging without. Merckx and Hinault didn’t need ‘em. Id like to see the TDF without the radio ‘crutch’ 😀
You already have an unfair advantage with unequal team sizes. Why give the bigger teams another advantage with race radios and in-race strategies called it by the DS? Sure you could have a common race radio for all participants calling out time gaps and road dangerous, but the latter can be solved road side and the former by (better) motos. And if your falling back to your car to talk to the DS (as the Dutch did) you should have a better idea of the race in front.
The Austrian lady won 👍😎 .... all I saw was a lady going at it hard with 110% effort and a classy effort. The Dutch team were over-confident, self-absorbed and communicating in-effectively .... they got what they deserved. Did not see any congratulations towards the Austrian lady going on from them before the podium ceremony..... very disappointing sportsmanship.
with all due respect.. the dutch ladies are great humble sportswoman who had a miscommunication. They thought they had the gold medal until after the finish line so it's normal to forget etiquette after such a blast in the face. they aren't arrogant by any means.
I fully agree with that, they are not arrogant prima donnas, but incredibly hardworking, perfectionistic, talented and modest women. van Vleuten really deserved to win after that horrible crash in winning position in Rio 5 years ago, and the way she has come back since. And it must have been a terrible shock for her at the finish line Two days later she easily wins the time trial, she is really is the best rider of them all at the moment with a great mentality. Really bad sports to knock her Neil.
It's better to do it later, which she did, and mean it, than do it when you are not ready for it, and when your heart is not in it There are no 'shoulds' when it comes to emotions.
My thought is that there ought not to be radios for the Olympics, given that the teams do not all have the same number of riders. Given that Kiesenhofer had no teammates she would have been unfairly disadvantaged if radios were allowed, precisely because it would have helped the Dutch to work better together as a team. It makes for a different kind of racing where the individuals need to work it out themselves and earn their medal, which Kiesenhofer did brilliantly.
This is exactly the point. In World Tour events team numbers are equal, Team radio (as opposed to Race Radio, from the commissars) does remove uncertainty and strategy decisions from the athletes, already under pressure at the stress points of a race, but there is no material advantage of Team A over Team B (unless we start debating smarter DS’s!). However, in the olympics team numbers vary from lots to the one. You don’t have a domestique to ‘put on the front’ if you are in a team of one. To allow a team of four or more the added advantage of ‘always on coaching’ from team radio would be a crazy skewing of the race in favour of the bigger teams and against the ethos of the best rider on the day. It is not a billed as a team event, no medals for the squad, the Dutch didn’t ride as a team and didn’t win, individually maybe stronger but individually definitely not smarter.
It wasn't an officials fault, other riders knew another rider was up the road....... the Dutch were arrogant and didn't pay attention. They were not paying attention to who went up the road because they messed it up...... not someone else
I agree. How often do people race with race radio? It's surely a basic skill to figure out a communication plan that doesn't rely on chance outside elements, and to keep track of other riders. They still had their team cars too. Race radio deskills riders and turns them into pedalling machines.
Yep, radios shouldn't be allowed, and I don't think team cars should be either. Maybe let a few cars for mechanics or wheels, but let it be a race between riders. You know the route and distance, be the 1st one to finish.
In an interview, this is what she said, "I’m not the kind of cyclist who is only pushing the pedals; I’m also the mastermind behind my performance,... On paper, I’m an amateur, but cycling takes up a lot of space in my life. I don’t earn money… I mean not a lot, my income is like a normal job, but in my head cycling takes up a huge space. For the last one-and-a-half years, I was completely focused on today," she said. "I sacrificed everything for today, for getting a good result. In my mind, a good result might have been 25th, and I was just sacrificing everything for 25th, so now to get the win, it’s such an incredible reward."
lol that is not a good idea.... it is a team sport after all. I really dont think most people in the comment section follow cycling besides when the TdF or the olympics come around. Also people are only talking about team radios whereas people forget that the riders on the world tour teams get supplied with state of the art bikes/equipment from their trade teams unlike riders from some of the smaller countries at the olympics...... which on the face of it is also quiet unfair. Why not talk about that also then.
hmm London 2012 - Dutch win - no radio, no problem Rio 2016 - Dutch win - no radio, no problem Tokyo 2021 - Non-Dutch Amateur win - no radio, omg we had no informations...
I love having no race radios. Kaisenhoffer is rewarded for her efforts, the Dutch team are punished for underestimating the break. Maybe next time pay more attention to who goes up the road.
I kinda agree, but would say just respect all riders in the race. I don't think any of the riders, including the winner, were particularly well known or expected to do well. Yes, the winner is the reigning Austrian Time Trial Champion apparently, but she doesn't have a contract for a pro team which I think shows why even she wasn't expected to last the distance. Hats off to her for proving them wrong!!!
9:05 that's just what they are saying as an excuse, they were given the time gaps, it was their own fault for thinking they had caught the leading rider for no reason, it should have been obvious to them. Imagine if at the mens race Van Aert complaining and blaming 2nd place on not knowing that Carapaz was in front of McNulty, it's absurd lol
Thanks Chris. I watched this race and it was peculiar. There is no excuse for the Dutch team claiming as they did post race that they miscalculated the number of riders. There is even less excuse for the arrogance of the Dutch team post race where none of them congratulated the winner and instead they all ignored her - even on the podium. Not cool.
Dutch showing true colors in the poor sportsmanship. Is it a cultural thing there? Is it as it appears, arrogant asses wondering how this person could possibly have the nerve to upset them
A rare disagreement with you, Chris. I think the lack of a radio made this very dramatic. Just like the old days when a rider could get “lost” up the road.
Agree!..I think today's riders are "lost " up the road, on the road, and behind the road without radios..It would be good to give them time gaps and emergency/road info, but all these radioed riders today are robots..Attack!! Close the gap!! Drop back now and get water!!..You won!!... You lost!!...No more robots in the peloton.
This was the best discussion on Austria and Kiesenhofer's victory I found on youtube...with pictures! I think it's great that the "unexpected" happens in the Olympics. It is supposed to be amateurs winning, through sheer grit and determination, not sponsorships and tactics. It probably helped that Kisenhofer was actually the sole Austrian, if that sole Austrian has the stamina and will power to win.
Radioless racing makes breakaways more uncertain and dangerous, thus more entertaining for viewers. It's akin to watching football being played without the offside rule. Anything can happen. Even more respect for past titans like Merxx who raced in a radioless era.
I also really enjoy the fact of no radios, but you cant compare it to football with no offside rule imo. It would probably be interesting to watch for a few games but it'd get really messy afterwards
Eddy Merckx and the like rode in a radioless era, but not informationless. Everybody involved from DS, moto, riders etc. knew how to get the information to where it was needed. The information was not as up to date or complete as with radio but this was accepted and accounted for by the teams. This system was not foolproof, Robert Millar and stolen Vuelta for example. But today, the art and technique of racing without radio is long lost in the top peloton and for the Olympics to try and impose it is as ridiculous as getting the riders to use 5-speed steel-framed bikes. I believe this will be the last Olympics without race radio and thank goodness for that, The race was something of a farce without radio.
@@colinmccormack1728 Radios is not used to this day in some national and definitely the World Championship races. It gives countries with a full team an insane advantage if they can micromanage breaks and call up reinforcements at the press of a button or get a team mate up the road to stop and wait for their leader while other countries can't because they're the sole representative.
IT HAPPENED TO BELGIUM THE OTHER DAY, NOW HAPPENED TO THE NEHTERLANDS... THEY WERE SO RELAXED WHILE THE BREAKAWAY WAS 10 MINUTES AHEAD. THEY WERE RIDING ANOTHER RACE, TOTALLY BEAUTIFUL KNUCKLE HEADS... GOLD WELL DESERVED BY THE AUSTRIAN.🏅🏅🏅 KUDOS FOR YOU CHRIS.
It's a different scenario with the men's race. When Carapaz attacked, pretty much everyone in the group was without a team mate. And they were all looking at WVA to do the chasing, since he was the strongest.. They didn't want to do too much for him and then WVA will outsprint them to the line. WVA of cos will not want to chase and pull all of them to the line and not have enuf legs to sprint... so this played well into the breakaway. Of cos, Carapaz still need have the legs to finish it off...
Problem with the Dutch is that they have 4 riders that all can/want to win and so you don't have any helpers! Also most other riders DID know there was still a rider up the road, that's why Kopecky wasn't cheering when she came over the line!
The Dutch riders were arrogant, dissed a breakaway with nobodies and went downhill after that. Didn't even congratulate the winner, standing with her bike less than 20 ft away.
Try see if you can find the moment, where Keisenhofer took off, when the race was "released". A Dutch rider (don't remember which) just looked at her, and you could almost see, that she was thinking: "What a noob!". This olympic gold medal is one of the most satisfying for a long time. Especially when I learned that Keisenhofer is an amateur in the words best meaning, with no contract, no trainer etc. And an "ordinary" job as a math professor at a Swizz university.
Yep, all-time hall of shame moment of bad sportsmanship by the faves who got embarrassed and schooled. Then the b.s. excuses start flowing to explain their knuckle-headed shit-show. But can't congratulate the winner at the end? Karma was served.
I disagree, Chris. I love that race radios weren't allowed in the olympics. The winner didn't sneak in a win nor did she use any underhanded techniques to roll to the victory. It was pure grit and effort. Not knowing that there's another rider in front is the Dutch team's fault. This race is an amazing example of how removing the race radio results in a more dramatic race. This is an amazing win for Kiesenhofer. She dared to go on the break and put the effort.
The problem is that it’s an important race in terms of exposing the sport to a global audience, that has a unique rule. Either the UCI needs to introduce more radio-less races, or you need them at Olympics, otherwise you aren’t allowing riders to practice without radios
@@Seamalicous The world championships are raced without radios for similar reasons to the Olympics. Teams that can send a full team get a huge advantage from radio communications. They can send a rider up the road to force other riders to chase and manage the distance perfectly so the bird rider doesn't waste energy. They can call up their reinforcements in an instant if an attack goes away. Countries with a single rider do not get that advantage. Thats why radios shouldn't be in road cycling events with individualistic results. (Championships/Olympics).
Chris, you and I wrote a book called “READING THE RACE”. We need to add another chapter: COUNT THE RIDERS. Or maybe “Pay Attention”. Lost in all of this, though, is why Vos was able to tell reporters after the race that she knew how many and who was off the front, but she wasn’t able to tell her own teammates.
Chris, your "pull my hair out" comment was fun. I really enjoy your commentary. I was checking throughout the day to see if you would comment on the women's race I wish the Dutch women would have shown better sportsmanship at the end and congratulated Anna. I am ordering the Butterfly Effect jersey.
dutch under-estimated the break-away they knew there were three but they don't know one rider can pedal that bike nonstop like they are ... congrats to KAISENHOFER
The race was fun to watch and full of tension, was not aware that they didn’t know about the lone leader. Congratulations to the Austrian for winning and congratulations on reaching 40k subscribers, thank you for your insights and keep doing what you’re doing.
Anna Kiesenhofer! I just love it when a nobody wins. All the more impressive that she had no teammates in the race. Now they will all know her name. Anna Kiesenhofer! Math/Cycling genius.
well, just want to add, that Anna Kiesenhofer won the Austrian time trial masters several times, and finished 5th at the European time trial masters in 2019. so - at least in Austria - she isn't a nobody ;-)
what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... are we just going to ignore that. It was just a poor look for women's cycling overall. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco. I really dont think most people in the comment section follow cycling besides when the TdF or the olympics come around. Also people are only talking about team radios whereas people forget that the riders on the world tour teams get supplied with state of the art bikes/equipment from their trade teams unlike riders from some of the smaller countries at the olympics...... which on the face of it is also quiet unfair. Why just stop at radios then.....
really enjoyed your professional summary of the race Chris. i get the impression from the dutch tactics that not only were they caught out without radio information, but they started the race with the assumption that Gold was theirs as a given and probably silver and bronze also. a lesson for life, assume nothing and always respect the opponent.
Totally disagree about race radios. Ruins racing. Frankly, I don't see why riders should get any information about what's happening in front or behind. Doesn't happen in athletics (marathon, triathlon) (as far as I know).
in the olympics where there is no team radio, no communication technology involve, this is real bike racing and we can see all fields level no big budget talking, maybe UCi will do this in tour de france
Made me laugh! Congrats Kiesenhofer! Did anyone current riders ever ask how on earth we raced waaaaaay back in my day (1980s) without team radios? We kept our eyes and ears open and made sure we were coordinated! The winner had guts, passion, and moxy! I've said for a while that radios on riders should be eliminated because it removes a critical piece of racing. Best race I've seen in recent memory!
Old is not always gold......lol what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... are we just going to ignore that. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco. Also people are only talking about team radios whereas people forget that the riders on the world tour teams get supplied with state of the art bikes/equipment from their trade teams unlike riders from some of the smaller countries at the olympics ...... which on the face of it is also quiet unfair.
Great sportsmanship from the super elite Dutch team . Do they need radios and ds contact to say congratulations to the winner . In the olympics as well . Smashed by an amateur 👍👍👍👍😂
Rolled over @2am MtTime took a look and thought oh well One of the Dutchies is going to win Gold in a sprint, fell back to sleep @30k to go and Low n Behold was amazed, The Winner rode from the gun to the finish...Incredible!!
Congratulations to Anna Kiesenhofer for her gold win. Austria’s first cycling gold in 125 years. And a brilliant women too. I wonder how many students will be looking her up and be in awe.
I felt like the Dutchies jacking around in the back of the peloton when the break happened was a big contributor. Did they not account for who was in the break at the beginning?
It wasn't just at the start of the race, and then when van Vlueten attacked pinning her teammates in a non helping role in the peleton it just assumed the whole thing up, I don't think she gave a damn about her team just herself. To be fair though non of the riders that went up the road were expected to do anything. The Austrian that won doesn't even have a contract with a pro team so was probably just as unknown to the so called stars. Yes, she is the reigning Austrian Time Trial national champion, but I doubt everyone had even heard of her. They have now!!!
@@mattpotter8725 The Austrian was literally 18th place in 2020 time trial world champs just 2min30 sec behind the winner and has some other good results, she also had a contract but didn't like travelling with a team and likes her job at the university. The other riders and teams should know a top 20 worldwide time trial rider.
@@Mgoblagulkablong All this may be true, but just because you are a good time triallist doesn't necessarily make you a threat in a single stage race. You said yourself as well that she was 18th in last year's world champs at the time trial, I doubt that would have really got her noticed by the top riders. Don't get me wrong I think they should have seen her as a threat, but give anyone going to the Olympics a 10 minutes lead and you're asking for trouble. As I said before I think it was a lack of teamwork and respect inside the Dutch team, a lack of respect from them for other teams in the race, complacency, and finally arrogance. Because this is a one off race and they are the superstars they probably don't see that they have to follow anyone's plan, follow orders, and so what happened happened.
All this talk about lack of radios, miscommunication, misunderstanding, excuses, excuses. Does no one realize the *massive* effort it took for Anna Kiesenhofer to go solo for 41km and still have the lead at the end? Let's give credit where it's due. She won by doing what the Dutch team never imagined would be possible for a solo rider. That's what true champions do. Her grit and determination will become legendary.
Yes no one is denying or disputing with what you said BUT what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... are we just going to ignore that. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco. I really dont think most people in the comment section follow cycling besides when the TdF or the olympics come around. There are always nuances to things ....
well i almost always root for the underdog. this one made me laugh my guts out. very very happy for the winner!!. a rare disagreement with you over race radios. that gives an unfair edge to countries with larger teams. fine in a major tour when all teams have the same number of riders. re: the road gap... it should have been in a race manual or seen by coaches checking out the course. probably yes a motorbike with time check to the head of the course should be done. but i am delighted they did not.
Radio Nowhere…Race was basically a elongated time trial. Dutch team played games not paying attention. As you said the other day, be prepared , stay up front, pay attention, just don’t wait for your Director to say when to go over the radio. Knuckleheads. Congrats Anna
@@ChrisHornerCycling Maybe not the case, but it seemed from the video that you thought the lack of radios was a more of an excuse. It seems to have revealed the lack of rider racing skill by by the Dutch team. If it is all about strength they can have the race on Zwift.
I disagree about allowing radios. Teams with stacks of riders get a huge advantage from the information. Not allowing radios levels the logistical playing field for countries that can only send a single rider. The Olympics are, in the end, individual prize events so the race rules fit IMO. The World Championships don't allow radios either for similar reasons and the Dutch dominate that event, so they SHOULD be used to it by now and know how to get information in other ways. FWIW Some of the dutch riders (Vos) DID know there was another rider up the road well before it was too late but they failed to communicate and get together as a team. We should not underestimate Anna though. Anna Kiesenhofer considers herself a TT specialist, but she is not a single faceted rider. She is actually an incredible raw physical talent that has shown flashes of racing brilliance in stage and single day road races in the last few years. She however does not like riding in the Peloton and dislikes the control over her life exerted by the coaches and staff of a pro team. So, she chose to quit a pro contract after 2017 and go back to her doctorate program in mathematics all while continuing to train herself at a world-tour level. She continued to dominate the Austrian TT national championships and do reasonably well in some European road races. At the start of this race, she took the 1 in 500 shot that best fit her skills as a rider and it paid off. This to me is the purest form of road cycle racing you could ask for. I love this story. For once a road racer took that one tiny chance to win a race and WENT for it instead of just hiding in the peloton all day and accepting their fate at the end. Fantastic breakdown of the race and tactics as always Chris!
Yes, they did already strange things in the past like attacking from Peloton when they had a (good) rider in the leading group of three. They only could afford it due to their strength. They really deserve to lose once to learn to do better. But that it was in this important race is sad for them and certainly they have an outstanding team. However, you also wonder why the rest of the pack could not organise a proper chase. Except the teammates of the riders in front everybody should be interested in catching them or force the Dutch ladies to contribute.
@@florianmeier3186 if you're a weaker rider/team, there's no reason to chase because if you do, the Dutch will simply beat you. If you want to win, you play chicken with them, make them do more work. That's the only way you have a chance of winning. You have to level the playing field a bit by making the favorites work. And why not? You have nothing to lose. If you help, you're just handing the race to the favorites. These types of dilemmas are what separate cycling from all the other endurance sports.
@@S0ulinth3machin3 Yes, true, but if so, everybody should wave them to the front and do just nothing or attack whenever they are at the end and cooperate against them to brake away and let them close the gap. Just riding half power does not make you win either. The others are still a vast majority and could play some tactics instead of just waiting, which is the worst choice. It seems some tried to do something, but it does not look very organised. And at some point it becomes clear that it will be close that the solo riders in front have success and then the Peleton should chase them down whatever it takes, because in the Olympics, it does not matter anymore if the podium went through.
I am not a Pro racer, and never have been. but I Never did have radio's when I did race. They blew it. The field just was not paying attention. The winner deserved the win. Lets give her all the credit she deserves, and how she WON, and not lay blame on why somebody else did not win.
@@LordAus123 tactics are part of road racing, if you blow your chances by sitting back and waiting for others to do the work, are you the best? I think not.
Kiesenhoffer didn’t want to inconvenience the team car by having them come up to the breakaway; she knew was strong enough to drop back for food and still win easily 😂
@MaxKroll It could be that she dropped back because she was testing the legs of her breakaway companions. Then if she could catch up easily, she could drop them easily. Which she did, and quickly put 2 1/2 minutes into them.
After the Van Vluten wreck and after she got back to the peloton was when the Dutch started making solo attacks. At that point, if i am not mistaken, the three breakaway riders were still together. IF the peloton were not getting time gaps from the race officials, what made them think that they were close enough to the 3 person breakaway to jump across solo ? If there were NO chalkboard time gaps how did they have ANY idea, one way or another, as to how to close the gap. I am NOT buying the misinformation BS. The only time I buy the misinformation excuse is within 10 K when they finally catch the 2 breakaway riders. I think at that point they truly believed that they had brought it all back together. But that, in no way, explains the idiocy and arrogance displayed in the first 100K.
I watched the entire TV recording again. In the peleton you can see the stars riding relaxed with her arms stretched out. They think of a good, cozy day and they will sprint for the places in the last few kilometers. This race shows exactly the difference between the controlled professional races and the Olympics. Professional racing is all about tactics and a lot of money. All nations and their drivers have the same chances here. Thanks to the German driver who woke the peleton from its sleep after an hour. I think of Mark Cavendish’s meeting with Eddy Merckx after winning 35 stages in the Tour de France. Yes, says Eddy Merckx, that’s nice. But I won the stages alone without radios or tactics. I would like to thank the three drivers, Omer Shapira from Israel, Anna Plichta from Poland and Anna Kiesenhofer from Austria, who made this race worthy oft the Olympics. With the will to win and the mental attitude I would like to compare Anna Kiesenhofer with Eddy Merckx for this race. My respect!
I have hunch that there is a discord amongst the Dutch riders. Everyone knew before the race that no radios are allowed yet they hardly talked to each other. The Dutch quartet should have been in constant communication with each other, discussing strategy, knowing the number of riders in the breakaway. Instead, as we witnessed it, they were in disarray. They did not ride smartly and failed to control the race tempo. Van Vleuten and Van Der Breggen were not aware that there’s one more rider ahead of the 2 riders that got caught. Strangely, Vos was fully aware of what was happening. Vos knew the rider’s count ahead of the peloton. She knew that Van Vleuten was just racing for Silver. The Dutch team should have worked behind Van Der Breggen, the defending Olympic champion. They should have dictated the race being the strongest team on this event.
I find it funny that the one thing that generates significant attention for women’s racing is when they race like amateurs. Why would you think you’re racing for gold when you don’t see the lead car in front of you? Brainless.
@@rkop737 Well, if it wasn't for the Dutch, there wouldn't be a banking system. The Dutch have done many great things. What sector do you work in? Why do you say that?
@@ryand141 Cool about the bank system. I am saying that having lived on three continents in 6 countries, having visited more than 30 countries. Just watch random people using simple things and how they struggle to read their own language. No offence, I love Dutch people but there are funny observation which reflect 100% so much on how this race was lost. Also Ryan, you are saying they built the banking system. Here is where you are referring to a tiny fraction of super smart people and generalise. I know this argument could be used against mine but still I am talking about observations on the broader mass.
Reminds me of pro golfers who play on extra-wide, super-manicured fairways every week. They become accustomed to being able to spray their booming drives left and right, and still get on the green in 2. I'm not saying that radios shouldn't be a part of the Olympics, but I think we see how reliant the top cyclists have become on being fed information by someone else, rather than keep themselves in touch with how a race is developing.
I somewhat agree with your take on radio but what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... that was one of the major problems. It was just a poor look for women's cycling overall. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco.
I firmly believe Kiesenhoffer win fully represents the spirit of Olympic games: higher, fasterm stronger no matter you are pro or amateur. To me this is the greatest triumph of amateurs over professional in many decades of world sports history. Its like watching your neighbor kid who practice tennis for fun to actually win an Olympic final against Novak Djokovic.
Hey Chris, You trotted out the old adage that radios improve safety in the peloton to reduce accidents. Didn't you say the opposite during the carnage of the Tour that radios were partly responsible as directors were constantly yelling at their teams to move to the front cramming too many riders onto too little road space?
that's not because of radios though. That situation would still happen without radios. All the team directors would give the orders before the race: "have our GC guy at the front in the last 50k" or "have our sprinter at the front in the last 50k" and it'd be the same situation, all the teams trying to be at the front all at the same time. With or without the radios. There's no solution to that problem, the root problem is that the TdF is more important than all the other races combined. Teams are riding for sponsorships, riders are riding for contracts, so much pressure all to perform all at the same time. The result is: crashes. And it will never end, not as long as the TdF is that important. BTW, I support the elimination of radios, the racing is more interesting. Just saying that the elimination of radios would not decrease TdF carnage.
‘Knucklehead’ was originally a word for an engine part, ‘knokkelkop’ is the correct Dutch translation for that. But ‘knucklehead’ as used by Chris, was introduced by the US Army in WW2, a name of a fictional character who behaved stupidly. The appropriate Dutch translation of that would be ‘domoor’ or ‘domkop’ (literally ‘dumb ear’ or ‘dumb head’).
To be fair, only the danish rider congratulated her because they didn't know she had won. She did it all by herself. Not on a professional team, no Austrian team mates, no coach and probably no family supporting her in Tokyo. I wouldn't be surprised if she had to buy her own bike and be her own mechanic. This is what the Olympics is meant to be and what it used to be. And by the way. Winning the gold was less of an achievement than her doctorate in mathematics. Chapeau Anna.
the know, there is a Motorbike on the Road that has a digital sign that shows the gaps to see for every one. They dident even recognise that the LEAD CAR that stays with the leader wa smissing.
@@Kullioking The dutch knew there were 3 riders up the road back at 50km. What they didn't realize is that one of the riders was actually strong enough to actually attack off that group and continue to keep pace with the peloton while they fucked around either spinning in the back of the peloton or attacking each other. Massive disrespect to the break by the Dutch, and then the cherry on top was failing to count to 3 when they finally caught the 2 other leaders with only a few KM to go. But, even if they had noticed, by then it was too late. They had zero chance to run down Anna with 8km to go and her still several minutes ahead.
Kudos to Keisenhoffer who deserved the GOLD with a fabulous effort. Sham on the Dutch for ignoring Keisenhoffer who was just feet away from the Dutch after the finish line. Congratulations were in order and the Dutch failed basic sportsmanship.
I absolutely loved watching both races without them having communication devices. It made for such better racing in my opinion. I agree with others here as well, that as a fan, watching teams work together to figure out whats what in a race compared to being fed information makes for a whole lot of better racing!
Don’t you think that race radios have caused riders to lose critical race skills Chris? It seems like the professional riders needed to be radio controlled as they couldn’t think for themselves. Do you think Eddie Merckx would have made this mistake? The men in the race yesterday certainly didn’t. Chapeaux to Anna Kiesenhofer. What a brilliant and gutsy win 🏆
gotta disagree Chris,with race radios . this is exactly why they should not allow them in races. way more exiting and who doesn't love a bit of drama. :) the racing will also be faster because of it .
Disagree. The radios had little to do with it. The big issue was that the blackboard moto apparently didn’t provide good time gap info. In future races where this won’t be an issue, the radios won’t matter.
I was so happy for Anna from Austria who doesn’t even have a coach. She worked all this out for herself. What a champion.
She'll be famous and enjoying this forever.:)
I think her car was driven by amateurs that didn't know they could have pulled up to the break for her feed. I say lose the radios all across racing, makes for more interesting viewing & smarter racers (eventually)
Truely a wonderful result. I'm sure she's spent thousands of hours riding solo before work and eating a simple vegetarian/vegan/mucusless diet to be prepared for this moment.
@@GeekonaBike I agree / no radios, better racing.
No coach, no special funding, just determination and a PhD in maths 😁👍🏻
I think a lot of media are undermining Kaisenhoffer 's win, chalking it up to lack of radios and the Dutch. But she had to have the legs to take advantage of those factors. As you say, she 100% earned and deserved it.
at the end of the day she had the legs to go into the break at KM 0 and distance herself from the polish & israeli competitor, fully deserved win
There are a lot of riders with the legs to make that move work when given a leash that long. But she’ll never be given anywhere close to that gap again. I’m curious to see who comes rushing in to sign her. The reason she lost her contract several years ago (and why she went off the front today) is because she cannot ride in a pack and DNF’d a bunch of mass start races. I predict she won’t be signed and maybe not even interested in any offers presented to her. She’s best off sticking to TT’s.
She 100% deserves gold that's out of the question but when you see that the timegap was just over 1minut at the finish you know that with propper communication this would not have happened. Propper communication can also be clear signs with the gaps.
@@RB-xv4si she is a strong rider and good TT, wtf let her go in first place? Also why let a gap of 10 minutes then not police it at front. With this distance race and smaller teams they should never ever have left a gap more than 3 to 5 minutes, madness or complete lack of respect for other riders, and they got burned, deservedly so. Congrats to the winner, who dares wins.
She servers gold for sure. One girl team solo against a super team of four? Yeah the super team were knuckleheads.
Chris, There is really only one story, "Kiesenhofer" She attacks from the gun, spends the whole race away, Attacks the break and time trials to the gold medal in epic fashion. She rode the race of a lifetime and hopefully will enjoy it the rest of her life. As for the Dutch "learn to count to five and ride close enough to the front of the race to count the riders as they are caught. Maybe Kiesenhofer can tutor them in math.
Absolutely... 👍
ah ha ha ha ha ha !
A great ride!
Totally agree
Totally agree!!!
Dont blame this result on lack of radios. If the Dutch team can’t keep count on the breakaway in this small peloton, they don’t deserve gold any of them.
No Chris, you are wrong and this race proves why. Race radios should not be allowed as this allows uncertainty in the field and allow heroic efforts to succeed, which is what fans want to see.
I concur.
Agreed
exactly right. people derserve a race, not race tactics.
Race radio is simply maintaining mediocrity. Glad Olympic and World Champion bans them.
100% agree! No radios is much more interesting and much more on the riders.
One of the greatest performances and victories, not only in cycling but in Olympics history.
Forget the Dutch and forget your radios.
Give credit to Anna because she planned her attack, executed it perfectly and deserves nothing but respect for her success.
Very disappointing to see that all cameras were focus on the Dutch Team and not the winner. After the race, the Dutch Team was only few feet away from the winner, discussing what has gone wrong. They didn't congratulate Kiesenhofer.
As far as I know the Olympics have never had radios. I hope they never do. Let the race come down to exactly what it is supposed to be the best rider on the day wins. It would unfair to have radios when you have teams with 4 and some teams with only 1in the team.
van vluettenn an the rest of her team have no one else to blame but themselves. By not paying attention to what is happening during the whole race and being that confident that one of them was going to win.
I think it was great that Kiesenhoffer won. Beat them all with shear determination instead of team tactics.
Professional bicycle riders have lost their ability to observe and strategize. They are more akin to radio-controlled robots.
No Chris you know how it is to race with out radios, it makes you pay attention to what is going on and not fall asleep back in the peloton. I appreciate small things like that because it gives riders from lesser teams opportunities like yesterday, love it when the underdog wins.
Chris no on the radios. I love that she won. What courage and belief in herself. Bravo. Great Olympic moments.
Aou dont need radios, if you dont recognise that the LEAD CAR that stays with the leader is missing there is no help left for you.
This!
Kiesenhofer won fair and square.. making excuses for the other riders, is plain pathetic.
She did, but there's no way on Earth she'd have won if the Dutch hadn't ridden so stupidly.
@@LD-bv1pm
And now YOU are making excuses for her winning. It's as pathetic as saying "There's no way she would've won, if the Dutch rider had been faster than her!"
@@LarsBreuning But he is right though
@@LD-bv1pm you are right. brains seemed to have influence on the race. better than outsourced brain over a radio:-)
@@LD-bv1pm Here's an idea, maybe Anna was just stronger and smarter than the Dutch on this day. That's why she won.
I wanted VanVleuten to win today; she was soloing to an almost certain gold medal when she had that sickening crash in Brazil 2016. There aren't words for what Keisenhoffer pulled off today though. Yes the Dutch team screwed it up and yes, some of that probably wasn't really their fault. With that said, Keisenhoffer rode 137k off the front, ahead of a peloton containing some of the most dominant professional cyclists in history (who were competing for an Olympic gold medal) and she managed to cross the line first. She rode the last 41k solo and finished over a minute ahead of VanVleuten. That was a huge, extraordinary ride. Nobody will ever forget it.
I would say it was entirely their fault, Dutch riders were on the front when she went.
It was 100% their own fault, sore loser.
It is lousy to shift blame to lack of radio or time gap communication. At one point. Van vluten asked the cameraman and was told the time gap was 5 minutes, and was made it clear to her that was the gap to the leader, not to the peloton behind her. And what made her think she pulled a 5 minute gap after her individual attack?
"Wasn't their fault" hahahahahah
@@rancidsteve9689 nope...it was way worse...one rider was hanging in the back next to a car and others middle or back of peleton
The butterfly effect was that there weren't any Dutch riders at the front of the race when the break went away. You remember who goes up the road when you see it happen, especially since Kiesenhofer was the first rider to attack. There were plenty of riders in the peloton who knew there were three riders up the road in the final including Vos. The riders make the race. Keisenhofer had a plan, executed the plan, and had the legs to make it work. She is the Gold Medalist!
when you are in a peloton, you don’t usually see who went up the road or how many riders went up the road, because even being a few riders back, it tough to see what is going on off the front. Just like there were riders who knew, there were riders who didn’t know.
@@CarbonRider1 Awareness is a part of racing. If you want to know who pinged off the front then, it would be important to be in position to know who has gone up the road. Not having radios brings parity to the race.
@@CarbonRider1 Yah, but Marianne Vos knew, she said:we knew there were three women in the break and we only caught two...
@@pinquisitor9552 she also knew 3 km before the finish. Belgian Lotte Kopecky (finished 4th) knew. She rode with her in Belgian Team Lotto Soudal. She wondered during the race why the dutch, the americans and the italians didn’t worked to reduce the distance with the Head Group. I think the problem with the dutch team was also too only captains and no domestiques.
Mate, she is well known for good results and was Top 15 in European championships. Ignoring her tells me the Dutch are too ignorant to acknowledge her. Living in NL, I even wanna go further and say common sense isn’t their strength.
if you do not know who is up the road for GOLD, you get what you deserve.
Instead of being in the back hanging out like divas
Correct, since when would a gold medal be accidental. You win because you read the race and all the moves right like Carapaz did. The Dutch girls lost because they were frigging around at the back of the race for so long they had no clue anymore what had happened at the front. And you decide to not pay attention in the Olympic road race?! A fully deserved loss bred of arrogance.
@@eterlizzi I agree
@@mjchecksfield914 True
blaming this fiasco on no radios is pathetic, the arrogance of the Dutch was the reason they lost,, the raised arms for silver was sweet tho,,,, uhhhh not. lol
How would radios have made this fair when there were 27 ‘teams’ (if I didn’t miscount) with just a single rider? And only 5 with 4. Kiesenhofer doesn’t even have a coach so it only would have given the Dutch an even greater advantage than they already had. It’s the Olympics, the dynamics are different. If road races only work in teams with radios now try to have it changed to a team event or scratch it altogether.
Wow excellent point. What tactics if you only have 1 rider? Your tactic is basically hold on for dear life!
this kind of racing is more dramatic not like racing with team radio, this is a old school bike racing this is how bike racing would be.
“race radio” is the race broadcast, commissar…etc. However, in pro races, riders are turned into their team radio. Being that she was off the front, race radio or a team radio wouldn’t have done much good other than to know the gap back to the chase group.
@@farmboyjude1078 yes 100%! I yearn for more old fashioned racing it would bring an element of surprise as opposed the today's mathematical cold calculus races.
If you are not riding as a team like the Dutchies it doesn’t matter if they are radios or not. It’s just an excuse now.
I actually like that there are no rsce radios. It requires something more from the riders and leads to upsets like this one. Of course that's just me second guessing from the comfort of my Chesterfield.
Me too mate. I've been saying this for years.
I agree, Chris is wrong as there were plenty of riders who knew there was another rider up the road. They did not pay attention, I think no radios makes the race more entertaining actually
I agree, love that there's no radios
I agree. It was a pure effort in the spirit of the games. Perhaps we would have better racing in the grand tours if radios were banned with 50k to go ?
I agree with you. Chesterfield is a good place to see clearly. 😂🦋👍
Smaller teams and no radios make for fun to watch races.
Exactly.
"Radios? We don' need no steeenkin' race radios!..."
Indeed. In fact, why not have it with no signboards and no communication devices allowed in the team cars? (cars could still provide mechanical, water, and first aid, obviously). That way they'd have to actually race the entire course! I'd watch that.
@@gregoryschmidt1233 Yes - frankly road racing is boring - it is not clear often who are actually riding to try to win and who are just out for a days cycle
I want to add that this is also not a team race. Each rider needs to qualify individually, so some countries have 4 riders+ qualified and some (Austria) -- only one. Having radios will put smaller teams at even bigger disadvantage.
It was amazing and we should pay the highest respect to her for what she achieved instead of just talking about the Dutch. She was better than all the other riders on the day.
Imagine being the oldest rider to win a Grand Tour but everyone only talks about the person who lost.
She doesn't have a team no support self coached and self taught what could be more inspiring to us cyclist who pursue it just as a hobby. I am in awe.
Yep.
Exactly. Bring on more racing like it and do away with teams radios. Then we will see what riders are truelly worthy.
4 Dutch girls all thought they could win and each one making sure they did no work. Not riding as a team but as competitors. They blew it.
@@jonoharper4729 I am just quoting what Marriane Vos said in a post race interview
@@jonoharper4729 Also did you not see the race or listen to Chris? The German team blew 3 of their 4 members trying to contain the break. "rely on only the Dutch to work" Remind me again when the Dutch team did any work to help that German team?
@@jonoharper4729 Strongest team must work hardest in this cases....Cycling rules.
@@jonoharper4729 FWIW Anna is an ex-pro rider by choice. She could have a pro contract if she wanted. She'd rather continue her work in mathematics though. A couple teams did try to contain the break but they worked so hard they blew up. Anna was simply too fast to reel in with any reasonable amount of effort after the break was handed 10+ minutes so early. 2/3 into the race, van Vueten who was the favorite to win, attacked off the front of the peloton by herself and barely put a dent into Anna's lead over 20km.
The Netherlands men’s football squad are notorious for infighting and internal strife. When they arrive at a major tournament in a state of harmony and togetherness, it’s thought remarkable enough to be a major talking point in the UK media. Seem to be part of the Dutch character.
One rider beat five favourites. Think we all know who deserves the win.
Epic Olympic Gold. Everyone is expecting the seasoned pro favourites to sweep the podium, and an "amatuer" with a massive desire to win puts out a superhuman effort to win. Fabulous outcome.
Both Kopecky (Belgium) and Vos (The Netherlands) stated that they knew Keisenhofer was still ahead (this is why Kopecky didn't celebrate as she knew she was fourth instead of third). Only the Dutch team can be blamed here: too many ego's and poor communication among them.
KIEsenhofer [ki:senhofer]. thanks, and cheers from Austria
Sorry Chris, but this is exactly why race radios should NOT be allowed. Great analysis on the other hand.
Couldn't agree with this more. Race radio to warn riders of a hazard - absolutely. Otherwise: PAY ATTENTION GUYS AND GALS!
Agree!
Totally agree! No radios makes races more interesting and surprising. The Dutch were arrogant and overconfident. Very glad to see a non professsional rider win the race and smash the Dutch pride! Moreover, the Dutch did not congratulate her afterwards....so egregious and poor attitude.
You gotta race the race you’re in, not the one you want. I adore Annemeik VV but it wasn’t her day-Anna Kiesenhofer won fair amd square..and definitively at that. There’s no question who was the superior rider on the day…as for Race radios, i get your point about safety warnings but imo the racing is more interesting and challenging without. Merckx and Hinault didn’t need ‘em. Id like to see the TDF without the radio ‘crutch’ 😀
You already have an unfair advantage with unequal team sizes. Why give the bigger teams another advantage with race radios and in-race strategies called it by the DS? Sure you could have a common race radio for all participants calling out time gaps and road dangerous, but the latter can be solved road side and the former by (better) motos. And if your falling back to your car to talk to the DS (as the Dutch did) you should have a better idea of the race in front.
The Austrian lady won 👍😎 .... all I saw was a lady going at it hard with 110% effort and a classy effort. The Dutch team were over-confident, self-absorbed and communicating in-effectively .... they got what they deserved. Did not see any congratulations towards the Austrian lady going on from them before the podium ceremony..... very disappointing sportsmanship.
Yea very few congratulations for the winner right after the race, very poor sporstmanship.
with all due respect.. the dutch ladies are great humble sportswoman who had a miscommunication. They thought they had the gold medal until after the finish line so it's normal to forget etiquette after such a blast in the face. they aren't arrogant by any means.
I fully agree with that, they are not arrogant prima donnas, but incredibly hardworking, perfectionistic, talented and modest women. van Vleuten really deserved to win after that horrible crash in winning position in Rio 5 years ago, and the way she has come back since. And it must have been a terrible shock for her at the finish line Two days later she easily wins the time trial, she is really is the best rider of them all at the moment with a great mentality. Really bad sports to knock her Neil.
@@pieterhilvering sorry, but no matter how disappointed you are, you congratulate the winner. This is what should be taught to kids from day 1.
It's better to do it later, which she did, and mean it, than do it when you are not ready for it, and when your heart is not in it There are no 'shoulds' when it comes to emotions.
My thought is that there ought not to be radios for the Olympics, given that the teams do not all have the same number of riders. Given that Kiesenhofer had no teammates she would have been unfairly disadvantaged if radios were allowed, precisely because it would have helped the Dutch to work better together as a team. It makes for a different kind of racing where the individuals need to work it out themselves and earn their medal, which Kiesenhofer did brilliantly.
This is exactly the point. In World Tour events team numbers are equal, Team radio (as opposed to Race Radio, from the commissars) does remove uncertainty and strategy decisions from the athletes, already under pressure at the stress points of a race, but there is no material advantage of Team A over Team B (unless we start debating smarter DS’s!). However, in the olympics team numbers vary from lots to the one. You don’t have a domestique to ‘put on the front’ if you are in a team of one. To allow a team of four or more the added advantage of ‘always on coaching’ from team radio would be a crazy skewing of the race in favour of the bigger teams and against the ethos of the best rider on the day. It is not a billed as a team event, no medals for the squad, the Dutch didn’t ride as a team and didn’t win, individually maybe stronger but individually definitely not smarter.
Olympia is much better without radio. Anna Kiesenhofer did the right thing and was very strong. Congratulations to Anna and Austria, this is the way!
It wasn't an officials fault, other riders knew another rider was up the road....... the Dutch were arrogant and didn't pay attention. They were not paying attention to who went up the road because they messed it up...... not someone else
Anna and the polish rider were in the Top 20 of last year’s time trial 2 min behind the winner. These weren’t greenhorns you give 10 minutes for free!
I agree. How often do people race with race radio? It's surely a basic skill to figure out a communication plan that doesn't rely on chance outside elements, and to keep track of other riders. They still had their team cars too. Race radio deskills riders and turns them into pedalling machines.
bs
Not arrogant, plain stupidity.
@@TheReactor8 These Dutch Tea Shops are not good for everyone .. 🤣
Pure winner don’t depending on technology. She is a pure winner
It's good to see a race without the radios. Pay attention, ride hard.
Yep, radios shouldn't be allowed, and I don't think team cars should be either. Maybe let a few cars for mechanics or wheels, but let it be a race between riders. You know the route and distance, be the 1st one to finish.
no chalkboard either I suppose
Or keep pedalling and take the lead, so you don:t need to count how many player ahead of you
One person who could not have miscalculated is the Austrian because she has a PHD in mathematics!! - fact
From Oxford University I believe!!!
Cambridge
😂👍
In an interview, this is what she said, "I’m not the kind of cyclist who is only pushing the pedals; I’m also the mastermind behind my performance,... On paper, I’m an amateur, but cycling takes up a lot of space in my life. I don’t earn money… I mean not a lot, my income is like a normal job, but in my head cycling takes up a huge space. For the last one-and-a-half years, I was completely focused on today," she said.
"I sacrificed everything for today, for getting a good result. In my mind, a good result might have been 25th, and I was just sacrificing everything for 25th, so now to get the win, it’s such an incredible reward."
@@JesseMgala INCREDIBLE!!!🙌🏾
I like this. No radios. Perfect.
lol that is not a good idea.... it is a team sport after all. I really dont think most people in the comment section follow cycling besides when the TdF or the olympics come around. Also people are only talking about team radios whereas people forget that the riders on the world tour teams get supplied with state of the art bikes/equipment from their trade teams unlike riders from some of the smaller countries at the olympics...... which on the face of it is also quiet unfair. Why not talk about that also then.
hmm
London 2012 - Dutch win - no radio, no problem
Rio 2016 - Dutch win - no radio, no problem
Tokyo 2021 - Non-Dutch Amateur win - no radio, omg we had no informations...
Kiesenhofer has no pro contract, two degrees a phd and coaches herself, so much kudos for a gutsy win
I love having no race radios. Kaisenhoffer is rewarded for her efforts, the Dutch team are punished for underestimating the break. Maybe next time pay more attention to who goes up the road.
I kinda agree, but would say just respect all riders in the race. I don't think any of the riders, including the winner, were particularly well known or expected to do well. Yes, the winner is the reigning Austrian Time Trial Champion apparently, but she doesn't have a contract for a pro team which I think shows why even she wasn't expected to last the distance. Hats off to her for proving them wrong!!!
Pretty sure same time next week she will have a contract.
@@The_One-Eyed_Undertaker I'm sure she will now!!!
She has a contract. As a college math professor.
Certainly changed the race today. 👍
9:05 that's just what they are saying as an excuse, they were given the time gaps, it was their own fault for thinking they had caught the leading rider for no reason, it should have been obvious to them. Imagine if at the mens race Van Aert complaining and blaming 2nd place on not knowing that Carapaz was in front of McNulty, it's absurd lol
i should have been obvious the moment theye recognise the LEAD CAR that stays with the leader is missing.
If race radios have become such a crutch maybe we need to rethink it
@@brucegelman5582 this is why I believe racing would be more fun WITHOUT radios... Totally changes the tactics.
@@flyingmissles no. Radios actually allow tactics to take place. They just fucked up
@@Kullioking ding, ding, ding... Exactly!
actually this race showed us how a race can look like without radio - it is much more fun to watch than with the radios.
Thanks Chris. I watched this race and it was peculiar. There is no excuse for the Dutch team claiming as they did post race that they miscalculated the number of riders. There is even less excuse for the arrogance of the Dutch team post race where none of them congratulated the winner and instead they all ignored her - even on the podium. Not cool.
Dutch showing true colors in the poor sportsmanship. Is it a cultural thing there? Is it as it appears, arrogant asses wondering how this person could possibly have the nerve to upset them
Awesome Win, great vid, but, we don't need no stinking radio's,,,The Knucklehead Effect!
Well, works for interesting races. 👊
I loved that race radios wasn’t allowed and I loved the austrian win! Congrats and big respect for Keisenhoffer, well deserved Gold medal! 👏👏
KIEsenhofer [ki:senhofer]; but thanks for your appreciative comment, cheers from Austria
As a Dutchman myself, am I allowed to say the words ? The Dutch girls were knuckleheads ! 😂👍🏻
A rare disagreement with you, Chris. I think the lack of a radio made this very dramatic. Just like the old days when a rider could get “lost” up the road.
I agree. Teams need to pay attention without radios. Now they just do as their told
Agree!..I think today's riders are "lost " up the road, on the road, and behind the road without radios..It would be good to give them time gaps and emergency/road info, but all these radioed riders today are robots..Attack!! Close the gap!! Drop back now and get water!!..You won!!... You lost!!...No more robots in the peloton.
I see that point of view. And to be fair I did say that it made for good viewing. 😂🦋
This was the best discussion on Austria and Kiesenhofer's victory I found on youtube...with pictures!
I think it's great that the "unexpected" happens in the Olympics. It is supposed to be amateurs winning, through sheer grit and determination, not sponsorships and tactics. It probably helped that Kisenhofer was actually the sole Austrian, if that sole Austrian has the stamina and will power to win.
Also check out laterne rouge's podcast (also on YT) on this - it's also very good.
Radioless racing makes breakaways more uncertain and dangerous, thus more entertaining for viewers. It's akin to watching football being played without the offside rule. Anything can happen. Even more respect for past titans like Merxx who raced in a radioless era.
I also really enjoy the fact of no radios, but you cant compare it to football with no offside rule imo.
It would probably be interesting to watch for a few games but it'd get really messy afterwards
For most of the history there were no radios. Radios would give even more advantage to bigger teams.
Eddy Merckx and the like rode in a radioless era, but not informationless. Everybody involved from DS, moto, riders etc. knew how to get the information to where it was needed. The information was not as up to date or complete as with radio but this was accepted and accounted for by the teams. This system was not foolproof, Robert Millar and stolen Vuelta for example. But today, the art and technique of racing without radio is long lost in the top peloton and for the Olympics to try and impose it is as ridiculous as getting the riders to use 5-speed steel-framed bikes. I believe this will be the last Olympics without race radio and thank goodness for that, The race was something of a farce without radio.
@@colinmccormack1728 Radios is not used to this day in some national and definitely the World Championship races. It gives countries with a full team an insane advantage if they can micromanage breaks and call up reinforcements at the press of a button or get a team mate up the road to stop and wait for their leader while other countries can't because they're the sole representative.
@@colinmccormack1728 when there are no radio’s you should adapt as a team and agree on other ways of communication. For me a clear management error.
IT HAPPENED TO BELGIUM THE OTHER DAY, NOW HAPPENED TO THE NEHTERLANDS... THEY WERE SO RELAXED WHILE THE BREAKAWAY WAS 10 MINUTES AHEAD. THEY WERE RIDING ANOTHER RACE, TOTALLY BEAUTIFUL KNUCKLE HEADS...
GOLD WELL DESERVED BY THE AUSTRIAN.🏅🏅🏅
KUDOS FOR YOU CHRIS.
It's a different scenario with the men's race. When Carapaz attacked, pretty much everyone in the group was without a team mate. And they were all looking at WVA to do the chasing, since he was the strongest.. They didn't want to do too much for him and then WVA will outsprint them to the line. WVA of cos will not want to chase and pull all of them to the line and not have enuf legs to sprint... so this played well into the breakaway. Of cos, Carapaz still need have the legs to finish it off...
🥇 👍🦋
Problem with the Dutch is that they have 4 riders that all can/want to win and so you don't have any helpers!
Also most other riders DID know there was still a rider up the road, that's why Kopecky wasn't cheering when she came over the line!
Helpers, help. 👍🦋
The Dutch riders were arrogant, dissed a breakaway with nobodies and went downhill after that. Didn't even congratulate the winner, standing with her bike less than 20 ft away.
Kiesenhofer is unkown in the professional level and so i think the didnt recognize her.
Try see if you can find the moment, where Keisenhofer took off, when the race was "released". A Dutch rider (don't remember which) just looked at her, and you could almost see, that she was thinking: "What a noob!". This olympic gold medal is one of the most satisfying for a long time. Especially when I learned that Keisenhofer is an amateur in the words best meaning, with no contract, no trainer etc. And an "ordinary" job as a math professor at a Swizz university.
@@Whistler4u the camera was on the winner for ages and only one person congratulated her and it wasn't a Dutch rider.
Yep, all-time hall of shame moment of bad sportsmanship by the faves who got embarrassed and schooled. Then the b.s. excuses start flowing to explain their knuckle-headed shit-show. But can't congratulate the winner at the end? Karma was served.
@@raahauge I read above that it was Vos who saw her go. I love that she didn't tell the Annas. Who's the GOAT on that team anyway? ;)
You get true, pure genuine wins with out radios. Congratulations Keisenhofer. A true well earned Gold Medal win. You made unforgettable history!
👍
Please note that her name is Kiesenhofer - not Keisenhofer (as Chris wrongly pronounced it)! 😛
I disagree, Chris. I love that race radios weren't allowed in the olympics. The winner didn't sneak in a win nor did she use any underhanded techniques to roll to the victory. It was pure grit and effort. Not knowing that there's another rider in front is the Dutch team's fault. This race is an amazing example of how removing the race radio results in a more dramatic race.
This is an amazing win for Kiesenhofer. She dared to go on the break and put the effort.
The problem is that it’s an important race in terms of exposing the sport to a global audience, that has a unique rule. Either the UCI needs to introduce more radio-less races, or you need them at Olympics, otherwise you aren’t allowing riders to practice without radios
Longo Borghini even said she knew she was sprinting for silver/bronze so clearly it was just the Dutch who didn’t know
I agree. I personally don't like race radio, never have.
@@Seamalicous The world championships are raced without radios for similar reasons to the Olympics. Teams that can send a full team get a huge advantage from radio communications. They can send a rider up the road to force other riders to chase and manage the distance perfectly so the bird rider doesn't waste energy. They can call up their reinforcements in an instant if an attack goes away.
Countries with a single rider do not get that advantage.
Thats why radios shouldn't be in road cycling events with individualistic results. (Championships/Olympics).
Having zero comms. / radios is also not a good thing ..... It is a team sport after all
Austrian TV asked her about her plan for the race: "Plan A was to attack at kilometer zero" - worked out fine, didn't it.
When you realize Austria is actually a team of 1 rider, whatever the excuse. That is impressive beyond believe.
Chris, you and I wrote a book called “READING THE RACE”. We need to add another chapter: COUNT THE RIDERS. Or maybe “Pay Attention”.
Lost in all of this, though, is why Vos was able to tell reporters after the race that she knew how many and who was off the front, but she wasn’t able to tell her own teammates.
Chris, your "pull my hair out" comment was fun. I really enjoy your commentary. I was checking throughout the day to see if you would comment on the women's race I wish the Dutch women would have shown better sportsmanship at the end and congratulated Anna. I am ordering the Butterfly Effect jersey.
I noticed that too... Kiesenhofer was left alone. Cecile UL congratulated her- she was top class.
I couldn’t believe they were behind Anna and they wouldn’t go over there to say congratulations, missed that at the end she deserved a lot of kudos
It's not bad sportsmanship. At the moment they just did not even know who she was and neither that she won the race
Thanks 😂👍🦋
I think they were mad at each other more than about Anna. It seems their plan was to get 1-4 and the DS left it up to them who ends up 1, 2 and 3.
dutch under-estimated the break-away
they knew there were three but they
don't know one rider can pedal that
bike nonstop like they are ... congrats
to KAISENHOFER
The race was fun to watch and full of tension, was not aware that they didn’t know about the lone leader. Congratulations to the Austrian for winning and congratulations on reaching 40k subscribers, thank you for your insights and keep doing what you’re doing.
I love the drama! Paying attention is important!
Yes it is. 😂👍🦋
Anna Kiesenhofer! I just love it when a nobody wins. All the more impressive that she had no teammates in the race. Now they will all know her name. Anna Kiesenhofer! Math/Cycling genius.
100%. No rider racing that day will forget Anna now. 😜👍
well, just want to add, that Anna Kiesenhofer won the Austrian time trial masters several times, and finished 5th at the European time trial masters in 2019. so - at least in Austria - she isn't a nobody ;-)
No radios!! This is a great spectacle..TDF should do it too!
what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... are we just going to ignore that. It was just a poor look for women's cycling overall. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco. I really dont think most people in the comment section follow cycling besides when the TdF or the olympics come around. Also people are only talking about team radios whereas people forget that the riders on the world tour teams get supplied with state of the art bikes/equipment from their trade teams unlike riders from some of the smaller countries at the olympics...... which on the face of it is also quiet unfair. Why just stop at radios then.....
Brains, physical prowess and good looks. The Austrian athlete had an awesome win.
really enjoyed your professional summary of the race Chris. i get the impression from the dutch tactics that not only were they caught out without radio information, but they started the race with the assumption that Gold was theirs as a given and probably silver and bronze also.
a lesson for life, assume nothing and always respect the opponent.
Totally disagree about race radios. Ruins racing. Frankly, I don't see why riders should get any information about what's happening in front or behind. Doesn't happen in athletics (marathon, triathlon) (as far as I know).
in the olympics where there is no team radio, no communication technology involve, this is real bike racing and we can see all fields level no big budget talking, maybe UCi will do this in tour de france
Made me laugh! Congrats Kiesenhofer! Did anyone current riders ever ask how on earth we raced waaaaaay back in my day (1980s) without team radios? We kept our eyes and ears open and made sure we were coordinated! The winner had guts, passion, and moxy! I've said for a while that radios on riders should be eliminated because it removes a critical piece of racing. Best race I've seen in recent memory!
Old is not always gold......lol what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... are we just going to ignore that. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco. Also people are only talking about team radios whereas people forget that the riders on the world tour teams get supplied with state of the art bikes/equipment from their trade teams unlike riders from some of the smaller countries at the olympics ...... which on the face of it is also quiet unfair.
Great sportsmanship from the super elite Dutch team . Do they need radios and ds contact to say congratulations to the winner . In the olympics as well . Smashed by an amateur 👍👍👍👍😂
No race radio.......all bike racing pre-1990/Motorola and much of bike racing until much later. Rule #5. Ol' Skool. LOVED IT!
Rule # 5. 😂
Rolled over @2am MtTime took a look and thought oh well One of the Dutchies is going to win Gold in a sprint, fell back to sleep @30k to go and Low n Behold was amazed, The Winner rode from the gun to the finish...Incredible!!
And that’s why we watch. 😂👍
Congratulations to Anna Kiesenhofer for her gold win. Austria’s first cycling gold in 125 years. And a brilliant women too. I wonder how many students will be looking her up and be in awe.
I felt like the Dutchies jacking around in the back of the peloton when the break happened was a big contributor. Did they not account for who was in the break at the beginning?
It wasn't just at the start of the race, and then when van Vlueten attacked pinning her teammates in a non helping role in the peleton it just assumed the whole thing up, I don't think she gave a damn about her team just herself. To be fair though non of the riders that went up the road were expected to do anything. The Austrian that won doesn't even have a contract with a pro team so was probably just as unknown to the so called stars. Yes, she is the reigning Austrian Time Trial national champion, but I doubt everyone had even heard of her. They have now!!!
@@mattpotter8725 The Austrian was literally 18th place in 2020 time trial world champs just 2min30 sec behind the winner and has some other good results, she also had a contract but didn't like travelling with a team and likes her job at the university. The other riders and teams should know a top 20 worldwide time trial rider.
You stole my thoughts here.
@@Mgoblagulkablong All this may be true, but just because you are a good time triallist doesn't necessarily make you a threat in a single stage race. You said yourself as well that she was 18th in last year's world champs at the time trial, I doubt that would have really got her noticed by the top riders. Don't get me wrong I think they should have seen her as a threat, but give anyone going to the Olympics a 10 minutes lead and you're asking for trouble. As I said before I think it was a lack of teamwork and respect inside the Dutch team, a lack of respect from them for other teams in the race, complacency, and finally arrogance. Because this is a one off race and they are the superstars they probably don't see that they have to follow anyone's plan, follow orders, and so what happened happened.
@@Mgoblagulkablong Also I'm sure that had she been given a decent enough contract for enough money she'd have taken it, as I expect will happen now.
As an Austrian I must say - this is uber hilarious!
All this talk about lack of radios, miscommunication, misunderstanding, excuses, excuses. Does no one realize the *massive* effort it took for Anna Kiesenhofer to go solo for 41km and still have the lead at the end? Let's give credit where it's due.
She won by doing what the Dutch team never imagined would be possible for a solo rider. That's what true champions do. Her grit and determination will become legendary.
Yes no one is denying or disputing with what you said BUT what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... are we just going to ignore that. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco. I really dont think most people in the comment section follow cycling besides when the TdF or the olympics come around. There are always nuances to things ....
well said! an epic victory of Anna Kiesenhofer!
well i almost always root for the underdog. this one made me laugh my guts out. very very happy for the winner!!. a rare disagreement with you over race radios. that gives an unfair edge to countries with larger teams. fine in a major tour when all teams have the same number of riders. re: the road gap... it should have been in a race manual or seen by coaches checking out the course. probably yes a motorbike with time check to the head of the course should be done. but i am delighted they did not.
Radio Nowhere…Race was basically a elongated time trial. Dutch team played games not paying attention. As you said the other day, be prepared , stay up front, pay attention, just don’t wait for your Director to say when to go over the radio. Knuckleheads. Congrats Anna
👍
@@ChrisHornerCycling Maybe not the case, but it seemed from the video that you thought the lack of radios was a more of an excuse. It seems to have revealed the lack of rider racing skill by by the Dutch team. If it is all about strength they can have the race on Zwift.
That win was amazing! Great to see such an upset. No teammates at all and she found a way to make it happen!
I disagree about allowing radios. Teams with stacks of riders get a huge advantage from the information. Not allowing radios levels the logistical playing field for countries that can only send a single rider. The Olympics are, in the end, individual prize events so the race rules fit IMO. The World Championships don't allow radios either for similar reasons and the Dutch dominate that event, so they SHOULD be used to it by now and know how to get information in other ways.
FWIW Some of the dutch riders (Vos) DID know there was another rider up the road well before it was too late but they failed to communicate and get together as a team.
We should not underestimate Anna though. Anna Kiesenhofer considers herself a TT specialist, but she is not a single faceted rider. She is actually an incredible raw physical talent that has shown flashes of racing brilliance in stage and single day road races in the last few years. She however does not like riding in the Peloton and dislikes the control over her life exerted by the coaches and staff of a pro team. So, she chose to quit a pro contract after 2017 and go back to her doctorate program in mathematics all while continuing to train herself at a world-tour level. She continued to dominate the Austrian TT national championships and do reasonably well in some European road races.
At the start of this race, she took the 1 in 500 shot that best fit her skills as a rider and it paid off. This to me is the purest form of road cycle racing you could ask for. I love this story. For once a road racer took that one tiny chance to win a race and WENT for it instead of just hiding in the peloton all day and accepting their fate at the end.
Fantastic breakdown of the race and tactics as always Chris!
🍻 spot on about the radios. A country with a single rider or maybe no support car will have no radio. Thanks for the background story on Anna.
Let’s at least give radios that the officials give out the same info to every rider then. 🤔🦋
@@ChrisHornerCycling Thats fair enough.
Maybe for the Olympics they can have a general PA radio for times/safety instead of team radios, since this is an individual event.
The Dutch women have done this often. Let others ride in peleton, then attack. Finally it went wrong.
Yes, they did already strange things in the past like attacking from Peloton when they had a (good) rider in the leading group of three. They only could afford it due to their strength. They really deserve to lose once to learn to do better. But that it was in this important race is sad for them and certainly they have an outstanding team. However, you also wonder why the rest of the pack could not organise a proper chase. Except the teammates of the riders in front everybody should be interested in catching them or force the Dutch ladies to contribute.
@@florianmeier3186 if you're a weaker rider/team, there's no reason to chase because if you do, the Dutch will simply beat you. If you want to win, you play chicken with them, make them do more work. That's the only way you have a chance of winning. You have to level the playing field a bit by making the favorites work. And why not? You have nothing to lose. If you help, you're just handing the race to the favorites. These types of dilemmas are what separate cycling from all the other endurance sports.
@@S0ulinth3machin3 Yes, true, but if so, everybody should wave them to the front and do just nothing or attack whenever they are at the end and cooperate against them to brake away and let them close the gap. Just riding half power does not make you win either. The others are still a vast majority and could play some tactics instead of just waiting, which is the worst choice. It seems some tried to do something, but it does not look very organised. And at some point it becomes clear that it will be close that the solo riders in front have success and then the Peleton should chase them down whatever it takes, because in the Olympics, it does not matter anymore if the podium went through.
I am not a Pro racer, and never have been. but I Never did have radio's when I did race. They blew it. The field just was not paying attention. The winner deserved the win. Lets give her all the credit she deserves, and how she WON, and not lay blame on why somebody else did not win.
I guess the question is, is there a difference between winning and being the best, and if so what matters more?
@@LordAus123 All a person has to do is finish 1st on that day at that event. Which makes them the best and winner on that day, That is what matters,
I did see the riders asking for a time check. But I agree with you. The win is the win. 👍
@@LordAus123 tactics are part of road racing, if you blow your chances by sitting back and waiting for others to do the work, are you the best? I think not.
It also doesn't help if you are the best ⚽ team and you don't score.. You lose..
Kiesenhoffer didn’t want to inconvenience the team car by having them come up to the breakaway; she knew was strong enough to drop back for food and still win easily 😂
@MaxKroll It could be that she dropped back because she was testing the legs of her breakaway companions. Then if she could catch up easily, she could drop them easily. Which she did, and quickly put 2 1/2 minutes into them.
Yes! Thank you for doing commentary on women’s racing!
After the Van Vluten wreck and after she got back to the peloton was when the Dutch started making solo attacks. At that point, if i am not mistaken, the three breakaway riders were still together. IF the peloton were not getting time gaps from the race officials, what made them think that they were close enough to the 3 person breakaway to jump across solo ? If there were NO chalkboard time gaps how did they have ANY idea, one way or another, as to how to close the gap.
I am NOT buying the misinformation BS. The only time I buy the misinformation excuse is within 10 K when they finally catch the 2 breakaway riders. I think at that point they truly believed that they had brought it all back together. But that, in no way, explains the idiocy and arrogance displayed in the first 100K.
When Van Vleuten jumped she asked the camera crew the time-gaps. You can watch yourself how see reacted on that.
I watched the entire TV recording again. In the
peleton you can see the stars riding relaxed with her arms stretched out. They
think of a good, cozy day and they will sprint for the places in the last few
kilometers. This race shows exactly the difference between the controlled
professional races and the Olympics. Professional racing is all about tactics
and a lot of money. All nations and their drivers have the same
chances here. Thanks to the German driver who woke the peleton from its sleep
after an hour. I think of Mark Cavendish’s meeting with Eddy Merckx after
winning 35 stages in the Tour de France. Yes, says Eddy Merckx, that’s nice.
But I won the stages alone without radios or tactics.
I would like to thank the three drivers, Omer
Shapira from Israel, Anna Plichta from Poland and Anna Kiesenhofer from
Austria, who made this race worthy oft the Olympics. With the will to win and
the mental attitude I would like to compare Anna Kiesenhofer with Eddy Merckx
for this race. My respect!
I have hunch that there is a discord amongst the Dutch riders. Everyone knew before the race that no radios are allowed yet they hardly talked to each other. The Dutch quartet should have been in constant communication with each other, discussing strategy, knowing the number of riders in the breakaway. Instead, as we witnessed it, they were in disarray. They did not ride smartly and failed to control the race tempo. Van Vleuten and Van Der Breggen were not aware that there’s one more rider ahead of the 2 riders that got caught. Strangely, Vos was fully aware of what was happening. Vos knew the rider’s count ahead of the peloton. She knew that Van Vleuten was just racing for Silver.
The Dutch team should have worked behind Van Der Breggen, the defending Olympic champion. They should have dictated the race being the strongest team on this event.
I find it funny that the one thing that generates significant attention for women’s racing is when they race like amateurs. Why would you think you’re racing for gold when you don’t see the lead car in front of you? Brainless.
Dutch common sense.
Seriously, this is so freaking embarrassing for women, women's cycling. You can't get this wrong. It's practically impossible.
@@ryand141 well it did. also living in the NL, I can tell you logic and common sense isn't the strength of majority of Dutch people.
@@rkop737 Well, if it wasn't for the Dutch, there wouldn't be a banking system. The Dutch have done many great things. What sector do you work in? Why do you say that?
@@ryand141 Cool about the bank system. I am saying that having lived on three continents in 6 countries, having visited more than 30 countries. Just watch random people using simple things and how they struggle to read their own language. No offence, I love Dutch people but there are funny observation which reflect 100% so much on how this race was lost.
Also Ryan, you are saying they built the banking system. Here is where you are referring to a tiny fraction of super smart people and generalise. I know this argument could be used against mine but still I am talking about observations on the broader mass.
No radios makes for exciting racing. The Dutch girls were arrogant and complacent. You reap what you sow. 100% deserved medal for Anna
Reminds me of pro golfers who play on extra-wide, super-manicured fairways every week. They become accustomed to being able to spray their booming drives left and right, and still get on the green in 2. I'm not saying that radios shouldn't be a part of the Olympics, but I think we see how reliant the top cyclists have become on being fed information by someone else, rather than keep themselves in touch with how a race is developing.
I somewhat agree with your take on radio but what about the lack of accurate time gaps being relayed my moto chalkboards..... that was one of the major problems. It was just a poor look for women's cycling overall. While yes the NL team did goof up and they prob. should have brought Van Dijk or Brand instead of Vollering to control the race , the race organizers are also to blame for the whole fiasco.
I firmly believe Kiesenhoffer win fully represents the spirit of Olympic games: higher, fasterm stronger no matter you are pro or amateur. To me this is the greatest triumph of amateurs over professional in many decades of world sports history. Its like watching your neighbor kid who practice tennis for fun to actually win an Olympic final against Novak Djokovic.
totally agree; an epic victory of a smart and talented and passionate women
That’s the beauty of the Olympics... no help from technology. Just a beautiful race win...
beautiful and epic victory. cheers from Austria
A true winner anticipates every possible mistake and makes sure none never happens to her.
Hey Chris, You trotted out the old adage that radios improve safety in the peloton to reduce accidents. Didn't you say the opposite during the carnage of the Tour that radios were partly responsible as directors were constantly yelling at their teams to move to the front cramming too many riders onto too little road space?
that's not because of radios though. That situation would still happen without radios. All the team directors would give the orders before the race: "have our GC guy at the front in the last 50k" or "have our sprinter at the front in the last 50k" and it'd be the same situation, all the teams trying to be at the front all at the same time. With or without the radios. There's no solution to that problem, the root problem is that the TdF is more important than all the other races combined. Teams are riding for sponsorships, riders are riding for contracts, so much pressure all to perform all at the same time. The result is: crashes. And it will never end, not as long as the TdF is that important. BTW, I support the elimination of radios, the racing is more interesting. Just saying that the elimination of radios would not decrease TdF carnage.
Best road race I’ve watched. Ditch the radio!
I've been informed by Google that "knokkelkop" is the Dutch word for knucklehead.
That’s the literal translation😂 Does sound great but doesn’t make much sense.
😂 sounds close enough
‘Knucklehead’ was originally a word for an engine part, ‘knokkelkop’ is the correct Dutch translation for that. But ‘knucklehead’ as used by Chris, was introduced by the US Army in WW2, a name of a fictional character who behaved stupidly. The appropriate Dutch translation of that would be ‘domoor’ or ‘domkop’ (literally ‘dumb ear’ or ‘dumb head’).
To be fair, only the danish rider congratulated her because they didn't know she had won. She did it all by herself. Not on a professional team, no Austrian team mates, no coach and probably no family supporting her in Tokyo. I wouldn't be surprised if she had to buy her own bike and be her own mechanic. This is what the Olympics is meant to be and what it used to be.
And by the way. Winning the gold was less of an achievement than her doctorate in mathematics.
Chapeau Anna.
Completely disagree.Race radioes or not - athletes must know what’s going on
Couldn't agree more
the know, there is a Motorbike on the Road that has a digital sign that shows the gaps to see for every one. They dident even recognise that the LEAD CAR that stays with the leader wa smissing.
@@Kullioking The dutch knew there were 3 riders up the road back at 50km. What they didn't realize is that one of the riders was actually strong enough to actually attack off that group and continue to keep pace with the peloton while they fucked around either spinning in the back of the peloton or attacking each other.
Massive disrespect to the break by the Dutch, and then the cherry on top was failing to count to 3 when they finally caught the 2 other leaders with only a few KM to go. But, even if they had noticed, by then it was too late. They had zero chance to run down Anna with 8km to go and her still several minutes ahead.
I don't know, but when I am racing (local amateur), and the effort is hard, is also hard to think clearly (for me at least)..
Having radio doesnt make the smartest and strongest win. If the arrogant Dutch lady doesn’t know whats going on, her bad.
Kudos to Keisenhoffer who deserved the GOLD with a fabulous effort. Sham on the Dutch for ignoring Keisenhoffer who was just feet away from the Dutch after the finish line. Congratulations were in order and the Dutch failed basic sportsmanship.
So AVV didn't notice there was no race lead car in front of her?
the same thing i tell everyone.
Whats even worse was they posted a time split between her and the lead rider and she assumed they were being helpful and showing her leading margin
I absolutely loved watching both races without them having communication devices. It made for such better racing in my opinion. I agree with others here as well, that as a fan, watching teams work together to figure out whats what in a race compared to being fed information makes for a whole lot of better racing!
Thanks fo covering the women's event too, Chris; always love your analysis.
Vos said afterwards that she was fully aware that there was still a rider infront of them but Van Vleuten and Van Der Breggen wasn’t.
@Eight Francs Idon’t think she was aware that they didn’t know. Clearly a lack of communication was the Netherlands biggest problem in this race.
Don’t you think that race radios have caused riders to lose critical race skills Chris? It seems like the professional riders needed to be radio controlled as they couldn’t think for themselves. Do you think Eddie Merckx would have made this mistake? The men in the race yesterday certainly didn’t. Chapeaux to Anna Kiesenhofer. What a brilliant and gutsy win 🏆
gotta disagree Chris,with race radios . this is exactly why they should not allow them in races. way more exiting and who doesn't love a bit of drama. :) the racing will also be faster because of it .
Disagree. The radios had little to do with it. The big issue was that the blackboard moto apparently didn’t provide good time gap info. In future races where this won’t be an issue, the radios won’t matter.