Rio 2016 : Team Cycling

Cycling was one sport that I couldn't get at first and no other tickets came up. Not surprised as I think all the British supporters wanted them. So on a wet Wednesday evening having failed to get last minute tickets for the rowing final, I was astonished when cycling popped up. Grabbed them, cost made me wince a little but I was proud possessor of a cycling ticket. The only thing was that the only thing I knew about the session were the time, location and that it would involve  bicycles. A glance at the programme showed men and women team events in a weird order. Closer inspection revealed there were two mens team events - sprint and pursuit. Still hadn't got a clue but why worry! Velodrome and a closer look at the Olympic Park called...


So reaching the Olympic Park on Thursday, I was later than on my first day so queues were bigger & I think there was a basketball game sttarting so some anxious people. It did give me time to have a look around. Classic Olympic Rings with queues to take photos alongside them. Again, some very good buildings. Take a look.

However, it was the Velodrome that I'd come to visit but first a bit of t-shirt shopping & a derivation on a Cologne lnch. This was defined while inter-railing - black coffee and a Mars bar. These days I guess it;s usually a potst-walk tea - black coffee and ice cream. The Olympics is very fussy about what is allowed to be sold in their Park. Unilever is not an Olympic sponsor so their ice creams cannot be sold but 'sempre tem jeito' - there's a fix. You can sell the ice-creams but not have posters with the brand on it! Only in Rio.

I diverge (yes, I;m good at that, probably why I'm bad in interviews). Team cycling and the Velodrome ...

Love the way the roof follows the contours of the track. Once inside it's stunning how steep the track curves are, how intimate a space it is & that cycling can challenge F1 for support rems albeit without engines.

The secon thing you notice is  how many British fans there are. A bit of Rio that was definitely British. Glad I was wearing my tribal T-Shire (team GB London 2012). 

And so to the cycling. We had one round of team pursuit (men & women) and all of team sprint. I'm not a reviewer so I'm not going to do this chronologically. Team pursuit, 4 cyclists doing 16 circuits in the case of the men & less in case of the women. Keeping in line with the first setting the pace and then swooping to the back. Most teams relied on one rider to do the hard work for the first portion of the race and then drop out to let the final 3 sprint to the finish. Time is when the 3rd crosses the line. We were reminded that there is a reason why cyclists wear helmets. They can fall. One of the Dutch touched wheels and flew off, bits of bike came through the air and he ended up at least 10 metres from where he came off, directly in front of me. There is not a picture.  I do not take them of accidents - I am not a journalist & I am not a disaster gawper. Fortunately he got up and didn't need a stretcher but it was a sobering moment and I couldn't enjoy the next 2 rounds. Track needed repairing too as holes had been gouged. into it.

I was less a fan of the pursuit until you came to the final teams and how the times they took. The US have a new bike with the driveshaft on the inside which they hoped would make it a fast bike. I felt quite resentful until I realised that that's what we had been doing for years. Result show that yes the bike helps but you also need the athletes. I have now seen Laura Trott and Bradley Wiggins do what they do best. Interestingly, Bradley Wiggins was the only one to give his bike to the support team and walk straight off, the others wound down on non-racing bikes.

The noise was intense for the British teams and the sprints were unbelievable.. I didn't think it could be more exciting after the first few rounds while trying to see who was leading the splits. The medal races took it to a new level and when the gun went for the winners, France in bronze & Britain for gold it was mindblowing particularly given that the French pipped the Australinans at the last minute and the Brits had wound  it up. Sprints are particularly exciting as they start with 3, 1st drops off, 2 complete a lap and then the 3rd goes hell for leather. Team sport but so dependent on individual expertise & talent.

I cannot explain the crowd. At first everyone was encouraged to make some noise, get behind the athletes & then came the French, Australians, Kiwis and the crowd made noise. Team GB the crowd exploded. Remind me, am I in London or Rio? Britain had colonised the Velodrome. With support like that, you put away the camera, you applaud, you cheer. You jump with the gun and vicotry. Witnessing  your home team win a gold in front of what feels like a home crowd is like nothing else in the Olympic spectating experience!

The only thing that marred the day is that the medal presentation is made facing the press with the cyclists backs to the fans and their families. OK so more people are watching on TV but hopefully teams will remember to turn round to properly salute the crowds. Interestingly each team subconsciously faced the crowd first before realising where the medals were coming from. I cannot describe the emotion, the joy, the drama. I only hope that you saw the coverage and that these pictures give you some idea of what it's like but nothing can substitute for the realisation that you were there when they broke a record or won the medal.