Sport can be cruel some times.
Heartbreak for one rider can be the pinnacle for another.
And so it proved on the rainy streets of Paris.
Women’s Time Trial
Grace Brown (AUS) mastered the course and the conditions to win the race in her last year of racing before retirement.
Behind her in the standings were Anna Henderson (GBR) and Chloe Dygert (USA), separated by 0.87 seconds.
Dygert’s crash on a corner that went from tarmac to cobbles causing that deficit and more.
Although time trials are named the race of truth, that only tells half the story.
Many other riders struggled and although Dygert crashed, she was still good enough for a bronze medal and wouldn’t have been able to challenge for the win even with a flawless route.
Taylor Knibbs, however, had the most rotten luck imaginable. She had three separate crashes and then needed a bike change as a result of a puncture. The mechanic then fell over whilst carrying Taylor’s new bike to her. Here’s hoping that she got all her bad luck out of the way before competing in the triathlon later in the Games.
Grace Brown crowning her career this way feels like a fitting way to finish on top.
Men’s Time Trial
In the men’s race, the conditions were a factor again and a handful of riders crashed – one crash causing the withdrawal of Luke Plapp.
One other notable event was Wout van Aert riding using two disc wheels. To ride with one at the back is normal; to ride with a front disc wheel and one at the back is most unconventional. However it was good enough for him to secure bronze.
His Belgian compatriot Remco Evenepoel won gold, pretty much completing all there is to achieve in the world of time trialling – and he’s only 24!
In between them in silver was Filippo Ganna. The Italian finished incredibly strong to overhaul his deficit to van Aert and get second place by ten seconds.
Our GB Analysis
I often wonder how it must feel to come fourth in an Olympic event- good enough to be one of the best in the world but the first not to receive any reward in the shape of a medal.
That fate befell Team GB’s Josh Tarling – still with many years ahead of him but desperately unlucky here, with the Olympics having been his focus for the year.
Shortly before the first time check at 13.3km, he punctured and needed a replacement bike. It’s hard to know how much time he lost but as soon as he noticed he had to alert his support car following him, slow down to a stop, get a new bike, speed back up and get back into his rhythm.
Some commentators said that cost about 16 seconds, others put it closer to 30. His gap to Evenepoel’s first place was 27 seconds. I’m not saying he would have won, but it would have been mighty close.
The race of truth might really have to be called ‘the race of mostly the truth but definitely spend time digging beyond the headlines of the results’, but I accept that’s not as catchy.
