tOlympic Cycling Thread

For the Road race our best chance is Matteo Jorgenson but realistically it's going to be one of the Euro riders.

We have some talent in BMX as well that should be fun to watch.
As far as track I think the big dog Euros will clean house.

Cyclocross is not in the Olympics. A post on reddit asked that very question and the answer was more or less that the Summer Olympics would fall well outside of the professional cyclocross season, making it challenging for racers to prepare. And that it isn't large enough globally, which I don't think breakdancing is either but here we are

I know it is women's cycling but Chloe Dygert has a solid shot in the TT, almost certain to medal. Van Dijk is her best competition but is coming back from a fractured ankle, if she has fully recovered Chloe will likely get silver.

In men's TT I am tipping Tarling to beat Ganna and Remco but that might be a dark horse pick but I think the course suits his massive power. Magnus Sheffield (USA) has a shot at a medal if he is on.

I am high on MVDP in the road race but depends if he got his form back after the Tour. Woat is my backup pick.

Womens road it is hard to bet against the Dutch but I think Borghini wins or maybe even that Belgian woman who I have forgotten her name she rides for Worx-Protime. If the Dutch do get it together then Voss will get gold. Hard to call this one and Faulkner (USA) has a shot at a medal if the big teams rip each other apart.


Track I don't follow women's track cycling much but Jennifer Valente should be the favorite in Omnium (my favorite track event) she won gold in Tokyo.

Men's has no Americans to really watch and the various Euro countries will rack up but there are a couple of good Columbians and Australians. The sprint will be interesting since Trinidad and also Surinam have riders that could win a medal.

I don't think we have anyone capable is Mountain and Pidcock will win the Men's unless something weird happens like he gets COVID. The only positive for not finishing the Tour is his legs have fewer GT miles on them.

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Taylor Knibb will be interesting to follow. She's a triathlete, but won US TT nats this year to qualify in the TT as well. She's top World Tour power, but not the bike skills.

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Wondering how many triathletes have had success transitioning to draft legal races?

If Knibb qualified for the time trial, she can obviously dump serious watts. But these draft legal races seem to follow a pattern: you need to be a super fast swimmer to finish with the lead group, don't get dropped by the lead group, run stupid fast.

I guess if she can swim well, the lack of bike skills (what triathlete has bike skills anyway, ha) shouldn't hurt her so long as she can hang with the group.

She’s racing the draft legal Olympic distance race and mix team relay as well. The course isn’t set up well for her as it’s flat. The tri should be a running race.

She’s the best half Ironman athlete in the world by a large margin and should win Kona next year.

I lost some enthusiasm when Pogacar said he was "too tired" to do the Olympics, but hopefully my zeal will return. Hoping Matteo wins something.

Chloe Dygert for the Women’s road ITT is minus odds to win the gold

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In men's TT I am tipping Tarling to beat Ganna and Remco but that might be a dark horse pick but I think the course suits his massive power.

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Tarling is the favorite to win

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Taylor Knibb will be interesting to follow. She's a triathlete, but won US TT nats this year to qualify in the TT as well. She's top World Tour power, but not the bike skills.

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She's crashed three times and is still just a little more than halfway through a wet course.

Pretty predictable on a wet course. Honestly she should pull it so she doesn’t hurt herself before the tri where she could medal