PILOT FISH PRESENTS: The Olympic Games Road Race

In this Pilot Episode of a new project designed to embrace new or casual cycling fans into the sport, I’ll bring you the Reasons to Get Hyped for the Olympic Games Road Race, explaining how it’s different from your average cycling race in terms that will hopefully make sense, so you’re up to speed in time for the race on Saturday.

Why 'Pilot Fish'?

Many of the cycling terms we use on a regular basis come from French – bidon, peloton, domestique, maillot jaune... all of this popular terminology derives from the French language. A phrase that hasn’t made it across in translation, however is the French for ‘lead-out rider’: ‘poisson pilote’ – or pilot fish, in English.

It describes the rider who guides a sprinter into a position from which they can win a race – but we’re adopting it here at writebikerepeat.com for this ongoing series in which we’ll guide you – the new, casual or curious budding cycling fan – through the intricacies of a sport which is pretty complicated with a huge range of characters, races and rules to wrap your head around. It can feel overwhelming at times so we hope you’ll find it useful. Feel free to get involved by asking questions, and we will show you there is a world beyond the Tour de France, and it’s well worth coming along for the ride.

Let's begin with a golden opportunity - the Olympic road race.

Olympic dreams (or not)

If you’re new to cycling and have been drawn in by Netflix Unchained, or if you’re a seasoned lover of the Tour de France but you have yet to expand your horizons, the Olympics offers the perfect opportunity to stoke the fire of your budding obsession, and embrace a completely different style of racing for a day.

We are lucky this year, as an Olympic year is a special year – just one chance in every four years to win a precious gold medal in your sport. It's worth noting from the outset that not all Olympic events are created equal. Where swimmers, gymnasts and athletes on the track and velodrome have a full week’s worth of events devoted to them, the pelotons at the Olympic road races fight tooth and nail for several hours for just one gold medal.

Having said that, or perhaps because of it, it’s not the be-all and end-all for cyclists – it represents just one goal among many others. They are used to fighting for scraps in terms of prizes anyway – when you consider that 176 riders begin the men’s Tour de France, and it results in just one winner (or 21 if you count stage wins). So it’s just another race for many of the riders. Yet it’s a unique and special opportunity nonetheless.

How is it different to a stage of the Tour de France?

The Olympic road race takes place over the course of one day, so is it fair to assume it’s going to be roughly similar to a stage at the Tour? Well, not exactly.

The first major difference is distance. At 273km, the Olympic road race is around 100km longer than your average Tour stage, much closer in distance to one of cycling’s ‘Monuments’ – and this makes for a long, arduous, and unforgiving day in the saddle.

Another consideration is the difference between a three-week long Grand Tour and a one-day race, in terms of goals. Over three weeks there are a huge number of varied and competing goals, from the different classifications, to individual stage wins. As you’ll no doubt have noticed, stages at the Tour de France are varied, some favouring the sprinters, others the mountain goats, and everything in between. Each day, different riders are allowed the opportunity to shine (or perhaps not, depending on the significance of the stage to the GC teams and their leaders).

In a one-day race, all bets are off. In regular one-day races throughout the cycling season, teams would still be composed of eight riders, with each team member having their own specific job to perform in service of the team’s designated leader for the day, before they throw in the towel – sometimes almost literally: many one-day races see riders stepping off before the end of the race, as unlike at a Grand Tour, there’s no requirement to finish the day’s racing.

There are a few differences that make the Olympic road race special – a one-off. Not only the opportunity to lean into the gold, with all the requisite bling (see Greg van Avermaet, below) but the subtle – or not so subtle – ways in which the race plays out. Cycling is a sport of teams and strategy, with the strongest controlling the race, both in terms of the pace at which it is ridden, but also in terms of who is allowed to go in the breakaway, how quickly they will be chased down, and how much pressure is applied to perceived rivals.

At the Olympics, with teams composed of a maximum of four riders, and many nations with just one or two representatives, the race is much more open and chaotic. Add to that the lack of race radio – there is no way of knowing where anyone else is on the course aside from a motorbike displaying time gaps – old school!

But when everyone has the same goal and there’s no added complications and side quests such as GC, points jerseys or KOM points to worry about, it simplifies things, removing the need for race tactics. There’s less focus on how to use teammates, and how to make sure time isn’t being lost, and more working out who is on a good day, and how to ensure they are as near to the front of the race as possible at all times. In one-day racing, the best will always try to be up front as often, especially towards the mid to late stages of a race, someone in the front group will attack, and if you are not there at the right time, you may find yourself on the back foot, fighting to try and regain contact with the leaders, your day potentially over before it’s even begun.

When will it get exciting?

With long one-day races like the Olympic and World Championship road races, it’s often the case that the early part of the route takes place over one long loop before a second loop begins, the riders usually taking on this circuit numerous times. It provides benefits for the live audience, as they are able to enjoy watching the riders pass multiple times, but it also offers the opportunity for the riders to become familiar with the course, learning where they can attack and taking advantage of these pinch points – usually climbs – on each successive lap, resulting in a gradual winding up of tension and excitement.

But by contrast to recent road races where the finish loop has been tackled numerous times, the final lap of Paris is tackled just three times, with its punchy Montmartre climb a possible launchpad for late attacks. In short, if you can watch the whole race, do so – it’s only once every four years and you just don’t know how it’s going to play out, or when a winning attack might be made. If you’re keen to see the action unfold, try to make sure you're in your seats by the time there's around 115km to go to catch the hilly section in the centre of the course. If you're late, tune in for the Paris laps, which should see the already small peloton reduce gradually in numbers as the cream rises to the top - but with the tendency among the current crops of superhumans to launch long-range solos in major one-day races, you might find you've missed a fair bit by that point.

Will it be every man for himself?

The Olympics, like the World Championships, is a special case when it comes to cycling – you’re fighting for one prize, and so it’s harder to see the benefits of working as a team as clearly as you see them during the Tour. During the regular cycling season, teams have clear goals and designated leaders. They work together throughout the year towards their goals and even though one man taking all the glory may not seem fair to the rest of the team, it’s clear to see that they are a unit when they celebrate their successes together – not to mention, everyone is well paid to play their part.

While national teammates may work together once or twice or year, the camaraderie may not be there quite as strongly as it will with their trade teammates, and understandably so. So it’s easy to imagine there would be more of a temptation to ride for yourself, and in the past, there has been friction within strong national teams with more than one leadership option, while other nations seem to manage the team dynamics a little more comfortably.

Still, teamwork makes the dreamwork in cycling, but where at Worlds teams are still large, the Olympics has a maximum team size of four riders – meaning that even the top nations don’t have enough resources to boss the race.

So who’s the UAE Team Emirates of the Olympics?

The allocation of Olympic places is complicated and decided on different criteria than worlds, which are run by the UCI. The outcome is that this year, Denmark, France, Belgium, Great Britain and Slovenia have four riders each. Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA have three. Ten nations have two riders, and 35 nations are represented by just one athlete.

With the smaller team sizes, and smaller peloton, maybe it really is more about the individual at the Olympics. With so few riders per team, those that can deploy their resources stand the best chance, and with two of the race favourites - Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert - among their number, you could argue that Denmark and Belgium are the teams to beat. So are these two the UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease A Bike of the race? In terms of their relative strength, perhaps. But you can’t argue with quality, and despite his lacklustre performance at the Tour de France, there’s no denying that Mathieu van der Poel has learned how to perform on a big occasion, and he proved that at last summer’s World Championships. He will be a marked man and his two teammates will have a big job trying to fend off the rest - and there are a lot of contenders to take into consideration.

THE CONTENDERS

Who do we know?

If you watched this year’s Tour, there will be plenty of familiar faces to follow at the road race this weekend, as 36 of the 90-strong peloton come fresh from the Tour. We’ve already mentioned Mathieu van der Poel, and his long-time frenemy Wout van Aert will be there too riding for Belgium – they will both be up there in terms of race favourites. The highest placed finished in the GC standings to be present at the road race is Remco Evenepoel for Belgium. The white jersey winner has already claimed gold in the individual time trial and will likely be working in more of a support role on Sunday.

Outside of these there are a host of familiar faces as teammates become rivals – and vice versa – for a day of battle on the streets of Paris. You’ll recognise green jersey winner Biniam Girmay – the sole representative for Eritrea, the USA’s Matteo Jorgensen (Jonas’ right hand man in the mountains at the Tour), and everyone’s favourite breakaway turned GC rider Derek Gee, who goes for Canada. And for the home nation, the enigmatic former world champion Julian Alaphilippe, who wasn’t at this year’s Tour, but featured in the second season of Unchained, will rouse the French crowds. He has proven he’s more than capable of performing on a big occasion, and the course is perfectly suited to him. With a team of four riders, the French will certainly hope to perform at their home Games.

Where are Tadej and Jonas?

The lack of the top two GC riders at one of the biggest events of the year might seem a bit baffling. One reason for Tadej Pogačar's absence at a race he was initially planning on competing at include tiredness following his heroic Giro-Tour double – seems fair enough really, right? The second reason cited by the Slovenian is the fact his fiancée Urška Žigart was not selected, despite being the rider to have secured enough points for the nation to send not one, but two athletes to the competition.

As for Jonas Vingegaard, as you’ll see from the profile above, this just isn’t a pure climber’s course, and Denmark are a nation replete with talent, so they can afford to select riders who have a much better chance of bringing gold home.

So who’s going to win?

Just like on a stage of the Tour de France, the types of riders who you can expect to fare well in a one-day race depends massively on the type of course they're facing. At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, for example, the intimidating climbs of Mount Fuji and the Mikuni Pass formed a major part of the course, and with a total altitude gain of 4,865m – equivalent to the grandest of mountains stage at the Tour. It was a course that only the strongest climbers could achieve on, and explains how Richard Carapaz was able to take gold for Ecuador.

In Paris it's a different story. After a hilly passage of six short climbs heading back into Paris, three laps of a bumpy circuit featuring repeated ascents of a short, punchy climb on Montmartre is much better suited to punchy Classics riders like van der Poel, van Aert and Alaphilippe. The total altitude gain is 2,800m – significant, but not insurmountable, so while it doesn’t favour pure sprinters, those who can cope with a few ups and downs like Mads Pedersen and Biniam Girmay will feel confident of their ability to stick with the puncheurs.

Race favourites aside, there are plenty more riders who will hope to feature. Spain’s Oier Lazkano, Ireland’s Ben Healy, Italy’s Alberto Bettiol, Tom Pidcock and Stevie Williams from the UK and Michael Matthews of Australia are all riders capable of putting in a big performance when required on this kind of course. There's also the chance to watch riders who don't ordinarily compete on the European racing circuit, from a broad variety of nations, 54 in total. It should be a truly thrilling race.

What about the women?

If you’re a brand new fan or a Netflix Unchained cycling convert, you may have yet to fully embrace other elements of this fantastic, multi-faceted sport, including the women’s side of the sport which sadly hasn’t featured thus far in the Netflix documentary. The next post in the Pilot Fish series will be all about the women’s Tour de France, which begins in a couple of weeks’ time, and will hopefully show you there’s more to a world on two wheels than 176 men and a yellow jersey.

Why not begin on Sunday, with the women’s road race, and acquaint yourselves with some of the characters we’ll meet on the roads of Rotterdam in August (yes, the Tour de France Femmes starts outside of France this year, too). The course is shorter, at 158km, but covers most of the same climbs and completes two circuits of the final Paris loop, instead of three.

We’ll talk more about the similarities and differences between men’s and women’s racing in the next instalment, so for now, here’s three key takeaways to get you started:

1) The Netherlands are UAE – well, SD Worx

While on the men’s side, the Belgians have always been the low country that’s flourished, on the women’s, it’s all about the Dutch. They dominate across the sport, with the best riders in several disciplines, and the best team in the world (Team SD Worx are Dutch – imagine UAE Team Emirates combined with Visma-Lease A Bike and you get the picture). Demi Vollering is currently undefeated in stage racing this year, Lorena Wiebes is the world’s fastest woman, and Marianne Vos is the undisputed GOAT of the sport, with victories in several disciplines throughout her long and distinguished career. They have options for every type of race outcome.

But when it comes to working together as a national team, the path to victory has not always been smooth. With so many exceptional talents and big characters to match, it’s not always plain sailing for the ultra talented Netherlands team.

2) The World Champion is the one to watch

After saying all that about the Netherlands, it’s time to introduce the race favourite, the BELGIAN, Lotte Kopecky. You might have heard of her: she’s the reigning world champion, not only on the road but also on the track, and if that wasn’t enough, she’s a multiple one-day Classics winner. Like the men's world champion, van der Poel, it’s the perfect course for her, and unlike the Dutch, there will be absolutely no doubt who is the leader within the Belgian team, meaning she’s likely to have team support throughout the race.

3) Expect the unexpected

It’s fair to say that the Olympic road race is a different beast, whether it’s the men riding or the women, so it’s difficult to make any predictions other than ‘it’ll probably be pure chaos’. At the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, all this was proven beyond a doubt when a long-range solo from relatively unknown Austrian rider Anna Kiesenhofer was either underestimated, misjudged, or both, by the Dutch favourites and the rest of the peloton, and with no race radio to keep them up to date, they failed to bring Kiesenhofer back, leading to her winning Olympic gold in one of the shock results of the 2020 Games.

Any questions?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Pilot episode of Pilot Fish Presents and that you’ve found it informative. I’ll be back to break down the Tour de France Femmes in a week or so, before we move on to tackle La Vuelta later in August. If you have any questions you’d like me to cover the answers to – just drop me a line!

All image credits: Wikimedia Commons