The final descent on the Olympics road race course has come in for criticism from Irish legend Sean Kelly. He said not only was it dangerous but there was nothing to protect the riders on either side of the road. Above, with old adversary Phil Anderson on sportive duty earlier this year.
By Brian Canty
Sean Kelly has said the sight of stricken Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten towards the end of the women’s road race at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro yesterday was “shocking”, adding the descent near the finishing had “nil” protection.
Speaking at the launch of the Irish Heart Foundation’s annual charity cycle, the Irish cycling legend added that such a parcours meant that riders were always going to push on in pursuit of glory and more protection should have been in place.
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“It was shocking to see," he said of the final of the women's race which he watched on TV.
"I suppose it was a combination of things; Annemiek van Vleuten was pushing it a bit too much and then braking in the corner.
“It looked like carbon rims on carbon blocks and suddenly it gripped, she blocked it a bit and then she got it all wrong.
“When you’re on a circuit and you’ve a descent that close to the finish there’s always going to be the big push.
"And they’re going to take the risk and they’ll really push it out. When it goes wrong it goes really wrong,” he added.
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Richie Porte was just one of the big names to fall on the descent of the Vista Chinesa. The Australian suffered a broken scapula and he is out of Wednesday's TT in Rio as a result.
Similar incidents occurred 24 hours earlier in the men's race when those in medal-winning positions crashed on the same stretch of road; Vincenzo Nibali of Italy and Colombian Sebastien Henao the unfortunates in that instance.
“Definitely the descent was dangerous; you could see that it was a very technical descent," said Kelly.
“When you have it at the very, very final it’s always going to be more dangerous then.
“With the riders; they’d have seen it but they are going to really push it because every little bit of a gain is so important in the very final.
“When you look at it there with the Dutch girl crashing and Nibali and Henao as well, the protection was nil in the dangerous corner.
“It’s an Olympic road race so the descent should have been protected much more.”
Meanwhile, Kelly said Dan Martin rode a great race but probably paid for making one effort too many in the end.
“He wasn’t in the first move,” he said, referring to the chase group that went in pursuit of the breakaway men.
“He missed that and had to make the effort to come across but I suppose on such a very difficult circuit, if you make an unnecessary effort or effort you can do without making then you’ll pay for it in the end.”
- The Irish Heart Foundation Tour of the Midlands is in its fourth year and registration for the event is now open. The event takes place on Sunday October 2nd and there are three routes; the 12k Kelly Family Spin, the 80k Kelly Cut and the 120k Kelly Slieve Bloom Challenge.
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