Should road racing be in the Olympics?

Road race at the olympics is pretty much the inly true race craft race left isn’t it? Ie no radios?

This is a good point, it is very a different one day race, They’re working as part of a national team not their normal trade team, or maybe even if their nation doesn’t have a full squad individuals looking to cooperate and challenge where they can. it can be a much more mixed field fitness/ability wise.

No Radios so organisation is all going to be verbal between the team on the road,  the tactics and strategy are going to be different, either whatever was pre-arranged or decided on the day.

Most competitors are probably on their trade team bikes, but the support vehicle with spares will be their national squad’s carrying all sorts of different bikes, or they get the neutral support vehicle, the opportunities for significant cock-ups if someone has a flat/mechanical are therefore higher too.

All of that adds to the spectacle IMO. I don’t think it’s better or worse than a World Champs, spring classic or a Grand tour just another interesting variation on road racing that only happens once every 4 years, and from the POV of the organising city doesn’t actually need a huge infrastructure or facility investment, just some road closures…

I kind of feel in my bones that any sport with judges handing out the scores shouldn’t be in the olympics.

But then I remember how some former colleages would get SO excited at getting to see dressage on TV. They only get to see it once every four years and there’s NO WAY it would get shown at any other time because it’s quite frankly weird. So I have to remind myself that categorising sports into worthy and unworthy is a bit silly.

I do think there is a good argument to redoce the nuber of sports overall in the olympics both open up potential hosts by making it cheaper and reduce environmental impact. In that case I think I’d be OK with road racing coming off the program. Previously I’d have thought the status of the olympic race in the womens calendar should keep it in but that calendar is strong enough now to cope without an olympics.

Anything professional? If you haven’t got a normal day job then don’t bother turning up.

Ironically, in the modern Olympics as conceived by (Baron) de Coubertin, “no professionals” literally meant noone who was paid a wage. After all, you can’t have a working class oik turning up and beating their betters, can you?

I think the Pros themselves still take some pride in winning the road race.

Wasn’t Carapaz was riding his gold bike in the TdF?  Fairly sure I saw it though it didn’t stand out much.

Greg Van Avermaet even more so with plenty of gold on his helmet and gold stem/bars iirc. That usually reminded the pundits to mention it during commentary, less so with Carapaz.

As for Anna Kiesenhofer, a phenomenal tactical win, but sadly invisible at least in World Tour events and, in any case, apparently doesn’t like riding in a peloton so prefers TTs where she hasn’t had much success other than for Austria.

Carapaz thinks it should have a year off 😉

I’m of the measurement matters school. But then gymnastics is pretty cool, so they just need some measurement rather than artistic grading.

Defo go with the idea if it’s not the biggest accolade in a sports calander then get it out.  Free up tv coverage for less well publicised sports.

I’m not keen on the artistic/judged sports anyway so from a personal point of view they can go too.

I guess the 800m should be cancelled this time then too.

Just keep your hands off beach volleyball.

I’d prefer to keep my hands on that one

Road racing – yes, love watching it, but when did it become OK for professionals to compete in the Olympics? I always thought it was amateur only but over the last decade or two that seems to have changed. Would it be OK for Tyson Fury to join Team GB for the Olympic boxing?

Fast walking race is probably one of the most ridiculous events.

And golf, football and tennis can all take their ball and play elsewhere. They get plenty of exposure at other times.

As someone who plays golf it’s one of the only events I’d watch, alongside the mtb, road race and time trial, for same reasons

They may not be the pinnacle of the sport but at least they aren’t completely shit like 95% of the events on show

I’d also get rid of any 75% of the swimming events. And likewise track cycling, where a few nations hoover up dozens of medals due to the limited number of countries who actually take it seriously and the sheer volume of events that are all very much the same. And oddly, it’s not nearly as enjoyable to watch on TV as it is in real life

Given all the sports that don’t get any exposure

Id go the opposite route. If it was down to me inclusion would be based on worldwide participation  numbers. Which would mean you would not have any of these obscure events noone cares about other than the participants and their families. Although I suspect that would go against the ethos of the Olympics..

but when did it become OK for professionals to compete in the Olympics?

LA in 1984 was the last amateur Olympics from memory. So nearly 40 years ago.

But individual governing bodies set criteria, boxing is still amateur but most other sports have allowed professionals in.

I kind of feel in my bones that any sport with judges handing out the scores shouldn’t be in the olympics.

They probably had judges for the poetry in the Olympics back in the day, unless it was speed reading…

Yes, because selfishly it’s one of the sports I absolutely love in the Olympics.

Obviously watching the actual race is great, but it’s also fun to spot your favourite riders and usually from their helmets or bike guess which pro team they ride for.

It’s also one of the few sports where spectators *don’t need a ticket/pass and can watch for nothing.

Edit- *Sorry convert, I realised you had written that earlier on

I don’t mind if it’s in or not – however, it’s not the pinnacle for road riders, really, is it? They don’t plan 4 years for this one off race…..

Whereas that is exactly the ambition for XC MTB racers – and we only get to see 40 for each MTB race; and possible medal winners are sat at home (French/Swiss riders in particular).

I have to agree with a point made already; swimming & track cycling get numerous chances for medals; are they really all needed? So why not Downhill, or Short Track for cycling?

So why not Downhill, or Short Track for cycling?

the number of events is sanctioned by the IOC and then the governing body gets to decide which discipline is included. Hence the decision is really down to the UCI want Downhill? Lose the Omnium… why the number of medal events is fixed? History I imagine. Swimming has a lot of permutations due to distance and stroke. Track only has distance.

Swimming could/should lose all the variations on stroke and distance and quite possibly a lot of the relay stuff too.

Interesting that butterfly as a stroke was only included because some swimmers found a loophole in breaststroke!

Indeed should any sport where the pinnacle of achievement isn’t considered to be an Olympic title?

That would be true of most sports wouldn’t it? Most sports have a ‘world championship’ of some sort, every year. Empirically you’d expect that to be the more important title.

The point of the Olympics is it’s a festival of all sport and a whole heap of pageantry and celebration heaped on top. And becuase it combines so many sports and creates excellent coverage of them, it’s the event that gets the biggest audience. Aside from one or two sports, for most competitors its by far the biggest crowd and audience they’ll ever compete in front of.

In terms of cycling specifically – an Olympic gold medal isn’t as big a deal as winning the TDF. But grand tours aren’t an Olympic event. Compared to day races its only really comparable to the World Championships as theres aren’t really other day races that are focused on an individual rider’s sole performance rather than being trade-team based.

I think the only sport that gets considerably less audience traction during the olympics  than its own individual world event is football

Considering the main favourite MVDP has ridden the Tour as purely preparation (see his TT on his road bike and being 20th to the top of the climb then letting it slide from there) for the Olympic road race those who think they have a proper chance of winning are taking it seriously. Similar for Wout and Pidcock who pulled out at the first sign of illness.

This didn’t seem to be the case prior to London.

With swimming and track cycling, once you’ve built your venue, it makes sense to fill it for the whole two weeks, or it’s even more of a white elephant than it already is?

I’d put the Olympic road race behind the grand tour classifications, World Champs, grand tour stages, and monuments in prestige. Its bias towards the traditional cycling nations in terms of team imbalance probably doesn’t help it either, but it’s hard to see how else it could be structured.

Compared to day races its only really comparable to the World Championships as theres aren’t really other day races that are focused on an individual rider’s sole performance rather than being trade-team based

Oh, the world champs (and the Olympics) is still ridden as a team. Just look up Charly Wegelius and his world championship ‘error or judgment’ to see. Roger Hammond was the British rider he was meant to be working for that day. Or Mark Cavendish where the entire British team was selected around ensuring he won.

It’s still a team sport, just the teams are stirred up from the usual trade teams.

I think the only sport that gets considerably less audience traction during the olympics than its own individual world event is football

I’d be interested to see how many bother to watch the olympic  golf  on telly worldwide. I guess you have to get your head around some sports being totally irrelevant in your country but an obsession elsewhere. Handball and wrestling for example.

And I think it’d be interesting to ask a non GT GC contender pro cyclist what they would cover most at the end of their career if they could only have one – a stage of the TdF, Paris Roubaix or Olympic Gold. I think PR would be top for most. Maybe it depends where you are from.

I feel blessed coming into cycling at such a time.

With Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel at the top, I think this era will be seen as the best ever. Having another opportunity to see these three greats battle it out is a perfect reason to include road racing in the Olympics.

I’m happy for the road race to stay as its usually a really hard fought event and the trade team vs country tactics are always amusing. Charlie Wegelius had a run in with the GB team BITD. edit, missed converts post above

Once a venue is built then you might as well run a full program. I find the pool swimming dull but I’m not a fan, be interested to hear some swimming fans views on all the different strokes and distances.

With Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel at the top, I think this era will be seen as the best ever. Having another opportunity to see these three greats battle it out is a perfect reason to include road racing in the Olympics.

Very funny. One of them might actually be doing it, even though I suspect it’s a race for someone more like Mads Pederson; I was surprised to see Remco on the PCS provisional start list.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/olympic-games/2024/startlist

With Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel at the top, I think this era will be seen as the best ever. Having another opportunity to see these three greats battle it out is a perfect reason to include road racing in the Olympics.

out of those three think only Evenepoel is actually doing the Olympics?

As well as no radios, no support vehicles either please.

Carry your own spares and try not to puncture.  Feel free to ask a competitor for a pump, but don’t be surprised if they ignore you.

Possibly standardised bikes too. No posh nations turning up on hyper-bikes while  small  impoverished nations get Tescos BSOs

Sticking with original question, Road Racing should not be an Olympic sport. If a medal is to be given to an individual winner then the sports included should be for individuals, not teams. Road racing is a team sport.

An Olympian is supposed to be the best in the world. If some riders (dometiques, sprint lead out riders etc.) sacrifice their own chances for the advantage of their nominated team leader then it is not a level playing field, some riders have an advantage.

In the past it has been known for riders to show allegiance to their trade teams instead of to their own national squads which makes the whole thing a nonsense. Ask Charlie Wegelius and Tom Southam their opinions on this.

Swimming has a lot of permutations due to distance and stroke. Track only has distance.

I think you could argue the keirin is a different permutation

Also the womens Olympic medal in road racing is the pinnacle of the sport above all the tours/worlds/1 day races.

Oh, the world champs (and the Olympics) is still ridden as a team.

It can be – but the prize is an individual one. I thought the course for the Glasgow world champs worked very well at breaking up efforts for countries to ride as teams and making it much more a test of the individual – it levelled the playing field a bit between countries that have a large cycling/sport infrastructure sending a dozen riders, coaches, mechanics and team cars, and riders from other nations who turn up on their own and have to borrow a bike.

Maybe both the worlds and the olympics require a much more specific course design in that respect. Glasgow really made riders compete more individually and the course design shattered the peloton and also meant there were no lines of sight, without radios unless your ‘team mate’ was on your wheel you had no idea where they were.

Worked brilliantly for spectators too.

Surely the Olympic race will stand below the Worlds which a) has a visible sign of winning all year and gives a better chance of taking place (just)

The Grand tours especially that French one will always be more significant. Isn’t footy the same? Or tennis.

Not sure about MTB enduro. Isn’t that just something with a very in appropriate name for those who go down hill fast but don’t race uphill?

I don’t really have an objection to any of the sports.

They should be accessible and atleast somewhat transglobal ie archery being Bhutan’s only olympic sport potential ( i think).

I would argue that horses are largely  innaccessable to the massess these days and i am not behind carting animals around the world for them to win trinkets for the rider. So human dressage?

Downhill is pretty niche and really not that accessible, equipment wise and suitable practice venues.

I would install a one event per entrant though.