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Olympic road-race tuneup reveals a tough course

By staff and wire reports
Published: Aug. 19, 2007

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans and three-time world time-trial champion Michael Rogers say next year's road race at the Beijing Olympics will be tougher than expected.

The Australian pair made their assessments after racing on the circuit Saturday as part of at the Good Luck Beijing Road Cycling International Invitational, the official 2008 Olympic test event.

Italian Gabriele Bosisio won the race, three seconds ahead of Kazakh Alexandr Dyachenko with Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali third at 0:47. Evans took fifth in the same time.

Jon Garcia was the top finisher for the six-man U.S. squad in ninth place, 1:52 off the pace. Of 88 starters, 34 failed to finish.

"Next year the field will be 100 percent better than today and I'm expecting a very, very tough race of attrition," said Rogers, who crossed 17th.

The 174km course began at the Yongdingmen Gate and incorporated many of Beijing's most notable and historic landmarks including the Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, Yonghegong Palace and the Lama Temple before entering the Badaling Highway.

After a relatively flat 78.8km, the peloton reached the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall of China where the riders began the first of four hilly 23.8km circuits between Juyongguan and Badaling. At the Olympics, riders will contest seven circuits for a total race distance of 245.4km. Each circuit included a 12km ascent to Badaling followed by a descent back into Juyongguan.

"It goes up, goes up some more and comes down — then you go up again," Evans said. "It's 10 kilometers of climbing with some steep sections in it and not much recovery, and then one big long downhill. But even then it was a headwind all the way down and not so easy."

Rogers added that the climb “was a little bit harder than I'd expected. It's not super steep but it's quite constant and there is no actual recovery.”

Scott Nydam, a U.S. pro with the UCI Continental BMC squad who finished 12th on Saturday, agreed with the Aussies.

"The one thing about the course is that there is no opportunity for recovery," said Nydam. "On the final circuits you're keeping pressure on the pedals the whole time, even on the descent going into a headwind. It's definitely not easy.

“The climb isn't super-steep, but there are a few critical sections, especially about two-thirds of the way up where you hit a couple of switchbacks and it gets steep for about a kilometer. There is a lot of opportunity there because that far up the climb attrition has set in and it's a good time for attacks to go."

Despite predictions that Beijing’s smog would have a significant impact, the riders said they were more affected by the 70 percent humidity and 86-degree temperatures.

"My lungs hurt to breathe, but it's not the dirtiest place I've raced," Evans said. "Racing in an Italian city you get dirtier from diesel fumes. But it's the humidity here that surprised me, and the combination of pollution and humidity makes it a bit harder."

Rogers said: "I spend a fair bit of time near Milan so I'm used to riding with the pollution. It's also better at the finish line than at the start when we had to ride through the city. We're about 60 kilometers out of the city here but it's still relatively humid and hot, so it's tough conditions."

On Sunday, Evans won the individual time trial, which consisted of one loop of the 23.8km road circuit from Juyongguan to Badaling. The Aussie cranked out a time of 32:28.92 to take the victory, 24 secondsfaster than Rogers, with Alexander Dyachenko third at 58 seconds back.

Nydam was the top U.S. finisher in 14th place, 3:33 off the pace.

Good Luck Beijing Road Cycling International Invitational
Beijing, China
August 18-19
Men's road race
1. Gabriele Bosisio (I), 4:27:14
2. Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz), at 0:03
3. Vincenzo Nibali (I), at 0:47

Men's time trial
1. Cadel Evans (Aus), 32:28.92
2. Michael Rogers (Aus), at 24.74
3. Alexander Dyachenko (Kaz), at 58.60