Geeks on Sports: London Olympics 2012 – Cycling – Road

Event Dates: Saturday July 28 – Sunday July 29 & Wednesday August 1

Medal Events: 4

Athletes: 212 (145 men / 67 women)

 

 

Geeks on Sports previewer Tim Blacksmith here today to tell you all about Cycling – Road, a sport designed to let anarchists living in the mountains still be competitive with one another.

 

Road Cycling is a well-known commodity in the sports world, with the popularity and notoriety of the Tour de France each year.  But unlike that month-long event where winners of each stage build their overall time to win the prestigious race, this event consists of two winner-take-all races for both men and women.

 

 

The races break down as such: a men’s and women’s road race (both taking place along the same path with slight variations of distance) and then a men’s and women’s time trial (both taking place along similar areas with the only variation being overall distance).

 

 

The event is spread out over three days; the first day the men’s road race is held and the second day the women’s; check out the course.  It measures 250km (about 156 miles for us silly Americans) in length and will traverse such well-known British cities as Isleworth, Byfleet, West Horsley, Leatherhead and Dorking (I swear I made none of those names up.  Dorking!  It’s like it was made for me!).

 

Road Racing Style Bike

Time trials course takes place in another area venturing into towns like East Molesly, Esher, Cobham and Hinchley Wood.  The course is significantly shorter than the big race, check out the men’s course measuring 44km (about 27.3 miles) and the women’s course measuring 29km (about 18 miles).  Both time trials are held on Wednesday the 1st of August.

 

Each country is limited to sending 5 men and 4 women to the road race and only 2 of each sex for the time trials.

 

As an inaugural Olympic sport that had a place at the games in Athens and became a permanent staple at the 1912 games, Cycling Road Race is the epitome of a classic Olympic game.

 

 

To see where to watch this or your other favorite sports, check out NBC’s coverage in your local area.

 

Courtesy of london2012.com

I hope you have enjoyed this preview of the 2012 London Olympics Cycling Road event.  Continue to check 8DaysAGeek for more previews of Olympic events.

 

 

This is Geeks on Sports previewer Tim Blacksmith signing off.

Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.