Hi all! This thread is the thread for covering Cycling at the Olympics this year. This includes the following: BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Mountain Biking, Road and Track. Feel free to discuss all the ins and outs of the disciplines, any predictions you may have, support for the athletes and anything else you notice as we kick off on Saturday!

Richard Carapaz sadly won't be defending his gold in the Men's Road Race this year as Ecuador can only send one person this time round and they've chosen Narvaez. A shame but understandable, and it does mean we'll have a new winner! (I was going to make a remark about Pogacar but it looks like they've just ruled him out of taking part).

Those conditions for the road race look horrendous, really hope no one slips

 

Also the Afghan female rider here has made me realise that this Afghanistan in the Olympics is the representative of the exiled Afghanistan Islamic Republic (and their IOC) and specifically not the Taliban, who would not let women compete in sports.

The conditions should favour the British riders

Silver medal for GB's Anna Henderson in the women's individual time trial.

 

Australian Grace Brown in 1st with the gold and bronze medal for Chloe Dygert gets the bronze.

Really tense finish, good race to have watched. Great start for Team GB in the medals with a silver too.

I missed watching the first GB medal of the games this morning but tuned in for the women's time trial now - very impressive victory for Grace Brown of Australia there but a tense finish with Anna securing the silver for GB *.*

Congrats to Henderson! A shame Dygert fell but still pretty good to finish ahead of her given how often Dygert finishes ahead of everyone else. Let's see if Tarling can replicate the success in the men's!

Fourth for Tarling. So close!

Gutted for Josh. Misses out on a medal through no fault of his own. Still 20 though and has another two or three Olympics in him no doubt

Tarling ending up 2 seconds behind bronze after losing time early in the race to a tyre puncture and having to switch bikes </3

What an ride from Tom Pidcock to come from a puncture and win the gold in the men's mountain biking race.

 

No need for the French to boo Tom Pidcock.

 

 

That was a very exciting race. He did so well to claw back that 40 second gap and then have that battle with the Frenchman over the last lap with the lead changing a few times.

That French crowd at the cycling should be ashamed of themselves. You can't boo someone just for beating your favourite. Tom did nothing wrong, it was a superb bit of racing to overtake there.

Gutted to have not been able to watch this one live, what a comeback for Pidcock to squeak out another gold *.*

That finish was amazing. To go from a puncture and down to 8th place, to winning the whole thing.

 

I actually think the French cyclist could have avoided that collision......

Defending champion Charlotte Worthington has been knocked out of the women's BMX freestyle qualification in the first round.

Kieran Reilly guaranteed a medal in the men's freestyle BMX, he gave it everything in his second run...

It is an silver medal for Kieran Reilly. Jose Torres Gil for Argentina wins gold.

The BMX freestyle is so fun to watch! A very well deserved victory for the Argentine there, that first run from him was fantastic. Oof at 3 of the riders crashing out on their first attempts but a couple of strong comebacks on the second run including Jeanjean recovering from an immediate crash out to still get a bronze in the end. (and my innate desire to root against the French was still satisfied by Kieran pipping him to silver at the end x)