Pain and suffering on spirit-sapping course

It was described as the toughest Olympic road course in living memory and it certainly lived up to its billing. Of the 144 riders who started yesterday’s men’s Olympic road race only 134 finished.

The sight of Britain’s Steve Cummings almost going backwards on the first ascent of the 8km climb up to the Vista Chinesa, admittedly having done a huge turn on the front, only reinforced the sense that the riders were suffering in the 30C heat.

But what a course to suffer on. Rio’s coastline looked resplendent and the route imaginative. The transition out to the Grumari Circuit – the first of the day’s two circuits – was basically an advert for the Brazilian Tourist Board.

The cobbled sector of that circuit, while it did not account for any of the favourites, claimed a few of the peloton’s lesser lights – and a large number of bidons which were sent tumbling from their cages. The short, narrow, and extremely steep Grumari climb sapped away at the legs. And by the time the riders reached the final lap of the Vista Chinesa circuit, with its long 8km climb which peaks at around 11 per cent, they were on their knees.

The women will have it marginally easier today. Instead of doing four laps of the Grumari Circuit and two and a half of the Vista Chinesa, they will do one of each in a race totalling 136.9km to the men’s 237.5km. Even that will be enough, though, to shell many of the riders.

Lizzie Armitstead, who will be leading the British team, will have Emma Pooley and her Boels Dolmans teammate Nikki Harris for company.

Pooley, who has been tempted out of retirement, has chiefly been selected for Wednesday’s time trial. At her best she is one of the strongest climbers in the world, but her form is a bit of an unknown as she has only raced a few times this year and has never looked entirely comfortable.

It is unclear whether Pooley will bury herself in support of Armitstead, try to get into a break, or whether she will get her work done early and sit up to save her strength for Wednesday.

Harris, by contrast, knows exactly what she will do. “I don’t really see myself as ever being able to get a medal at the Olympics,” she said this week. “The reason I’m going there is to help other people do that. I want to be able to finish my race having done that job, and hopefully with Lizzie winning the gold. That would be the cherry on top.

“My job will be in the first 90 to 100kilometres, helping Lizzie stay at the front, get over the cobbles, making her do the least amount of work possible, so she’s fresh for the final 20km. Hopefully we can save her some energy so she’s got some fresh legs – or as fresh as she can be on that course – at the end.”