Olympic Road Events
Men’s road race
Date: Saturday July 24
Time: Starts 3:50am
Distance: 234 km
Elevation gain: 4 865 metres
Who to shout for: Nicholas Dlamini, Stefan de Bod, Ryan Gibbons
One of the toughest routes in many Olympics, with five recognised climbs, including one partway up Mt. Fuji (14.3 km at 6%) and the steep Mikuni Pass climb (6.5 km at 10.6%). Ostensibly, this is one for the climbers, but championship races are more often than not races of attrition, with the puncheurs breaking the legs of the true mountain goats with repeated short efforts long before their power-to-weight advantage comes into play.
Women’s road race
Date: Sunday July 25
Time: Starts 5:50am
Distance: 137 km
Elevation gain: 2 692 m
Who to shout for: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Carla Oberholzer
Unfortunately, the toughest climbs the men’s racers face aren’t on the women’s parcours, which is a great pity for Ashleigh after her spectacular mountain-top win in the Giro Donne a fortnight ago. Still, with nearly 2 700 metres of climbing, this will be a very hard race and one where, if she can ride the train of the Dutch and Belgian squads – many of whom are her team mates the rest of the year – a medal is a distinct possibility.
Women’s ITT
Date: Wednesday July 28
Time: Starts 4:25am
Length: 22.1 km
Who to shout for: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio
As time trial routes go, this is pretty darned hilly! A good one for the more GC-type riders, with some climbing legs, rather than the pure power houses. Again, not a bad parcours for Ashleigh. Get up early and channel all that support!
Men’s ITT
Date: Wednesday July 28
Time: Starts 6:55am
Length: 44.2 km
Who to shout for: Stefan de Bod
Two laps of the circuit used by the women, another brutal day out suited to the skinnier mountain goat GC men, over the pure wattage monsters.
Olympic Triathlon Events
Men’s triathlon
Date: Sunday July 25
Time: 11:30pm
Who to shout for: Henri Schoeman
The Tokyo 2020 triathlon course will take place around Odaiba Marine Park in the Tokyo Bay area. For the 1.5km swim leg the athletes will complete two laps of a circular circuit in the bay, while the 40km bike leg will be split into eight laps of a technical course in and around the wider park. The 10km running leg will comprise four laps of a shorter, 2.5km-long circuit around the park. Both Saffas are outside medal hopes, on their day, as Schoeman proved in Rio, but with the stacked field in Tokyo that might require some luck as well as top form. [Editor’s note – Richard Murray’s health has forced him to withdraw from the triathlon event – 23 July]
Women’s triathlon
Date: Monday July 26
Time: 11:30pm
Who to shout for: Gillian Sanders, Simone Ackermann
Olympic Mountain Biking Events
Men’s cross country
Date: Monday July 26
Time: 11:30pm
Who to shout for: Alan Hatherly
The riders take on 7-9 laps of a tough 4.1km, 150m gain circuit. Alan Hatherly has been on an upward trajectory in the World Cup events leading up to the games, with 5th in the most recent round just two weeks before the Games, so it isn’t too much of a stretch to see him mopping up some places behind the Van der Poel/Pidcock/Fluckiger showdown and sneaking pretty close to a medal should the casualties of that war blow up completely.
Women’s cross country
Date: Tuesday July 27
Time: 3-5pm
Who to shout for: Candice Lill
The women race the same course, just a couple of laps fewer.
We will cover the BMX and Track events in a separate post next week, closer to those events.
How to get your Olympic fix
Supersport, your channel of champions (and medallists!) is the place to go, or GCN (if you have a VPN to get around the geo-restrictions. The above times were correct according to the clumsy DSTV schedules at the time of writing, please double-check!