August 10, 2008 (Beijing, China) – If the men’s Olympic road race was defined by hot and humid air, the women’s race at the Games was remembered for the humidity that broke into torrential showers in the mountains, making for freezing descents of near zero visibility. They started as the men did, at the same historic Tian’anmen Square in downtown Beijing, and like the men’s event, the women’s race stayed together for the first one and a half hours, which also happened to coincide with a ferocious rain storm that added another crucial dimension to the test.

And who better than a Brit to know how to ride in the rain as in the end it was Nicole Cooke of Great Britain who claimed the gold after a brilliant team ride that she admitted afterwards had been planned for more than a year with teammates Emma Pooley and Sharon Laws.

Canada had a strong race and presence at the front of the peloton right until the last three kilometres when the decisive break got away with Leigh Hobson placing 17th as the top Canuck, 28 seconds behind Cooke. Holland’s Marianne Vos, who went into the race as one of the favorites, won the group sprint to take sixth place, 21 seconds back.

Italian, German, American and Australian jerseys also dominated the front of the pack with Canada’s Hobson, Erinne Willock and Alexandra Wrubleski smartly covering every move. As the landscape became more mountainous and weather more treacherous, multiple short but powerful attacks were launched by all of the top riders, each counter-attacking the other. While this didn’t yet split things up at the front the less experienced rider were shed off the back on each curve as rain bubbles bounced up from the pavement. With 55km to go amidst blinding rain, Alexandra Burchenkova of Russia jumped as she led out of a wide corner but not for long. The Americans, Swiss and British chased and with 50km to go had closed the gap.

A nasty crash occurred soon after with at least six riders going down as one slid into another on a surface of slimy pollutants and several millimetres of water. All recovered, but clearly the descents and corners were going to be as tricky as the climbs.

The Americans took control soon after, charging powerfully. Canadians stayed right with them while riders fell one by one off the back. Russian rider Natalia Boyarskaya broke from the pack at the 45km to go mark, and within three kilometres had a 45-second lead, which increased to 1:14 until U.S. rider Amber Neber took up the challenge on one of the grueling climbs. All three Canadians were positioned well up in the peloton and stayed with the attacking American. With 42km to go, the pack had taken 15 seconds out of Boyarskaya. At 32km to go it was 45 seconds, but Boyarskaya fought to rebuild her lead to one minute over the next 2km.

Meanwhile back in the pack, the Canadian team hovered near the front but with 25km Canada’s Wrubleski slid out and crashed on a wet and wild corner. By the time she was able to get her chain back on she had lost contact with the field. Wrubleski’s fate was not as dire as two other riders who crashed and found themselves in a narrow two-foot cement ditch filled with water.

While the main field dwindled to 30 cyclists they whittled away at BoyArskaya’s lead and, with 12km to go Italy’s Tatiana Guzerzo attacked and went right by her. quickly establishing her own 7-second lead. A short time later with 9km to go, Cooke, Denmark’s Linda Melanie Villumsen Serup, Sweden’s Emma Johansson, and Austrian Christiane Soeder had joined Guzerzo and established an 11-second lead on the field, increasing it over the next kilometre to 14 seconds. Judith Arndt (Ger) lead the chase group behind with Canada’s Hobson and Willock still in the mix trying to bridge to the leaders but to no avail.

With less than a 1km to go it was clear this break would stick and it was going to be a European finish. At first Cooke seemed to falter as the break hit the final climb to the finish but she quickly recovered and soon was leading such a tenactious sprint to the line, you would hardly know it was an uphill finish. With a smile on her face she took the gold finishing the 126km course in 3:32:24, for an average speed of 36.7 km per hour.

Sweden’s Johansson took the silver while workhorse Gudzerzo of Italy claimed the bronze, while Austria’s Soeder placed fourth, four seconds back and Villumsen Serup fifth at nine seconds back.

The chasing pack that included Hobson and Willock started to shatter as they tried to bridge up to the leaders, coming in between 21 seconds to one minute behind. Hobson had the top result for Canada, placing a respectable 17th, 28 seconds back, for her first and last Olympics, as this will be the final race of her ten-year-long career.

“To medal is probably the largest goal of the Olympics,” said a shivering Hobson after the race. “It was disappointing that that didn’t happen, but when you leave everything out there and you do as much as you can, you can’t be completely disappointed. I think it was an excellent race.” And a fitting way to spend her thirty-eighth birthday.

Willock placed 37th, 59 seconds back, while Wrubeski recovered from her fall to fight back and claim 50th out of a field of 66 riders at 7:12 behind. She was not alone as other top riders including as Germany’s Hanka Kupfernagel and Arndt, and at least 15 other cyclists, were involved in crashes today. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli, who was racing in her seventh Olympics for France at 49 years of age, placed 24th, at 33 seconds behind Cooke, proving she is one of the greatest cyclists ever, considering how many world and Olympic championships she has competed in and won.

But the day went to Cooke, who let out a primal scream when she realized she had won the sprint. “I was just so happy, so my emotions came out all at once. I wasn’t composed enough to take my hands off the bars,” she said later. Cooke, her teammates, and coach Dave Brailsford had drawn up the blueprints for the race a long time ago said Brailsford, “She’s prepared all year for this one race and it’s paid off. The whole team had raced exactly as planned.”

An ecstatic Cooke reiterated this saying that Poole and Laws deserved to share the gold with her. “It’s just a dream come true,” she added, “I want to thank all the people who’ve been there from the start. I’ve worked so hard. I am so happy.”

Beijing Notes

Beijing has a beautiful new air conditioned subway that makes Toronto’s look like a child’s maze running through a series of narrow rooms with bathroom tiles. It has an express line that shoots you straight out to the airport, extensions that go way beyond the downtown area (however that may be defined in a city that seems to go forever), and multi-line/multi-level design. Riding the subway, as this journalist does at least twice a day for nearly two hours, is a cultural odyssey. It is impossible to overestimate the pride the Chinese feel as hosts of these games, and they are bursting with it on every subway car.

People have come to Beijing from across China, a formidable task considering the country encompasses several time zones. Most people in the country do not have cars and have been strongly advised not to even think about driving during the Games.

Despite the crowds and the constant security checks that do seem rather redundant after you’ve been through the first one, things move along at a reasonable pace. The farther out you go from the Olympic Line, the fewer non-Chinese there are, so those of us who are not, are the cause of much curiosity. When I look up from my reading, I am met with many sets of focused eyes.

When I am standing on the platform with my subway map upside down wondering which way I should be going, I am always saved by a kind stranger, who asks in well practiced English where it is I would like to go.

When I see children staring I smile and wink and they smile back. One evening a little girl, perhaps nine years old, motioned that she wanted her mother to take her picture with me. We posed together as the train sped towards Chaqyangmen Station and I gave her a purple and silver “Canadian” pen. She motioned that I should move across the aisle and sit with her family.

Soon the little girl was poking me on the arm. She had taken off her bracelet and wanted me to have it. How very sweet of her. Luckily I had a number of bracelets on and could give her one back. We parted at the next stop, subway friends forever.