GB Olympian’s dad in last-minute scramble for ticket because road cyclists only get one each; BMX heartbreak for GB (+ French land stunning 1-2-3); British Cycling launches ambitious bid for Andy Murray to swap tennis for cycling + more on the live blog

You might have heard, Andy Murray’s tennis career is over. The tenacious, battling Scot has finally called time on a unique success story for British tennis after Olympic doubles defeat in Paris last night. However, while the tennis days are done, is it the end of the road for Murray’s sporting career? British Cycling thinks perhaps not, launching an audacious bid to sign up the two-time Olympic champion to one more cycle… ‘come on, Andy, you’ll only be 41 in Los Angeles, ever considered the team pursuit?’

Do you want to try cycling Andy?

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) August 1, 2024

If you don’t ask… 

Who knows, we might see a thrilling GC battle at next year’s Tour between Murray and triathlon star Kristian Blummenfelt, the Norwegian apparently intent on ditching swimming and running in a bid to win the yellow jersey by 2028.

> Triathlon star with highest ever recorded VO2 max Kristian Blummenfelt reveals ambitious plan to win the Tour de France by 2028

Of course this is all a bit of Friday fun. You’d be a bold person to predict a sport switch actually happening. Unless… 

Maybe the signs were there all along. 

On a more serious point, the perennial greatest British athlete discussions have been given a new burst of relevance by Murray’s retirement, some familiar names from the two-wheeled world getting plenty of attention too…

Sir Chris Hoy might want a word too, Wiggo too, although the poster of this discussion-starter didn’t appear to think particularly highly of road cycling…

> Specialized reveals new S-Works Crux — “the lightest gravel bike in the world”

BMX heroes from Tokyo, Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte, are into this evening’s semi-finals after the opening night of racing action in Paris. Shriever, who won gold in Tokyo, won all three of her quarter-finals and said the course “suits all my strengths”. Whyte, who won silver three years ago, had a tougher time but still progressed to the semis.

“Not the way I wanted it at all. For the past seven weeks I’ve really been struggling to train and ride my bike from back issues and the one day it decides to come back it’s today,” he told the BBC cameras afterwards. “I’m in a lot of pain, I don’t really have much strength to come out of the start with, it’s my back, going down my legs. I’m trying my hardest […] but for now it’s back to the physio and see what we can do to make it better.”

Shriever called the competition now a “mental game” as she looks to defend her Olympic crown in tonight’s semis and final. She said: “It couldn’t have gone any better, I’m just here to enjoy myself and embrace every second. So the fact it’s going this well, it’s a bonus. I’m loving every second, my friends and family are here, it’s extremely special.

“The crowd was going crazy. But I expected it, the French love BMX, it’s getting the recognition and the hype that it deserves. It’s wicked. This course it suits all my strengths. Psychologically that’s what I’ve been focusing on and honing in on, it seems to be working at the minute. I’ll carry on and keep my cool, it’s all a mental game from now on. So keep a cool head, put down some smooth laps and yeah, we’ll see what happens.”

The semi-finals get underway at 7pm BST, before a short break and the men’s final at 8.35pm and women’s final 15 minutes later at 8.50pm.

> Cycling at the 2024 Paris Olympics: All the crucial dates and times for watching the cycling action during the Games

Strong ‘can I copy your homework’ vibes on this one, Visma-Lease a Bike spotting Adam Yates doing invaluable work for Tadej Pogačar and thinking ‘how can we get in on the climbing superdomestique act’? Get yourself a Yates…

🤩 We have a 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙏𝙤𝙪𝙧 winner coming in!

Welcome, Simon. Looking forward to working together 🤝 pic.twitter.com/uOXEQppLdH

— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) August 2, 2024

> “A second-hand bike costs the same as two tanks of fuel”: Cyclists react to “joke” survey which found that almost half of Brits believe they can’t afford to buy a bike

[📷: James Huntly Photography]

Master aerodynamicist and key cog in Team GB’s track cycling team Dan Bigham has revealed he will leave his performance engineer role at Ineos Grenadiers after the Games, saying the team “lacked clarity” and “should be doing things a lot better”.

Bigham — who worked with the Danish track cycling team at the last Olympics having felt the British Track Cycling Team were dismissive of his ideas, but is competing at this Games for GB — told the Telegraph that Ineos Grenadiers have “lacked clarity” since Sir Dave Brailsford’s departure and expressed “frustrations” at missed performance gains.

“How I want to do performance is not particularly aligned with how Ineos wanted to go about it. I wanted more autonomy, more ability to action my ideas. And I wasn’t really getting that at Ineos,” he explained, confirming there were similarities with his situation with GB a few years ago.

“I feel that a lot of performance we’re leaving on the table and that frustrates me because it’s clear as day we should be doing things a lot better. Let’s be honest, Ineos are not where they want to be, not where they need to be and the gap is not small.”

Bigham also feels he was not given as much support for the Olympics as he would have liked, the team ultimately offering him three months of unpaid leave to prepare from May.

He continued: “Dave [Brailsford, Ineos’ director of sport] hasn’t particularly been involved since I joined. I see the media say stuff about Manchester United and a distraction but I don’t believe that is the case. Manchester United being somewhat acquired [by Ineos] has no bearing on Ineos Grenadiers as far as I can see.

“Dave had a very clear vision and a way of actioning it and a plan in his head. Maybe to some degree maybe that’s been lacking. We know what it takes to win but how do you get there? What are the processes? That’s the bit lacking clarity. That’s the bit frustrating me as well because I feel like I’ve got a very clear idea on the energy outside equation, the drag and where we need to go and we were not committing to some of the things I felt could bring some fairly significant performance.”

Responding to the Telegraph’s story, an Ineos Grenadiers spokesperson said the team was “very proud” of the support Dan had been given and argued that due to “the strength and depth we have in that area across a number of talented individuals” the team’s programme would be “unaffected” by his departure.

> Driver handed suspended sentence for cutting across and killing cyclist claimed he was “blinded by the sun” before fatal crash – despite motorist behind saying she spotted victim

 

 

 

 

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 Jana Kesenheimer has completed Transcontinental, the first woman to do so at this year’s event, finishing in a time of 11 days, three hours and 57 minutes, the 13th rider to reach Istanbul. In the process she has become only the fourth woman in the event’s history to finish in the top 20.

The organisers gave this short report of her impressive week and a half in the saddle… “Jana has put in a consistently strong effort from Roubaix to Istanbul. She has been the first woman to every Control Point and has displayed impressive resolve and dynamism at her first TCR. With the race having been a dream for her for many years, it is clear that a meticulous level of detail has gone into her preparations and training. Inspired to ride the TCR by a friend, Jana did not initially have the confidence to apply, but by setting goals to gain experience and self-belief, Jana has put in the work to achieve this inspiring triumph.”

> “Pointless” 30kph speed limit on key climb sees pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel skip Olympic road race recon

Despite winning all six qualification races leading up to this evening’s Olympic BMX racing final, Great Britain’s Bethany Shriever finished last, an unexpected result that sums up the unpredictability of the event decided by one run in a deafening Parisian arena already in full-on party mode following a stunning French 1-2-3 in the men’s race 15 minutes earlier.

It wasn’t to be for Team GB’s Beth Shriever 😔

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion finishes eighth, with gold going to Austalia’s Saya Sakakibara 🇦🇺#Olympics #Paris2024 #BBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/ru8ed9dACH

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 2, 2024

“It is what it is,” a still smiling Shriever told the BBC cameras immediately after the failed defence of the title she won in Tokyo, the gold going to Australia’s Saya Sakakibara. “I have loved every second being here. Sometimes it can’t go to plan and that is life. I am happy and healthy, I have got my friends and family — that is all that matters. It is insane, with the French men going one, two and three. I have next experienced anything like it — it is what it is. I was late out the start, every other time it has been all right.”

A quite admirable reaction to a disappointing night, even Shriever unable to let the interview pass without referencing the extraordinary scenes in the men’s race — French riders Joris Daudet, Sylvain Andre and Romain Mahieu pulling off a historic 1-2-3, causing an eruption of home joy at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines as Emmanuel Macron watched on.

Fellow Brit Kye Whyte was not in the men’s final, the 24-year-old who won silver at the last Games, stretchered out of the arena after a heavy fall in the semi-finals. Whyte had suffered with back pain in the qualifiers, the crash hardly going to help, although British Cycling confirmed he suffered “no significant injuries” and has been assessed by the on-site medical team and Great Britain Cycling Team doctor Nigel Jones.

🗣 “That is total dominance!” 🔥

It’s 🥇 Gold 🥈 silver and bronze 🥉 medals for France in the men’s BMX racing final! 🇫🇷#Olympics #Paris2024 #BBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/zNdSwOOmmJ

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 2, 2024

Another plea….

Dawn and Grace have tickets for the cycling road race finish area tomorrow but I don’t currently have a ticket (athletes only get 1 ticket)

If anyone knows of any athletes or officials that haven’t used their ticket allocation please let me know 🙏

— Michael Tarling (@tarling_michael) August 2, 2024

It’s not even the first time this has happened at the Games, Michael getting into the TT finish last minute after a social media appeal. You’d have thought if your kid’s competing in the Olympics you might be guaranteed a ticket to see it… apparently not…

Michael explained to us how cyclists only get one ticket for the finish of the road events, the family managing to get a spare off another athlete who did not have anyone coming to watch Saturday’s TT. Now they’re in the same situation for the road race, Josh’s mum and girlfriend have one, dad Michael does not at the minute.

They’re hoping someone at British Cycling or another rider might have a ticket not in use and added that they were happy to buy one, but “road cycling has been unavailable to purchase throughout”. So, on the off chance anyone has got a spare ticket for the finish of tomorrow’s road race give Michael a shout!