Cycling at the 2022 Commonwealth Games

iansworldofsports

Jul 29

Next up in my preview/predictions is one of my favourite sports - cycling. I'm just about recovered from the chaos that was the Tour de France this year (and am currently enjoying the equal chaos that is the first Tour de France Femmes that is currently happening) and the Games should be equally exciting.

As anyone who knows me will attest, I often describe cycling as one of the more unpredictable sports out there, especially when talking about road cycling. Between riders constantly battling the conditions (both road and weather), the ever present attempts for groups to escape and the vagaries of form, the road races are notoriously difficult to predict. The course this year looks like it should favour sprinters, rather than climbers, so the likes of Caleb Ewan and Mark Cavendish will hope to be in the mix. But don't underestimate riders making a solo break and staying away. That happens much more often in these races, where the control that the professional peleton can assert simply does not exist. Look at the women's road race in Tokyo last summer for a perfect example of that.

On the track - which is taking place in London, as the organisers declined to build a velodrome in the Birmingham area specifically for the games - look for some new stars to shine, including Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago) who has been gradually improving season on season, although he will have the wily veteran Matt Glaezter of Australia amongst his foes.

Whilst one knighted Kenny (Sir Jason) has retired, we still have the other (Dame Laura) competing here in the team pursuit, scratch and points race.

Finally, we shouldn't forget the mountain biking, wheren Anton Cooper (winner at Glasgow 2014) and Sam Gaze (winner on the Gold Coast in 2018) of New Zealand will hope to continue their battle for Commonwealth dominance.

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