Road warriors fight on despite crashes and rider changes

Australia’s men’s and women’s road cycling teams will still target medals in Tokyo despite two crash-marred lead-up events and last-minute rider changes.

Tasmanian Richie Porte will lead the Australian team in the men’s road race

Australia’s men’s and women’s road cycling teams will still target medals in Tokyo despite two crash-marred lead-up events and last-minute rider changes in Europe.

Women’s team leaders Grace Brown and Amanda Spratt both abandoned the Giro Rosa in Italy in July after crashes, but are expected to be on the start line for the climber-friendly Olympic course on Mt Fuji on July 25.

But there have been two changes to the men’s team following an eventful Tour de France where Jack Haig was forced to pull out of the team for Tokyo when he broke his collarbone on Stage 3 and was replaced by Luke Durbridge.

National road race champion Cameron Meyer had already withdrawn from the Olympic team due to personal reasons, with his father battling brain cancer, and his replacement Lucas Hamilton abandoned the Tour de France with a dislocated AC Joint on Stage 13. But Hamilton will still race the 244km course in Tokyo on July 24.

The men’s team will be led by Richie Porte, who made it to the podium in the Criterium du Dauphine, Tour of Romandie and Tour of Catalunya this season before riding in support of Team Ineos leader Richard Carapaz at the Tour de France.

Porte will ride the road race and the time trial alongside compatriot Rohan Dennis, the two-time time trial world champion.

“Richie is really solid, we believe you’ll need good climbing legs so we are backing him as leader which is no surprise,” Australia’s high-performance director Simon Jones said.

“But to be honest as well, because of the small team sizes there is a high degree of uncertainty in the Olympic road races.

“We’ll go in with a plan that will maximise our chances, and a lot of the key protagonists are going to come from the Tour (de France), which has been an interesting race.

“But Richie is really motivated and we’re going to support him in the time trial as well, which has an elevation of 800m in hot and humid weather.

“It’s a hard time trial in the heat, so he and Rohan will race that and we’re giving ourselves more opportunities given the ambitions, motivations and the course.”

Two-time reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar and his Slovenian teammate Primoz Roglic will be among the favourites for gold in the men’s road race in Tokyo.

Australia’s women’s team also includes 33-year-old Tiffany Cromwell and 20-year-old Sarah Gigante, who are both making their Olympic debuts. Gigante will ride the time trial alongside Brown.

Dutch trio Anna van der Breggen, Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten will start hot favourites for gold in the women’s road race.

“The Dutch have proven they’re going to be very difficult to beat, but we believe we’ll go in with a race plan that gives us the maximum chance,” Jones said.

“We are thinking of winning the race, and we’ve spent the time thinking what options do we have and how do we get one up on the opposition?

“The Dutch’s strength can be an opportunity for us as well.”

Porte is eyeing a medal in both the road race and the time trial in Japan where both courses are suited to his climbing prowess.

The 36-year-old Tasmanian is also eager to atone for the painful memories of the Rio Olympics, where he was in medal contention in the road race before he crashed out on a high-speed descent with just 35km of a 237.5km course remaining.