Although over a second off the world record time of 3:51.659 (set by team GB in 2012), last night’s Gold medal winning time of 3:52.727 was not far off the mark and suggests that this year’s Rio Olympics are going to be next level. Australia had the the advantage early on and held it across the duration of the effort. The only exception was the hard effort put in by Bradley Wiggins on lap 10. Clearly lifting the pace to sub 14 second pace this may have been too much. Although his final two laps in the closing kilometer were largely on pace (with Team GB monetarily pulling in front) it was too much and the Brits paid the price. By the end of the race, the consistency of the Australian’s saw them pull ahead to win by over a second whilst the wheels feel off the GB train. What does this mean for Rio? Was it poor tactics or is the British squad too heavily weighted towards Wiggins?
