Update: “UK's Cooke wins gold in women's Olympic road race”
Weather permitting — that is if the smog in Beijing doesn't get worse — women cyclists from around the world will compete in the 78-mile Olympic road race on Sunday.
Due to time differences, that event starts at 2 p.m. Beijing time, 2 a.m. Eastern Time and 11 p.m. Pacific Time. NBC has scheduled a live, online video stream.
Three cyclists from the United States will compete among the 66 women cyclists. They are Kristin Armstrong, Amber Neben, and Christine Thorburn.
Armstrong, 34, from Boise, Idaho, finished in 8th in the Olympic road race in Athens in 2004, and 1st in the Eurocup Ronde van Drenthe in 2008. Her other strong suit is the individual time trial; she finished 1st in the world championships in 2006 and 2nd in 2007.
Thorburn, 38, comes from Menlo Park, California, and finished 15th in the 2004 Olympic road race. Neben, 33, who didn't race in the Athens Olympics, has a number of top 10 finishes in European road races in recent years.
Australia's Sara Carrigan is returning to defend her 2004 Olympic gold medal in the road race competition. Another Australian, Oenone Wood, is expected to do well because of her climbing strengths.
The most amazing competitor in this year's peloton is Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli, who as 49 is competing for France in her sixth Olympics. Her participation dates back to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
As in the men’s race, the women’s field will begin in downtown Beijing and race 48 miles to Juyongguan where they will begin two laps of a hilly, 15-mile circuit alongside the Great Wall to Badaling and back.
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