The 2008 Summer Olympics are only a year away, and cyclists raced on the bike course Saturday to test the conditions.
Bosisio Gabriele of Italy won the 2007 Good Luck Beijing International Road Cycling Tournament in Beijing.
The 108-mile course follows the same route that cyclists will take in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. However, the course will be longer as three laps will be added to the circuit, making it 152 miles.
Alexandr Dyachenko of Kazakhstan took the silver in 4:27:17, while the bronze medal went to Vincenzo Nibali of Italy with a result of 4:28:01.
The Beijing race began at Yongdingmen Gate and passed the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, Yonghegong Palace, Temple of Earth Park and the Yuan Dynasty City Wall Relics Palace. The riders proceded to the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall they faced four difficult 14.7-mile circuits.
Australians Cadel Evans (No. 2 in 2007 Tour de France) and Michael Rogers are looking to medal in 2008. They both thought it was a tough course. Evans said:
“It goes up, goes up some more and comes down then you go up again. It's ten kilometres of climbing with some steep sections in it and not much recovery and then one big long downhill but even then it was a headwind all the way down and not so easy.”
While the course is difficult, one of the biggest obstacles might be the atmosphere. There's a lot of concern about pollution, and IOC president Jacques Rogge said the cycling events might be postponed if the air isn't clean.
Evans said his lungs hurt, but it wasn't the dirtiest air he's ever breathed during a race. The high humidity and heat took a bigger toll.
Cyclists will compete in a 14.6-mile individual time trial on Sunday along the Juyongguan and Badaling Great Wall. Next year the event will be twice the distance.
The top 10:
1 Gabriele Bosisio (Italy)
2 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan) – 3 seconds
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) – 47 seconds
4 Jacek Morajko (Poland)
5 Cadel Evans (Australia)
6 Enrico Gasparotto (Italy) – 1:46
7 Tomasz Marczynski (Poland) – 1:49
8 Francisco Torrella Gomez (Spain) – 1:52
9 Jon Garcia (United States Of America) –
10 Hossein Askari (Chinese Taipei) – 1:56
US cyclists:
9 Jon Garcia (United States Of America) – 1:52
12 Scott Nydam (United States Of America) – 4:27
29 Andy Guptill (United States Of America) – 11:32
DNF Zach Grabowski (United States Of America)
DNF Sheldon Deeny (United States Of America)
DNF Nathan Miller (United States Of America)
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