Olympic Games 2008 - Women's Road Race

Team GB - Schedule - BBCTV - Track Medals - Men's RR

Team Great Britain have every chance of gaining a medal, maybe even gold, with Nicole Cooke in the women's road race to be held on Sunday August 10.

Nicole Cooke

Emma Pooley

The course
The women's race follows the same course as the men's road race but is held over the lesser distance of 126km on August 10..

The Great Wall points to a climb of 520 metres to be undertaken three times, a prime spot for attacks and with the finish near the end of the descent, a good spot for a race winning move.

Riders
Marianne Vos of the Netherlands starts as favourite, and if we are to believe the UCI rankings she will be challenged by a top order featuring; Judith Arndt (Germany), Italy's Noemi Cantele, Ina Tuetenburg (Germany), Kristin Armstrong (USA), Amber Neben (USA), Fabiana Luperini (Italy), Oenone Wood (USA) and Chantal Beltman of the Netherlands. Missing is Marta Bastianelli of Italy after failing a pre games drug test.

This list is all well and fine and of course those named above will be top contenders, but further down the rankings World Cup round winners Emma Pooley and Nicole Cooke both start as real hopefuls for a medal, in Cooke's case, gold! Cooke is for some an enigma, she has the talent to win almost at will, but she can be undone by determined team work by an opposing squad, forcing her to work too hard on occasions.

2004 Olympic Champion Sara Carrigan wears number one, but we doubt she will win gold for a second time. In the French team veteran rider Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli will ride at the front for the opening laps before she fades.

UCI Rankings

Australia
1 Sara Carrigan
2 Kate Bates
3 Oenone Wood
Netherlands
4 Chantal Beltman
5 Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel
6 Marianne Vos
Germany
7 Judith Arndt
8 Hanka Kupfernagel
9 Trixi Worrack
Italy
10 Noemi Cantele
11 Vera Carrara
12 Tatiana Guderzo
USA
13 Kristin Armstrong
14 Amber Neben
15 Christine Thorburn
Sweden
16 Emma Johansson
17 Susanne Ljungskog
18 Sara Mustonen
Switzerland
19 Nicole Brandli
20 Priska Doppmann
21 Jennifer Hohl
Great Britain
22 Nicole Cooke
23 Sharon Laws
24 Emma Pooley
France
25 Christel Ferrier Bruneau
26 Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli
27 Maryline Salvetat
Lithuania
28 Jolanta Polikeviciute
29 Edita Pucinskaite
30 Modesta Vzesniauskaite
Russia
31 Natalia Boyarskaya
32 Alexandra Burchenkova
33 Yulia Martisova
Austria
34 Monika Schachl
35 Christiane Soeder
Canada
36 Leigh Hobson
37 Erinne Willock
38 Alexandra Wrubleski
China
39 Min Gao
40 Lang Meng
Ukraine
41 Oksana Kashchyshyna
42 Tatiana Stiajkina
43 Yevgeniya Vysotska
Spain
44 Anna Sanchis
45 Marta Vilajosana
Belgium
46 Lieselot Decroix
Venezuela
47 Daniely Del Valle Garcia
48 Angie Gonzalez Garcia
South Africa
49 Cherise Taylor
50 Marissa Van Der Merwe
New Zealand
51 Catherine Cheatley
52 Joanne Kiesanowski
Japan
53 Miho Oki
Mexico
54 Alessandra Grassi
Denmark
55 Linda Villumsen Serup
Estonia
56 Grete Treier
Brazil
57 Clemilda Silva
Cuba
58 Yumari Gonzalez
Poland
59 Paulina Brzezna
Kazakhstan
60 Zulfiya Zabirova Kasachstan
South Korea
61 Sungeun Gu
62 Heejung Son
Norway
63 Anita Valen De Vries Norwegen
Thailand
64 Chanpeng Nontasin
Republic Mauritius
65 Aurelie Halbwachs
Slovenia
66 Sigrid Corneo