Day 1, Saturday 28th July: Disappointed but not surprised

Well, it proved to be one lap too many for Cav & the team. It was never the guaranteed gold so many thought it was - the non-cycling fans in the press peloton hyped it up, but maybe the team did a bit as well- were they victims of their own success? Having advertised their intentions it's hardly surprising that no one wanted to help get the break back so Cav could then win in a sprint. It does seem short-sighted though - but there is a slightly offbeat parallel with the Palio in Siena (the bareback horse ride around the square).

In Siena, the contradas (teams) are basically local neighbourhoods and the rivalry between them is immense. Even marriage between rival contradas is unusual. Sometimes in the Palio stopping your rival from winning is more important than winning yourself, even if you end up losing. There seems to have been something of the Palio mentality in the peloton today. It's a great shame but I suppose we should, as Cav suggests, take it as a compliment that the opposition is that afraid of us! I'd imagine Griepel & Goss might be a bit peeved with their teams lack of belief in their ability to beat Cav in a sprint - why didn't they chase?!

The lack of a plan B was disappointing but had been flagged by Dave B with his "Cav is plan A and the rest of the alphabet" comment. I said I wouldn't second guess him but I'm going to! If Cav was struggling sufficiently on the climb for Millar to slow the pace down, then why wasn't Froome sent up the road with the break? Unlike the tour, plan A wasn't working. There were too many great riders in the Cancellara break, and there was too much support available in that group - who worked brilliantly together to stay away. Cav must be so gutted, having changed the way he trains, rides, looks, just for this event.

Dave Brailsford said this:

"He had this 14-week plan that he'd worked on, his fitness and his climbing, and he was never in trouble. He did a brilliant job, so he deserves a lot of credit for that. If you want to win big, you've got to be prepared to lose big. On this occasion, it was a big loss, but if you're not willing to put yourself at risk in that sense then there's no point being in this kind of arena."

Wonder if Cav feels the same this morning?!

It was a hard course (damn us with our sense of fair play & level playing fields!), and I always felt uneasy about Cav's installation as redhot Gold - one day races are hard to control, especially when it's just 4 guys vs 150. They did their best, but gambling that they would have help was maybe naive. However, it was a huge effort and they gave it a brilliant shot. You wouldn't know this from the terrible piece on the bbc news which showed a complete lack of understanding about cycling, and was relentlessly negative & ignorant. Ask Boardman or Jill Douglas FFS, they know what happened - big fail in their duty to inform & educate the viewers - David Bond, this is you. It was clear from Twitter after the report that a few non-cycling fans didn't understand what had happened, and your explanation in that report was either non-existent or plain wrong. As for the "difficult" question about tiredness from the Tour de France, which got the response it deserved, - did you know the winner yesterday, and the vast majority of the rest of the riders, also rode the race? Vino was also attacking most days...

Stuart O'Grady, the experienced Aussie who broke away as they came out of Richmond Park (and the principal reason his team didn't chase) made some interesting comments about the breakaway and lack of radios, via cyclingnews.com

From the moment the breakaway left the uninterested peloton, O’Grady was seen talking with his companions, using his vast experience to ensure the pace was controlled and that everyone remained motivated for the task that lay ahead.

"I was telling the guys last night, 'without radios, most of those blokes are just sheep. They haven’t got a director telling them what to do.’ They are at the Olympics. I was using a bit of experience and keeping them motivated,"

I'm not convinced the lack of radios affected Millar et al, but the well-organised attack clearly did.

As for our winner, Vino is a very charismatic rider - I remember him bursting out of the front of the peloton on the Champs Elysees, taking the sprinters by surprise & winning the final stage. I remember him breaking away along the route followed by my brother on his first etape, before being kicked out for doping. I remember him riding almost entirely swathed in bandages after a bad crash, then another bad crash a year ago which left him with a broken leg. He's an attacking rider, pretty maverick, rides as he wants & ignores team orders. He has panache! He's also served his time - though wouldn't it have been nice if his discovery & ban had been followed with an acknowledgement, an apology, a Millaresque epiphany & some kind of repentance to go with his redemption.

Of course I'd have preferred a Cav or GB victory, or someone without Vino's past, but if you're going to let the dopers back in, this can happen. Last word to Seb Coe - he's eligible to ride.