Image 1 of 3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) celebrates victory in the 2012 Olympic road race (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 2 of 3 Gerrans O'Grady and Goss (Image credit: Daniel Simms) Image 3 of 3 Matthew Goss (Australia) (Image credit: Daniel Simms)

Australian aggression angers British

Matthew Goss saw his Olympic chances disappear as a break containing teammate Stuart O'Grady stayed off the front. At the finish Mark Cavendish criticised the Australian team's tactics, saying they had raced negatively.

"We had a tactic to put guys in the break and we did that, we put Stuey [Stuart O'Grady] up the road, he was in prime position, he had a really tough day though. That took the pressure off us all day and the part that didn't work out was out of our control," Goss said.

"We wanted it to come back together, but unfortunately - not through lack of trying - the break stayed away, it was such a strong bunch of riders. Obviously I would have loved to have been right up there and given it a go myself."

Nibali active on Box Hill

Vincenzo Nibali was one of the most active riders in the mid section of the race. The Italian all rounder attacked on several occasions over Box Hill. Italy placed several riders in moves but had to settle for ninth through Luca Paolini.

"In the final part of the race I chased two attacks as I was afraid the chasing group could come back. We did everything we could to get a medal. We tried hard alongside the other teams, like Belgium, to make the race tougher," Nibalia said at the finish.

Super Schar

Want to know why the underrated Michael Schär has made the last two BMC Tour squads? Then look no further than his Olympics ride. Off the front in the first main move, Schar was put to work again when Fabian Cancellara bridged up after the final climb. Schar didn't hesitate to put the boot in at the finish when it came to criticizing the home nation's tactics.

"I was really motivated at the beginning. We just kept going and the gap became bigger and bigger. That's when we saw that we are stronger than the British."

Germany's alliance with Britain falls short

Germany was one team hoping to set up a sprint for their man André Greipel. Along with the British they were the only major nation not to place a man in the initial break.

"You could see what our strategy was,” Greipel said. “We agreed upon cooperating with the British team but usually 20 cyclists (the leading group that was in front of them) don't work that well together. When they were 50 seconds away, we thought we could still catch them. But in the end it was too hard to race against those 20."

Landis leads Vinokourov tributes

Former professional rider Floyd Landis was quick to make light of Vinokourov's Olympic win. While the Daily Mail called the race winner a 'nobody' and CBS ran with the headline "Ex-doper Vinokourov wins Olympic road race", Landis contacted Cyclingnews with the following:

"If Vino says 'it's a victory for clean cycling" he'd be my hero. Alternatively if he said 'f*** every single mother******* one of you,' that would work too."

