LONDON — Mark Cavendish failed today to win Great Britain's first gold medal of the 2012 Summer Games. The heavy favorite in the men's cycling road race found himself out of luck after a 30-man breakaway established itself about 40 km from the finish.
Despite the best efforts of Team GB, Alexandr Vinokurov of Kazakstan won after a head-to-head sprint with Columbia's Rigoberto Uran Uran down The Mall, just around the corner from Buckingham Palace. American Taylor Phinney just missed a medal in fourth place, something he called "about the worst place you can finish at the Olympics."
Despite the British failure to win a much-anticipated gold, a long-term technical research project lead by British Cycling has laid the groundwork for the country's stunning success in the sport over the past decade. In the past two Olympics, Team GB has won a stunning 18 medals in cycling. Last week, Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France, and Cavendish won the World Championship road race last year.
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How Our Always-On Culture Made These the Most Watchable Games EverThe R&D effort for British Cycling in Manchester is jokingly known as "The Secret Squirrel Club." For the men's road race, the riders were on stealthy-looking black frames developed especially by British Cycling. This is in contrast to most riders in the Olympic race, who rode bikes built by the sponsor of their usual trade teams, from companies like Specialized and Trek.
The British aren't the first country to look to custom bikes to gain a competitively edge in aerodynamics and weight. For the 1984 Olympics, Chester Kyle designed "funny bikes" for the United States that put riders in a much-more streamlined position than standard bikes. In the mid-90s, scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport developed its "Superbike" with a radical monocoque construction.
In reaction to these multi-million dollar projects, the UCI, cycling's international governing body, now requires that any bike ridden in competition must be available for purchase by regular riders. As pointed out by Bicycling's (and Playbook contributor) Joe Lindsey, the bikes from Project Secret Squirrel are listed on the UCI's approved bicycle list as being made by Metron Advanced Equipment Limited.
But can you buy one of these technological marvels? On the UK Sport website, there's a page that indicates that you can send an email to inquire about one. The cost? It's not listed, but there is a warning that "price of these items is in line with their specialist nature."
What's that mean? Chris Boardman, a British gold medalist who is one of the driving forces in the Secret Squirrel Project, told The Sun that one of the bikes would run you about £15,000 — that's a cool $23,000 or so.
Of course, it's not quite so easy to buy a gold medal. Just ask Cavendish and his teammates.
