Like in the Tour de France, team tactics can play a part, with cyclists from the one nation protecting a favoured rider by allowing him or her to ride in their slipstreams. This way, the favoured rider remains fresh for a sprint finish, giving the nation its best chance of winning the event. The women s road race has been part of the Olympic program since the Los Angeles Games in 1984 and the women s time trial was added n Atlanta in 1996. In the time trial, men race over 45kms and women 30kms. Unlike the road race, the time trial features a staggered start, with athletes setting off at 90 second intervals.
Cyclists race purely against the clock, with the fastest time over the course taking the gold medal.
Both races involve laps of a course running through Sydney s inner-eastern suburbs. The courses are similar, but differ in length. For the time trial, one lap of the course measures 14.8kms. For the road race the figure is 18kms. Road bikes differ from those used on the track in a number of ways, and as such look much like the sorts of bicycles most of us have ridden.