Olympics: Men's road race defies script

A convicted drug cheat beat home a man whose father was an innocent victim of the drugs war in Colombia.

This wasn't what organisers expected for a race that was designed to showcase Great Britain's cycling superiority to the world.

Kazakhstan veteran Alexander Vinokourov - kicked out of the sport for two years after being caught blood doping in 2007 - caused a boilover, stealing a race that was meant to be the coronation of Mark Cavendish.

Among the drama, New Zealand's Jack Bauer rode the race of his life to finish 10th, part of a 15-man bunch that finished eight seconds behind Vinokourov and second place-getter Rigoberto Uran.

There was a sense of disbelief among the hundreds of thousands who lined the roads for this race when it became obvious, about 20kms from the finish, that Great Britain's five riders had lost control; that there would be no sprint finish along The Mall.

London has wigged out over Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and embraced cycling's new superstars. That much was obvious when people were standing 15 deep at some points on the course.

Cavendish had left nothing to chance in preparing. He had a live-in nutritionist to help him shed close to the 10kgs he needed to be able to crest Box Hill nine times. Team manager Dave Brailsford had stated that Cavendish was their Plan A, B, C and everything up to Z.

But Britain did not have enough help in the peloton to drag back a classy lead group that included Fabian Cancellara, who crashed when he looked poised to win, Philippe Gilbert, Vinokourov and Bauer. Cavendish complained bitterly that "the Aussies had raced negatively" and were content to see anybody but him win.

He was not the only one with a sense of frustration. Greg Henderson pulled out with diarrhoea midway through the race, but in a funny way it worked for Bauer. Once it was obvious Henderson was struggling, he was given the green light to join a break.

"The idea was to have Greg there at the finish," Bauer said. "He mentioned to me he wasn't feeling flash and we had decided earlier that should that be the case, and should some of the bigger nations start sending people up the road, then I would try to follow."

Once Bauer's chase-pack had merged with the leaders, he was certain the winner was going to come from that group.

"Only Great Britain and Germany was missing from the group. Some of [the big countries] had two or three riders, the Swiss had four I think.

"With a group of that size and quality, it was gone [for the peloton]."

Following Cancellara's misfortune, Vinokourov and Uran broke clear with 7kms to go and despite the efforts of the pack, they stayed there.

"I had hopes of getting a medal," Bauer said, "of course, but to tell the truth I was really struggling with 20kms to go. I started cramping up really badly.

"I'm happy."

Not so happy were thousands of Britons and, you'd imagine, cycling bosses.

Vinokourov was caught blood doping on the 2007 Tour de France. He was handed a one-year ban, which was extended to two when he revoked his decision to retire.

Gold will give him a sense of redemption, but it won't placate everybody.

Uran's life has not been without drama either. At 14 his father was killed in the crossfire of a drugs related gunfight. Uran sold lottery tickets to support his family before turning professional nine years ago.

Norway's Alexander Kristoff finished third.