BC Superweek To Rio

With the Tour de Delta and BC Superweek over for another year we can’t let a minute go by without thinking about Rio 2016.

Road conditions in Delta were exceptional for all riders with many advancing their careers in hopes of making the next Olympic team for Canada.

This year I was pleased to have both Richard Wooles Shelly Ocean help on the broadcast for Delta TV’s coverage for both Friday and Saturday’s road race and he brought a wealth of knowledge to the viewers.

With the 2016 Rio Olympics set to start, the Rio Velodrome was the last venue to be delivered to the games, which meant that no testing was able to be done on the track.

The venue look extremely impressive to the riders and spectators alike, but the reaction to the track was varied or somewhat mixed.

I hear that two time Bronze medalist German rider Rene Enders mentioned to the media “At first the track looks extremely fast, but given a second look I think it’s not all that fast.”

His team-mate Roger Kluge mentioned that the boards have a lot of grip, with the wood being soft indicating that it’s a difficult track to race on as the wood is new and a bit damp.”

Construction for the Velodrome fell off schedule when the company in charge of the project filed for bankruptcy, forcing a change for it to be handed over to another company in June.

There was a test event that was initially scheduled for March, but was eventually cancelled and in a progress report in Lausanne, the organizing committee downplayed any possible threat to having it cancelled – which never happened.

It should be noted that Rio plans on spending $10 – $12 Billion which is (apparently) a mix of public and private money for the games.

The venue was initially built for the 2007 Pan American games and was refurbished allowing for a much higher standard of track cycling events.

The Velodrome which is shaped like a bike helmet was designed by German Architects of Schuermann, who had previously designed seven (7) Olympic facilities.

Schuermann Architects have been designing cycle tracks and indoor athletics tracks dating back to 1925 and to date have designed over 125 cycle tracks throughout the world and interesting that the founder was a professional track cyclist.

This indoor cycling track is the first in Brazil and only the second in South America with that of a wooden track.

All the best to the cyclists from Sportswave.ca and we’ll keep you up to date on Canada’s team.