Saturday 6 August 2016 22:52, UK
Great Britain coach Rod Ellingworth revealed Geraint Thomas was “proper disappointed” to crash and miss out on a medal in the men’s road race at the Olympic Games.
Thomas had been part of a group chasing lone leader Rafal Majka when he fell heavily on the descent from the final climb of the day, with about 12km to go.
Two members of the chase group, Greg Van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang, went on to catch Majka and claim gold and silver medals respectively, while Thomas had to settle for 11th place.
Ellingworth said: "Looking at Geraint there, he was proper, proper disappointed. He knew that was a proper gold medal chance."
Vincenzo Nibali, Sergio Henao and Richie Porte all also fell on the descent off the Vista Chinesa climb.
Ellingworth added: "I knew from the test event that descent was going to perhaps be a deciding factor in the race, and it was. When you think about how many riders crashed round there, it was pretty mad really."
Britain finished the race with three riders in the top 15, after Chris Froome crossed the line in 12th and Adam Yates followed in 15th.
Britain had earlier done much of the pace-setting and were responsible for a heavy thinning down of the peloton.
"In general, great teamwork," Ellingworth said. "The way the lads wanted to race was how they actually raced. It was just unfortunate about the crash at the end."
