Soviet cyclist’s efforts pay off

Press, 30 July 1980, Page 19

Soviet cyclist’s efforts pay off

NZPA correspondent Sergei Sukhoruchenkov’s long hours of training on the tortuous purpose-built Olympic course paid off on Monday, when he outclassed the rest of the field in the 189 km road race.

The 23-year-old Russian strung the 115-man field out on the third of 14 laps of the twisting, hilly circuit, and the power surge turned into a break which was never caught. For most of the trip, Suhkoruchenkov rode with his compatriot, Yury Barinov, and Czeslaw Lang, of Poland, and they worked together so well that at one stage they had a maximum margin of more than eight minutes over the main bunch, which seemed disinterested in chasing until it was too late.

Sukhoruchenkov shot

away from the other two on one of the leg-strain-ing, out-of-the-seat climbs on the twelft lap of circuit described by the Australian team manager, Mr Les Dunn, as “diablolical.”

In spite of the talents of Lang and Barinov, Sukhoruchenkov pursuited out of sight and crossed the finish line almost three minutes ahead, becoming the first Russian to win the title since Viktor Kapitinov provided the Soviet Union’s first Olympic cycling gold, in 1960. Lang and Barinov flashed across the line locked together, but the photo gave the silver medal to Lang, whose early training as a track rider gave him the extra road-sprinting speed he needed.

It was apparent even early in the race that the

Eastern bloc trio would play a dominant role in race. The course, with the pit area and start-finish line sensibly positioned alongside the velodrome, was built three years ago, and the Russians regard it as their home circuit.

They race on it regularly and, being car-free, th y train on it when they’re not away racing.

Another who had ridden the circuit before ,the present world champion, Gianni Giacomini, also played a prominent role on Monday. He and his predecessor as winner of the world amateur title, • Gilbert Glaus, of Switzerland, at one stage broke from the bunch to try and haul back Sukhoruchenkov and his mates.

The pair were joined, though, by the Polish national champion, Tadeusz Wojtas, and he

had no intention of letting them close the gap. While the two remaining Russians and two remaining Poles did their best to slow the main bunchi Wojtas refused to work with the Italian and the Swiss, and they were soon absorbed back into the bunch.

The field stayed together remarkably well on the difficult circuit, and it was only over the last two laps, when the all-or-noth-ing chase developed, that it broke up.

Sukhoruchenkov — whose difficult, to English ears, name was unkindly shortened to “sucker” by cyclists and commentators alike during the recent Milk Race in Britain, in which he finished third — knew what wsa going on behind him, and his solo riding was as intelligent as it was a tribute to his physical ability.