I heard a tale from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics many years ago concerning a local former Pro rider...Mike Cowley one time Holdsworth Campagnolo team rider. The story goes that he was in the leading break, along with the young Merckx when a crash put paid to his chances, and perhaps explains why Merckx finished 12th?
Another near miss was Joe Waugh falling off at the wrong moment in the 1976 Montreal road race.....didn't do his future frame building career any harm though.
cheers
Kevin Sayles
Otley
West Yorkshire UK
> The numerous e-mails recently on the CR list about the 1960 Oympic Road
> race in Rome once again recharged my aging brain cells. I remember
> meeting
> THE GREAT MAN at the NY Bike Show in the Coliseum, (how many CR members
> remember this fun event), and one of the questions that I asked him in
> French
> was whether he had any regrets in his great cycling career. He said yes,
> that he regretted not taking a medal home for Belgium at the 1964 Olympic
> road race in Tokyo( he finished 12th). Fate,however, was kind to the
> Merckx
> family when his son Axel brought home the bronze in a heroic effort in
> Athens
> in 2004. Merckx , in an interview after the race,said that Axel winning
> the
> bronze was one of the happiest days of his life.He was absolutely
> overjoyed that his son won one of these precious few medals in such a
> difficult
> race. I have heard other top cyclists voice similar comments. Davis
> Phinney,
> imagined himself coming across the finish line,in the LA games road race
> in
> 1984,arms up , to claim the gold but it was not to be. He said that he
> went over the LA road race thousands of times in his head as to what went
> wrong at the very end. I believe he finished 9th. The same was true for
> Lance
> Armstrong , who wanted an Olympic medal in the road race in several
> Olympic
> road races that he competed in, but once again that precious medal,
> whether
> it would have been gold, silver, or bronze, eluded him. Norm Hellman,
> Bronx, NY.