Sammy Sanchez battled the brutal heat, humidity, and air quality to capture gold in the Olympic Men’s Road Race Saturday on his Orbea Orca! The Spanish climber endured the race of attrition as Gold Medal favorites dropped away as fast as Tibet’s sovereignty.

“It was the hardest Olympics I’ve ever ridden. It was a race of attrition,” said George Hincapie, who made his Olympic debut in 1992. “I can count on the back of my hand how many races I’ve started to sweat before the race started.”

Of course I would have much rather seen big George, Levi, or VdV take the Gold, but it sure is nice to have some excitement surrounding the Basque riders again. Iban who?

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