I saw something I'd never seen before moments ago. The women's road race just completed after a little-known Austrian rider, Anna Kiesenhofer, broke away from the pack and got out to a lead of more than two full minutes. Meanwhile a second lead group formed, but never got more than about 60-45 seconds ahead of the peloton. The peloton dutifully chased down this second group about two miles from the finish, and then started to jockey for position. A Dutch rider, who was the pre-race favorite but who had fallen earlier in the race, then made a breakaway right at the end of the race, and finished majestically with arms raised in victory. Except, of course, she hadn't won. The Austrian had crossed the line roughly two minutes prior. It turns out that, unlike the pro circuit, radio communications are not permitted in Olympic cycling, and the peloton had simply failed to notice the earlier breakaway by a relatively unknown rider from an Austrian "team" made up of just a single rider, and had completely lost sight of her on the course.
Anna Kiesenhofer of Austria won precisely because she was an unknown soloist, and she effectively ran away and hid from the field, which was wrapped up in their own team race tactics. Crazy.