Quote: GIANT DAZ "Dont follow Cycling but if the GB guys are so good and feared why do they need 'help' from other countries ??'"
Because to chase down a breakaway, it takes a huge amount of effort. The person at the front of the group sets the pace, while the others behind them get a rest (believe it is something like 30% by been in the slipsteam) if there are only 4 guys setting that pace, then it is next to impossible for them to keep up a high enough pace to bridge a gap. Now in pro teams, you have 9 cyclists, in the worlds they have 8, so it is possible for a team to do all the work themselves.
However at the Olympics it is only 5. Since our best shot was Cav, they had to ride for that. If the teams were abit bigger than maybe they could have sent Millar down the road or something to mark the breakaway.
Basically the other teams were so scared of allowing Cav to get a shot, they messed it up for themselves espeically the Germans.