Vinokourov: Going out in Style...

When I retire (if I retire, if I can retire),

pride before...

pleasure (Reuters photo)

I couldn't think of a better way to do it - with a gold medal.

Like most watching, I had a list of people I would like to have seen win the Olympic road race. If it couldn't be one of them, I'm glad it was Vino. Experience won out today. Alexandre Vinokourov has given us a career's worth of excitement, admittedly not all good, but he paid the penalty that was handed to him and came back with enough drive to gather up a number of significant wins. I would think Olympic gold ranks at the top of that list.