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It's not about how you start, but how you finish.
重要的不是如何开始，而是如何结束。
The finish line is all that matters and finishing well can mean the difference between gold and going home with nothing
终点才是最重要的，出色地完成比赛意味着获得金牌，否则只能一无所获地回家，
and there's no event where this is more evident than road race cycling.
没有哪项比赛比公路自行车赛表现得更为明显了。
This is a competition where, typically, over 100 of the fittest athletes on the planet
在这项比赛中，通常有100多名世界上最健硕的运动员，
wearing the tightest shorts imaginable battle it out for around four-and-a-half hours,
身着紧身短裤，用大约4个半小时进行角逐，
covering over 150km, but the result is usually only decided in the final metre.
比赛全程超过150公里，但结果通常决定于最后一米。
All those hours on the road, all those months of training, are all about that last chaotic sprint.
路上的那些时间，数月的训练，都是为了最后那混乱的冲刺。
In Tokyo in 1964, this was taken to unbelievable extremes and the tightest finish you're ever likely to see.
1964年在东京，这种情况演化到难以置信的极致，终点的情景极为紧张。
Being an amateur event, the peloton contained a random mix of local heroes and future stars,
作为一项业余赛事，主车群中包含当地的体育偶像和未来之星，
including several who would go on to earn the highest accolade in cycling, a nickname.
其中还有几人将为赢得自行车赛中的最高荣誉，即一个绰号而拼搏。
Felice Grimondi of Italy, "the Phoenix", Walter Godefroot of Belgium, "the Bulldog of Flanders",
意大利的费利斯·格里蒙迪，其绰号为“凤凰”；比利时的沃尔特·戈德弗罗叫“弗兰德斯斗牛犬”；
and best-known of all, Belgium's Eddie Merckx, known as "the Cannibal".
最著名的是比利时的埃迪·默克斯，人们称他为“食人族”。
Still an amateur in 1964 and not much known outside of Belgium,
默克在1964年仍然是一位业余车手，在比利时以外并不为人所知，
Merckx would go on to be the greatest road racer in cycling history.
他将继续作为自行车史上最伟大的公路赛车手。
With cycling, it's easy to get caught up in the speed, the power and the Lycra.
自行车赛事，很容易被速度、力量和运动员的紧身衣所吸引。
It's important to remember, though, that each rider is in the midst of not only a physical battle, but a mental one as well.
不过，重要的是要记住，每个骑手不仅在与身体抗争，也在进行一场精神上的战斗。
Tactics, you see, are key.
战术是关键。
Throughout the bulk of the race, riders preserve energy by cycling in the slipstream of the riders just in front of them.
在整个比赛的大部分时间里，车手通过在车手前面的滑流中骑行来保存体能。
They take it in turns.
他们轮流这样做。
It's the etiquette of the peloton that's the name for the main body of cyclists.
这是主车群的成规。
But then, as the race nears its later stages, someone picks their moment and goes for it, leading a breakaway.
但比赛接近尾声时，有人选择时机突围，队伍出现分裂。
Is it my turn?
轮到我了吗？
Not yet.
还没有。
Etiquette, Jan, etiquette.
成规、简，成规。
Once they've broken away, this group will battle amongst themselves until the finish.
一旦他们分开，这群人将一直对抗到最后。
But the group in Tokyo was rather large.
但在东京赛事中，这组人的规模相当庞大。
In fact, so large it had to be seen to be believed.
事实上，要不是亲眼看到，你都无法相信。
Why was Tokyo so different?
东京赛事为何如此不同？
Well, it was a combination of unusual design and bad weather.
这是罕见的赛场设计和恶劣天气相结合所致。
A typical top-level road racing course features a number of climbs of varying degrees of difficulty that riders must deal with.
典型的顶级公路赛赛场具有许多难度不同的上坡路，骑手必须加以应对。
It's these hills, the extra strain they put on the riders and the change in pace they demand,
这些小坡，它们给车手带来的额外压力，以及它们要求的速度变化，
that help create the separation.
有助于拉开选手之间的距离。
An alpine road race might include two climbs of 1,000 metres each.
高山公路赛可能包括两次1000米的攀升。
The Tokyo course, however, featured just one short climb of 65 metres.
然而，东京赛场仅有一次65米的短距离攀升。
Not the sort of course that strikes fear into elite cyclists.
这不是那种让优秀的自行车运动员感到恐惧的赛场。
The competitors would have to complete eight laps of this course on the outskirts of Tokyo, making the race just short of 195km.
参赛者必须在东京郊外完成这条赛道的八圈比赛，使比赛刚好195公里。
That might sound a daunting distance to you, but you are a mere human.
这对你来说可能听起来有点吓人，但你只是个普通人。
These racers are machines.
这些赛手都是机器。
Much of the race took place in heavy rain, a very effective deterrent to stifling ambitious breakaways.
大部分比赛在大雨中进行，这对遏制雄心勃勃地突围主车群非常有效。
No matter how professional you are, coming off your bike still hurts and you still want your mum to make it better.
不管你有多专业，从自行车上摔下来时还是很疼，你还是想找妈妈 。
Still, at various stages, different racers did attempt to go out on their own.
尽管如此，在不同阶段，不同的赛手确实试图突围。
The trouble is that breakaways rarely work.
问题是，突围很少能成功。
The riders put in a hard shift, then get sucked back into the mix.
骑手们艰难地交换位置，然后又卷入混战中。
The peloton is already going at around 41kmph, so to try to leave them behind, you've got to really put your foot on the gas.
主车群以每小时41公里的速度前进，想把他们甩在后面，你得加足马力。
Get your timing wrong and you won't have the legs.
如果时机不对，你的腿就废了。
A bad breakaway attempt can be enough to end any chance of a medal.
一次糟糕的突围尝试，足以终结获得奖牌的机会。
So, with no successful breakaways, the peloton was still intact when they came to the closing stages and caution had crept in.
由于不能成功突围，主车群在接近终点时仍然保持完好的队形，此时就要当心了。
Over 100 of the world's top cyclists seemingly out on a pleasure ride, nobody prepared to take a gamble.
世界上100多位顶级自行车手似乎是在兜风，但没人准备去赌一把。
It would remain so until just a few hundred metres from the finish line.
这种状况会保持到离终点线几百米的地方。
Then there was only one thing they could do, sprint.
然后，他们只能做一件事，冲刺。
Heads down and pedalling as hard as they could, 99 cyclists were inseparable.
99名骑手低着头，使劲蹬，形影不离。
But with just 20 metres to go, Italy's Mario Zanin and the Dane Kjell Rodian pulled slightly ahead,
但在只剩20米时，意大利选手马里奥·扎宁和丹麦选手基尔·罗迪安稍稍领先，
the Italian just edging the race by less than 100th of a second.
意大利选手仅以不到百分之一秒的优势领先。
The gap between Zanin in first and Iran's Sayed Esmail Hosseini, classified 99th, was two-tenths of a second.
第一名扎宁和第99名伊朗选手赛义德·埃斯迈尔·侯赛尼之间的差距仅为十分之二秒。
Merckx finished 12th, the man who won everything, except Olympic gold.
默克斯获得第12名，他在其他赛事中都获得了冠军，就是没拿到奥运金牌。
This was Zanin's moment.
这是属于扎宁的时刻。
The Italian won just one other stage race over the rest of his career.
这位意大利选手在剩下的职业生涯中，仅赢得了另外一场分段赛。
He never earned the accolade of a proper nickname, but we think "Olympic gold medallist" will do very nicely.
他从未获得应有的绰号，但我们认为“奥运金牌得主”再好不过了。
