BIKESMITH Work stopped at the headquarters of Koga, the high-end-bicycle manufacturer, during the sprint event at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Netherlands-based company had sponsored star cyclist Theo Bos, and even watching on TV, managing director Wouter Jager, 48, knew his boy was struggling.
"We could see he lost valuable time because of the pedal and frame," recalls Jager. "The last 50 m were unstable." Not all that unstable, to be sure, but enough to cost him the gold medal by milliseconds. Next time around, Jager vowed, Bos would close that gap.
Koga has been working to make good on that...