BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : Thompson Takes Fall, Finishes 26th : Cycling: Top U.S. women’s hope blames the course. An Australian, Kathryn Watts, is the surprise winner.

The U.S. woman with the best chance for an Olympic road-racing medal fell off her bicycle on the third lap, placed 26th out of a field of 58 and finished 21 seconds behind the surprise winner, Australian Kathryn Watt.

Afterward, Inga Thompson considered the gold medal that Watt had claimed and said:

“This is the type of course that doesn’t allow the best riders to win. I kind of called it this morning. I said, look for someone unknown to win it. For a good rider, it’s almost impossible to get away from the pack unless you’re really lucky.

“And I was short on luck today.”

Sour grapes?

More like cava grapes.

Sant Sandurni d’Anoia, situated about 30 miles outside of Barcelona, is renowned for its cava, the Catalan equivalent of champagne. The 16-kilometer course, which cyclists must traverse five times, weaves its way through some of the lushest vineyards in the region, and those vines are rooted in flat, expansive stretches of land.

Flat land is the great equalizer in world-class road races. Hills and inclines separate the strong from the weak, but this Olympic course, featuring few climbs, turned Sunday’s event into a free-for-all.

Two longshots, Marie Purvis of Great Britain and Maria Turcutto of Italy, led after four laps before a longer shot, Watt, opened the fifth with a sprint past the leaders, daring the rest of the field to keep pace.

Having never heard of Watt, the rest of the field decided not to bother. The thinking was, she is not a threat, she will burn out soon and return to the pack.

“They let her go,” Thompson said, “and I figured that was a mistake. I raced against her in the Ore-Ida Classic (earlier this month) and I knew she was incredibly strong.

“I kept telling the other riders, ‘There’s an Australian out in front,’ and they’d say, ‘So? She’ll come back.’ It’s a cat-and-mouse game and you think when she runs out of gas, you’ll be in position for the sprints.

“But it never happened.”

Watt, 27, a native of Warragul, Australia, opened as much as a 37-second lead and held on through the final village run for a 20-second victory over France’s Jeannie Longo, an eight-time world champion. Watt finished in 2 hours 4 minutes 42 seconds, followed by silver medalist Longo (2:05:02) and bronze winner Monique Knol of the Netherlands (2:05:03).

The top American finisher was Jeanne Golay of Hollywood, Fla., who placed sixth at 2:05:03. A fraction of a second behind, in 10th place, was Sally Zack of North Conway, N.H.

Thompson, a three-time Olympian from Reno, Nev., had her poorest showing in the Summer Games. In the first women’s road race, in 1984, Thompson placed 21st. In 1988, she was eighth.

This, however, was expected to be Thompson’s breakthrough. In 1991, she won the United States national road-race title and earned a silver medal at the World Championships.

Thompson led Sunday’s race after one lap and was in good position, pacing herself in the middle of the pack, as she began the third. Then, her back wheel collided with a competitor’s and Thompson tumbled, mangling her chances if not her bike.

“I was hurt,” Thompson said. ‘I kind of had the wind knocked out of me. But the bike wasn’t ruined and I didn’t want to sit on the ground and watch the race go by me. If the wheels could still go around, I was going to ride.”

The United States went two for three in spills, with Golay also falling early in the race. Golay recovered well enough to place sixth, but that served as scant consolation.

“Sixth is sixth,” Golay said dejectedly. “I feel like we had the potential to medal.”

In the men’s competition at Montmelo, a united Germany won the first cycling gold medal of the Games, overcoming a powerful Italian squad in the men’s 100-kilometer team time trial.

The German team of Bernd Dittert, Christian Meyer, Uwe Peschel and Michael Rich was timed in 2:01:39 on the demanding 62-mile Circuit de Catalunya course northeast of Barcelona. Italy was a full minute behind. France took the bronze medal with 2:05:25.

The Americans, with their best cyclist sidelined, finished 16th of 30 teams. John Stenner, Nathan Sheafor, George Hincapie and Scott Mercier were timed in 2:13:35.

The Americans were without national champion Dave Nicholson, who suffered a broken leg in a training accident July 17. Then they had two flats and a bike change in the first half of Sunday’s race, ruining hopes of a top-five finish.

Racing resumes today with the men’s kilometer time trial and the men’s individual pursuit qualifying.

Cycling Medalists

* MEN’S ROAD RACE

GOLD: Germany

SILVER: Italy

BRONZE: France

* WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL ROAD RACE

GOLD: Kathryn Watt (Australia)

SILVER: Jeannie Longo (France)

BRONZE: Monique Knol (Netherlands)