Barra is built around a network of heavily polluted lagoons that empty into the sea.
Armitstead's race began badly when she suffered a puncture at the foot of the first climb, around Barra, a ritzy suburb out to Rio's west which has become home to the main Olympic village.
But as a former military man his brusque demeanour may have tempered his ability to resist ordering people around.Ms Barra is likely to take a more conciliatory approach.
Two of the biggest winners of Rio 2016 will be the contractors and the landowners — particularly Carlos Carvalho, who owns at least 65 million square feet of land in and around the Barra Olympic Park and the athletes' village.
De la Barra organized the works around conceptualism, modernism, participation, and what he calls "the tropical," which is an acknowledgement of the uniqueness each country has on cultural production.
Barra's appointment in February raised eyebrows around GM, in part because she wasn't a vehicle engineer and in part because she was plucked out of human resources.
It's a privilege to have such diversity to show". Around the golf course in Barra da Tijuca, the western district of the city where the main Olympic infra-structure has been built, there are about 230 different types of animals including a threatened species of alligator.
Like most barra soldiers, Diaz started by roaming the streets around the stadiums charging fans 40-60 pesos (£8-10) to park their cars near the stadium.
With land holdings of at least 6m square metres – equivalent to about 8,000 football pitches – in and around the main Olympic site at Barra da Tijuca, Carvalho has seen his wealth surge since Rio was chosen as the host city in 2009, thanks to what he describes as the "billion-dollar jump" of Games-related, publicly funded development.
La Barra is in the Maldonado Department (with a population of around 165,000), which encompasses Punta del Este.
