Olympic Track Cycling

[Bennie-Mac]

Another WR!

 

[robfosters]

Oh yes

 

[Cosimo]

What a performance!

 

[ps3ud0]

Ah! Gotchas. All the guide sites (where they crash course the various olympic sports) say team pursuit is where two teams race on opposite sides of the velodrome - rather confusing

They do, but not for the qualifiers

17.2 first lap is silly good

ps3ud0

 

[mollymoo]

How many world records do they need to break.

 

[Mik3]

Unbelievable stuff

 

[dante6491]

Monstrous WR there by Hoy. That 19 year old start looks great.

 

[Jay Psi]

Credit to Hindes, more than two tenths faster on the opening lap than in the qualifiers!

 

[Cr0fty]

Today is a fine day indeed

 

[Bennie-Mac]

Arise Sir Chris Ho...oh wait.

 

[DcD]

Thanks for the info guys. So the qualifying rounds start with 4 riders, and then the 1 on 1's (teams) go down to 3 riders? Why is that? Can you also substitute riders in the different rounds? The commentators said the GB WR team probably "wouldn't bother changing the team".

 

[qqg3]

Cmon China!

 

[touch]

Thanks for the info guys. So the qualifying rounds start with 4 riders, and then the 1 on 1's (teams) go down to 3 riders? Why is that? Can you also substitute riders in the different rounds? The commentators said the GB WR team probably "wouldn't bother changing the team".

I thought it was going to be 4 riders for every round.
There are 5 riders named in the team, so there is a reserve they can swap in between rounds if they need/want to.

 

[NZB]

C'mon GB!

Oh, nvm.

 

[Merlin5]

In the pursuit, they take turns to be on the front. But it's much more than just pace setting, the rider on the front has to break through the air and the others behind him get to sit in his slipstream. They do about a lap each on the front then move to the back to recover. There is no changeover zone or anything in the pursuit, they can change whenever they want and as often as they want.

That pretty much explains it all to me too, thanks. Why did the 4 man pursuit teams drop one rider before the end though?

 

[robfosters]

I reckon we would have done China there. Great shame.

 

[Bennie-Mac]

Bah that was a slower run from China, GB could have beaten that no problem

 

[Bennie-Mac]

That pretty much explains it all to me too, thanks. Why did the 4 man pursuit teams drop one rider before the end though?

They only need 3 riders to cross the line, they can drop one if they choose as changeovers cost you a bit of time, but then they have to balance that with the fact that there are less riders to help with the work. Ditching the last rider with around 3 laps to go seems to be the best compromise.

 

[Jay Psi]

Thanks for the info guys. So the qualifying rounds start with 4 riders, and then the 1 on 1's (teams) go down to 3 riders? Why is that? Can you also substitute riders in the different rounds? The commentators said the GB WR team probably "wouldn't bother changing the team".

The the pursuit teams still take four riders into the "final" rounds (1-on-1). But in the men's team pursuit the team is timed on the third rider, so if one guy is feeling it he can drop off safely. Leaves the other three with more work to do though!

The commentators were referring to being able to switch riders between rounds, as long as you inform the commisairs a half hour (?) before the team is due on the track.

Edit - Beaten like a track cycling record before this afternoon!

 

[touch]

That pretty much explains it all to me too, thanks. Why did the 4 man pursuit teams drop one rider before the end though?

It's timed on the 3rd man crossing the line, so you only need 3 to finish.

Sometimes its the plan for 1 guy to drop off near the end (they might have somebody, like Ed Clancy in the GB team, who has a very strong start then drops off a couple of laps before the end)
Sometimes its not the plan and one guy cant keep up the pace of the rest of the team and so he drops off.