Olympic Track Cycling

Icm76 said:
Fair enough, I was basing my comment on some commentators lamenting rule changes and Wiggins, Cav and Froome not being in any track events following the disappointing road race. I really should know better than to accept what commentators say at face value.
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I think what Boardman and Cav himself have commented on is the rules that the UCI have in place in regards to competing in the different disciplines.

As Cav has said, he can't enter track events because he hasn't competed in a World Cup event in the last two years. However, track cyclists can compete in a road race, despite having not completed in any events to qualify for it, which was the case for one rider in the Olympic Road Race last week.

I think Cav is being a bit green eyed though. He obviously enjoyed the track, and I think being in the Velodrome and seeing Team GB do so well has reignited his interest. There is also the aspect that he still wants an Olympic Medal and having missed out, he thinks he could have got one on the track. He's concentrated his career for a good number of years now on the road and he did acknowledge himself that the pool they are using for team sprint are amazing riders who worked hard to be selected. So it's not like he could necessarily just expect to come in, despite being an amazing sprinter on the road and his past track ability.
 
touch said:
Most teams will be using spoked wheels (not real 'spokes' though - a single carbon wheel moulded into a 5spoke shape) for sprint and disc wheels for pursuit/time trial (the disc wheels are solid carbon discs, rather than spoked wheels with covers). I didnt notice anybody doing anything different today, but i did miss quite a bit of the morning session.

The advantage of the spoked wheels is that they are lighter. So they are used for short races and sprints where acceleration is the important factor.

The disc wheels are heavier and slower to accelerate, but they are much more aerodynamic. So they are used for longer events where they sacrifice a bit of acceleration from the start with the heavier wheels but make up for it over the course of the race by having the aerodynamic advantage.
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Thanks for that explanation, answers my question perfectly.

I did notice today (might have been yesterday) that teams were running open wheels on the front and covered on the back. :)
 
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Drukk said:
Thanks for that explanation, answers my question perfectly.

I did notice today (might have been yesterday) that teams were running open wheels on the front and covered on the back. :)
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I believe another factor is that disk wheels have worse handling. This doesn't make any difference on your rear wheel, or in races where you just go in a straight line (team sprint/pursuit, TT, etc), but does for events like the Keirin or Individual sprint where you need to make quick adjusments in direction.
 
Had an excellent evening in the velodrome. The sound is incredible in there!

Shame we couldn't make it another gold, but Clancy never really seemed in the scratch race. The fact that Hansen crashed and then made up 2 laps on the field was incredible!

I thought it was also odd that the 1km TT came at the end though, thought it might have made the other race more dramatic, but could be just me.

The sprints were great to see - I was quite surprised by just how different the build of some of the sprinters was. Phillip, the T & T rider looks half the size of Gregory Bauge, and Bauge's legs are probably half as big as Forstermann's. Yet Phillip beat Forstermann who was also destroyed by Bauge, so size certainly isn't everything when it comes to speed!
 
oli collett said:
Shame we couldn't make it another gold, but Clancy never really seemed in the scratch race.
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Omnium isn't his specialist event, for him it was just a no pressure bit of fun and the bronze was a bonus medal.

Amazing that the team may still potentially grab another four golds in cycling :)
 
Icm76 said:
Omnium isn't his specialist event, for him it was just a no pressure bit of fun and the bronze was a bonus medal.

Amazing that the team may still potentially grab another four golds in cycling :)
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Yeah it was a good result, just a shame I went on one evening we were unlikely to get one!

Noticed on the Olympic summary show there was a journalist who thought Bauge had the individual sprint in the bag, not sure why he's playing down Kenny's chances but I think it will be extremely close!
 
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