Olympic Track Cycling - Guide Day 1

Guide: There are 10 Olympic Track Cycling events (five for men, five for women), which between them test speed, endurance and teamwork. The Sprint consists of a series of three-lap races, with riders racing head-to-head. The Keirin features up to seven riders sprinting for victory, after following a pacing motorcycle at the beginning of the race.

There are two team events: the Team Sprint, with teams of three for the men’s competition and teams of two for the women, and the Team Pursuit, which is held over 16 laps for men and 12 laps for women. Finally, there’s the Omnium. Making its Olympic debut at London 2012, the Omnium features individual riders competing against each other across six different elements on the track.

Men’s Team Sprint: This is the first of quite a few serious medal chances for Great Britain in a bid to emulate the eight gold medals they won in Bejjing 4 years ago. The heroes from 4 years ago – minus first lap leader Jamie Staff – will have the full support of the home crowd behind them and will have been put down as one of the biggest gold medal hopes of this year beforehand, although they look to be more up against it in this event than many others against the big two of France and Germany.

The two were 1^st and second in the 2011 World Championships, with Germany getting the gold after it was announced that Grégory Baugé's results in the Sprint and Team Sprint competitions would be nullified, but little separates them anyway. They met again in the London World Cup meet, although Germany beat France once again on merit. A slow first leg may have been to blame for that defeat, and the 2008 Bronze medal trio of Tournant, Sireau, Baugé (it’s now D’Alemeida for Tournant) look that much stronger and ready for Olympic gold to add to the fantastic start that the French have made to London.

They face a strong rival in the Germans, albeit a rival that they’ve beaten during their last serious meeting and one that they’ll feel capable of turning the tables on from their previous meeting. We didn’t see them in proper head to head combat at this year’s World Championships thanks to the DQ they and GB got for transitioning outside the permitted areas, but their time wouldn’t have seen them beat the French or Australians in the final (infact they actually lost to GB in their crossed out result).

World Champions Matt Glaetzer, Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland for Australia must be respected here, having nailed out France by just 0.001secs to land the title on home turf. That was a cracking performance, but they got upgraded from the bronze sprint to the gold and they might be bested by all of the top three unless they underperform – although they’ll make sure there’s no room for complacency.

Advice: 2 pts France to win men’s team sprint (6/4 general)

Women’s Team Sprint: This should be one of the moments of the games with three outstanding teams all matched within a second of each other at their best, two of whom have broken the World Record this year. The latest to do so were the flying pair of Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte, who broke the world record for Germany in qualifying, then did it all over again in the final at the Worlds when beating the Australian pair of Kaarle Muclloch, who had been untouchable since Bejing for about three years. They’ve been beaten twice so far in the big events, also falling to the home team of Pendleton and Varnish (seen here) at the London Gold Cup, something which is sure to give the home pairing a lot of confidence. The three are impossible to properly separate, but common sense dictates that Germany, holding the WR having beaten Australia when it counts, might be the ones to beat at a slightly bigger price than Australia. China, who beat Great Britain in a sprint for Bronze at the Worlds, are there if any of the top three should falter seriously.

Advice: 1 pt Germany to win women’s team sprint (7/4 general)

Men’s Team Pursuit: Track Cycling brought home a hatful of gold medals for Great Britain in Bejing and few chances look to be as strong as the men’s team pursuit. The flying four of Geraint Thomas, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant won their first world title since 2008 in sensational style in Melbourne earlier this year, breaking the 4km world record in the process when clocking 3:53.295 and thrashing the Australians in the process. Their great rivals beat them here in February’s fourth round of the UCI Track World Cup by 1.7 seconds – partly down to a stumble late on in the close laps after they had built a lead - and that’s the only thing they can hold onto, although that has since been smashed and Britain look to be an outstanding patriotic punt for gold tomorrow, in doing so becoming the first team to retain their title since West Germany in 1972/6. Russia, New Zealand and Denmark are the only other teams to have won medals in the last five world championships: the Danish winning the gold and silver in 2008 and 2009, the Russians claiming silver in 2011 and New Zealand taking bronze in 2009, 2010 and 2012, and of those, the New Zealanders look much the best choice for a medal, having beaten Russia at the last worlds in both heats and the bronze final, and taking third place at the London Gold Cup.

Advice: 4 pts Great Britain to win men’s team pursuit (10/11 general)