Fantasy Olympic Track Cycling
It was suggested a few months ago that some people on the forum might want to try a fantasy track cycling competition for the olympics.
The idea's simple, pick an athlete/team/nation for each track event and we score the results, the best overall result is the winner.
The ten olympic events are:
Men's Keirin
Men's Omnium
Men's sprint
Men's team pursuit
Men's team sprint
Women's Keirin
Women's Omnium
Women's sprint
Women's team pursuit
Women's team sprint
Schedule is here: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-track/schedule-and-results/
Athlete details will be available here: http://www.london2012.com/cycling-track/athletes/
Deadline for entries is 8pm Wednesday 1st August.
Rules are:
1) Fantasy teams limited to one individual or team from any nationality i.e. you can't have more than one Brit or British team in your own team.
2) Scoring based on the Omnium where 1st scores 1, 2nd scores 2 etc down to 12th scoring 12. Any placing below 12th scores 12. Lowest overall score after 10 events is the winner.
3) DNFs, DQs or withdrawl's of an athlete count as finishing last and will score 12 points.
4) Where non-medal positions are not ranked (see 2008 men's team pursuit and team sprint) the time's from qualification will be used to rank teams for fantasy purposes.
5) Where it is not possible to rank a group of teams or individuals each will be given the score of the highest unranked position i.e. if 5-12 cannot be ranked by any of the above methods each will score 5 points.
6) Tie-breaks - first tie-break is number of Gold medal winners picked, then total medal winners picked then the lowest highest score i.e. one team has a highest event score of 8 (for 8th place), another has 10 (for 10th) then the winner is the team with the score of 8. Final tie-break is a coin-toss.
7) No prizes, although we could ask Dave nicely for a pair of socks 
Any questions/comments? Happy to tweak the rules/format as suggested.
That'll work for me, now just need to work out where to find all these riders who will be competing as some countries don't seem to have named all their teams yet 
There's plenty of time to sort teams out. Does everyone want confidential teams (ie you email them to me, no transfers or changes allowed!) or are you happy to stick them up on here?
I'm happy to stick mine up on the forum.
I know there is still time to work out your team, I'm just wondering where to find a list when its nearer the time. Will the Olympics site put it up?
Im in for this, you happy to do the scoring for this then Drheaton?
Aye, shouldn't be too hard, only ten events 
Yeahman, I'm up for this, when's the deadline?
Sir Velo
Hmmm, let's say 8pm, Wednesday 1st August. First events start on the Thursday. Schedule is here
http://www.london2012.com/cycling-track/schedule-and-results/
Will add all this to the first post.
We'll be able to see riders soon hopefully
Come back to this page as the London 2012 Olympic Games approach to see the profiles of every athlete competing in the Cycling - Track competition.
Count me in, sounds like fun
Stumpy
I'm in looks good
With regards to the only one from each nationality, can we not have one male and one female rider from the same country?
Purely because it'll be alot of Brit and Aus riders scoring so be limited to scoring picks.
Hmmm, I'm tempted to say no as it makes it more difficult. One Nationality per sex means that everyone will have two Brits, two Aussies, two French/German etc making all teams a much of a muchness but one nationality per team means you need to think really hard about where to use your Brit, where to use your Aussie etc. So, do you use your sole Brit for a guaranteed 1st/2nd place like in the women's team pursuit or do you use it for a chance of a decent placing in something else (Omnium?) and pick a more obscure team for the team pursuit (Canada/Ukraine).
I'll leave it open to suggestions though so if everyone wants one Nationality per sex we'll go with that.
Had a quick look and it's possible to compile a team for the events, based on only one entry per Nationality, that is based solely on medal winners from the last World Championships.
You're not going to be able to pick the winner of each event but it should be possible to pick top 3 or top 5 based on one pick per Nation. Plus, you still need to decide where to use your 'star' picks of GB, Australia, France, Germany and New Zealand and where to plump for someone lower down the pecking order.
I agree with one nationality for the whole thing, not per sex. As its only 10 races, thus 10 nationalities.
And makes it more interesting on who you pick lower down, as one [er sex means you could end up with multiple teams scoring the same at the end
Sounds like fun
I'll be in for this, just to repeat what Dr H said (might have been me who made original suggestion of not being able to repeat country/gender), reason I did that was it does make things more awkward and spread things around, but doesn't make it impossible. There are a few events in which we know who should win gold, and in some cases those are same countries - so to stop everyone picking near identical teams, this makes you think a little harder, and stops everyone probably picking the same six people for six of the ten events.
O.K cool 
Just thought i'd put it out there, but more than happy.
I'm in too
Ok, will try to join in if I can get a wifi connection in kos...i know which brit lady I fancy and its not vp who might lose to the aussie....
Ok, will try to join in if I can get a wifi connection in kos...i know which brit lady I fancy and its not vp who might lose to the aussie....
So could I pick team gb for the team pursuit and vicky p for the ladies sprint?
Nope, just one of those, only one athlete/team of any nationality in your chosen 10.
laura trott would be the GB lady i reckon...
you're a mind reader . . . or is it obvious that she is a dead cert?
Here goes. I posted this first, so any exact copies, and I get the socks !
Mens Kierin: GER Levy
Mens Omnium: CAN Bell
Mens Sprint: FRA Bauge
Mens T Purs: NZE New Zealand
Mens T Sprn: JAP Japan
Woms Kierin: RUS Gnidenko
Woms Omnium: GBR Trott
Woms Sprint: AUS Mears
Woms T Purs: USA Yanks
Woms T Sprn: CHI China
I think I am short of dutch and spaniards, but hey ho.
Given the limited permutations, I'm not sure it's a good idea for anyone to start posting their teams till the deadline, but hey-ho...
you're a mind reader . . . or is it obvious that she is a dead cert?
It was the only one that made sense that not many people would know
I guess it depends how much you understand the event and how much you have seen her. As far as im concerned there is too much variability with 6 events to say dead cert, but if she doesnt medal id be surprised.
I think the two Omnium's could be the deciders, the uncertainty and variables that 6 events adds will mean that picking a medal contender in that could be very important. Equally though you could use one of your 'star picks' (GB, AUS, Canada, New Zealand etc) and find that they finish lower down than expected.
Pity they don't have the Maddison or Scratch Race as an Olympic event, that'd be really hard to predict!
Given the limited permutations, I'm not sure it's a good idea for anyone to start posting their teams till the deadline, but hey-ho...
I would wait til last minute, but i am jetting off to the sun and wifi may be limited in Greece . . . I hope the hotel has a tv to watch the last stage of #tdf.
Fair enough 
Have a great holiday and please send some sunshine our way
Just a thought, Can we not have a male and female from the same country?
Nope, that makes it far too easy
Thought I'd get my team in now, you can copy it if you like but if you do and we win I might add something into the rules to 'resolve' that 
Men's Keirin - Max Levy (Germany)
Men's Omnium - Zac Bell (Canada)
Men's sprint - Gregory Bauge (France)
Men's team pursuit - New Zealand
Men's team sprint - Australia
Women's Keirin - Olga Panarina (Belarus)
Women's Omnium - Sarah Hammer (USA)
Women's sprint - Simona Krupeckaitė (Lithunia)
Women's team pursuit - Great Britain
Women's team sprint - China
ok then here is mine
Men's Keirin - Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)
Men's Omnium - Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark)
Men's sprint - Gregory Bauge (France)
Men's team pursuit - Great Britain
Men's team sprint - Australia
Women's Keirin - Shuang Guo (China)
Women's Omnium - Sarah Hammer (USA)
Women's sprint - Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)
Women's team pursuit - Canada
Women's team sprint - Germany
My Picks are:-
Mens Sprint Gregory Bauge(FRA)
mens Kieran Chris Hoy(GB)
Mens Omnium Zach Bell(CAN)
Team Sprint New Zealand
Team Pursuit Japan
Womans Sprint Anna Meares(AUS)
Womens Kieran Miriam Welte(GER)
Womens Omnium Sarah Hammer(USA)
Team Sprint Russia
Team Pursuit China
Let the games begin
I know there's only four teams but I expected them to be more simiilar, I'm surprised we've picked such different teams although Gregory Bauge looks like he might be in every team at this rate!
AND THE WINNING TEAM IS... 
MENS KEIRIN MAX LEVY (Germany)
MENS OMNIUM ZAC BELL (Canada)
MENS SPRINT GREG BAUGE (France)
MENS T PURSUIT NEW ZEALAND
MENS T SPRINT AUSTRALIA
WMNS KEIRIN EKATERINA GNIDENKO (Russia)
WMNS OMNIUM SARAH HAMMER (USA)
WMNS SPRINT SIMONA KUPRECKAITE (Lithuania)
WMNS T PURSUIT GREAT BRITAIN
WMNS T SPRINT CHINA
stevespro
Ok, I think I have mine sorted out....
Men's Keirin - Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)
Men's Omnium - Zachary Bell (Canada)
Men's Sprint - Gregory Bauge (France)
Men's Team Pursuit - Great Britain
Men's Team Sprint - New Zealand
Women's Keirin - Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russia)
Women's Omnium - Sarah Hammer (USA)
Women's Sprint - Simona Krupeckaitė (Lithunia)
Women's Team Pursuit - Australia
Women's Team Sprint - China
MIGHT not be my final line up as it is only 1 rider per country for all the sprint events, but the Olympics site had 2 for some
Another question that I don't know if it'll work. Say I pick Bauge as above, but he goes and wins another event, Do I get any bonuses
Another question that I don't know if it'll work. Say I pick Bauge as above, but he goes and wins another event, Do I get any bonuses
It's a good idea but no, I don't think so. It'll be too difficult to work out bonuses for events where you've picked Team GB or Australia and it'd mean everyone would pick Bauge, Mears, Hoy or Pendleton etc, basically any athlete competing in more than one event. As it stands there's no benefit to picking athlete's in two events so it encourages different selections.
OK, here's mine...
Men's Keirin - T Mulder (Hol)
Men's Omnium - E Viviani (Ita)
Men's Sprint - G Bauge (Fra)
Men's Team Pursuit - Russia
Men's Team Sprint - Germany
Women's Keirin - S Krupeckaite (Lith)
Women's Omnium - T Whitten (Can)
Women's Sprint - V Pendleton (GB)
Women's Team Pursuit - New Zealand
Women's Team Sprint - Australia
Can't wait til tomorrow...
jandrewhilln_MacMichael]Fair enough 
Have a great holiday and please send some sunshine our way 
Abracadabra...is that enuf sun???
Having applied my lack of track cycling knowledge here goes:
Men's Keirin - Maximilian Levy (GER)
Men's Omnium - Elia Viviani (Italy)
Men's Sprint - G Bauge (Fra)
Men's Team Pursuit - Denmark
Men's Team Sprint - Russia
Women's Keirin - Anna Meares (Australia)
Women's Omnium - Laura Trott (GBR)
Women's Sprint - Simona Krupeckaitė (Lithunia)
Women's Team Pursuit - New Zealand
Women's Team Sprint - China
Bit of shuffling in my team, but I can't edit the one above
Men's Keirin - Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)
Men's Omnium - Martyn Irvine (Ireland)
Men's Sprint - Gregory Bauge (France)
Men's Team Pursuit - Great Britain
Men's Team Sprint - Australia
Women's Keirin - Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)
Women's Omnium - Sarah Hammer (USA)
Women's Sprint - Guo Shuang (China)
Women's Team Pursuit - Canada
Women's Team Sprint - Germany
Just a nudge to remind everyone the deadline is 8pm tonight.
So far we've only got 8 entries.
Bump, anyone watching? I missed everything until around 5.15, just came in to see GB DQ'd from the team sprint for a dodgy change over 
BOOOOOOOSSSSSST. China got relegated in the gold medal race of the Women's team sprint and Germany win it for me
Booo! Not happy with that result 
I'm delighted, not only did I have the winner, Shuang will be going for everything else now and I have her in the sprint
Now need the Aussie's to come out and beat Germany, but can't see it, So i'll only have 4th in the men's
Scores after day one:
Gkam: 5
TERatcliffe: 5
drheaton: 6
Stevespro: 6
chrisdstripes: 6
djb123: 9
JAndrewhill: 10
Livestrongnick: 15 (sorry! you picked Russia for the women's Team Sprint and they didn't compete so you get joint last for the race, 10th)
The difference at the top? The Chinese DQ
Men's Team Pursuit and Women's Keirin tomorrow!
fix fix fix...reinstate the hinese please...not too bad a staet for my team tho.
The thing is, we've all got one pick that's a bit out there and different so it could all change so easily on one event.
It's great to include a simple game like this though, I was really willing the Chinese on in the women's sprint 
Damn totally forgot to put a team in on this. Ah well.
Or in my case I have 2 out there, Awang and Irvine
Feel free to put one in for the last races if you like, will add you onto the spreadsheet and just award you max points for the first two races. I won't count you towards the overall but will include you in for fun.
Scores after day one:Gkam: 5
TERatcliffe: 5
drheaton: 6
Stevespro: 6
chrisdstripes: 6
djb123: 9
JAndrewhill: 10
Livestrongnick: 15 (sorry! you picked Russia for the women's Team Sprint and they didn't compete so you get joint last for the race, 10th)The difference at the top? The Chinese DQ
Men's Team Pursuit and Women's Keirin tomorrow!
GRRRRR Doh!!!
bloody Russians, oh well shit happens........ another day tomorrow
Thats a bit harsh...altho the chinese were relegated thay were not dqd...and got silver... or am I missin something... and the gb ladies sprint were relegated too, not dqd... is this sour grapes?..
No, just joking really, the teams on 5 and 6 points would have been reversed had China won the gold and Germany come second, that's the point I was making really.
Good stuff. Russia in the men's TP are my hope to pick up some points later - should counteract the fact that I don't have any Chinese women in anything which was definitely a mistake! Thanks drh, doing this makes it (even) more exciting - I'll certainly be supporting Krupeckaite later on (whoever she is!)
Aye, today should shake things up, there's a load of different picks for the women's Keirin and there's a few different Team Pursuit nation's picked too, hoping for a good result from the New Zealand men and Olga Panarina who was my wildcard pick for the Keirin.
FWIW the order in qualifying was:
GB
Australia
New Zealand
Denmark
Russia
Spain
Columbia
Netherlands
Semi's are GB vs Denmark and Australia vs New Zealand but I have no idea how they work out who's going for bronze as wikipedia suggests that the fastest of the six teams not going into the gold medal match go into the bronze round rather than the losers of the semi's which means that in theory Russia can still come third but no higher and even though they're in the semi's New Zealand can still come 8th!
Just been trying to work it out...this from the BBC website - "Eight teams will take part in the first round on Friday, with the top two qualifying for the gold medal match and the next two battling for bronze."
Which would indicate that all 8 teams above will race between 16:18 and 16:43 this afternoon, but qualifying for the medal finals is solely on time. But its pursuit, so if you get caught, do you carry on riding to post a time? I don't really geddit.
I'll stop guessing now and just wait until this afternoon...
Olympics website and Wikipedia both say that the gold medal match will feature the winners of the two races between GB/Denmark and Australia/New Zealand but I agree, it's not clear.
Is it not, Time for the first 8, top 4 times go though, with 1/3 meeting each other and 2/4
Then its all about winning rather than time, Winners into gold and losers into bronze
Ok, maybe I was slightly off with my thoughts
The team pursuit starts with a qualifying round. Teams are seeded in the first round according to their qualifying times – the fastest team competes against the fourth fastest, second competes against third, fifth against eighth and sixth against seventh. The winners of the two heats between the top four teams advance to the finals; the remaining six teams are ranked according to their times from the first round, with the best two competing for bronze. Bewildered? Me too.This track cycling business is bonkers.
ie, winners of the two semi's (the races between the fastest four teams, in this case GB v Denmark and Australia v New Zealand) go through to the gold medal race, fastest two of the remaining six teams go through to the bronze race.
Ignore me, i'm still confused by this
So I think I got last and dnq today....might be going for the stage wins now. 
You got 3rd with NZ for the men's pursuit
Ah brilliant! my womens team pursuit is last and my womens kieran didn't go! 
Its ok, I've dropped points on having Krupeckaite in the Keirin, best she can do is 7th
Well she got 7th ahead of the Russian in 8th which a few people had aswell
Holy crap, Mears home in 5th
I had 2nd though, and 1st for the mens pursuit, good day for me
I scored 8 points to your 3 then
drheaton, you should start another thread for points only and keep this for discussion because its getting a little crowded
:So I think I got last and dnq today....might be going for the stage wins now.
My fun team:
Men's Sprint: Bauge (FRA)
Men's Keirin: Awang (MAS)
Men's Omnium: Zachary Bell (CAN)
Women's Sprint: Anna Meares (AUS)
Women's Omnium: Sarah Hammer (USA)
Women's Team Pursuit: Great Britain (GBR)
Thanks drheaton!
Sir Velo
Apologies, out on the lash tonight will take a look at the scores in the morning! Don't know where Panarina finished but managed a creditable 3rd in the Team Pursuit.
Raleigh, will add you in with max scores for the first two days.
I can tell you.......She came 15th
Rank Athlete
1 PENDLETON Victoria
2 GUO Shuang
3 LEE Wai Sze
4 SANCHEZ Clara
5 MEARES Anna
6 SULLIVAN Monique
7 KRUPECKAITE Simona
8 GNIDENKO Ekaterina
9 LARREAL Daniela Grelui
10 VOGEL Kristina
11 HANSEN Natasha
12 KANIS Willy
13 GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra
13 SHULIKA Lyubov
15 PANARINA Olga
15 MUSTAPA Fatehah
17 GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana
17 LEE Hyejin
Oh dear, 12 points for that then
Will try and get some points up in a bit.
Right then, scores/results are up in a seperate thread.
Mens Kierin: GER Levy
Mens Omnium: CAN Bell
Mens Sprint: FRA Bauge
Mens T Purs: NZE New Zealand 3rd 3pts
Mens T Sprn: JAP Japan 8th 8pts
Woms Kierin: RUS Gnidenko 8th 8pts
Woms Omnium: GBR Trott
Woms Sprint: AUS Mears
Woms T Purs: USA Yanks
Woms T Sprn: CHI China 2nd 2pts
#playing now for stage wins . . .
Another good day for me, canada in 3rd so a decent first half, Hansen is leading after 2 events in the omnium for me too (with bell not doing so well). Alot of people have bauge and hammer. so its gonna be tough to beat me now, unless Wanatabe in the keirin the Lithuanian does really badly in the sprint
I think I had you covered TER, I also had Canada for the bronze. I have Awang for the keirin, very good rider (should beat your Jap). Irvine will come good in the omnium (might not beat the Dane) and Shuang should comfortably beat Krupeckaite in the sprint.
But carry on counting your eggs as chickens
Hansen and Irvine out, but they aint put the hong kong rider out before Irvine
its gonna be close, Hansen just let me down in the omnium, but he is still 5th at the halfway point.
Wanatabe isn't bad at the Keirin but agree Awang should do better than me in that and so should Shaung, but Shaung may come say 3rd and Krupeckaite 6th. I have 5 points to play with.
I read your 1st team when i first looked at it, which is why i thought it was going to be difficult for you as you originally had Krupeckaite, meaning 3 of your 5 left would have been the same
Just aswell I didn't go with Viviani for the omnium like I thought about, but then though....homeish crowd might lift Irvine a bit
Clancy just took Hansen out in the scratch race, which almost took O'Shea out aswell
Hansen got a spare bike and back on, but some nice holes in his suit and track rash
Hansen must be favorite for gold now....your gonna get a nice decent big score of points for Irvine...
Its currently
1 HANSEN Lasse Norman 25
+ 2 VIVIANI Elia 25
+ 3 COQUARD Bryan 25
+ 4 KLUGE Roger 28
+ 5 CLANCY Ed 29
+ 6 O'SHEA Glenn 31
Viviani, Kluge, Clancy and O'Shea all have better kilo's, not sure about Coquard.
So I wouldn't say he'll be in the medal's
I am really regretting not picking Viviani now
Hansen 2nd fastest and wins gold
1 HANSEN Lasse Norman 27
+ 2 COQUARD Bryan 29
+ 3 CLANCY Ed 30
+ 4 KLUGE Roger 33
+ 5 O'SHEA Glenn 34
+ 6 VIVIANI Elia 34
+ 7 ARCHBOLD Shane 48
+ 8 BELL Zachary 49
+ 9 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 59
+ 10 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 60
+ 11 CHO Hosung 60
+ 12 LEA Bobby 61
+ 13 IRVINE Martyn 64
+ 14 PEREZ Walter Fernando 72
+ 15 van HOECKE Gijs 77
+ 16 CHOI Ki Ho 89
+ 17 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 96
+ 18 MANSILLA Luis 104
Clancy should have silver after the mess of the elimination race.......They really need to sort it out, its always a shambles
Agree Clancy should have got silver.
Hansen was always gonna be the next best after Clancy in that event, the only one who could have challenged really was Coquard.
also Krupeckaite can't come worse than 8th in the womens sprint
At least on drheaton's scoring, I should only get 12 for Irvine
Scores up, and yes, 12 points for 12th or below.
Bell was a let down for quite a few people though so you didn't lose out too much. Although, TERa's running away with it. We pretty much all have Bauge and Hammer and even if Watanabe comes last and Awang first he's still got a 5 point lead!
Yeah Hammer and Bauge.
The lowest TER can get in the woman's sprint is 8, so there could be a few points gained back there. If Awang won and Watanabe scored 12, it could be close
Although Gkam is 3rd, he is the only one that can catch me i believe, even tho Stevespro is currently 2nd, as he has 3 riders the same and so levy scoring 1 point and watanabe 12, he would still be 3 adrift.
For you Gkam, If Watanabe scored 12, Awang 1 that would be a 5 point difference meaning you would still need Guo to come 1st or 2nd for you to win, and 3rd to tie...
thus its gonna be difficult now for you to catch me
Actually Chris could catch me as well as he has 3 different, with Pendleton and Whitten and Mulder, however im not sure Mulder will outscore Watanabe, and will Whitten beat Hammer, not so sure, and then again max pull back of 7 points with Pendleton, meaning he would still need to make up the other 9 points from those first too.
djb can also mathematically catch me if trott and levy were to win and both watanabe and hammer to come lower than 10th...which would be unlikely.
Therefore I dont think I can come lower than 2nd but if everything went right for 1 of your teams 1 of you could overtake me
Well think i can safely say I'll be finishing last!!!
There goes your chance of winning Gkam, both Krupeckaite and Guo knocked out and will come 5th-8th
Not out yet, only 1 race outta 3 run
oh right, bbc results wern't clear when i had a glance then!
Krupeckaite out. Guo into 3rd ride 
Scores up, no change obviously as we all had Bauge. All change tomorrow though with the last three events. Hoping for some good results and a top three finish!
Guo through to the top 4, Krupeckaite came 5th
God damn, Watanabe got through the repechage into the top 12 Awang is in Hoy's semi, so hopefully stick to his wheel and get to the final, then I can get 2nd overall
Watanabe 11th Awang 6th
Guo 3rd Krupeckaite 5th
Don't think i'm taking the win.....MIGHT get a podium though
:edit, turns out I wont......bugger
We were joint 6th
Awang cost you and Krupeckaite cost me. In the end there was a few of us in the middle of the pack who got jumped on the last events by those with Mears and Pendleton or Levy.
It's been fun though, definitely added something to watching the competition.
Congrats to TERa and to GB for another cracking Olympics.
Awang wasn't the costly one. It was my last minute change of mind to go for Irvine over Viviani in the omnium
Panarina was my really costly one, she's usually right up there but cost me dearly. Oh well, it was fun, what do you think about reviving it for the world champs/commonwealth games?
The worlds yeah, thats Belarus next year. But the commonwealth's aren't until 2014? Still 2 years off
Aye, time to get your planning in then!
Right, I'll pick my teams next week 
If I look down from the podium I can just about see gkam. Lol
The tortoise beat the hares....
Go trotty!,!
Well done ratty.
Well, Hoy's in my Commonwealth team the Commonwealth's could be pretty fun as you'd be free to pick English, Welsh, Scots etc as separate nations.
Worlds might be a bit mad, loads of extra events might mean two per nation but picking results for the year after the Olympics should be tricky, nobody at their best, lots of unpredictable results.
Hoy wouldn't be in my commonwealth team. I think IF he gets that far he'll be beaten but some random English man who does not respect the SIR
No, he'll be there and he'll want to win in his own velodrome. That'll be his retirement party so he'll make the most of it. For me, it'll be interesting to see who comes through to fill Pendleton's spot. Varnish is young and seems fairly inexperienced in the Keirin/match sprint so there's possibly an open spot there. Plus at two years out from Rio I can see Brailsford throwing in some young riders rather than sending the big guns.
Likewise UCI are extending the women's team pursuit to 4 women over 4km so they'll need another pursuiter to replace Wendy 'a little bit bitter' Hoovenagel.
And yes, maybe IoM for the team pursuit if Cav is still obsessed with Olympic gold.
Cav said tonight, he's 99% sure he'll be trying to get on the track for Rio, He's already said a while ago that the road course wont suit him at all. He said tonight, he's got 3 years on the road and then will look at the track. So I think he'll be signing a 3 year contract with another team and then switching to the track
Trott will come through and fill Pendleton's shoes. She's only doing the omnium to get into the worlds and Olympics because VP and others were still there
Trott seems to be a world class pursuiter too though so surely she can't do it all? And I'd put more money on her sticking withthe girls in the team pursuit over swapping to the sprint.
Surely Cav can't keep signing for Sky every Olympic year? Do you think the lure of staying part of the British Cycling set up might tempt him to stay at Sky through his contract and all the way to Rio?
I'm really not sure with him. I'm pretty sure he'd like another one day race and more wins in the big tours. He's not going to be given much help with that from Sky as they focus on the GC's. I'd like to see him go somewhere else and keep winning everything, but I'd also like to see him stay and help Sky
I'm really not sure with him. I'm pretty sure he'd like another one day race and more wins in the big tours. He's not going to be given much help with that from Sky as they focus on the GC's. I'd like to see him go somewhere else and keep winning everything, but I'd also like to see him stay and help Sky
Yeah, I reckon Cav wants one of the classics if not more, to win the Giro points jersey so he's got a full set and to have the most TdF wins in history as well as regaining the TdF Green Jersey. But I think not getting a gold in Beijing is still bothering him and come Rio he'll want to try and sort that out.
The big question for him I guess is 'is he good enough to get into the GB pursuit squad for Rio?', is he really going to be one of the top four guys in the country come 2016, if not then whatever team he's on at the time doesn't really matter. And, if Cav wants some classics, is OPQ really the best team for him with Boonen there?
Also, have tweaked our finishing positions slightly, I realised I'd put something in the rules to take care of ties so I've applied that 'on countback'
With his sprint power and stamina to do 3 week tours. Does anyone else think like me that the omnium would be the race for him?
Possibly, but it depends on what the UCI/IOC include in the schedule, they're already planning changes to the women's team sprint and team pursuit and there's alot of calls for the reinstatement of some of the cut events so the Omnium (as great as it was) might not be there in Rio.
I think the omnium will stay, its the only "endurance" event in track cycling.
If the Kilo were to come back, expect Hoy to be in Rio
Actually, I think Cav only really wants the gold and probably doesnt care what it comes from so he's probably thinking that the team pursuit is as close to a nailed on gold as possible whereas in the omnium anything can happen.
Also, how much better would the decathlon be with a 5km elimination race?
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