Talk:Sprint (track cycling)

Don't the cyclists want to try to break a record or personal best time ?

In the sprint, the objective is to finish ahead of the other rider(s). Times (normally timed over the final 200m) are important when used for qualifying purposes. Paul W (talk) 11:14, 9 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

History of racing style, evolution?

I just saw this type of sprint on the Olympics (where they start slow). It makes me laugh. Some of us want to know the history and evolution of this "tactic." Any info that someone could write up on how exactly this became how they raced? I'm assuming when the sport first started, they went all out sprint until the tactics evolved into this slow-mo beginning, right? Dancindazed (talk) 05:41, 7 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

When the sport first started, it was rarely a two-up head-to-head, but could have as many as eight riders. The race tactics when there are more riders is that the race goes quicker from the beginning. In the 1908 Olympics there was already a time limit for the event (1min45 for 1000m), suggesting the riders were going very slow at some events beforehand and a time limit had to be put in place to make the event watchable for spectators. There is now only a time limit for track stands (i.e. stopping). The 1924 Olympics is the first one at which we have last 200m times recorded and the 1928 Olympics the first in which two-rider contests are the norm from the knock-out stages onwards. It is likely that as soon as the racing become two-up, the riders started by going slow. Severo^TC 07:43, 7 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]