Bring on the track events! *spoiler*

fidbod

Does anyone else think that team GB need to reassess their tactics in the points race? Both Trott and Clancy seemed happy to let breaks go for a lap and rely on otheres chasing whilst concentrating on sprints.

It seems an awfully high risk tactic. In Trott's race, surely she should have been told that if Hammer goes she needs to get on here wheel and work with her to get a lap. Its got to be much easier to ride a relatively conservative race once you have a lap on the others. Even if you don't get the lap you are forcing the others to work hard which is to your benefit.

rick_chasey

fidbod wrote:

Does anyone else think that team GB need to reassess their tactics in the points race? Both Trott and Clancy seemed happy to let breaks go for a lap and rely on otheres chasing whilst concentrating on sprints.

It seems an awfully high risk tactic. In Trott's race, surely she should have been told that if Hammer goes she needs to get on here wheel and work with her to get a lap. Its got to be much easier to ride a relatively conservative race once you have a lap on the others. Even if you don't get the lap you are forcing the others to work hard which is to your benefit.

If you're the favourite, which both are, especially Trott, you won't ever be allowed to get away.

ddraver

True - I think Laura can only stick with the nearest rivals and then try and get as many sprint points as possible (it is that one is nt it..?). It ll mean maybe finishing 4th or 5th but as long as there is no one important ahead of her then fine. It's a bit like sailing when you just sit on your nearest rival for the whole race, both finishing last but winning/ second place in the regatta...

graeme_s-2

knedlicky wrote:

So how you can have records if every velodrome is different?

Interestingly, in Beijing for any track events which are raced over a set number of laps vs a set distance (men's team sprint is always 3 laps whereas men's team pursuit is always 4km) any records were referred to as world's bests rather than world records. This terminology seems to have changed for London. I think they do now specify a 250m track for Olympics and UCI World Championships.

Pross

fidbod wrote:

Does anyone else think that team GB need to reassess their tactics in the points race? Both Trott and Clancy seemed happy to let breaks go for a lap and rely on otheres chasing whilst concentrating on sprints.

It seems an awfully high risk tactic. In Trott's race, surely she should have been told that if Hammer goes she needs to get on here wheel and work with her to get a lap. Its got to be much easier to ride a relatively conservative race once you have a lap on the others. Even if you don't get the lap you are forcing the others to work hard which is to your benefit.

It's not a points race though is it? It's an omnium so you have to take account of the other events coming up and conserve energy. In Laura's case this paid off with a win in the following elimination race - points is always a bit more of a lottery as you can't cover every move.

Laura may be unlucky in the pursuit as one girl had an easy catch which will have helped her time.

EDIT then again maybe not as the rider wasn't one of the faster girls and doesn't have the fastest time to date.

hammerite

Poor Clara Sanchez. I take it the French have stitched her up by letting her take part in the Omnium? She was off the back in the points race last night, eliminated early in the devil and has now been caught in the pursuit.

rick_chasey

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bauge-l ... int-defeat

Bauge gets erm...interesting with Kenny.

Edit: Video here: http://www.telly.com/6YVQE?fromtwitvid=1

ddraver

Rick Chasey wrote:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bauge-leads-press-conference-following-sprint-defeat

Bauge gets erm...interesting with Kenny.

Edit: Video here: http://www.telly.com/6YVQE?fromtwitvid=1

In fairness to him, I think he was properly gutted! It must be flippin' frustrating winning everything for 3.9 years and then having your A K'd at the most important race!

hammerite

ddraver wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bauge-leads-press-conference-following-sprint-defeat

Bauge gets erm...interesting with Kenny.

Edit: Video here: http://www.telly.com/6YVQE?fromtwitvid=1

In fairness to him, I think he was properly gutted! It must be flippin' frustrating winning everything for 2.9 years and then having your A K'd at the most important race!

;-)

Pross

ddraver wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bauge-leads-press-conference-following-sprint-defeat

Bauge gets erm...interesting with Kenny.

Edit: Video here: http://www.telly.com/6YVQE?fromtwitvid=1

In fairness to him, I think he was properly gutted! It must be flippin' frustrating winning everything for 3.9 years and then having your A K'd at the most important race!

That's the thing with BC - worlds are nice bonuses but everything is geared to hitting peak form at the Olympics as that's how the next 4 years funding is determined.

Laura 1 point off gold and 7 ahead of bronze so I guess it's a case of following Hamer and beating her in the sprint in the scratch whilst keeping a close eye on Whitten and the Aussie to make sure they don't get to far ahead.

hammerite

Yep, I guess they'll mark eachother out of the scratch race?

Trott beat Hammer by 0.6 and 1 second in their previous 2 500m TTs. But more importantly there were a couple of riders between them who are also racing this Omnium.

Pross

I thought she was tiring in that pursuit but it could just be that Hammer had a very good ride.

knedlicky

oldwelshman wrote:

knedlicky wrote:

So how you can have records if every velodrome is different?

Is the last question serious?
If it is how the hell would you be able to have any records in any sport outside due to different conditions?
It makes a small difference but not that much.
The only limitiation as far as I know for track are altitide rides.
Same for athletics, also wondspeed for some events.
On the track the records are for timed events which are ridden round the bottom of the track so a slight difference in banking height, angle etc makes no difference.

It is a serious question and I don’t think you’re right that variations in velodrome design and construction make little difference.

The London Olympic stadium was designed and built with intention of records being broken. It’s managed this, and for a few years, until similar state-of-the-art stadiums are built elsewhere, you’ll probably finds records are never broken anywhere else.
But that then makes London as different as a track at altitude, and its records not really comparable to elsewhere.

Most records at London might well have been in events ridden mostly round the bottom of the track but often the banking plays a role beforehand in building up speed. I’d also say the length of the straight and the radius of the curve in any velodrome also plays a role in the chances of a record – some velodromes are rounder in form, other more towards cigar shape.

The IAAF have standards for the track length, curve radius, and lane width. Surfaces may still vary and climatic conditions obviously too, but a degree of standardisation gives greater validity to running track records than records on velodrome tracks of different design.

knedlicky

Graeme_S wrote:

knedlicky wrote:

So how you can have records if every velodrome is different?

Interestingly, in Beijing for any track events which are raced over a set number of laps vs a set distance (men's team sprint is always 3 laps whereas men's team pursuit is always 4km) any records were referred to as world's bests rather than world records. This terminology seems to have changed for London.
I think they do now specify a 250m track for Olympics and UCI World Championships.

250 m has been pretty standard for over 20 years, but that doesn't mean it’s actually specified nor that other dimensions and the banking slopes are standardised. The velodromes used in major events up to 2011, and the one to be used for the Track World Championships in 2013, didn’t/doesn’t have the same widths and slopes as London.

Maybe Beijing had the right approach wrt records.

graeme_s-2

knedlicky wrote:

250 m has been pretty standard for over 20 years, but that doesn't mean it’s actually specified nor that other dimensions and the banking slopes are standardised. The velodromes used in major events up to 2011, and the one to be used for the Track World Championships in 2013, didn’t/doesn’t have the same widths and slopes as London.

Maybe Beijing had the right approach wrt records.

Yep, I appreciate that track length isn't the only variable, and there are other differences. In Beijing it was only events measured by number of laps (which could potentially be raced over different distances at different velodromes) that were referred to as world bests. Distance based events were still called World Records.

rick_chasey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/au ... CMP=twt_gu

Sad times.

Dorset_Boy

Certainly is sad, ......


.......but how on earth did he get tickets for events every day?!

hammerite

Dorset Boy wrote:

Certainly is sad, ......


.......but how on earth did he get tickets for events every day?!

yes very sad.

Tickets probably through persistence. You can still get tickets for tonight's athletics if you want.

rick_chasey

Dorset Boy wrote:

Certainly is sad, ......


.......but how on earth did he get tickets for events every day?!

They come and go quite a lot, and if you have le cash it's pretty straightforward.

Sounds like he was properly loving it though, which is always good. Can relate to getting totally over-excited about sport.

Pross

Nearly joined him with Trott's race just then - it certainly makes the heart beat fast the way she races!

graeme_s-2

Squeaky bum time in the Omnium for Laura Trott now. She needs to beat Sarah Hammer and get another rider in between them now for a draw for a points draw for Gold. Not sure who would win on a count back (they add all the TT times together, fastest wins the tie)

Monty Zoncolan

So is Trott going to win by putting the Hammer down?

rick_chasey

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

So is Trott going to win by putting the Hammer down?

graeme_s-2

At the moment on count back Hammer is 0.7 faster than Trott, but at the world champs Trott's 500m TT was 1 second faster than Hammer's! Going to be close...

ddraver

DIRTY SPANIARD FALLING OVER AT THE START!!!!!! HOW DARE HE!

CHEATER CHEATER CHEATER THEY'LL SAY

(or not...)

hammerite

Trott would need to be 0.691 of a second clear (yes I'm sad and worked that out!), Hopefully a couple of riders can get between them.

hammerite

x-post with Graeme

graeme_s-2

hammerite wrote:

Trott would need to be 0.691 of a second clear (yes I'm sad and worked that out!), Hopefully a couple of riders can get between them.

0.691 clear, and have 1 rider between them - that's the minimum she needs to do to win.

hammerite

Graeme_S wrote:

hammerite wrote:

Trott would need to be 0.691 of a second clear (yes I'm sad and worked that out!), Hopefully a couple of riders can get between them.

0.691 clear, and have 1 rider between them - that's the minimum she needs to do to win.

Yes.

Let's hope a couple of riders get between them though as that's a fair amount of time over 500m.

Hoy p*ssed that.

ddraver

Did Humphreys just give Cav a kiss?!?

Yes I have nothing better too look at I only have a commentaryless NOS feed...