Ninh explains, the Rules of Track Cycling The object of the game is to cycle faster
than your opponents. Track Cycling, sometimes referred to as ‘Olympic
Track Cycling’, is contested indoors, on a curved banked track that measures 250m long,
otherwise known as a Velodrome. In general, the rider who crosses the finish
line first, wins. Shortest video ever, right?
Well, sadly not. Rather confusingly, track cycling has many different events, each with
significantly different rules to each other. I‘m not going to cover every single event
in this video, but the most popular events are:
Individual Time Trial This is the simplest event to understand,
as it’s purely a race against the clock. The distance is 1km for men and for 500m for
women. You’re out there on your own and the fastest
rider across the finish line from a standing start, wins.
> A flying time trial allows you to build up speed before they start the clock, and
only the last 200m is timed. Fastest over 200m is the winner.
Individual Pursuit. It’s very similar to the time trial, except
that now – you’re racing against someone. Individual riders start from opposite ends
of the track. When the starting gun goes off, they have
to race 4km for men and 3km for women. First person to cross the line wins
The fastest four winners will ride off against each other until there is only one winner.
Team Pursuit Four riders will ride for 4 km against another
team. Each team starts from opposite ends of the
track. The team that catches the other team, or that
records the fastest time over 4km, wins. In Team Pursuit, there is a catch – at least
three riders must finish the race and the time is taken from the third rider’s front
wheel crossing the line. Individual Sprint
The ultimate game of cat-and-mouse. The distance is just 750m or 3 laps of an Olympic track.
Riders start next to each other and both will try and use tactics to either make the opponent
go first, or to push the rider in an unfavourable position, before making a run for the line
themselves. The time you take to do these three laps does
not matter. All that matters is you must cross the finish
line before your opponent. The rider who wins 2 out of 3 races, wins
the individual sprint. Team Sprint.
Teams start at opposite ends of the track and consist of 3 riders over 3 laps for men,
2 riders over 2 laps for women The first rider sets the pace, and after 1
lap, must peel away from the pack. The next rider (for men) also has a lap before
they must also ride away. The last rider then has to sprint the final
lap to the finish line on their own. The teams with the two best times, ride off
to be crowned the winner, and there are also contests for 3rd & 4th place.
Keirin Possibly the strangest event in Track cycling
is the Keirin. Developed in Japan as a means of gambling,
it consists of up to 7 riders over 8 laps of the track.
Except that 5 ½ of those laps consists of following a motorised bicycle, known as a
derny. Riders must stay behind the derny as it increases
in speed - and they will try to jostle each other out of position to get an advantage
over their rivals Once the derny pulls away from the track,
it’s a free-for-all sprint for the last 2.5 laps.
First person to cross the finish line after all 8 laps, wins.
Elimination Race 24 riders start at the same time over a race
of 50 laps. The rules are simple – don’t be last.
Because in every two laps, whoever is the last to cross the start line is eliminated.
This carries on until there is only one winner.
Scratch Race A mid distance event that is 15km for Men,
and 10km for Women. The rules are simple – be the first across
the finish line. Endurance riders will try and outpace sprinters,
and sprinters will try an d hide in the main pack to conserve energy before making a final
run. How you play it is up to you … so long as
you cross the line first. Points Race
Think of this as NASCAR racing … on bicycles. A long distance event that is 40km for Men,
and 25km for Women. A sprint is held every 10 laps, signalled
by a bell. Points are awarded to the first four across
the line for each sprint and points are double during the last sprint of the race.
Riders can also earn 20 points for lapping the field.
Most points at the end of the race, wins. Madison
Put simply – it’s a points race but with teams of two riders.
Only one rider can race at a time, so riders must touch or tag their partner for them to
be eligible to race. You’ll see them slinging each other to give each other a boost.
The race is 50km for men, and 30km for women. The team with the most points at the end of
the race, wins. Omnium
This is the decathlon of cycling events, and is comprised of the following 4 or 6 races.
You get points depending on the position you finish at each race, and the rider with the
most amount of points after 4 or 6 events is the winner of the Omnium.
Is there anything else I need to know? Yes, there’s a few other things you’ll
need to know before riding or watching track cycling. For example:
Lines There are lines that go around the perimeter
of the track and they all mean different things.
The cote d'azur is the start of the velodrome. This light blue strip is for entering and
exiting the track only.
The black line - also known as the datum line – and denotes the shortest length of the
track; 250-metres for an Olympic facility. Riders will try to stay glued to the black
line as this is the shortest and fastest way around the track.
The red line is also known as the sprinter's line. If a rider is in the channel betwen
black and red lines, the opponent must come around the red line and can only cross their
path once the overtake is complete. You cannot use this lane to overtake other riders.
The blue line - also known as the stayer's line - is for use in Madison races. The resting
riders will circulate above the blue until they are tagged back into action.
False Start. If you start before the starting gun goes
off, the gun will fire a second time to indicate that you have started early. This is known
as a false start. If you commit two false starts, you are disqualified from the contest.
Slip Streaming and Drafting During the team events, you’ll see riders
follow each other very closely. And sometimes, you’ll see riders intentionally
move from the front, to the back – but why? Due to aerodynamics, cycling in a pack expends
less energy than cycling alone, especially if you’re at the back. Team will usually
share the workload and swap places during a race to conserve energy and be in the best
position to sprint for the line. That’s a lot to take in, but once you’ve
watched cycling for a while, the rules will become clear.
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Ninh Ly - www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK