Know Your Sport - Cycling

With the reintroduction of the Madison, there will be six men’s and women’s track cycling competitions, the others being the sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and the omnium - a combination of four disciplines.

Published : Jul 06, 2021 11:31 IST

Track Cycling:

With the reintroduction of the Madison, there will be six men’s and women’s track cycling competitions, the others being the sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and the omnium - a combination of four disciplines.

To varying degrees, strategy and tactics are key to track cycling events, to conserve energy by using the air resistance of the rider in front - by sharing the lead with a member of your own team or, in individual events, by allowing the opponent to take the lead.

With the reintroduction of the Madison, there will be six men’s and women’s track cycling competitions, the others being the sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and the omnium - a combination of four disciplines.

Mountain Bike:

The Olympic Mountain Bike competition format features both men’s and women’s events, held as mass-start races over multiple laps of a 4.1-km course located in Izu City, about 100km southwest of Tokyo.

The first rider to complete the required number of laps wins gold. Riders whose time is 80 percent slower than that of the race leader’s first lap are eliminated.

It takes riders between 90 to 105 minutes to navigate the course, which consists of mostly narrow dirt single-track trails with steep ascents and descents and rocky sections. There are also feed areas where riders can fix bikes and take refreshments.

The course has a vertical height difference of 150 metres and is designed to be one of the toughest seen in Olympic history.

BMX - Race and Freestyle

BMX racers launch themselves from a gate atop an 8m-high, 35-degree start hill, battling it out along an approximately 400m-long course. They can reach 60km/h while riding over alternating jumps and around banked corners.

Freestyle riders will participate in two 60-second runs and will be given a score based on their performance for each run, with riders ranked based on their average score. The highest-scoring rider will go last in the final. Tricks include backflips, tailwhips, barspins and the superman which makes the discipline exciting to watch.

BMX competitions (racing and freestyle) will be held at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.

Road Race and time trial:

The road race will start in Tokyo’s Musashinonomori Park, and riders will cover a 234km course for men and 137km course for women, finishing at the Fuji International Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The individual time trial will see riders start at set intervals, with men completing two laps of the 22.1km course and women completing one.

 

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