Why doesn’t the ‘underdog’ just go for it straight from the start?

That would screw up the person expecting 2 laps of ‘snail pace’

Or maybe i’m too stupid to unnerstand complex roadie/trackie awsumness! 🙂

Sometimes they do.

Because you’d just slip the person in front until the last 50m

Related/hijack question- How do they decide who starts on the outside? As it seems to be a massive advantage.

Because you’d just slip the person in front until the last 50m

..but thats what happens to the underdog, with the current tactics.

would just shake things up a bit?

How do they decide who starts on the outside?

They draw lots

Cos sprinting for a lap (250m) or two is one thing, but maintaining that pace for another 2 laps is much much harder.

Sometimes they go for it, but as posted already, the guy behind will just slipstream them for as long as possible, conserving energy, then sprint past with the energy they’ve saved inside the last half lap, in a very slow (comparatively) sprint time.

I love the cat-and-mouse bit, much more interesting than a straight race.

shirley half a lap head start through a quick gettaway could be carried through?

Seems a bit pointless and time wasting having the other two laps.

I reckon just have a 1.5 lap sprint.. 1/2 lap building speed, ding ding ding, and GO FOR IT!

bauge looks like he’s wearing his dads cricket gloves.

Sometimes it works, but its also handy if you’re one of the fastest starters in the world ~ Fostermann vs Hoy.

Reflecting on the days racing, Chris said: “… Sometimes youre just not quite at your best and todays one of those days. I made an error in the second round and I paid for that dearly. If you switch off for a split second you leave yourself vulnerable and we saw that with Robert Forstemanns ride. Its a three lap race and theres nothing to say you cant attack from the start. It doesnt happen very often but it did today and all credit to him for having that intuition to give it a go. Its an important lesson Ive learnt today and thats in the back of my mind now for every race. Its disappointing but thats just the way it goes …”