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Rio 2016: Track Cycling Preview

Rio 2016: Track Cycling Preview

It promises to be exciting!

Anonymous

Anonymous

With the road cycling events all but over, it's time to look towards the track for some more British fever.

Two of the most decorated British cyclists of all time, Cavendish and Wiggins, take to the boards this week; with Cavendish looking for an Olympic medal that has proved elusive throughout his otherwise illustrious career, and Wiggins, who is hoping to add to his impressive medal tally and surpass Sir Chris Hoy as Britain's most successful Olympian.

As the Olympics spans another couple of weeks, there is an abundance of cycling events on offer, all destined to provide scintillating action till the last pedal stroke. Therefore with an abundance of events, comes a whole lot of favourites and top tips for each race, as well as a couple of outsiders...

Omnium

The Omnium is one of the more confusing events at this years Olympics, held over two consecutive days it features six mini-events; scratch race, individual pursuit, elimination race, time trial, flying lap and points race.

Winners in the past have proved themselves to be natural, rounded riders, a lot of them coming from road backgrounds, such as two time world champion and 9/4 bookies favourite, Fernando Gaviria.

Mark Cavendish will also feature in this event and is the sole British hopeful for the win at 4/1 with Betfair; with top sprinters fairing well in the six individual events, he is highly expected to do well here.

For the women it will be Laura Trott taking the evens favourite spot at Paddypower, looking to retain her London 2012 crown where she set the Olympics alight, and caught the hearts of all British cycling fans. Her main competition will likely come from Sarah Hammer (4/1 at Coral) of the USA, and Annette Edmondson (8/1 at William Hill) of Australia who claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the 2012 event.

Team Sprint

The Men's team sprint looks set to be one of the most open events, and one of the track events that will unlikely be dominated by the British. Whilst they may have claimed gold back in 2012, the British trio have looked off-form of late, especially at this year's world championships.

This will therefore leave the field open to strong sprint nations, such as New Zealand - who are huge 1/2 favourites at SkyBet - and 4/1 outsiders France.

For the women's event the British team are a long way down the pecking order, the main crop of British female sprinters either having retired or not competing in this event. The clear favourites are China at 4/9 with SkyBet; lead by their exceptionally strong sprinter, Gong Jinjie.

Sprint

Jason Kenny, British hero from London 2012, is undoubtedly the comfortable favourite for this year's edition at 2/1 with Winner, especially coming off the back of a win in the sprint at this year's World Championships.

His main rivals will come in the form of Theo Bos of the Netherlands, a strong road sprinter but a track outsider at 50/1 with William Hill, Grégory Baugé of France and also Australia's Matthew Glaetzer - who are 5/1 and 3/1 respectively with SkyBet.

Over in the women's event, it can be expected that the winner will come from either China or Germany. The former's main rider, Zhong Tianshi, won Gold at the 2016 Track Cycling World Championships in London and can be backed at 7/2 with Betfair. As can her European counterpart, Kristina Vogel, who picked up Bronze in London this year but won Gold at last year's event.

The British women come into this event as slight outsiders, Becky James, winner of the 2013 Women's sprint World Championships, is the main hope for knocking the Chinese or the Germans off the sprinting top-spot at 11/1 with SkyBet.

Keirin

Another event aimed towards the sprinters, only this time the event consists of eight laps of the Olympic track; therefore lending itself to those that feature as favourites in the sprint event.

With Chris Hoy now retired, the reins fall to Jason Kenny to carry the hope of a nation on his shoulders and retain this gold medal for Team GB. His main challengers will come in the form of the German, Joachim Eilers, and the French rider, Francois Pervis. The Brit can be backed at 9/2 with SkyBet, whilst the German is 10/3 at Betfair and the Frenchman 11/2 at bet365.

In the women's race, it looks likely that the ones who will dominate the Sprint event, will also dominate here. Kristina Vogel of Germany, the winner at this year's World Championships, enters the event as 5/2 bookies favourite, followed closely at 7/2 with bet365 by Australia's cycling legend, Anna Meares, winner of the silver medal at London 2012.

Becky James, the British hopeful for the women's event, could also be one to watch; especially after her 3rd place in the World Championships this year. She can be backed at 9/1 with William Hill.

Team Pursuit

For those tuning in to this year's track cycling to see British personality Bradley Wiggins, this is the event to watch him in. He leads an extremely strong British quartet, with Steven Burke, Owain Doull and Ed Clancy making up the other three.

They are the 4/7 favourites to retain gold for Britain in this event, but will still face stiff competition from the likes of other commonwealth countries that excel at this cycling discipline, Australia at 2/1 with Paddypower and New Zealand at 17/1 with William Hill.

Team GB are only 11/4 second favourites to nail the Gold in the women's event though, with Team USA leading the way at 10/11 with SkyBet following their impressive World Championships victory.

With such a strong field in each cycling event, and each event proving to be quite an open race, new Olympic champions will certainly be crowned. Whoever the winners are come the end of Rio, one thing is certain; that this years edition should provide some breathtaking racing and excitement, not only for British fans, but all fans of cycling worldwide...

Words By: @InsidePeloton96

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