With a great chance of a medal for France, discover the principle of this unique race in track cycling.
Benjamin Thomas, double world champion and triple vice-world champion since 2017, is highly anticipated at these Paris Olympics. He could be the only Olympic champion in track cycling. The omnium is simply an event that includes four, grouped together in three hours. All these races, which are the scratch, the elimination race, the points race and the tempo race benefit very endurance cyclists.
The scratch
It is simply a race where the goal is to be the first to cross the line. Men run 10 km and women 7.5 km, or 40 and 30 laps respectively.
The tempo race
These are the same distances as the scratch, but the first to arrive does not necessarily win the race because, at each lap, and this from the fifth, a sprint is contested to offer a point to the one who passes in front. If cyclists take a lap of the peloton, he takes 20 points at once.
The elimination race
As the name of the event suggests, riders are eliminated as the race progresses. Riders start together, but every two laps, one of them, the last to cross the line, drops out of the race.
The race for points
With 25 km for the men and 20 km for the women, this is the race where everything can change because a great many points are at stake and are added to the total of the cyclists. There are several ways to score points, the first is the sprint which is contested every ten laps. Each time the first four score points, respectively 5, 3, 2 and 1. The last sprint, that of the finish, is doubled allowing to glean 10, 6, 4 and 2 points. Another way to take the points, the track cyclist who wins a lap on the peloton sees 20 points go into his total, and on the contrary, the one who takes a lap by the peloton loses 20.
The points system
In the first three events, the winner pockets 40 points, the second 38, the third 36, up to the twentieth who takes 2 points. For the points race, the athlete collects points during the event as explained just above.