Steven Burke on front, Team GB pursuiters, London 2012 Olympic Games, track day one

The London 2012 Olympic Games team pursuit events will for the first time be run with a new format that is designed to make the first round more of a knock-out competition.

The top eight teams from Thursday's qualifying round go through to the first round, as before, but it is no longer the fastest team racing against the eighth fastest, the second fastest team racing against the seventh, third versus sixth and fourth versus fifth.

Instead the fastest team (Great Britain) will ride against the fourth fastest team (Denmark), the winner of which goes in to the gold final irrespective of time. Second (Australia) rides against third (New Zealand), and again the winner goes in to the gold final.

Time in this race is irrelevant as the winners go through, essentially making it a race rather than a four-up time trial. You have to beat the other team, not set the fastest time - subtly changing the emphasis.

This new format splits the eight qualifiers down the middle into two groups of four (the fastest four and the slowest four), and does away with a rather pointless first versus eight first round ride.

Great Britain (first) were eleven seconds faster than the Netherlands (in eighth) and the previous system would have seen them race against each other making for a pointless race.

Britain would have caught the Netherlands fairly comfortably, which can drastically affect the team's times. The new system pits the fastest teams against each other, which is the way it should be.

So, the two winning teams from the first versus fourth and second versus third races go to the gold final, what about the other six qualifying teams?

Lower down the ranking the fifth fastest team from qualifying (Russia) races against eighth (Netherlands) and sixth (Spain) races against seventh (Colombia). In the final rounds those four teams are joined by the two losing teams from the first versus fourth and second versus third races, and all six are ranked by their first round times, whether they won or lost.

For arguments sake, let's go with form and say Denmark and New Zealand lose their first round races. They are ranked by their first round times along with Russia, Spain, Colombia and the Netherlands. From those times the two fastest race for bronze, the next two fastest race for fifth and sixth and the slowest two race for seventh and eight.

It means that all eight teams will ride three times in the competition, extending the format by two races.

Will it change team tactics? It's hard to tell. The best teams ride to such strict time schedules that the team-versus-team race element is all but done away with. Great Britain and Australia ride to a schedule based on time and cadence (dictated by the size of the gears they use) and rarely stray from it. At the World Championships in Melbourne this April the gold final did become a race as there was nothing between the Brits and Aussies throughout the race.

It was a thrilling race, but they rarely happen. To have that you need two teams who are evenly matched, and that wasn't the case in qualifying here in London. Ten seconds separated the top six teams, big time gaps for the event. 

London 2012: Live text coverage of cycling events

August 2: Track cycling day one

August 1: Men's and women's time trials

July 28: Men's road race

July 29: Women's road race

London 2012: Latest news

Pendleton and Varnish out of team sprint

'Hot pants' key to Pendleton and Hoy sprint

Britain's sprinters looking to continue GB medal haul

Wiggins: Tour was perfect Olympic TT preparation

Olympic time trial round-up

Pendleton warms up for London 2012

Cancellara in, Evans out of time trial

CW eyewitness: Remember the name

Cavendish finds solace in commitment of his team mates

London 2012: Team info

Men's road race start list

Women's road race start list

Men's time trial start list

Women's time trial start list

Team GB rider profiles

Great Britain track team confirmed

Bronzini leads Italian Olympic cycling team

British Olympic men's road race team announced

Armitstead and Cooke lead GB women's road cycling team

London 2012: Event guides

Olympic Games men's time trial: Who will win?

Olympic Games women's time trial: Who will win?

Olympic time trial routes announced

Olympic Games women's road race: Who will win?

Olympic Games men's road race: Who will win?

Download detailed Olympic road race route map

London 2012 cycling schedule

London 2012: Reports

Track cycling day one: Hoy leads team sprinters to gold

Wiggins wins gold in men's time trial, bronze for Froome

Armstrong defends Olympic title in women's time trial

Cycling events medal table

Women's road race: Armitstead wins silver as Vos strikes gold

Men's road race: Vinokourov wins as Cavendish misses out

London 2012: Photos

Track day one by Phil O'Connor

Track day one by Graham Watson

Men's time trial by Graham Watson

Women's time trial by Graham Watson

Pendleton track training

Women's road race by Andy Jones

Women's road race by Graham Watson

Men's road race by Andy Jones

Men's road race by Phil O'Connor

Men's road race by Graham Watson

Team GB road race training on Box Hill (July 26)

London 2012: Podcasts

Cycling Weekly podcasts on Soundcloud

London 2012: TV schedule

London 2012 BBC TV cycling coverage schedule

London 2012 Eurosport cycling coverage schedule

 

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.