Olympic monitor biking explainer: Dash

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Finals: Aug. 6 (males), Aug. 8 (ladies).

The way it works: Within the medal rounds, two riders cowl three laps of the monitor, with the primary rider throughout the road successful the race. The very best of three wins a medal or advances to the subsequent spherical. Sounds straightforward, proper?

Effectively, earlier than these rounds the occasion kicks off with a sequence of qualification races. The occasion opens with every rider finishing a flying-start time trial, through which the ultimate 200 meters of the run are timed (riders get 2.5 laps to stand up to hurry). Then, based mostly on seeding, riders proceed to knockout rounds, with prime qualifiers going through off in opposition to backside qualifiers till there are simply 4 riders left. Then, it’s all in regards to the battle for finest two out of three for medals.

What to look at for: The Dash will be as a lot of a check of persistence as it’s a check of power, particularly within the later rounds, when prime riders face off in opposition to one another. No person desires to take the lead, since driving within the slipstream provides a rider such a large benefit. So, riders will play cat-and-mouse within the early laps, making an attempt to get their opponent to take the lead. Look ahead to a monitor stand face-off, when two riders cease and steadiness on the monitor in a sport of high-stakes rooster.

Favorites males: Harrie Lavreysen (The Netherlands), Jeffrey Hoogland (The Netherlands), Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia), Mateusz Rudyk (Poland)

Favorites ladies: Lee Wai-sze (Hong Kong), Stephanie Morton (Australia), Emma Hinze (Germany), Anastasia Voynova (Russian Olympic Committee)

North People: Lauriane Genest, Kelsey Mitchell, Hugo Barrette, Nick Wammes (Canada), Maddie Godby (USA)