Jeannie what you fail to realise is that track cycling was and still is a major provider of the talent pool we currently find in road cycling. Track cycling is a great and relatively safe place to get kids involved in competitive riding without much travel and the pesky problem of automobiles running you over.

Track cycling is dead! Watching riders go round and round and round and round in circles fails to inspire, especially after watching the pro road races.

Oh Dear here we have the UCI again dithering. The Omnium I have a vague idea abouti it, but then I've only been involved with the sport for 55 years. It's hard enough explaining to a non cycling person what the sprnit event is all about. " Why don't they just get out in front and go for it" ? Now we have the Omnium, as Ian McGinley said a lovely little event for a club afternoon. Good on yer Jack. He's a ripper.

i agrees with almost everything you say matt. everything except for your comments on daley thompson. daley is a legend. no question, and the decathlon is a great event. watching the powerful sprinters who need a result in the final even, the 1,500m is both compelling and hilarious. as for the omnimun.... i don't think it really compares, but then i haven't seen many

I'm not saying that I agree with the dropping of the pursuit from the Olympics (far from it!) - but it should be mentioned that the decision was made in an attempt to create parity between the number of women's and men's events on the track. I think in principle this is a good thing, but whether it's been implemented in the right way is another question.

Has anyone seen how well Jack handles the big mountains of europe, could he become our own Braddley Wiggins, TT turned GC rider. Judging from the last two TDU's he has plenty of aggresion on the road which bodes well for some entertaining riding in the big races in the near future.

What the!!! Who is making these decisions and are they even bothering to consult anyone? Track cycling is great to watch but it's gotta be kept simple so it can appeal to the wider audience of the Olympics. I've never even heard of an Omnium let alone understand the description above. Why do we keep losing the events that the Aussies are good at?

Omnium is 5 races (non-olympic omnium that is) which is: Flying 200 Scratch IP Points TT As a rider progresses they get fewer points awarded as they perform better. eg: First in the F200 gets 1 point, second gets 2, third gets 3, etc. At the end of the day, the rider with the lowest tally wins. But even then, as you said: "Seriously, the omnium. Who, outside of the cycling community, is going to care?" I can tell you at an Olympic level, cyclists are going to care. The Omnium is a good club level competition or even an Open. But it isn't something worth doing at a International level at all in my opinion. F200? Whats the point it is a procession of riding fast for 10seconds, Match Sprinting is what is interesting to watch. Scratch racing - well have that as a seperate event, but over a longer distance. IP - need we say more, I think the entire cycling community is behind a stand alone IP event. Points racing is dramatic and engaging to watch that it should be its own event, it's a true enduro event. The TT. Man what an event - it's all about nerves and power and perfection of the task at hand. It hurts, it is hard, and it is exhilirating. Olympic omnium isn't even going to be in an identifyable format to Club racers that may do 2 or 3 Omniums in a season. Why? For one, it is 6 events with an "Elimiation" or "Miss-and-out". The second major reason is all Club level Omnium's are done in one day. The Olympic is going to be spread over 3 days!!! It just isn't the same, as the individual events combined.