Cycling UK Forum

GB won a gold medal in the "mixed B team sprint cycling" event in the world championship cycling and I am just thoroughly confused.

WHAT DOES the "B" mean?? I see they also have "C" and "C1" events but I cannot for the life of me fathom the code of these letters and it is unreasonably annoying me (and yes, I have googled it).

This is probably an even more silly question but how on earth does this event actually work? It seems to have two teams competing to do 3 laps, each team having 4 riders (3 men and 1 woman) on two tandems. However, the BBC are reporting that only 2 men won, even though I can clearly see FOUR British riders in the video (although two of them dropped out after the penultimate lap).

I know velodrome racing has a certain impenetrable mystique but this is really is some next level Mystic-Meg stuff when viewed through the eyes of an unwashed simpleton like myself. Please can someone explain it and save my hurting head

PS Here's the article with the video: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/66443683

B (in para-cycling classifications) is Blind.
So you have a sighted pilot and a sight impaired stoker.

Mixed team means at least one person of the opposite sex.

Team sprint - well if you look at the "normal" team sprint, 3 riders setting off together where Man 1 does the first lap then swings up the track, Man 2 does the second lap then swings off and Man 3 (the anchor man) does the final lap, it's basically that but with two tandems so two laps.

C is a classification of impairment, C1 to C5. The lower the number, the greater degree of impairment, it's quite structured. Dame Sarah Storey for example (one hand disability) is a C5, relatively minor. Jody Cundy (lower leg amputation) is a C4.

rareposter wrote: ↑8 Aug 2023, 10:08pm B (in para-cycling classifications) is Blind.
So you have a sighted pilot and a sight impaired stoker.

Mixed team means at least one person of the opposite sex.

Team sprint - well if you look at the "normal" team sprint, 3 riders setting off together where Man 1 does the first lap then swings up the track, Man 2 does the second lap then swings off and Man 3 (the anchor man) does the final lap, it's basically that but with two tandems so two laps.

Aha!! Thanks so much! I had NO IDEA it was paralympic cycling - that explains everything. Sorry for the moronic-ness of my question

Jimster99
Not knowing is not moronic, however, not knowing and not asking is moronic.

Ugly wrote: ↑10 Aug 2023, 6:46pm Jimster99
Not knowing is not moronic, however, not knowing and not asking is moronic.

Haha. Ignorance is curable, stupidity isn't.