An omnium (from Latin '' Omni'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that feature the three primary road race events ( time trial, mass start and

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

History

The omnium was re-introduced into the World Championships as a five race track cycling format

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in 2007 and

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in 2009. The omnium was changed in 2010 by the UCI to include the elimination race and the distances of the events were lengthened to favour endurance cyclists. The omnium replaced the individual pursuit, the points race, and the individual time trial at the

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beginning in

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. The change received some criticism from cyclist

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, who was left unable to defend her Olympic title.

Current omnium

From June 2014 until the end of 2016, the omnium as defined by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) consisted of the following six events held over 2 days: #

Scratch race A scratch race is a track cycling race in which all riders start together and the objective is simply to be first over the finish line after a certain number of laps. UCI regulations specify that a scratch race should be held over 15 km for ...

# Individual pursuit #: 4,000 metres for elite men, 3,000 metres for junior men and elite women, and 2,000 metres for junior women #

Elimination race Elimination races or "snap-dragon" races in bicycle racing are a form of race wherein during the course of the race, certain participants are eliminated through various criteria. The most common types of elimination races are the miss and out and ...

# Time trial #: 1 km men, 500 metres women # Flying lap (against the clock) # Points race #: 40 km for elite men, 25 km for elite women, 25 km for junior men, 20 km for junior women For the first five events, each winner was awarded 40 points, each second place 38 points, each third place 36, etc. Riders ranked 21st and below will each be awarded 1 point. In the Points Race, riders add to and lose points from their totals based on laps gained and lost, and points won in sprints. After the 2016 season, the three timed events – the sprint time trial, flying lap and individual pursuit were all removed from the event, a

tempo race A points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It was an Olympic event for men between 1984–2008 and for women 1996–2008. Starting in 2012, the points race is one of the omnium eve ...

added, and the event shortened to a single day. The points race as final race format remains with minor modifications. #

#: 10 km for elite men, 7.5 km for elite women and junior men, 5 km for junior women #

Tempo race A points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It was an Olympic event for men between 1984–2008 and for women 1996–2008. Starting in 2012, the points race is one of the omnium eve ...

#: 10 km for elite men, 7.5 km for elite women and junior men, 5 km for junior women #

#: 2 laps per sprint on 250 m tracks # Points race #: 25 km for elite men, 20 km for elite women and junior men, 15 km for junior women The winner of the Omnium is the rider who has obtained the highest total of points. In the event of a tie in the final ranking, the places in the final sprint of the last event, the Points Race breaks the tie. A rider must have completed every event in the omnium, otherwise they are ranked last.

Road racing omnium

A road race omnium consists of a time trial, a

, and a mass-start road race – typically held across a weekend or other 2-3 day period. Points are awarded to the top finishers at each event and totalled at the end of the event. The overall winner for the event is chosen based on the number of accumulated points. Often, organisers will stipulate that riders must complete each event in order to qualify for the overall prize.

References

External links

Omnium introduced by Cyclingnews.com

UCI wants Sixth Event in Olympic Omnium
{{Track cycling Events in track cycling Combination events