The men's

points 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 even ...

was an event at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. There were 28 participants from 28 nations, with 24 cyclists completing the final, which was held on July 28, 1996. Each nation was limited to one cyclist in the event. The event was won by

Silvio Martinello Silvio Martinello (born 19 January 1963) is a retired road bicycle and track cyclist from Italy. He won the gold medal in the men's points race at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by the bronze medal in the men's madison in ...

of Italy, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the men's points race (no other nation had more than one win). Silver went to Brian Walton of Canada and bronze to

Stuart O'Grady Stuart O'Grady (born 6 August 1973) is a retired Australian professional road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 1995 and 2013. A former track cyclist, O'Grady and Graeme Brown won a gold medal in the Men's Madison at the 2004 S ...

of Australia; it was the first medal in the event for both nations.

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event. It was first held in 1900 and not again until 1984; after that, it was held every Summer Games until 2008 when it was removed from the programme. The women's version was held from 1996 through 2008. Four of the 24 finalists from the 1992 Games returned: fourth-place finisher

Glenn McLeay Glenn McLeay (born 14 August 1968) is a cyclist from New Zealand. At the 1990 Commonwealth Games at Auckland he won a gold medal in the 4000m team pursuit, and came 9th in the 10 mile track pursuit. At the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona he ...

of New Zealand, seventh-place finisher

Guido Fulst Guido Fulst (born 7 June 1970) is a former German racing cyclist, who competed for the '' SG Dynamo Wernigerode'', SC Dynamo Berlin / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo. He won many titles during his career. He won two gold medals and a bronze at the ...

of Germany, ninth-place finisher

Franz Stocher Franz Stocher (born 23 March 1969) is a former Austrian racing cyclist. A specialist of the track, he was the world champion in 2003 in the points race event. He competed at five Olympic Games. Palmares Track ;2002 :1st World Cup Madison (wit ...

of Austria, and non-finisher

Vasyl Yakovlev Vasyl Yakovlev (born 3 July 1972) is a Ukrainian former cyclist. He competed four Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and wi ...

of the Unified Team (now competing for Ukraine).

Etienne De Wilde Etienne De Wilde (born 23 March 1958 in Wetteren, East Flanders) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. De Wilde won races on the road and on the track. He won a silver medal in the madison at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Major resul ...

of Belgium was the 1993 World Champion;

of Italy had won in 1994 and 1995. Guatemala, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Puerto Rico, Russia, and Ukraine each made their debut in the event. France and Italy both competed for the fifth time, the only nations to have competed in all five Olympic men's points races.

Competition format

The contest normally consisted of two rounds, semifinals and a final, but with only 28 cyclists competing in 1996 the first round was skipped and only a final was held. The distance was reduced from 50 kilometres in previous finals to 40 kilometres in this competition. Placement was determined first by how many laps behind the leader the cyclist was and second by how many sprint points the cyclist accumulated. That is, a cyclist with more sprint points but who was lapped once would be ranked behind a cyclist with fewer points but who had not been lapped. Sprint points could be gained only by cyclists who had not been lapped. There were 20 sprints—one every 2 kilometres (8 laps). Points were awarded based on the position of the cyclists at the end of the sprint. Most of the sprints were worth 5 points for the leader, 3 to the second-place cyclist, 2 to third, and 1 to fourth. The final sprint was worth double: 10 points, 6, 4, and 2.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

( UTC-4)

Results

References

Sources

Official Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling At The 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's Points Race Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's points race Track cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics Men's events at the 1996 Summer Olympics