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 ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

took place on August 16 at the

Laoshan Velodrome The Laoshan Velodrome () is a velodrome that is located in Laoshan, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China. It was built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The venue was tested during the UCI Track World Cup in December 2007. The velodrome hosted Cyclin ...

. There were 23 competitors from 23 nations. The event was won by

Joan Llaneras Joan Llaneras Rosselló (born 17 May 1969 in Porreres, Majorca) is a former Spanish World and Olympic points race champion track cyclist. He specialises in the madison and points race events. Llaneras began his cycling career on the road with t ...

of Spain, his second victory in the points race (after 2000) and third consecutive medal in the event (with a silver in 2004). Llaneras was the only person, of any gender, to win multiple medals in the points race, which is no longer on the Olympic programme. His two gold medals made Spain only the second nation to win multiple golds in the men's event; Italy had three (as well as one in the women's event). Silver went to

Roger Kluge Roger Kluge (born 5 February 1986) is a German professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Kluge left at the end of the 2013 season, and joined for the 2014 season. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he won the silver medal ...

of Germany. Great Britain earned its first medal in the men's points race with

Chris Newton Christopher Malcolm Newton (born 29 September 1973, Middlesbrough, England) is a road and track racing cyclist. Newton is a multiple world champion and triple Olympic medalist. Biography Newton went to Linthorpe Juniors and Boynton Comprehens ...

's bronze.

Background

This was the eighth and final appearance of the event, which would be replaced by the Omnium in 2012 (a multi-component event that concludes with a points race). 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. 12 of the 23 cyclists from the 2004 Games returned: gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia, silver medalist (and 2000 gold medalist)

of Spain, fourth-place finisher

Greg Henderson Gregory Henderson (born 10 September 1976) is a New Zealand former professional track and road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2017. His career includes winning the scratch race at the 2004 world championships and, in ...

of New Zealand, fifth-place finisher

Milan Kadlec Milan Kadlec (born 13 October 1974 in Uherské Hradiště, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech former racing cyclist, who competed both on the road and the track. In 2010, he won the bronze medal in the UCI Track Cycling World Championships points race. ...

of the Czech Republic, seventh-place finisher

Peter Schep Pieter Otto ("Peter") Schep (born 8 March 1977 in Lopik, Utrecht (province), Utrecht) is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who specialized in track cycling endurance events. Biography Born in Lopik, Schep represented the Netherlands at the 1996 Sum ...

of the Netherlands, eighth-place finisher

Angelo Ciccone Angelo Ciccone (born 7 July 1980) is an Italian amateur road and track cyclist. He has claimed four Italian national championship titles in track cycling (omnium, madison, and points race), and later represented his nation Italy in two editions ...

of Italy, ninth-place finisher (and 2000 silver medalist)

Milton Wynants Milton Ariel Wynants Vázquez (born March 29, 1972 in Paysandú) is a racing cyclist from Uruguay, who was affiliated with the Veloz Club Sanducero. Wynants competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country (From Atlanta 199 ...

of Uruguay, eleventh-place finisher

Marco Arriagada Marco Antonio Arriagada Quinchel (born October 30, 1975 in Curicó) is a Chilean professional racing cyclist. He is the brother of cyclist Marcelo Arriagada. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Pan Am ...

of Chile, thirteenth-place finisher (and 1996 and 2000 competitor)

Juan Curuchet Juan Esteban Curuchet (born 4 February 1965 in Mar del Plata) is a road bicycle racer and track cyclist from Argentina. Curuchet represented Argentina at the Summer Olympics in 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. He won the madison at t ...

of Argentina, sixteenth-place finisher (and 2000 competitor)

Makoto Iijima is a Japanese former professional road and track cyclist. Considered one of Japan's most successful cyclists in his decade, Iijima has claimed a total of nine track cycling medals (two golds, three silver, and four bronze) at the Asian Championshi ...

of Japan, twentieth-place finisher

Wong Kam Po Wong Kam-po SBS MH (, born 13 March 1973) is a Hong Kong racing cyclist. A specialist in road bicycle racing, at age 34 he became a track cycling world champion in the scratch race of the 2007 World Championships, which was not his specialt ...

of Hong Kong, and non-finisher

of Great Britain. In addition to Llaneras and Wynants, veterans of the 2000 competition were Curuchet, Iijima, and Wong; Curuchet had also competed in 1996. Llaneras won the World Championship in 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2007. Newton was the 2002 World Champion.

Volodymyr Rybin Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybin (born 14 September 1980 in Kreminna) is a Ukrainian professional racing cyclist, who has achieved most success on both the track, where he was 2005 world champion in the points race. Rybin won a silver medal as well in ...

of Ukraine had won in 2005,

of the Netherlands in 2006, and

Vasil Kiryienka Vasili Vasilyevich Kiryienka ( be, Васіль Васілевіч Кірыенка; Łacinka: Vasil Vasilevič Kiryjenka; born 28 June 1981) is a Belarusian former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2020 for the OTC Doors, ...

of Belarus in 2008. Among the medal favorites were Llaneras, Kiryienka, and the defending Olympic champion Ignatiev. For the only time in the eight-appearance history of the event, no nations made their debut in the event. France and Italy both competed for the eighth time, the only nations to have competed in all eight Olympic men's points races.

Qualification

Each

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOC) could qualify 1 cyclist; there were a maximum of 25 quota places, though only 23 were ultimately used in 2008. The reigning World Champion (Kiryienka of Belarus), World Cup leader (Newton of Great Britain), and "B" World Champion (

Radoslav Konstantinov Radoslav Valentinov Konstantinov (born 31 October 1983) is a Bulgarian cyclist, who most recently rode for Bulgarian amateur team Chernomorets Burgas. He competed in the 1 kilometer time trial at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Major results Source: ...

of Bulgaria) received quota places. Each of the 16 nations that had qualified in the men's Madison competition also received a place (reduced to 15 because Great Britain qualified in the Madison but Newton already qualified). There was also six spots available through UCI rankings to nations that had not yet qualified. Switzerland had a Madison team but did not use its points race place. Konstantinov withdrew and was replaced through an additional UCI ranking place.

Competition format

This

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

event consisted of a single race in which the cyclist with the most points at the end of the race won. This race was a 40 kilometre, 160 lap race. During the race, cyclists could score points in two ways. The first way to score points is to lap the group. Each time a cyclist gained a full lap on the

peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

, he scored 20 points. If a cyclist lost a full lap to the peloton, however, he lost 20 points. The other method of scoring points was to place in the intermediate sprints occurring every 10 laps. The first four cyclists in each of the sprints scored points with the first finisher receiving 5 points, the second 3, the third 2, and the fourth 1 point.

Schedule

All times are

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing Tim ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...

)

Results

Four years earlier, Ignatiev had won by breaking away from the group and finishing a lap ahead of everyone else; this time, he was unable to get away from the peloton. Llaneras, the sprint points leader in 2004 who took silver due to the lap behind Ignatiev, was among a group of five that broke away after the sixth sprint to take a one-lap lead. Two sprints later, he, Kluge, and Newton gained a second lap; they would not be caught, essentially assuring the three men the medals. Llaneras won three sprints shortly thereafter, building a large lead over the other two leaders. That lead held to the end, with the Spaniard holding an insurmountable advantage going into the final sprint, which he did not contest. Kluge won the final sprint to move ahead of Newton for the silver medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's points race Track cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's points race Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics