Originally Posted by
tobukog
You're right. It is different. But there's much that does transfer over. And in the past there's been lots of crossover. In the US, Ken Carpenter and Nothstein became ok crit riders. Even before Theo Bos, many track riders in Europe (not just endurance) went to the road. And it would be strange to call them "track riders" -- they were often just racers who did both and then gravitated to the track because of their strengths and weaknesses. Of course, you're right that you have to learn the subtleties of whatever discipline (whether track or road), but in my years I've come to respect that class is class on a bicycle.
The fitness, vascularity (number of blood vessels), pedaling dynamics, and work ethic are the most valuable things that transfer over. Everything else should be forgotten and open to be relearned.
Theo Bos' peloton tactics don't help him in team sprint or match sprints
Further, a road "sprinter" generally has the physiology of a track "enduro". Nothstein and Bos are outliers. There are
far more athletes who go back and forth between road-sprinter and track-enduro than road-sprinter and track-sprinter.