Just a quick observation/question after watching some of the World Cup over the weekend.
In both the Women's and Men's team sprint, teams failed because Rider 1 skidded the rear tire coming out of the starting gate and couldn't recover (see Day 1 at about the 40-minute mark on the UCI's video post). It seemed the reason was simple - the back tire lost traction. But why? Is it that these riders are leaning too far forward on the front tire, trying to get more power, or is it at the starting gate (i.e., trying to go a fraction of a second before the gate releases)? Or is it the wooden track, maybe an less-familiar surface than one's home track? It seems this is happening a lot more, and it's got to be disappointing to train that hard for that long and lose because the tire slips.