Olympic champion Elia Viviani welcomes changes to omnium
By Matt Westby in Abu Dhabi
Last Updated: 07/11/19 1:20pm
Olympic champion Elia Viviani has welcomed changes made to the omnium last week and believes they could make the event easier for the likes of himself and Mark Cavendish.
The Italian beat Cavendish to gold at Rio 2016 on the final occasion the omnium was held over six races and two days.
From now on, it will be made up of four races in one day, with the flying lap, 1km time trial and individual pursuit all being removed and the tempo race being introduced to join the scratch, elimination and points races.
Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Tour, where he is racing this week, Viviani said: "Maybe the new format is easier for me. I worked a lot for the time trial races - flying lap, kilo and individual pursuit - in the last year to prepare for Rio.
"The elimination race is my race. I need to understand a little bit better the new tempo race, but I think the scratch and points races are good for road riders.
"I think it's a good move to take more road riders on the track, but we will see in the next few test events."
Despite predicting the new format will favour road riders, Viviani believes medal hopefuls will still need to have track backgrounds and those without are unlikely to be tempted into riding the omnium.
He added: "If they decide now, with four years to go [until the 2020 Olympics], they can start to do the track.
"OK, there are no time trial races, but you still need to be a track rider. You saw in the elimination race this year in Rio that if you are not ready, you lose a lot of points. The Olympic Games is the top event and you need to be really ready for this."
