PARIS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- After the men's and women's road races at the weekend, attention turns from road to track at the Paris Olympics, with the track at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome taking center stage.
The first day of racing sees the medals decided in the team sprint, with women's teams comprising three riders per team instead of two - the same as in the men's race.
Early indications are that the redeveloped track at the Velodrome is likely to be very fast, and making new World records during the week is very possible.
Germany is slight favorite to win the women's race with a team of Lea Friedrich and Emma Hinze, who took silver in Tokyo 2020, joined by Pauline Grabosch.
While the Germans look to repeat the success that has given them consecutive world titles, they will face stiff competition from Chinese trio Bao Shanju, Guo Yufang and Yuan Liying.
Bao won gold in Tokyo but has different partners in Paris.
The British team contains new sprint hopeful Emma Finucane, who is already the European sprint champion and will also expect to be in the mix for medals, with the British looking to continue the form that saw them win seven gold medals in the velodrome in London 2012 and six each on Tokyo and Rio.
The Dutch team of Jeffrey Hoogland, Harrie Lavreysen, and Roy van den Berg have dominated the men's event, with five of the past six world championships. The team are the current Olympic champions and world record holders, although they are not unbeatable, with Australia bettering them in the 2022 worlds and pushing them close in Glasgow last year.
The Australian trio of Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Glaetzer and Matthew Richardson will be out for revenge in Paris, and it's likely that the Netherlands will once again dispute gold, with Great Britain and France chasing bronze.
Monday morning sees a qualifying round, after which the winning eight teams will race for the semi-finals, with the fastest qualifiers facing the slowest, 2nd fastest versus 7th fastest etc. ■
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