movingtarget said:
El Pistolero said:
Rationality says that track cycling is of a much lower level than road cycling.
I don't dislike Wiggo, I just think his palmares is incredibly overrated. He had one amazing year, that's it.
The reason for road cycling getting all the attention now is money. Track cycling used to be huge and there was good money to be made. Salaries for good road riders did not increase much until Lemond, Anderson and others started pushing for changes and better money and sponsors started getting behind the non Europeans who were not too successful before then. Even Merckx used to ride six Day Races and get paid big money. Most young riders now just use the track to make the transition to the road same with mountain biking. All of the money is in road racing. Track cycling champions now don't get much attention anymore but they were superstars before.
I know track cycling used to be bigger, I run past het Kuipke on a daily basis.

Been to the event numerous times and know all about Patrick Sercu and also the achievements of Merckx on the track. But this is 2016 and track cycling is only popular with a few Anglophone countries and only because of the Olympics. I don't think that's a healthy spot to be in as a sport.
I think 10 medals for a niche sport as track cycling is way too much. If track cycling is Olympic, so should cyclocross be...