With over 300 athletic competitions set to take place at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, it’s easy to get lost in all the action, especially when you plan to wager on the games themselves. Luckily, we have you covered with our compilation of several predictions from sports experts around the web.
Let’s take a look below at how the pundits weighed in for the intense track-cycling event that is the men’s team sprint category. Afterwards, head on over to our feature on the experts’ picks for the Men’s BMX Cycling event to round out your upcoming bipedal betting needs.
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2016 Olympic Games Cycling (Track) – Men’s Team Sprint Expert Picks and Predictions
*Find the complete list of 2016 Olympics betting lines for the Men’s Track Cycling eventsHERE!
Sports Illustrated
Expert
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Brian Cazeneuve
New Zealand
Germany
France
Brian Cazenueve from esteemed publication Sports Illustrated is banking on the three-man team from New Zealand, which also happens to be the reigning 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Champions, to bag another top-place finish in Rio on August 11.
The trio of Kiwis in Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster have been setting the cycling world ablaze of late, having also won gold at the 2014 Track Cycling World Championships in 2014 as well as the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
As it stands, New Zealand is the overall favorite to win the team sprint event at the Velodrome a week from now with a price of -300, and you’d really be hard-pressed to find a more cohesive and successful cycling unit entering Brazil as these speedy blokes from Down Under.
USA Today
Expert
Gold
Silver
Bronze
USA Today
New Zealand
Netherlands
Germany
Just like SI, USA Today (on behalf of members from the Associated Press) picked New Zealand’s core to take home the team-sprint gold. However, we should also consider that Germany has been predicted by both of our first two experts to at least land a podium finish.
A gold-medal victory for the Germans is not far from becoming a reality. In fact, they were the second-ever gold-medal winner at this event in 2004. And while all three of the delegates from the victory in Athens will not participate in Rio, Germany has one standout cyclist in Rene Enders that could own the track all by himself.
Enders was a part of his country’s world-record setting run of 41.871 in team sprint (progression) set in 2013, and he also holds an individual world record of his own at the 250-meter time trials with a standing start. As such, expect Germany (+750) to turn a lot of heads and be in hot contention for the gold indeed.
Deadspin
Expert
Gold
Akiva Weinerker
Great Britain
Over at Deadspin, Akiva Weinerker is still high on the reigning, back-to-back Olympic gold medalists Great Britain to pull off an unprecedented three-peat at the men’s team sprint competition.
However, the retirement of cycling legend Chris Hoy in 2013 has proven to be a huge blow for the Brits. The three-man team of Jason Kenny, Philip Hindes and Callum Skinner finished merely in sixth-place at the 2016 Track Cycling World Championships this past March, and the three of them weren’t even able to get a proper tune-up in Brazil as the Rio Olympic Velodrome’s completion took longer than expected for the cyclists to run any test events.
With a price of +1,500, there’s a huge payout for those who believe that Great Britain will once again emerge triumphant at the team sprint event. Then again, there’s also a huge risk involved if you choose to side with purely experience and past history rather than taking current form into consideration as well.
