Just a quick head's up to let folks know that Eurosport have a heck of a lot of live track coverage coming up.From next Wednesday, they have wall to wall coverage of the 5 day European champs, (both am and pm sessions) followed on Monday week by the London 6 days.

Looking forward to good racing, great atmosphere and all the rest of it.I will post some results and impressions (and possibly photos) in the Track Cycling Results thread ... and I hope to do some live-updates on Twitter.

Details of the BBC's coverage of the London World track championships, March 2nd-6th.Since they are the host broadcaster, it should give a rough pointer to worldwide coverage.Imo, not great. Nothing at all of the qualifying sessions.

Well then... I promised to have the Olympic track quotas before the UCI released them. And - with much appreciated help and support from Lukas - I have them. I think.

Because the qualification system is one of the most impenetrable documents I have ever read in my life... and I spend quite a lot of time reading European legislation, so that's saying something! So with suitable disclaimers for accuracy, and of course the possibility that one or more NOC/Federation might choose not to take up all their allocation, here they are:

He shook his head sadly and told me that endemic drug use had compelled him to give up a promising career. "Even one small local race, prize was a salami, and I see doping!" - Tim Moore: Gironimo (Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy)

I thought countries only got one entry in each event now but you have some countries as having 2 riders in the individual sprint.

Have the rules changed back or is it a case of 2 riders can be selected of which only one will be able to ride.

I can't speak to whether or not it's a change, but the qualification system for Rio is definitely 2 riders/NOC/individual event. Those nations that qualify through the Team Sprint are allowed to enter their riders into the individual events as well.

Are you thinking about how Team GB had to choose between Kenny and Hoy for the Keirin in London? Because if so, I can understand your confusion. I mean - I read the qualification rules and I'm still confused!

I can't speak to whether or not it's a change, but the qualification system for Rio is definitely 2 riders/NOC/individual event. Those nations that qualify through the Team Sprint are allowed to enter their riders into the individual events as well.

Are you thinking about how Team GB had to choose between Kenny and Hoy for the Keirin in London? Because if so, I can understand your confusion. I mean - I read the qualification rules and I'm still confused!

They changed the rules (back): Each country can have up to two entries in each sprint event.

I can't speak to whether or not it's a change, but the qualification system for Rio is definitely 2 riders/NOC/individual event. Those nations that qualify through the Team Sprint are allowed to enter their riders into the individual events as well.

Are you thinking about how Team GB had to choose between Kenny and Hoy for the Keirin in London? Because if so, I can understand your confusion. I mean - I read the qualification rules and I'm still confused!

I get it now (I think). So if you qualify for the team sprint you can have 2 riders in each of the other events but they must come from your 3 riders for the team sprint. and if you don't qualify for the team sprint you get riders for the individual events based on the relevant qualifying criteria.

I get it now (I think). So if you qualify for the team sprint you can have 2 riders in each of the other events but they must come from your 3 riders for the team sprint. and if you don't qualify for the team sprint you get riders for the individual events based on the relevant qualifying criteria.

Yes, that's my reading of it. We'll see in the summer how it works in practice.

And now to one of my pet peeves when it comes to Worlds/Olympics qualifications: The limitations imposed upon non-European countries.

The UCI has set maximum quotas of qualified countries per continent for the various events:

MEN

Team Sprint

Sprint

Keirin

Team Pursuit

Omnium

Europe

5

5

5

6

8

America

2

2

3

2

6

Asia

2

2

2

2

5

Oceania

2

1

1

2

2

Africa

1

1

1

1

1

WOMEN

Team Sprint

Sprint

Keirin

Team Pursuit

Omnium

Europe

5

5

5

6

8

America

2

2

2

2

6

Asia

2

2

2

2

5

Oceania

2

1

1

2

2

Africa

1

1

1

1

1

In the Olympic, I have no objection to limiting the number of European countries and thereby opening up for non-European participation. This time, the most high-profile victim of this is the women's team sprint who missed out on qualifying by 3 points - 964 vs. France's 967.I also don't have a problem with maximum numbers for other continents in some (not all) disciplines, like the omnium: The limits for America or Asia could well be reached in those. Limiting Oceania (essentially & ) to only one country qualified for the sprint & keirin if not qualified for the team sprint is alright, too - even if it's academical since both countries can be expected to qualify for the team sprint every time. I guess Guam or Fiji will be happy if and when they get a world-class track sprinter ...

But the limits for America, Asia and Africa in the sprint disciplines and the pursuit are not only superfluous, they're actually hampering the internationality of the field.

Here are the examples from this year's qualifying:- Azizulhasni Awang doesn't qualify for the men's ind. sprint despite scoring 95 points more and ranking 14 places higher than Adam Ptacnik (the second Czech sprinter as Pavel Kelemen is even higher in the rankings). Hugo Barrette, Jair Tjon En Fa, Anderson Parra, and Tomoyuki Kawabata also rank above Ptacnik.

Effectively, lose two possible Olympic spots by virtue of being from Asia, a continent where (for the men's sprint) and (for the women's sprint) have higher-ranked riders - despite being far higher-ranked than the last-qualified nation themselves. At least, though, Awang and Mustapa will both get to go to Rio and ride the other sprint event that they have qualified for.

But imagine how Hugo Barrette and Daniela Gaxiola must feel, being robbed of a Olympics participation purely because their country is on the wrong continent!

And here it is - you've all been waiting for it since yesterday: The comparison of CJ's and my quotas with the UCI quotas! I've marked the differences between our calculations[1] with red so that they're easier to find.

CJ & I aren't flawless.[1] We did make some mistakes:- Kazakhstan is an Asian nation, and we had put it in Europe, depriving them of a Men's Omnium spot.- Also, the quotas for the American continent for the Men's Keirin is 3, not 2 - giving Hugo Barrette his well-deserved ticket to Rio.- And we had somehow missed Egypt's qualification in the Women's Individual Sprint - Ebtissam Zayed Ahmed Mohamed goes to Rio as well.

But the biggest error source was the quota per continent. This isn't calculated per rider, but per nation, leading to some, frankly, absurd results.You'll notice that Colombia qualifies two riders for the Men's Individual Sprint. The first one is beyond reproach, as Fabian Puerta is ranked 3rd in the individual sprint ranking. But the other one comes through Anderson Parra. You may remember this name from earlier; he's one of the riders ranked higher than Ptacnik.All good then - the higher-ranked rider gets the ticket to Rio? Well, if only it were that easy. For, you see, the highest-ranked rider not qualified already is Azizulhasni Awang. Fair enough, the Asian quota has been filled already, so he loses out. But[2] Hugo Barrette and Jair Tjon En Fa are also ranked above Parra - and they're from the same continent!Two American nations qualify a total of three riders for the Men's Individual Sprint ... but these three riders are not three highest-ranked sprinters from America!This doesn't make sense to my in any way.

All about medals for Team GB apparently."Chances of medaling slim to none", "no point wasting[1] UK Sport's money", "participated in 7-8 of 10 qualification events, beaten by the French in 4 of 5 head-to-heads" ...

Give over, Shane Sutton.Varnish hit a point with you, and you don't want to have anyone who's using their head for anything else than putting a helmet on in your team.You've thrown them to the wolves, and now you're washing your hands of them because they 'just weren't good enough to outrun the wolves".

This 'make-or-break' attitude is the same throughout Team GB and Team Sky, and it's despicable.Not much (if at all) better than what Astana did with Kessiakoff.

But hey, they're the saviours of the free world, so that's alright, I guess?

Do you think her axing was justified or is there any traction in the payback for speaking out rumour?

I wish I could comment, especially in the light of Lukas's "comment", but I can't.Obviously things aren't as simple or straight forward as to allow conclusions to be drawn from today's piece or "that interview" at the Worlds.

I wish I could comment, especially in the light of Lukas's "comment", but I can't.Obviously things aren't as simple or straight forward as to allow conclusions to be drawn from today's piece or "that interview" at the Worlds.

I'd hope these things are not as straightforward as they appear.

But even so, going from world record holder when just 21 to being a no-hoper in what should be her prime? Team GB have to take some responsibility for that surely?

History is littered with successful managerial partnerships with one urbane, diplomatic, perhaps even kindly; whereas the other is 'as cuddly as sack of cobbles' as Jimmy Greaves described the '66 coaching staff.

We all know the sort of person Sutton is, and we all know that he's not suddenly changed, he's always been like this. And if we're honest, we all know that he's been incredibly successful in partnership with Sir Dave B.

So what's changed? He's now the boss and doesn't seem able to say, "....deep regrets...wonderful rider and human being...lots of incredible talent deserving a chance...limited resources...something's got to give...door's always open...internal investigation...manage qualification better in future...heartfelt best wishes..."

Nothing would change for Jess Varniss; but BC wouldn't have a ton of sh*te dropped on its head.