Originally Posted by
gigantor
+1 Knowledge bombs!
I think if you can do a 1:15 kilo then you definitely qualify for Keirin school. They actually make a ton of money - you should go for it Carleton
The whole thing is centered around gambling.
There is Koichi Nakano though, who took gold 10 years in a row, however many consider his racing style to be dishonorable.
Yeah, I've done a 1:15 kilo
Koichi Nakano won when sprinting was much much different than it is now. 1) it was slower and 2) the gears were much lower. In those days, international professional sprinters raced on 90-96 gear inches. Now the gears are well over 100 gear inches...using similar cadences.
I'm not saying that a Japanese rider can't compete in the world ranks. In the 2012 World Championships Seiichiro Nakagawa finished 11th in sprints and in the Keirin Kazunari Watanabe finished 5th and Yudai Nitta finished 12th.
My point is that the JKA Keirin riders, in general, are not on the world level in terms of sprinting. It's simply a different style of racing.