#Event Description & Format - Cycling#
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There are 18 events, 11 for men and seven for women, at the 2004
Olympic cycling competition, which will be held at four different
venues around Athens.

Between August 14-18, the men's road race will be held on a
course in the historical center of Athens and riders will ride
between 142.9 and 155.3 miles after a mass start.  The time
trial is being held at the Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre and covers
a distance of between 24.8 and 31.1 miles with riders starting
at 90-second intervals and competing against the clock with
winner having the best time.

Held in the same venue, the women's road race also has a mass
start, but ride a distance between 62.1 and 86.9 miles.  The
women's time trial takes place on a road course over a distance
between 12.4 and 18.6 miles.

In addition to the road events, there are track events at the
Athens Veledrome between August 20-25 and mountain biking
disciplines will be held at the Parnitha Olympic Mountain Bike
Venue in the municipality of Arnathia on August 27 and 28.

The eight men's track events are the frantic one-kilometer time
trial, the individual sprint, pursuit and points race, the team
pursuit, Olympic sprint, keirin and madison.

The keirin and madison are being held for just the second time
after debuting at the 2000 Sydney games. The keirin is of
Japanese origin and is a 1.25-mile mass-start sprint where
riders draft behind a motorcycle, which pulls off the track
before the finish.

The madison is named after New York's Madison Square Garden,
where the race originated.  It is a two-man points race where
riders sprint for points every five laps and switch off with a
teammate in a relay manner.

The four women's track races are the 500-meter time trial and
individual sprint, pursuit and points race.

Both men and women have one mountain bike race on a course
between 3.7 and 5.6 miles.  It is a cross-country race across
forest, roads, fields, with technical obstacles.

The competition is a mass start, and the first rider across the
finish line is the winner.  All dangerous obstacles are preceded
by warning signs 30 meters in advance.
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