newcastlecycling

Inexperienced,

What is a "true sprinter"?  A difficult thing to answer. 

I think you can get bogged down in the science - lots of fast twitch muscles, etc etc.   Some have said I am a sprinter but I am not - I am just a powerful rider who sprints better than some other non-sprinters.  Compare me (non-sprinter) with Commando (pure sprinter).  In his PowerTap comp absolute peak outputs were measured - had nothing to do with ability to sustain.  If my hazy memory is correct, Commando put out the highest peak power (over 2000W) of all the participants, whereas I put out less than that (but I did beat Thor God of Thunder!!!), but my peak torque output was the highest of all including Commando.  But  compare the graph of how I put out my power to that of Commando and Thor and my profile was quite different in shape to theirs, and there were differences between the two of them.  The bottom line is the way they deliver their power, coupled to their superior pedalling action, means they will (if we were all of equal fitness levels) beat me, and beat me easily, every time in a proper sprint even if you could take out their vasty superior tactics.

I seriously doubt there are any pure sprinters in any grade below C grade, and if they are they are undiscovered.  The only time a pure sprinter is in C grade is if Masso gets dropped to C grade. 

I can think of only a handful of true pure sprinters, and even then you can get into semantics based on how they might go on the track.  My thoughts, and in no order - Commando, Weapon, Nige Perry, Rob Hadley, Thor, Paddy Kilmurray, the older Lewis not related to Joe (mental blank - was talking to Glenn last night) are the small number of pure sprinters, and it is perhaps no coincidence they all have track experience.  Others may like to add names, as I have in my haste no doubt missed a few.