# Can DerbyWheel capitalise before the Olympic flame goes out?

*By Simon | August 7, 2024*

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![Olympic flame](https://globalkeirin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/flame.jpg)

## 󠀁[Can DerbyWheel capitalise before the Olympic flame goes out?](https://globalkeirin.com/2024/08/can-derbywheel-capitalise-before-the-olympic-flame-goes-out/)󠁿

7 August 2024

**(EDITORIAL) Welcome to the few days every four years when the wider sporting public is exposed to the thrills of keirin racing. Is DerbyWheel ready to exploit the opportunity?**

Legendary gymnast Simone Biles said it perfectly, a few days ago.

‘You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal
at the Olympics,’
[she tweeted](https://x.com/Simone_Biles/status/1820027555270754717).

But they won’t stop. Countless cyclists – those who won medals, and those who
didn’t even get through qualification – will face the same question at the
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome in the coming days.

With the Olympics being the sole focus for most sprint cyclists, there are only
two possible answers currently: to start on another four-year cycle, or to move
on with your life.

Television viewers want to know what’s next too. The Olympics exposes us to
sports we never knew we cared about. It often starts with curiosity – then after
a few hours of casual viewing, we find ourselves offering opinions on strategy,
selection and scoring. Suddenly we’re fans.

Keirin racing catches the attention easily. Why is there a motorbike on the
track? – surely that guy is cheating. (Ho ho.) Then suddenly, the pacer exits
and the race is on. Who will move first? Who’s boxed in? The charge for the line
at 70kph or more, unthinkable for most bicycle owners… who won? who made the
cut? and who’s up next?

But when the Olympic flame is extinguished on Sunday evening, track cycling goes
dark for most of the world for another four years.

**These are the rare few days when the world knows our sport exists. This is our opportunity to tell those interviewers: yes, there is something next. For me as an athlete. And for you as fans.**

But DerbyWheel’s website has not added a new News item in almost four months.
The CEO’s latest homepage video promised an update at the end of June, but
nothing has been communicated (externally) yet. There is no date for a test
event. Social accounts are literally silent.

The contrast with
[Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track athletics initiative](https://globalkeirin.com/2024/07/athletics-legend-michael-johnson-plans-startup-sports-series/)
is stark. Johnson has been interviewed about his plans on mainstream national
media. Their [X/Twitter](https://x.com/GrandSlamTrack) and
[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@GrandSlamTrack/videos) accounts are busily
capitalising on the attention generated by the Olympics. They know this is their
moment.

If DerbyWheel says nothing this week, the world will soon move on. It’s not a
disaster. But it means they will have to work much harder to generate their own
opportunity, to remind fans of that weird bike race with the motorbike, that you
thought was cool a few months ago.

**Categories:** Original
**Tags:** dwnews, paris2024