As MilesJS says the start is very important, reaction times can be all the difference for the fastest racers. You need to be up to full speed within 2 revolutions max.
The best way to train, I think & as a few have pointed out on here is to replicate a race...ie from a standing start on a turbo with very little resistance accelerate to your max cadence and hold it for 20-22 secs (depending on how fast you are). I used to stick a few of these sprints into my daily TT sessions and it massively improved my max cadence, though I know of others who have done similar and not seen the same improvements.
It isn't about power it is about how fast you can spin, some top riders are putting out well over 1000watts when they kick at the start but a there are plenty of very fast riders that put out 2-400w less.
We have been privileged enough to have some of the fastest sprinters in the world on our rigs, below is a video of Craig Maclean riding a 500m race, he is smooth as a Werther's Original, up to speed very quickly and his upper body hardly moves. The only thing he forgot to do was drink beer before or after the race, which would obviously improve his performance massively.
As MilesJS says the start is very important, reaction times can be all the difference for the fastest racers. You need to be up to full speed within 2 revolutions max.
The best way to train, I think & as a few have pointed out on here is to replicate a race...ie from a standing start on a turbo with very little resistance accelerate to your max cadence and hold it for 20-22 secs (depending on how fast you are). I used to stick a few of these sprints into my daily TT sessions and it massively improved my max cadence, though I know of others who have done similar and not seen the same improvements.
It isn't about power it is about how fast you can spin, some top riders are putting out well over 1000watts when they kick at the start but a there are plenty of very fast riders that put out 2-400w less.
We have been privileged enough to have some of the fastest sprinters in the world on our rigs, below is a video of Craig Maclean riding a 500m race, he is smooth as a Werther's Original, up to speed very quickly and his upper body hardly moves. The only thing he forgot to do was drink beer before or after the race, which would obviously improve his performance massively.
http://youtu.be/Jgyq8Zkp10Y