Improving a points race scoreboard
When I watch track cycling broadcasts, I find it hard to keep track of the score in a points race. Since I’m an experienced track cyclist, I think the problem probably isn’t one of race intelligence — rather, it’s an issue of getting the right information at the right time.
I’ve written before about data vis for track cycling — see also:
I love these events — and ultimately, I believe that better on-screen graphics can help tell the story of them to viewers and increase the overall value of these broadcasts. Let’s take a closer look at…
A track cycling points race
How a points race is scored
In a points race, every 10 laps, the first four riders across the finish line earn 5, 3, 2, and 1 points. The final sprint is worth double points, and if during the race a rider gains a lap on the field, they earn 20 points.
In an omnium (a tournament of 4 races), riders enter the final race (the points race) with an existing score tally. The points that they score in the points race are added to this tally.
Why it’s hard to keep score
Though a points race can be described simply, it’s fairly complicated.
Let’s consider football game, in which there are only two teams. Each team has a points tally. They score points when they get close to the end zone (or the goal — depending on which football we’re talking about). We can glance at the scoreboard and know how the next score will contribute to the plot of the game. A team that scores might build its lead, or narrow its deficit.
By comparison, a points race has 24 riders. That means that there are 552 different leads/deficits between the different riders. So it can be hard to remember the overall standing, the points differences between riders, and whether newly-scored points change a rider’s placing, or keep things relatively the same. There’s a lot to keep track of.
I believe that the right information can help
As a data communicator (and a track cyclist), I think there’s room to improve what information is offered, and what it’s offered with, so that people can get a better understanding of the plot of a points race.
In information design, proximity carries meaning — placing information next to other information carries the suggestion that they’re related, and can help aid cognition.
So we need to figure out what the right information is, and where to put it.
The scoreboard
With that, let’s take a look at how the UCI’s broadcast team displays the scoreboard. Rather than take screenshots, I quickly mocked up a replica.
Sprint results
The bell rings and there’s a high speed charge to the start/finish line. The first four riders score points, and the on-screen graphics display this:

That’s helpful!
The graphics then change to show how many points each of those four riders have accrued:

This isn’t too helpful, since first place always scores 5 points, second place always scores 3, etc — except for the final sprint in a race.
Then, the graphics usually change to show us the leaderboard, and here’s where things get tricky:

If you remembered who scored points, good for you. But in the few seconds that the leaderboard is on the screen, it’s difficult to fully integrate all of the information that helps you construct a plot:
- Who scored points, and how many they scored
- Whether the points they gained changed their spot in the overall standings
- Who missed out on scoring points in that sprint and whether it matters
They’re putting the bare minimum on the screen, and it doesn’t quite answer the questions that a viewer has. The answers can help somebody make sense of a fairly complicated
Data communication should design to answer a question. “Who scored points?” is a good question to answer after a points sprint. But we can go further — “What do those points mean for the four riders who scored those points?”
And, “What is the leaderboard?” is a good question to answer, but after points have been scored, “How has the leaderboard changed?” is a better one.
What the scoreboard could be
I’ve taken the results from the 2019 Track Cycling World Championship’s women’s omnium points race. It was a 100 lap race; 90 laps into the race, the first points sprint occurred. Valente, Paternoster, Archibald, and Wild scored points. Here’s what I think should appear on the screen:

We see the four riders who score points, and at a glance, we see how many points they’ve scored and what their new point tally is. More importantly, we see their rank; this tells us that this sprint mattered: Valente closed the gap to the podium; Paternoster and Wild are both scoring points as they gun for the win. The race is on, folks!
After the sprint, it’s good to see the full leaderboard. Here’s what I’d show:

This shows us the top ten riders and it highlights the riders who just scored points. If we wanted to get fancy on this, we can animate it, so that it shows the previous leaderboard, highlights the riders who score, and moves them up or down in the ranking if they pass another rider. (Imagine that Beveridge had scored 5 points — we’d see her row highlight and leapfrog above Edmondson’s, from 7th into 6th place.)
Again, this communicates crucial plot points in the race without requiring the viewer to hold information in their head. It relieves the viewer of the task of constantly referencing the sprint results with the leaderboard, the point totals, and the point differences — and lets them take in the broader plot of the race.
These are simple changes — they use the available information, but they change the format so that they answer specific questions that go a little further than “What is the score?” so help the viewer connect the dots about the plot in the race.
But if we wanted to get fancier

If we want to get really fancy, we could show the score as a bump chart. In this, each rider has a line showing when they scored points, and their overall score. In the race shown above, two riders (light green, and red — with apologies to the colorblind, since in my quick-and-dirty mockup chart I chose colors that matched their respective national teams) lapped the field around lap 45 — netting them a cool 20 points each and a large lead on the field. Other riders (orange, dark green, and grey) made a late surge for the podium.
Imagine watching a race and having this plot appear, sprint by sprint, letting you see who was accruing points when, and how big the gaps are. Wouldn’t that make the experience that much more accessible and enjoyable?
Someday, the UCI will hire me to consult on their graphics team.
