Is the use of a CPL useful for sports photography?

[emtp563]

I've been shooting cyclocross events in bright daylight recently. One of the problems I have been seeing is that the sun can be way too bright. It's not screwing up my exposure per se (I'll just shoot manual if it does), but a lot of times my shot is properly exposed but in particular the riders faces are way overexposed from the sun shining directly on them. I guess you can say I'm seeing way to much glare on the races of my riders. Will the use of a CPL benefit? I have a nice B & W CPL that's just dying to be used.

[primoz]

Polarizer in general doesn't bring anything to under/over exposing particular part of photo. I don't know why people think polarizer will kill contrasts. It will take 2 stops of light away, but not just on face but everywhere else too. It's useful to get nicer looking sky, to remove reflection from water etc., but personally I use it very very rarely for sport.
For cycling in particular, I suggest you to go with flash. Under expose whole photo for 1/3 or 2/3 of stop, so you get rich colors, and add some fill flash. Flash kills shadows under helmet, which are really bad with cycling, and it makes cyclists stand out a bit more. But as I wrote, I really don't suggest polarizer for that. It takes too much light... even in sunny weather.

[emtp563]

I'll try the underexposing with flash as fill. I always use flash anyway. Thanks for the tip. I've seen your skiing shots- they are spectacular.