ORGANISERS & MAIN SPONSORS

PREVIEW

RACE PHOTOS

Friday 14th November, 2003

> Return to Results Index

NEWPORT CITY EUROPEAN DERNY CHAMPIONSHIP

The Derny Championship at Newport turned out to be an awesome expereince with Great Britain's World Pursuit Champion Bradley Wiggins winning the title in such a dominating way, it was quite inspiring to see him destroy the field in the final after learning the ropes in the heat where he was 2nd. Both heats were exciting as riders attacked and then fell back with the Dutch showing their prowess in this discipline by setting the pace. Afterwards, I spoke to Bradley .... (we'll have pictures later in the week).

After his win the first heat where we saw Bradley sitting at the back of the group for the early part of the race, I asked him why he chose to make a move to the front so early. "Joop is quite experienced and he doesn't really speak much English and my Dutch is bit rusty, because I've not had enough beers! He just did what he did and I just followed him really. I didn't know what he was he doing to be honest. I saw there was like 70 laps to go but he slotted in at the front and I started to realise how these things are done."

I have never done a race like this before and anytime someone challenges you, you just accelerate and they can't get round really. Maybe a tactic for the final and get to the front and hold everyone else off. Its quite weird out there though. You can't hear anything, and don't see much else."

Talking about the gear he was using in the heats, he said I had "51x13, 106. I'll go to 52 for the final. There are some good guys in there still. My favourite Marvulli went out there.

As far as Bradleys' "home" six, Gent, He explained that he and Matthew Gilmore will still be riding together despite Mathews problems which kept him away from the Newport event. Going back to Munich where he lead the race on the fifth night, he explained that" We outsmarted a lot of the teams on the fifth night, and kind of worked over on the sixth night but that's six day racing."

Asked about the reception he was getting as Wold Champion, he replied "Its good. It was a long time coming and they all knew I was I going to get it one day!"

POST FINAL INTERVIEW: As Bradley waited to go onto the podium, I grabbed a few words with him. Asked about the hot pace he set which blew the field to pieces, he said, "Joop is the best, he knew exactly from the start what to do. We talked about it before the start about hitting out straight away. The biggest thing is getting to the front and within two laps, we were on the attack to go to the front, and everyone was caught out a bit because they didn't really expect it. Once we hit the front, it was about winding it up, and people were in the wheels and couldn't do anything".

"It was just like a long pursuit really. Same intensity really. I came out of Munich good, a couple of days easy." On the subject of winning at Gent, he said "That would be a fantastic way to finish the year, his last six of the season.

HEAT 1

 1. Robert Slippens      Holland
 2. Bradley Wiggins      Great Britain
 3. Steven De Neef       Belgium
 4. Mario Vonhof         Germany
 5. Frank Perque         Framce

HEAT 2

 1. Walter Van Melchelen    Belgium
 2. Marco Villa             Italy
 3. Patrick Kops            Holland
 4. Franci Marvulli         Switzerland
 5. Rob Hayles              Great Britain
 6. Magnus Backstedt        Sweden
 7. Jerome Nueville         France

FINAL

 1. Bradley Wiggins/Joop Zjilaard       Great Britain/Holland
 2. Steven DeNeef/Michael Vaarten       Belgium @1 lap            
 3. Robert Slippens/Bruno Walrave       Holland @2 Laps
 4. Mario Vonhof/Dippel                 Germany @2 Laps
 5. Marco Villa/Durst                   Italy   @2 laps    
 6. Walter Van Mechelen/Persyn          Belgium @ 3 Laps