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Interview: Russell Downing
24th of February, 2006; by Larry Hickmott
Home Nations for Commonwealth Games
Above: Russell is pretty happy after beating Steve Cummings to the line to win the British Cycling Road Race Championship for 2005.
Racing on the track at Revolution 12 was the British Road Race champion Russell Downing who will soon be winging his way down under to compete for England in the Commonwealth Games road race. Russell had one of, if not the best season ever last year topped off by beating Steve Cummings to the line for the British Road Race title.
The course for the Commonwealth Games Road Race is lumpy if the profile is anything to go by and I remember from a walk I did between events at the 2004 World Track Championships that these lumps are quite hard power climbs which for the men, will have to be done 15 times. It is a course (11k) which may well suit a rider like Russell and he is clearly enthusiastic about it. When we spoke, Russell started by explaining how the Tour of Langkawi went.
"The first few days I was a little unlucky. I was going with all the moves but the moves weren't sticking and then on the third day I crashed whilst leading Mark (Cavendish) out for the bunch sprint. My objective was to get into the last corner first but I didn't come out of the corner when I got it slightly wrong and there was a bit of sand on it. Some guy stuck a flag out and it completely distracted me and I ended up going straight into the barriers which hurt a bit."
"I got over that and the next day it was the Genting Highlands stage so I got up the road early on and had some sliding room on the climb. Then two days later on the biggest stage of the race, 190km, I was active and found myself in a eight or nine man break with Matt Brammeier (both riding for Great Britain). In real monsoon weather, we worked really hard and we built the lead up to seven minutes."
"I think the weather worked in our favour as the peloton probably didn't want to ride in that weather but they started to reel us in with 20k to go and we thought we were going to get caught. Then 10k, we were still away and although it looked over with 5km to go we all carried on as the bunch closed in. I think I probably put the first attack in with 4.5k to go and then there were a few more attacks before went. I saw him going and was feeling really good so I went after him but didn't quite get him."
Whilst Russell finished second on the stage, most of his former companions in the break were caught in the closing meters, he says of the race and his training for the Games "overall I am really happy with how the preparation has been going. We had two training camps in Majorca as well which put me in good stead. The first one I did something like 42 hours in nine days and then another 32 hours in six days. So all is going well."
"After Revolution and the team launch, I'll be going out to Belgium with my trade team and we'll be doing quite a few big races, UCI 1.2's, semi classics and so on which I'm looking to really ride hard in which will put me in good stead for the Games."
Right: Russell beats Iljo Keisse of Belgium to the line in the opening race at Revolution 12 last Saturday night.
Russell will then leave for Australia quite late, 15th of March which will give him just over a week to get over the jet lag before the road race takes place on the 26th of March.
Talking about the England team for the Games, Russell says "overall the team is looking really good. Robin (Sharman) is riding really well, myself, Steve (Cummings) and then guys like Paul and Chris who are concentrating on the track but obviously going well on the road too. Paul for example has all the same races that Steve has in his legs so I think one of us we can win the race if we all pull in the same direction. It doesn't matter who wins in the team, as long as one of us does".
"We have all ridden one day races and know how it works. Looking at the circuit, it's like a long kermesse, lots of twists so it will suit me and I can only hope everything goes well on the day. Anything can happen and the distance isn't tremendously long at 165k so I am looking forward to that."
"It's the big objective for this season" Russell told us. "It's what my winter has been based around, and has always been in the back of mind like at Christmas when you want to relax a little bit but I had to go out and get some miles done. It was good that we went away so close to Christmas as well (Jan 2) and did 10 days before Malaysia which was a good test where I felt really good."
Good luck to Russell and the team in the Commonwealth Games where I am sure they will prove to be a right handful for the other teams to contain.
Russell (left) was racing with brother Dean at Revolution 12 where they won the opening event.
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