European Track Championships 2006

 

July 19-23; Athens Olympic Velodrome
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Training Over, Let the Competition Begin

 

The Olympic Velodrome as it looks now for the European Championships in Athens.

The final day of preparations for the Great Britain team went smoothly today at the Olympic track in Athens where the whole squad was in action doing their best to get their 'efforts' in during a 90 minute session where they shared the boards with the Dutch and Czech team. The final day before competition began at 9am when the team all rolled up in the breakfast room where a lot of the food was less than 'four star' The British team thankfully also carries its own supplies of breakfast food served up to the riders by GB 'carer' Natalie Lejeune.

Once breakfast was over, the riders divided up into their groups for a final briefing from their coaches. In the hotel lounge, Iain Dyer gathered his sprinters around for a chat whilst upstairs in another part of the hotel, the Women riders went through what they had to do during the morning track session with National Women's coach Dan Hunt.

The endurance riders also had a briefing looking at the Team Pursuit for both Junior and Under 23 categories, each having a separate session with the endurance coaches where they went through the videos from the day as well as other videos from the Olympics held on the same track. There to help them were coaches Rod Ellingworth (Under 23) and Darren Tudor (Junior) as well as National coach Simon Jones with the video provided by Duncan Locke from the EIS.

 

Iain Dyer goes through the training sessions for the day with the riders this morning (Tuesday, 18th of July)

Once the briefings were over, it was down to the track which is a half hour ride from the hotel along a very busy road. Because of this, the riders were assembled into groups and set off with a car placed behind them as they rode down the avenue to the Olympic stadium. Once at the track, there was plenty of time to get themselves and their bikes ready for the training which started at 12.30.

It was my first time at the Olympic Velodrome, and just like my first visit to the Olympic track in Sydney, the whole venue seemed bare, quite ordinary even. There were a few reminders this had been an Olympic velodrome but overall with the vast swathes of unpainted concrete, rusting pillars and bare track, the atmosphere was for sure nothing like we saw a few years ago at the same track on our TV screens.

The boards however met with the riders approval and it was said to be fast which may lead to new personal bests during competition. Looking around us in the track centre, all the cycling nations were here in strength and it was rumoured the Russians had a bigger squad than us but we'll wait to see the entry list before we can confirm this. It was a long wait before our training slot was upon us and we then had to wait for another half an hour whilst the Dutch went through their warm up.

 

Iain Dyer watches over his riders as they warm up prior to the final training day session.

With the GB Cycling's teams Performance Director, Dave Brailsford, in the stands watching, our riders warmed up on the rollers, first the sprinters, then one group of endurance riders and then another. It was, as it always is at such events, a busy time on the track. The mechanics Ernie Feargrieve and Mark Ingham had been at the track for a few hours already preparing bikes whilst the carers Sarah Heal and Natalie Lejeune were making sure this large group of riders all had drinks and food to keep their energy levels up. Up in the stands, the guys from the EIS, Duncan Locke and Matt Parker, were setting up to record and make notes of the session for later analyst work.

 

Around the track centre, the various coaches each briefed their teams and they were soon up on the track doing their best to perform their efforts on the crowded track. There was a heart stopping moment for Christian Lyte as he thundered round the track and suddenly ran into a wall of Dutch riders, staying upright but giving him a fright. It is a danger posed by these training sessions where you have riders going full gas on a track packed with others just cruising. Riders have to make room themselves for their efforts and hope, trust even, that other riders do not enter their space when going at full speed.

The Team Pursuit teams for Under 23 and Juniors each found a time slot to do their drills on the track as did the girls. The drills were all varied, whilst the Women endurance riders did 200 metre efforts, the sprinters did likewise or longer efforts. The Junior Team Sprint had a few dummy runs and the Pursuiters Ian Stannard and Andy Tennant also managed to get time to do a quick effort.

 

The Junior Great Britain riders in a Team Pursuit drill.

Once it all begins, it is very frantic and with such a large squad, finding track space and time to perform the required efforts is never easy. But they all managed to do what they needed to do and by and large, the coaches seemed pleased with how things have gone. Dan Hunt was pleased all his girls managed to complete their required efforts whilst the Under 23's recorded a new personal best for one of their efforts.

The Sprint coach Iain Dyer seemed pleased with how the Junior Team Sprint had gone and afterwards he confirmed he had settled on the line up for the event with Christain Lyte in man 1, Jason Kenny in man 2 and David Daniell in man 3. The riders for Day 1 of competition are as follows:

 

Riding on the first day of competition will be:

Matthew Crampton: Kilometre (Under 23)
Christian Lyte, Jason Kenny, David Danniell: Team Sprint (Junior)
Anna Blyth & Lucy Ayres: Junior Women's Sprint
Andy Tennant & Ian Stannard: Individual Pursuit
Steven Burke, Jonny Bellis, Peter Kennaugh, Alex Dowsett: Team Pursuit (Junior)

With the session done and dusted, and many of the riders tired, they were back on their road bikes and cruising back to the hotel, where they headed for their rooms.

Then, whilst some sleeped, others relaxed in other ways like watching the Tour de France on TV. Others also went in search of a cure for sore legs and went for a leg massage from the carers Sarah Heal and Natalie Lejeune. The preparation work was done, with only team briefings to come before after dinner before everyone settled in for the night and contemplated the first day of competition to come on the Wednesday.

 

Everyone is busy now competition is upon us, and none more than the 'carers' Natalie Lejeune and Sarah Heal who rub down sore legs as well as provide the riders food and drink, do the shopping, supply first aid, psychological support and transfers from the airport.  

Day 1
The team enmass arrived in two different groups on the Sunday night. Already there was mechanic Ernie Feargrieve and carer Sarah Heal who had driven a packed van full of equipment the thousand or two miles across many European countries and the odd vast area of water to get to Athens after four days.

There was much talk when I arrived about a large party that had flow BA from Gatwick and ended up being delayed by four hours after a slight problem of fuel (apparently) pouring from one of the wings as they refuelled. Suffice to say it didn't do their confidence in the plane a lot of good especially as one of the riders had witnessed it through the windows of the plane but after a four hour delay, they arrived, at 1 in the morning, safe and sound thankfully.

For the Manchester travel group, no such dramas and even for me, the hour I had to wait for Easy Jet to get their act together was nothing compared to what the Gatwick group went through. As hotels go, this four star isn't too bad although perhaps not as good in the flesh as it looked on the web. And then there's the time zone. We are two hours ahead of British summer time which means it takes a little getting used to trying to get to sleep at 10pm when it still feels like 8pm. And surprisingly, for me anyway, was the fact its dark too at that time and has been for an hour or so unlike home when its still light until gone 10 at night.

 

'Off home' after a session at the track.

 

Other Photographs

 

Yes, its the Olympic Velodrome as the marking on the concreate shows.

 

Under 23 Team Pursuit riders during a drill on the track.

 

 

Darren Tudor at the end of the session making sure the Team Pursuit Juniors are thinking about where they change during their event.

 

Josh Hargreaves and Anna Blyth during one of their 'efforts'

 

Pep talk from the 'guvnor' Rod Ellingworth to the Under 23 riders.

 

Alex Dowsett changes a gear on the Pinarello team bikes the Juniors are riding.

 

Jason Kenny in one of his sprint efforts.

 

David Daniell, always one with a smile even when warming up on the rollers before the session starts.

 

Adam Blythe leads the junior Team Pursuiters off in a roller effort. Opposite him is Jonny Bellis.

 

Ross Sander ended up travelling to the European Championships as fifth man for the Team Pursuit (Under 23's).

 

 

Anna Blyth with one of the in vogue helmets worn by the British Sprinters.

The Dutch take to the track at the start of the warmup.

Geraint Thomas leads the Under 23's in the Team Pursuit.

 

Peter Kennaugh leads the Junior Team Pursuit from fellow Isle of Man rider Jonny Bellis.

 

Christain Lyte leads away the Team Sprint riders Jason Kenny and David Daniell.

 

Mark Ingham and Ernie Feargrieve at work...