2007 UCI World Track Championships
29th of March to 1st April
Palma de Mallorca
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Women's 500 Time Trial
Report
Podium of the top three in the Women's 500 metre Time Trial.
Shanaze Reade's amazing fifth place on debut in the 500m Time Trial was edge of the seat stuff. We all knew she could do a quick first lap, but what would she be capable of over two circuits? The answer was probably the fastest debut time in the discipline, a stunning 34.633s going off second.
To put it in perspecitve, that's just a couple of hundredths shy of the time Vicky Pendleton did in last year's Championships. We knew what she could do on the BMX track and now no-one can now be in any doubt as to Reade's ability as a track rider. Oh, and she didn't use tri-bars! Awesome!
Amazingly Reade found herself in the hot seat whilst 17 riders tried and failed to beat her time. Only when the big hitting final four got up to ride did Reade finally meet her match. First Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania slipped inside her time and then the 19 year old Cuban Lisa Rodriguez very nearly went under 34 seconds.
That looked promising, but then Anna Meares made Australia's first significant mark on the championships smashing the World Record by some 4 tenths of a second in recording 33.588. Defending champion Tsylinskaya had no answer to Meares and slotted into the bronze medal position.
Anna Blythe finished 8th, just missing a p.b. in the process, and Victoria Pendleton decided to skip the event to concentrate on the Sprint.
Shanaze Reade “That hurt a lot!” the young lady said as she warmed down straight after her ride. “That was the first time I have ever done one so I didn’t know what to expect. I don’t know if the time is good or not!” Shanaze admitted and when told it was quicker than Anna did at Manchester, Shanaze agreed it was a good time and on her final placing, said “that’s amazing, to get top 5 amongst Olympic and World Champions and also a World record holder. To be in there, its just amazing.”
Amazing indeed considering how little she has done on the track as it took a lot of riders to come and go before one came along from Lithuania to beat the time and start her slide down the table.
“The gate went well, and after that, everything seemed to go so fast and then the last quarter of the lap, the pain started to really kick in.” Talking about her rapid rise from novice to medal contender in one winter on the track she said “I just started training with the guys in the gym and went on the track to do some cross over training. And then the times started getting better and better and here I am at the World Championships.”
Asked how she has come to believe in herself, she replied “I think it is a bit of everything. The crowd, we get so much support from British Cycling, the riders moral, a combination of everything that goes together to help you believe in yourself. Even if you don’t feel like you will do anything, they make you believe in yourself.”
“I just want to say a big thank you to Jamie Staff , and also Jeremy Hayes. Jeremy has played a massive massive part in getting me here even though he hasn’t helped me on the track, he has helped me in BMX and I owe a massive thank you to Jamie and Jeremy, and everyone else such as Iain Dyer for helping me, supporting me and making me believe in myself.”
Finally when we put it to Shanaze that people are calling her a phenomenal athlete, she modestly replied “nah, I’m just a novice still, there is more to come!”.
The world record holder Anna Meares didn't just break her record but smashed it well and truly despite also riding the Women's Sprint competition the same day where she won a bronze.
Results
1 MEARES Anna AUS 33.588 (world record)
2 GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra CUB 34.015
3 TSYLINSKAYA Natallia BLR 34.430
4 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU 34.487
5 READE Shanaze GBR 34.633
6 KANIS Willy NED 34.700
7 HIJGENAAR Yvonne NED 34.7768 BLYTH Anna GBR 34.870
9 CLAIR Sandie FRA 34.892
10 CUEFF Virginie FRA 35.159
11 BAYLEY Kristine AUS 35.264
12 GERISCH Jane GER 35.402
13 TIAN Fang CHN 35.47114 GONG Jinjie CHN 35.473
15 WELTE Miriam GER 35.61916 ABASSOVA Tamilla RUS 35.625
17 CONTRERAS REYES Nancy MEX 35.754
18 GARCIA ORREGO Diana Maria COL 36.06319 SHULIKA Lyubov UKR 36.272
20 SARA Magdalena POL 36.919
21 CASAS ROIGE Helena ESP 37.010
