UCI Road World Championships 2007
Stuttgart, Germany, 29th of September
Report and pictures by Larry Hickmott
In one of the best Men's Championship results for a long time, Jonny Bellis showed what progress is being made in the British Cycling Olympic Academy programme in Italy.
In a sensational result for the Great Britain Cycling Team’s Olympic Academy, Isle of Man rider Jonny Bellis won the bronze medal in the Under 23 Road Race. In a sprint finish, the European champion on the track showed at 19 – a first year senior – what an exciting prospect he is on the road.
The race
The race over 9 laps of a tough course in Stuttgart, saw several breakaways including the obligatory suicide mission and then several dangerous looking moves which didn't include any of the British riders who bided their time in the group.
From the 160 plus riders who started the race, most of the action was at the back, especially over the closing three laps where the attacks were a lot more committed and the peloton strung out as riders struggled to hold the wheel in front. The three Brits however maintained their position in the selection showing how strong they are in the World of road racing at this level.
The final lap was especially frantic and when a dangerous group clipped off the front, it was Ian Stannard who threw himself down a descent at the front of what was left of the peloton, got dropped and came back to finish his work at the front on the flat and is credited by one senior member of the GB team watching the race as having made the bunch sprint possible.
In the end, there was a bunch sprint of 50 or so riders and this suited Jonny Bellis who has a good turn of speed and can also climb well and his Bronze medal in his first year in the Senior ranks cannot be underestimated – it was nothing shot of an incredible ride against the Worlds best Under 23s.
Bellis raises his arm as he realises he has won a medal in the Under 23 RR Championship of the World -- Well done Jonny.
Jonny Bellis: “I’m real pleased of course but it is hard to believe. All credit to Rod (Ellingworth), Shane (Sutton, Dave (Brailsford), Max (Sciandri) out in Italy and the other staff who have helped because if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be in a position to progress and achieve what I have achieved this year.”
“I thought the course would suit me and it was just a wearing down process and it was about conserve and conserve and riding clever. That’s what I done and had that energy at the end to be able to do something. It’s all what I have learnt in the last year from Rod and Max. Earlier on in the year, I’d lose a lot of energy early on, was crunching the gears and not eating. Now I have learnt to conserve a bit and have it the end.”
“Ian (Stannard) did a great job. He knew he wasn’t feeling great and able to do something at the end and there were a few good riders up the road and he did all he could to get them back so all credit to him and Swifty (Ben Swift).”
Asked to take us through the final sprint, he replied “I was quite confident going into it because I have performed quite well when it has come down to a sprint this year so far. So it was a case of trying not to come down because there were a lot of crash opportunities going around so it was about being in the right position and I was in quite a good one. I just charged down the right hand side and was flying by loads of people on the left and I thought, oh god, I’m going to do well here. I kept going and got third.”
“I wasn’t in the best position going into the corners but I had a lot of speed so perhaps if I had been in a better position, I could have won but it is one of those things.”
“For a first year senior, I can’t complain about the success I have had. I rode the Senior Track Worlds and come away with two European Titles as well and now this. It just shows British Cycling is not just about the track. It is about the road as well and the system is working.”
He agreed it’s a coupe for the Isle of Man as well, adding especially on top of what Mark Cavendish has already achieved . “Hopefully more riders can keep coming through and perform and do well.”
Jonny Bellis following the wheels up the climb through the start/finish.
Talking to the Olympic Academy coach Rod Ellingworth afterwards, he had this to say about the result -- “It was all about the preparation in the first seven laps - that is where they got their result from. It was about the basics of keeping their gears down, eating right, being in the right position at the right times and they never looked in trouble. Ian committed superbly when he had too a lap out. That was the moment to do it. I knew either Jonny or Swifty would be good in that finish.”
“We were third here, fifth in the European Championships (Ben Swift) and done all the races in Italy. That’s the thing about chasing these UCI points, we’re racing in the hardest country in the World for Under 23 racing and Jonny is also a double European Track Champion. They are very versatile young bike riders who have a lot of dedication.”
“I was saying by 2008 we’d have a medal and here it is.”
Ian Stannard: “I just got on the front a few times and rode as hard as I could. The steep climb was a bit of a problem and I found myself going backwards a few times but I just made sure I was in a good position at the start of it and gave myself some sliding room.”
Ben Swift: “Having us all in the leading group was the whole idea today. We knew we were all capable of being there at the end which wasn’t really a problem for us with only three in the team because by the end the other nations probably only had around three riders.”
“I had a good race positioning wise and the only thing I found difficult was that it was hard to eat on the course because the downhills were fast, and twisty with a lot of wind and it was too fast to east up hill and that is quite a problem.”
“The second to last time up the steep climb I was in the front 15 again and I totally cramped in my thigh and hamstring and I managed to ride though it and then the last time up the steep climb I was actually feeling quite good and was again in the top 10, top 15. I thought I had got rid of the cramp and then on the final climb , about three quarters of the way up it, my left hamstring went and I couldn’t pedal.”
Asked how the pace of the race compared to others like the Tour of Britain and the races in Italy, he replied, “It was pretty similar in that it got progressively faster and faster. The race itself wasn’t too different to what we have been doing but was a bit faster with it being the worlds and everything.”
Elite Womens Race -- 10th for Emma Pooley
There was success for Italy in the Elite Women's Road Race championship when Marta Bastianelli beat the defending champion Marianne Vos by clipping off the front of a select group of the World’s best Women road racers on the final lap. The Italian won the race alone leaving Vos to win the sprint for the Silver six seconds later. In the same group as Vos was Britain's Emma Pooley who showed her potential for a medal at this level by being one of the strongest at the end of a hard seven laps of the Stuttgart circuit.
The day for the women
It was a 5.45am wake up call for the Great Britain riders and first to the breakfast table was Tanja Slater. By 6am, they were all at the table fuelling up while I left with the mechanics for the circuit where it was still pitch black as we arrived. We were the first there and after some pictures of the setting up, I kept warm in the team bus. Soon the riders arrived and at 20 to 9 they were signing on and having their bikes checked.
There was a scare for Emma Pooley when a Lightweight wheel she had on was deemed to be illegal and a change had to be made. It is all rather wishy washy the rules but rather than argue the case there and then, the wheel was changed and Emma made her way to the line where the British team were the sixth squad called to the line.
Despite reading that it was going to be light rain, the weather was dry and improving throughout the day and most of the racing was in bright sunshine. That didn’t stop the circuit being slippery in places and many of the British girls talked of their bikes getting out of shape on the damp roads at times.
The routine for me was to walk the short distance to the circuit to get some pictures and then watch the race on television on the bus. It was here we saw the potential of 18 year old Lizzie Armitstead who was pictured a lot over the opening three laps on the front of the race. The night before at the strategy meeting, Julian Winn kept it simple for them and told the Brits to ride at the front which would help them later on. This most of them did and those that didn’t had valid reasons with Tanya Slater saying when she retired that she had blurred vision and wasn’t feeling well and Helen Wyman was suffering the effects of a recent cold.
The early laps saw the odd attack here and there but not a lot was going anywhere as the bunch were in no mood to let breaks get away from them. It wasn’t until after halfway and TT Gold Medalist German Hanka Kupfernagel got in a break of four that looked dangerous for a while but it soon came together.
The Italians on lap five were starting to up the temp and it proved too much Lizzie Armistead. The Otley young lady stopped at the top of the start/finish climb and was in so much pain she couldn’t walk. Having stopped right where I was taking pictures, I gave her a GB coat and called the carer Luc de Wilde and coach Dan Hunt and they had to carry her to the team bus where an Italian doctor was called to look at her.
The problem is yet to properly diagnosed but it is said to have come from the climbing and is not new to the Academy rider who has over come several related problems in the last year. But with no TV coverage of the race on TV until 4pm, and everyone on duty elsewhere, we got her a chair by the circuit and she was able to watch the race live for a few laps.
Meanwhile, back in the race, riders were now slipping off the front and back in equal measure and the Brits Catherine Hare, Rachel Heal and Emma Pooley were equal to the task and holding their position in the bunch which was losing riders quickly now.
With two laps to go a dangerous break got away and Emma Pooley was one of the riders prominent in trying to bring her back and then on the last lap as the race came together, Emma tried again and again to get away saying afterwards she didn’t have the power to gap the group even though she was climbing well.
What she feels let her down was her positioning in the bunch and it was here that having two teammates in the group helped her as Catherine Hare and Rachel Heal did what they could to bring her into a good position for the final. In this, there were only 17 riders left in contention and one of those was Emma who did what she could in the sprint and was rewarded with 10th place.
Lizzie Armitstead: “I feel okay after having some pain killers. My back just gave way basically. I don’t know what happened but I think it was the hills, the steep hill especially. I just correcting myself all the time and stopping myself leaning on the one leg.”
“I found the bunch riding easy and found the descents easy and looked behind sometimes and thought ‘where is everybody. But I didn’t find it to challenging technically. Physically, the steep hill took it out of me but I was fine on the long climbs. I was on the 25 on the steep hills and it really took it out of me.”
“I was only riding tempo up there but even doing that takes it out of you but looking at the winners, I was riding next to them on the climb and they were suffering as well and I am looking forward to getting better”.
Emma Pooley, a novice at this level after only a season of racing behind her was not giving herself the credit she deserved for an awesome ride today. The young lady knew there was the potential for a good result, a medal, in this race but feels she left herself down wither positioning in the bunch.
But whilst Emma may have been disappointed in her own rider, everyone from her trade team at Specialized and her GB teammates were full of praise for the young lady who showed today, a year out from Beijing, that she has the potential to ride with the very and that includes Nicole Cooke who unfortunately could not be there. How the race would have panned out had Nicole been there is anybodies guess but GB would certainly have been an even bigger threat.
Emma’s reaction shortly after finishing was “when I crossed the line I was a bit disappointed with myself for not being higher up in that group. I did try and get away but my attacks were more like gradual accelerations.”
Emma was keen to praise the work of her teammates saying “it was a team effort out there because they got me where I needed to be. I couldn’t have done this without them and I think there is a lot I can do to have improved my ride. On the long draggy climb I was able to get to the front but there were several places where I went from the front to the back.”
“On the steep climb though I was grovelling, and didn’t like that climb and I’m not going to ride it again for fun!”
Her teammate Rachel Heal then spoke to us and said of the race “it was a good team ride from the word go. I remember thinking at one point in the race that as soon as there is a lull or easy part, I am going to eat a gel and then I realised there was not going to be an easy part in the race. There was no where where the race relaxes which on a lot of courses you do get.”
“For me, the start was good and I made a real point of being at the front but unfortunately had a close call going into the steep climb on the first lap where the rear wheel was almost in front of the front wheel when somebody slammed and I did the same. When we started, the roads were still wet and there were a couple of times when the bike fish tailed or got crossed up. I was actually pleased a few times I was able to stay upright!”
Coming into the last lap, I realised I didn’t have the legs on the climb where I was really suffering, and the way Emma has been going recently knew it was her race. So I said to Cath before hand our job now is to make sure she goes in to the top of the descent in the top three. I knew that would be a useful contribution for us to make.”
“It felt like 200 miles out from that steep climb when I started my effort for Emma and I was having to go along thinking ‘I am going to get there’ and it very nearly killed me! Unfortunately about 10 metres before the top of the descent, we got swamped and had I got to the descent first, I could have taken her all the way down.”
Julian Winn: Women’s Performance manager: “right from the start we said we wanted a presence at the front of the race and Lizzie knew what she had to do early on. I told her, show me you can ride at the front of a race and she did that and it bodes well for her future. Then the rest did exactly what was asked of them. Rachel did a brilliant job of getting Emma to a critical part of the race.”
“We’re very happy with the result of a top 10.” Asked about Emma’s ride, he explained “Emma is with all respect, a raw talent. She just needs to learn and be directed and hopefully that is an area where both Dan and I can help her. She is an exciting possibility when you have someone so raw who can still do what she is doing. It gives us more options and shares the pressure that Nicole feels.”
“If we had Nicole here today, think of the possibilities we would have had. Emma is a superb rider and it doesn’t surprise me what she has done this week because we have seen it in training.”
PHOTOS
RESULTS
Under 23 Men's RR Championship
1. Peter Velits (Slovakia) 4.21.22 (39.461 km/h)
2. Wesley Sulzberger (Australia)
3. Jonathan Bellis (Great Britain)
4. Tom Leezer (Netherlands)
5. Danilo Wyss (Switzerland)
6. Jonas Aaen Jörgensen (Denmark)
7. Domenik Klemme (Germany)
8. Florian Vachon (France)
9. Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine)
10. Andrey Zeits (Kazakhstan)
67. Ian Stannard (Great Britain) 2.21
75. Ben Swift (Great Britain) 4.48
Elite Women's Championship
1. Marta Bastianelli (Italy) 3.46.34
2. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 0.06
3. Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)
4. Svetlana Bubnekova (Russian Federation)
5. Noemi Cantele (Italy)
6. Emma Johansson (Sweden)
7. Marina Jaunatre (France)
8. Oenone Wood (Australia)
9. Alex Wrubleski (Canada)
10. Emma Pooley (Great Britain)
30. Catherine Hare (Great Britain) 1.09
57. Rachel Heal (Great Britain) 5.36
