Pre-World Championship Interview: Craig MacLean
March 22, 2007
by Larry Hickmott (larryhickmott@britishcycling.org.uk)
Craig MacLean gives it everything during a motor chase this week.
At the time we spoke to the Scottish highlander who won two Silver medals at last year’s Track Worlds, he was preparing to ride the Team Sprint (Man 1) and the Match Sprint competition at the Track World Championships.
“At the moment, there is only Jamie and I competing for the Man 1 spot and he’s had some ups and down in the last few weeks. Although they have named the initial starting line up, over the next week that could potentially change and I am certainly not resting on my laurels.”
He said that the race programme in Palma suits him quite well and when asked how his form felt just over a week out from the championships, he replied “not too bad. It’s been difficult having the trials just two weeks after the World Track Cup and mentally having to ready yourself to perform in an non-competition environment. I think that was pretty tough for all of us. So we haven’t had the opportunity to do some real hard training in the middle of it all. The form is okay and I think on the day after I rest up a bit, I’ll be fresh and ready for it.”
Craig then went on to explain that because his two events differ so much, that his warm up routine for them varies quite a bit. “For the Team Sprint and man 1 position, I’m doing more starts in the warm-up just to get the part out of the gate right and for the sprint, which is a more rolling type of event, I do more rolling type accelerations and higher speed work in the warm-up.”
Talking more about his warm-up, especially for the sprint event which sees him on and off the track a lot during the two days of the Championships, Craig explains “on any given day I’d only do the full warm-up routine once. This would be anywhere from an hour to two hours depending on how I am feeling.”
“You’d do that on the first morning before the 200m time trial for example and then once you have done that, you don’t need to do that whole process again. You have a bit of a rest, warm down after the morning session and then before the evening session, jump back on the rollers again for 15 or so minutes and do a few accelerations to activate the muscles prior to the competition.”
Craig MacLean looks at the data collected on his SRM with EIS Sports Scientist Scott Gardner, a very experienced guy in cycling after having been to many major events for Australia since 2001. Just one of many sports analysts that are helping the GB riders make even more improvements as they look to the Beijing Olympics.
After a rest period last weekend , Craig was back on the track this weekend, for limited training as he started his taper for the Worlds before he leaves for Majorca on Friday adding that he will follow that up with some track work on Sunday and Monday in Palma.
Ahead of him, providing there are no last minute changes like there were for the 2006 Worlds, will be the Team Sprint on the opening day where the ‘Scotland’ trio of MacLean, Edgar and Hoy will take on the World. Craig then gets a break before he starts the Men’s Sprint on day 3 and his defence of the Silver medal he won in that event 12 months ago.
Talking about his rivals on the track, one name stands out, Dutchman Theo Bos: "He is still the man to beat and there are a lot of guys I haven't raced like Bauge or Nimke and I know I'm going to come up against them some time and so we'll see what happens."
"I think everybody is beatable. I am bit torn as usual between Team Sprint and individual events and I think Team Sprint has got to take priority so most of my training is for a first lap effort in that event and then hopefully I'll ride a decent sprint off the back of that."
"The main problem with the Sprint competition is its run over two days and you have to back up and do 10 or 11 rides and that is where the cross over between Team Sprint and Sprint isn't so good. It's about finding the endurance as well as the speed because generally you meet faster riders as the competition progresses. In other words, you have to do your best rides when you are most fatigued".
One thing is for certain, Craig, one of the original members of the three musketeers (Hoy, Queally and MacLean) who have dominated the sprint squad for well over a decade, knows the Beijing Olympics are just around the corner and with young talent snapping at his heels, success not just in the Team Sprint is important to seal a place on the plane to the Olympics in 2008. We wish the popular ‘hulk’ lots of luck in Majorca next week.
Craig, showing his Scottish heritage in his kilt, talks to the mechanics during training this week.
