Victoria Pendleton Sprinting for Gold in Majorca
March 26, 2007
By Larry Hickmott (larryhickmott@britishcycling.org.uk)
Victoria full speed during a motor chase around Manchester velodrome.
Making her debut at a major international event in Manchester 2002 (Commonwealth Games), Victoria Pendleton is now a well established ‘name’ in the sport of Women’s Sprint cycling after winning the World Championships for the Women’s Sprint in 2005. Last year Victoria showed that was no fluke by winning a Silver medal in Bordeaux to go with her Gold medal in the Commonwealth Games (2006, Melbourne).
Arriving at the final day of the 2007 Pre-worlds training camp with her eye catching Oakley boots and shades, the Stotfold young lady is now a confident athlete and after a super performance at the Manchester World Track Cup where she won everyone of her three events, Victoria is hoping for similar or better form at the World Championships.
What was really special by Victoria’s performances in Manchester only a month ago were the times she set on a track that has never been regarded as being as quick for sprinters as one like Moscow for example. And yet she went within a few meters of breaking the World Record for the 500m TT and a smidge of her own personal best for the 200 set in Moscow. So by any stretch of the imagination, Manchester went well for her but at a price;
“I think I did some damage in the Manchester World Track Cup and it took me a week and a half to recover as I plodded through my training trying to get back into it. In the last week, I have started to get back to my old form and am now cutting back the training a bit. I feel I am now back to the same standard I was at Manchester”.
“If I was to go as equally fast as I did at Manchester on another track – obviously its relative as all tracks are different in terms of speed – I’d be pretty happy. I am hoping there is more in the tank left after Manchester because I wasn’t particularly race prepared in terms of training. I went to that World Cup on the back of a few days of recovery so I am hoping my form will be slightly better, that is what I am aiming for but I won’t know until I get there.”
Above: Victoria is a special guest on BBC Breakfast doing a featured spot with Chris who spent the afternoon at the track with a BBC camerman.
In Palma, Victoria is set to do three events. She may have done four had the programme been better as the Sprint finals where she hopes to figure, expects even, clash with the 500 metre Time Trial.
Talking about the Sprint event, and asked does she feel quite comfortable in it these days, Victoria replies “I wouldn’t say I feel comfortable but I feel a little more confident. Less lost because it is not an easy event mentally and physically. I feel more comfortable than I did because I know now what to expect and I know I have gone the distance before. I think with age and experience, I am better prepared.”
Victoria says this year she is around two tenths faster than she was last year and describes that progress as ‘phenomenal’. “It is a bigger jump than I made last year from the year before. At Palma I am hoping to post a quicker time than I have in recent Worlds and move myself up the ranking. The year I won the Worlds, I was 11th fastest and knew there were improvements to be made and I feel I have made them.”
A look at her 200 metre qualifying times over the years though and Victoria has been a top 10 qualifier since she rode the 2002 Track Worlds so 2005 qualifying was for sure a blip especially as Victoria went on to win the title and so had the speed to match her rivals. Her time at Manchester though, 11.068, on a track that is not the speed dome that the ski slop of Moscow is, was quite special compared to the 11.037 she did in Moscow, a track where the World record was set a few years ago (10.831).
Palma will also see her come face to face with three of the riders who finished ahead of her in qualifying at the 2006/07 Moscow World Track Cup there and the Women’s sprint competition is expected to be really difficult for anyone wanting to win it. The times from the top girls are now very close and there are at least half a dozen riders capable of taking the rainbow jersey home including Victoria.
As seen in many a World Championship though, the fastest rider in qualifying is not always the winner of the title and tactics play a big part. And the British team are also making moves to help better prepare their riders for that side of the event. After we had spoken, Victoria could be seen bumping her way down the ‘green’ alongside the track as consultant coach Jan van Eijden ‘lent’ on her. They then went up onto the boards and did some tactical role play on there as well.
“I haven’t done as much of that as I hope to do in the future” Victoria told us. “Jan hasn’t been working with us that long and had a lot of riders to work with in a short space of time. We have though done work on my tactics and technique and I hope it shows in my racing. There is though a long way to go with it.”
Right: Victoria works with Jan van Eijden on the track the day before leaving for Majorca.
Victoria is also down to ride the Women’s Keirin and after her dominating display in Manchester where her rivals were not given a chance, the GB rider is again hoping her new found speed will help in perhaps doing well in that event. “I felt very comfortable in the Keirin at Manchester and had the strength and power to go when I wanted and as fast as I needed to when I had to which is nice because it gave me control of the race. That is something I hope to take to the Worlds with me.”
The final event we talked about was the Team Sprint, the very first time it is part of the World Track Championships, and Victoria says its quite exciting to be part of that. “Shanaze is a phenomenal starter” the experienced campaigner explained. “I have never been woman 2 so I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to get on her wheel and was quite pleased with how it has gone in training. It showed me the benefit of riding behind another rider in this type of event during the start phase.”
“We have kept everything simple, like the changes which happen so quick and naturally.”
“I want to support the events like this for women because there are not that many for Sprinters. We also have two options at the moment for this event with Anna as well and that makes us a strong nation in the Women’s Team Sprint.”
Victoria also agreed that having both Shanaze and Anna on the track with her in training for the World Championships is good because it helps push her on and she helps draw them out. “Both Anna and Shanaze are more than capable of being on the podium in that event and fingers crossed I wouldn’t say no to the rainbow jersey!”
“Once you have had the stripes, you want them back!”
Shanaze Reade gives it full gas at the start and Victoria grits her teeth to grab the draft behind her as the Crewe youngster races around the first lap in the Team Sprint.
Helping her to win those stripes back are numerous people including National Sprint coach Iain Dyer, consultant coach Jan van Eijden and in the gym Mark Simpson of the EIS. “Mark has been in control of my strength and conditioning programme for over a year now. Before him we had someone come in part time but now I have full time one to one coaching, looking at every lift I do, and that has helped a lot in my improvements.”
“We’re also getting a lot of data coming from the track too thanks to Scott in the EIS and we’re hoping to use these to see the relationships between gym and the data on the track and its going to be an important part of our preparation for Beijing. Now that we have six months of data showing the progression made through various training phases we have benchmarks for the future.”
Victoria earlier this year lifting weights in the EIS gym.
Our thanks to Victoria for speaking to us and we wish her luck in Majorca.
