Chris Newton Heading Back to Copenhagen

Story posted February 5th 2008

By Larry Hickmott

In less than two weeks, Great Britain Cycling Team’s Chris Newton will be heading back to a place which holds a special place in his cycling palmeres after he won his first and only individual World Title there in 2002. The victory came in the Points race and it was for him, a major turning point in his career.

Right: Chris Newton, wearing the rainbow stripes of World Champion, will be seeking to win them back in Manchester in two months at the World Track Championships.

Now, six years on, after several near podium finishes in the event at World Championship level, and with a place in the GB team for Beijing in his sights, Chris heads back to Copenhagen to continue the quest not just for a World title at Manchester in the event but also chasing a medal at the Olympics Games.

Chris is one of the few GB endurance riders (male) who is based in the UK and recently attended the launch of his ‘new’ team for 2008, Rapha Condor-Recycling.co.uk. That over with, his attention turns towards GB team duties in  Copenhagen and the UCI World Track Cup there where he will continue his quest in the Points race event and also in the Team Pursuit.

So far in the UCI World Track Cup series, Chris has had excellent results in an event where you need a lot of things to make the podium and among those is luck. As Chris admits about the Points race, “You can have the best legs on the day and not get anything.”

To win a Points race where there are 24 world class riders all giving their all to be on the podium, it takes experience to know which moves to go with, speed to score in the mid race sprints, power and quick recuperation to go with the lap taking moves and endurance to race flat out for 25 miles. And in this Winter’s World Track Series, where more riders than ever are racing to try and get a place at the Olympics in this event, for Chris to have made the podium twice already shows what special form he has had during the winter.

Going back to that day in Copenhagen 2002 where he dominated the title race for the Points event, he says “it was very unexpected. The thing that sticks out in my mind most is that they did the presentation for the Team Pursuit the day after the competition and while I was warming up for the Points race, I had to jump off and get on the podium (bronze medal). Hugh Porter was wanting photos and so and on and I had to tell him I’m in the middle of warming up and an hour later I was World Points champion! It was definitely a special day.”

“After that I realised what I was capable of” he adds.

Although Chris has not yet won the title again, winning a Team Pursuit one instead, he has shown he is consistently one of the World’s top Points race riders. “I think the subsequent performances at World Championships were off the back of stage races and a lot of hard work which paid off. It’s difficult to judge what needs to be done but one thing is certain and that is it has got to be done.”

Asked to rate how his riding in the Points event is going at the moment, Chris replied “it’s going really well. I have put a lot more emphasis on the fitness side of things this year. Before, when the track and road seasons were together, you always had that endurance in your legs from stage races and so on but since they have put the World Track Championships into the winter months, you have limited time for endurance work.”

“A lot of the preparation in the past has instead been team pursuit orientated so you were losing the endurance base especially when you’re going round the World chasing World Track Cups as well. So I think that had a negative effect on my Points race results.”

“So we addressed that this year and it’s been very tough, and a lot of sacrifices at home have had to be made like going away to train. Having a 12 week old baby at home along with the rest of the family has made that travelling away very difficult but if you want to win medals you have got to do that and the family understand that. You can’t do anything half heartedly because then it is a waste of time.”

For the last Olympic campaign, Chris again went into the World Track Cup season looking to win it overall and book a place at the Olympics but it wasn’t to be and he finished second in the 2004 World Track Cup season for the Points event. He did get to Athens however but things didn’t go his way in the race. “It didn’t go well in Athens and there were a lot of factors involved. It wasn’t a very good day.”

Coming back to the here and now and his winter campaign in the UCI World Track Cups for 2007/08, Chris says all the races have been difficult challenges. “The worst part has been the qualifying for the finals and although many may feel these were probably a breeze, they were actually harder than the finals”.

Chris has a point. In the past in a UCI World Track Cup series (non-Olympic years), to make the final of a Points event you generally had to be in the top 12 in your heat and when there were only 14 or so riders in the race, the heats were easier. Now however, with three heats instead of two,  only eight have been going through from the heats.

Explaining more about why the heats can be a mine field, Chris says “because the heats are shorter races, the riders who perhaps don’t have the depth of endurance that the top guys do, but still have the speed to score in the sprints means riders like me are having to put a lot more effort into making the final than in other years.”

“The finals are generally held only a few hours later after the heats where you come off the track and switch off. You then need to then fire yourself back up for the final and in LA, I felt so terrible because of the time difference and so on. We left it as late as possible going to LA because you don’t want it (the World Cup) to encroach on the training and we tried to get the right balance.”

His form, a few weeks on from that World Track Cup and the period afterwards which he said wasn’t nice due to the jet lag and so on,  is good as I saw as he stepped up on the track for the first Team Pursuit effort for many a week. The form, he agreed,  is there.

“I have been training quite hard this week and so feel a bit leggy today” he told us after a long afternoon of Team Pursuit efforts on Monday. His workouts prior to the endurance training camp varied from road work, to training on the turbo, a treadmill and doing other different things.

“I got what I needed to do in and haven’t stopped really” Chris explained.

He says his goal in Copenhagen is to consolidate his place overall (2nd) in the Points competition for the UCI World Track Cup. A top six place will get GB a place at the Olympics and Chris is unsure if a win in the current World Track Cup series is feasible.

“I think I’d have to get a top six and for Cameron (Meyer, Australia) not to be there to do that and if that happens, fair enough as you have to be there to win it. Anything is possible and its there to be had”.

Chris leads the field out during a Revolution track meeting.

Talking about the competition for places in the GB team where very few riders are not being pushed for a spot in the team, Chris - who seems to be in the form of his life judging on the times he and the others are doing in the Team Pursuit- says …

“For the endurance events, the young riders are really fast but there is a difference  between riding two kilometres and four kilometres and in the Points, a difference between racing a 20k heat and a 40k final. To be fast consistently over 16 sprints for example. I am pretty sure I have that depth and proved that in the past which is why I am quite confident in what I am doing.”

“Sure, the young riders have so much track craft and knowledge but I’m hoping it will come down to those who have that extra bit of endurance and depth that I feel I win favour on based on past performances.”

Looking ahead to the season that will encompass two big goals, he says “it’s just about knuckling down to doing the hard work for the Worlds (in Manchester) for the first goal, having a breather and then pushing on again for the Olympics. There is no respite.”

Chris, in the suit, at the launch of his new team recently. Picture Gerry McManus.

Finally, we had a quick word on the new team he is part of for 2008, Rapha Condor Recycling. This has seen the combining of two of the top teams for 2007 and Chris admits he feels very comfortable in the team knowing all the riders and his long time pro team manager, John Herety.

“The only people I didn’t know were Grant and Monty from Condor and Simon from Rapha but they’re good guys. I have been on the phone to them a lot over the winter because everything has to be perfect and you don’t have the luxury of having a nice easy winter because you’re on it all the time.”

After many years on Pinarello’s, Chris admits that the new all black Rapha Condor bikes are really nice. Looking across at his ‘training’ bike at the track, he explained he’s had it since October and that although it has mudguards on it, it is a race bike he’s had for a while to get used to it.

“Pinarello’s were really good bikes” he says “as are the Condors and if you’re racing at this level you’re going to be on top bikes.”

On his programme for the comings weeks leading up to the World’s, Chris will have a mixture of events to compete in including the Copenhagen World Track Cup, followed by the Clayton Velo Road Race,  Revolution Track open, a block of training in Majorca and then the defence of his title at the Bikeline Two Day (Premier Calendar).

Talking about the latter event he says “with three stages, you can do some damage to yourself over the two days and that will be my last little hit out on the road before the final track preparation for the Worlds”.

Good luck to Chris in Copenhagen and thanks for his time.

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