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GB Ready Themselves for Home World Championships
Posted March 20, 2008
By Larry Hickmott
Entries have now closed for the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester 26-30th March 2008 and the picture of who is going to be competing can now be assembled. A total of 300 riders (207 men and 93 women) from 37 nations are on the list for 18 events during the 5-day championships.
After no less than 7 Gold medals last time out in Majorca, the GB Team have a lot to live up to at the UCI World Track Championships next week even though in reality it is a stepping stone to the Olympics in August. But what a stepping stone with a packed Velodrome expected, probably the best line-up at a World Track Championship for a long time and the countries media poised to follow the fortunes of a sport where Britain has been a leading light on the world stage.
Looking at the events for the World Championships, most look promising for medals. Like the Pursuit events where Great Britain riders have four chances of winning Gold. Kicking off the Championship programme of events will be the Men’s Pursuit where Olympic Champion Bradley Wiggins will again start favourite and his likely challenger will be a winner already on this track (Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games), Bradley McGee from Australia.
Expected to join Wiggins in the Individual Pursuit will be the ladies favourite Rob Hayles who came so close to Gold here last time the World Track Championships were held in Manchester in 2000. The Pursuit may be Hayles only chance of a medal at Manchester this time round because although he has been nominated for the Madison and Omnium as well, it looks likely the Pursuit will be the one even though he is up for more.
The Men’s Team Pursuit in 2007 saw GB win Gold for the second time in three years and this time round, after winning the UCI 2007/08 World Track Cup after no less than three victories from three attempts, they go into the Championships as favourites. Wiggins is one of six riders training hard at Manchester for the event with the others being Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Paul Manning, Steve Cummings and World Championship rookie Steven Burke.
Which four are selected for the qualifying round is anybodies guess as training continues apace in the Manchester Velodrome but there is a chance, a strong chance, that the selectors will change the team for the two rounds they are expecting to get a ride in, Qualifying and the Final.
This week in training will help the selectors come to a decision on who gets the ride and every session is videoed and the drills on the track studied carefully after each training day.
Talking to the GB Endurance Coach Matt Parker about the week he says that although there are a few bits and pieces that need fine tuning physically the training on the track is all about race preparation and giving the riders a feel for what the race pace may be, get the technical side of things right and sort out all the little details that make up a good ride.
One of the interesting bits to come out of the chats I have with the coaches is that the times on the track don’t always say a lot about the physical state of the team setting the time. “We have a good feel for the environmental conditions and how they affect the performances on the Manchester track so we have a good idea of where our riders are physically” Matt explained to us.
“You do have to keep an eye on the temperatures even over the course of a training session. People start opening doors and delivering things and temperatures can go down by two or three degrees which can make that last effort of the day a harder one.
”"The differences in times can be massive when the atmosphere changes. If the temperature goes up by five degrees it can give you two seconds in a team pursuit. Other things like the dimensions of the tracks, air pressure to a large part, humidity to a lesser degree also have an effect so there are a large number of variables that can effect the speed of a ride.”
The new boy in the team for the championships is Steven Burke who was part of the European Team Pursuit championship winning foursome and now steps up a level. In Copenhagen he had a taste of the success a team like the GB one can expect in major competitions with a Gold medal. In the track centre after a hard day on the boards he says “I think I am stronger than I was in Copenhagen so training is going well. I have been getting the miles in and doing more power efforts to prepare for this.”
“I am getting used to the higher pace and the gear and its starting to become second nature. These efforts are a level up from what I was doing with the Academy and were always going to be difficult for me being so young but I am slowly improving. A lot of the time I’m at breaking point although in some efforts I am quite comfortable. It just depends on what the type of effort is.”
With Bradley Wiggins saying in his interview how close everyone is and that no-one can be sure of their place, it may well come down to who just happens to be on form on the day. That is after all one of the advantages of having strength in depth where the team can choose the riders who are in form at the time rather than hoping the four they choose will all peak at the same time. That is how it used to be but not anymore.
The opposition for the Gold in the Team Pursuit may well come from the Aussies, the current World record holders, who have named a strong six man squad for the team pursuit of Brad McGee, Luke Roberts, Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, Jack Bobridge and Mark Jamieson.
GB Team Pursuit in training today at race pace.
Girl Power
Great Britain also have a strong Gold medal chance in the Women’s Pursuit events. Rebecca Romero was the Gold medal winner in the final UCI World Track Cup event in Copenhagen and will be looking to go one better than she did at the Majorca World Track Championships where she won the Silver medal. Wendy Houvenaghel will also be looking to make her mark in an event that she has shown a lot of progress in over the past three years having been UCI World Track Cup champion twice.
It is though the Women’s Team Pursuit where the team are really gunning to make their mark at Manchester. So far, they have yet to field a team at a World Cup, preferring to concentrate on Olympic events. But training has been going well and as well as Houvenaghel and Romero, the team have nominated Jo Rowsell and Lizzie Armitstead.
Jo Rowsell leads Wendy Houvenaghel and Rebecca Romero today in Women's Team Pursuit training at race pace.
Of these two, Rowsell is the favourite to ride the Team Pursuit (only three to ride each round) and has already been impressive in Team Pursuit drills with the Under 23 Male Endurance Academy. Impressive stuff indeed and so it won’t only be the British Men who will be pursuing a World Record!
The British team however face fierce challenges from the German, Russian and Ukrainian teams. The Dutch team debuted in second place in Copenhagen last month behind the improving German winners and both teams are expected to raise their game in the challenge for medals in Manchester.
Other Gold medal prospects in the endurance events are the Madison and Points races. These bunch races can be a lottery but Great Britain has an ace or two up its sleeve and even with Points race master Chris Newton out after an accident a few weeks ago, GB can look to the likes of either Mark Cavendish or Geraint Thomas to win Gold.
Chris Newton, attending the training today at Manchester talks with national coach Matt Parker.
For the Madison where each country can have one team of two riders, GB have nominated four riders, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Rob Hayles and Geraint Thomas. Of these, the favourites to ride are Bradley and Mark who won a Silver medal in the Beijing UCI World Track Cup and that was despite Mark being off form.
Cavendish showed at the British Madison Championships though he is in great form with Wiggins describing him as being the fastest man on the track when on form. Cavendish will come straight from Italy where he has been racing in a stage race there on the road and will have a week to find his track legs. That won’t be a problem though as according to his coach the Isle of Man rider is naturally a very fluid pedaller and the crowd are in for a treat in which ever events he rides.
Mark is also entered for the Scratch race but so is Steven Burke who as well as being the British champion, has shown he too is very fast in a bunch gallop. In the build up for the Worlds, Steven has been training for the Team Pursuit and that event comes the day after the Scratch race so that may influence the team on whether he rides or Mark Cavendish gets an opportunity to find his track legs early on in the competition.
Another event where Steven Burke may get his chance is the Men’s Omnium. This race is where the competitors will race 5 events: 200m Time Trial, Scratch Race, Individual Pursuit (3,000m), Points Race, and 1km Time Trial. Rob Hayles is also nominated for the event and is really up for doing it should the team give him the chance.
Sprint Events
The Great Britain team also have many a realistic Gold medal hope in the Sprint events. None are bigger than the Men’s and Women’s Keirin. GB have the defending champions in both in Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.
Both had very different run ins to the World Championships with Hoy having the best of it, winning the Men’s Keirin UCI World Cup this season and showing awesome potential for the event. Pendleton meanwhile has had to battle injury in the months before the Championships and will be hoping that the scintillating form that she had in Majorca is present in Manchester.
In the Men’s Keirin, GB have entered Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy, Matt Crampton, and Ross Edgar with three riders able to ride. Favourites to get the nod are Hoy, Edgar and Kenny as Crampton concentrates on the Kilometre Time Trial event where GB can have two riders with the other being World Championship rookie, David Daniel. The field for the Men’s Kilo looks very strong despite its omission from the Olympic Games this year.
The event is always a crowd favourite and they won’t be disappointed with names like favourite Francois Pervis, Didier Henriette (France), Ben Kersten, Scott Sunderland (Australia), Theo Bos (former champion), and Teun Mulder.
In the Women’s Keirin, GB can enter no less than four riders and have nominated four with the surprise being Lizzie Armitstead. The other three are Anna Blyth, Vicky Pendleton and schoolgirl Jessica Varnish who is European Junior champion. Whether Armitstead rides is pure conjecture especially as the Women’s Scratch is held that day and Lizzie is entered along with Kate Cullen in a race where GB can only field one rider.
The Women’s Points Race on the 29th of March also sees Lizzie Armitstead being nominated along with Rebecca Romero with only one rider getting the race. There is a school of thought that being an Olympic event, Rebecca may get the nod to give her experience in a race she may contest in Beijing but as ever we’ll need to wait until the day to see who lines up on the track.
Kate Cullen gets some track training behind a pacer. Right, GB mechanic Mark Ingham works on Kate's bike during the training session.
Four riders from the GB team also get nominated for the Women’s 500 metre Time Trial against the watch on March 26. With only two GB riders being eligible to ride, favourites to get the nod may well be Anna Blyth and Shanaze Reade with the other two nominees being Jessica Varnish and Vicky Pendleton with the latter perhaps waiting to see how her form is before she tries to top the three Golds in Majorca!
A major highlight of the Championship will be the Men’s Team Sprint on March 26. Competition for places has been fierce all winter and after recent trials, the team have nominated Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy, Matt Crampton, and Ross Edgar.
Wearing his new GB skinsuit with Halfords Bikehut branding, Jamie Staff has two flying attemps in training today.
Of these, we have seen Staff, Kenny, Edgar and Hoy doing drills on the track and so don’t be surprised if all four are used for the event. Only three are needed for each round but the team does have the option of changing that line-up if they feel it will help their medal chances.
One of the choices for the Team will be to bring in Jason Kenny who admitted during training that the trials didn’t go 100 per cent. “I know I can go faster and my times are getting better but I don’t know that the team will be so I’ll just keep training. I don’t think the door has been closed.”
GB know winning Gold will not be easy and this event will see one of the biggest battles for the medals of the whole championships with teams from France, Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany and Australia all fancying their chances in the three-man race which will be won by thousandths of a second over three explosive laps of the track.
Whilst the British team could be three of the five nominations, the Dutch team is fixed with Theo Bos, Tim Veldt and Teun Mulder. Meanwhile, Britains olde enemy, Australia, are likely to choose three out of their nominations of Ryan Bayley, Mark French, Ben Kersten and Daniel Ellis.
The French team has already been announced with Arnaud Tournant recruited as a reserve but the legendary sprinter will ride the Keirin event pitched against Britain’s Chris Hoy. Hoy had a winning streak of 22 consecutive wins in the Keirin over the past year. Bos and Mulder are also listed to ride in the sprint competition.
The two different line ups in the team sprint this week in training.
Women's Team Sprint
The Women’s Team Sprint may also be a championship highlight as defending champions Great Britain take on the best from around the World. Vicky Pendleton and Shanaze Reade currently have the Rainbow stripes and it is a big goal for them again with Reade hoping to set a new world best for the event on the Manchester track. Both riders have been nominated along with Anna Blyth.
Match Sprint
Finally, an event many regard as a blue ribbon one, the Match Sprint which is steeped in history and always a great one to win. GB came close with Craig MacLean in 2006 winning Silver but MacLean is out through injury and so GB have nominated Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy, Matt Crampton and Ross Edgar. Three will get the chance to ride and the probable choices will be Hoy, Edgar and Kenny.
kenny is still very young and the competition will be great experience for a rider who has already astounded everyone with his 10.1 flying 200 metre time which beat even the great Theo Bos and was one of the highlights in the Revolution Track Opens during the winter. Whether Kenny can challenge for a medal will be down to how his form is on the day but for experienced campaigners Hoy and Edgar, the chances of medals are as always very real.
Hoy has little to prove with the haul of World Titles to his name and he does seem to have found a successful niche in the Men’s Keirin. The Sprint though may also suit him and his success in the World Cups shows him to be a real threat to the French and Dutch. Edgar meanwhile has year by year made progress winning two World Championship medals last time out in Majorca and a step on to the podium in the Sprint would be a coming of age for him in World cycling.
Still at school, second year junior Jessica Varnish is excited at the prospect of competing at her first World Senior Championships.
In the Women’s Sprint, defending champion Victoria Pendleton returns and after a topsy turvy winter, will be a strong favourite for the title. GB have nominated three riders for the event where they can all ride with the other two being Anna Blyth and Jessica Varnish.
I am sure I join all British Cycling members in wishing the Great Britain team the best of luck in a weeks time when they take to the track to continue to show they are simply the best of British!
The GB Team photo with Halford'sNeil Smith, British Cycling President Brian Cookson and the GB staff for the Manchester worlds along with the riders.
Event by Event
Men Individual Pursuit (March 26) (2 can ride)
Bradley Wiggins
Rob Hayles
Women 500m Time Trial (March 26) (2 can ride)
Jessica Varnish
Anna Blyth
Vicky Pendleton
Shanaze Reade
Men Team Sprint (March 26) (3 can ride per round)
Jamie Staff
Jason Kenny
Chris Hoy
Matt Crampton
Ross Edgar
Men Scratch Race (March 26) (1 can ride)
Steven Burke
Mark Cavendish
Men Team Pursuit 27 March (4 can ride per round)
Steven Burke
Ed Clancy
Geraint Thomas
Steven Cummings
Paul Manning
Bradley Wiggins
Men Sprint 27 March (3 can ride)
Jason Kenny
Chris Hoy
Matt Crampton
Ross Edgar
Women Individual Pursuit(27 March)(2 can ride)
Wendy Houvenaghel
Rebecca Romero
Women Team Sprint (27 March) (2 to ride)
Anna Blyth
Vicky Pendleton
Shanaze Reade
Women Sprint (28 March)(3 can ride)
Anna Blyth
Vicky Pendleton
Jessica Varnish
Women Team Pursuit (28 March) (3 can ride per round)
Wendy Houvenaghel
Rebecca Romero
Jo Rowsell
Lizzie Armitstead
Men Points Race (28 March) (1 can ride)
Geraint Thomas
Mark Cavendish
Men Keirin (29 March) (3 can ride)
Jason Kenny
Chris Hoy
Matt Crampton
Ross Edgar
Women Points Race (29 March) (1 can ride)
Lizzie Armitstead
Rebecca Romero
Men Madison (29 March) (2 can ride)
Mark Cavendish
Bradley Wiggins
Rob Hayles
Geraint Thomas
Men Omnium (30 March) (1 can ride)
Steven Burke
Rob Hayles
Women Keirin (30 March) (4 can ride)
Lizzie Armitstead
Anna Blyth
Vicky Pendleton
Jessica Varnish
Men 1km Time Trial (30 March) (2 to ride)
David Daniell
Matt Crampton
Women Scratch Race (30 March) (1 to ride)
Lizzie Armitstead
Kate Cullen
A full list of all the riders (from all teams) will be on the official website at www.worldtrackcycling.com on Thursday evening.
RELATED LINKS
British Cycling Websites World Track Championships Home Page
2008 Copenhagen World Track Cup
News
World Cup Champion Newton Out of Worlds after Accident
GB Chasing Women's Olympic Spots
Interviews
Bradley Wiggins Interview March 2008
Back to the Fold for Steve Cummings
Chris Hoy Interview Feb 7 - 2008
