Ed Clancy talks about riding his first World Championships
Interview by British Cycling's Larry Hickmott
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On my first full day in the GB camp at the UCI World Track Championships, I had the chance to catch up with the riders racing in their first World Championships. One of these was West Yorkshire's (Holme Firth) Ed Clancy, a winner of two Silver medals at the final World Cup event in Sydney this year. The road to Ed winning those medals began in earnest 12 months ago with the Under 23 Academy and before that the Talent Team.
Under the guidance of Rod Ellingworth, the riders in the Under 23 team began by learning the ropes and discipline required by riders representing their country at this level and then, later, the coaching saw each of them trained to reach a peak for a seven week tour of Australia including the Sydney World Cup.
Stories abound of how tough it was for the riders in the academy but the results speak for themselves and those by Ed Clancy in Sydney were certainly special. So I started by asking Ed how he feels 12 months on?
"I guess he's (Rod) hardened us up and purposely made it more difficult for us." Ed replied. "We had drills and more drills, just keeping the black line in the team pursuit and staying close to the wheel and lap after lap doing changes behind the motor bike."
It was the type of hard work that paid off in Sydney and so I asked, which of the results did he find the most special in Sydney? "They were both good and if we had won the Team Pursuit, it would have been that no doubt. I was happy with the individual and it was a big bonus. I didn't expect anything from it and the coach didn't expect anything. It just came out or the blue especially after Geraint's crash and everything. I hope it picked up the whole team as we were starting to worry if we'd get a medal."
The Team Pursuit is a special event for many and in recent times riders like Bryan Steel, concentrated solely on that event and now, its riders like Steve Cummings and Paul Manning who are more than happy playing a team role rather than racing for individual glory. Ed seems to fit that mould as well and almost seems embarrassed and over whelmed at his individual glory.
"I like team pursuiting" he explained "and when I think about Sydney now, I think we still had a couple of seconds in us for that final, and perhaps we could have won. That would have been really special. I never gave the individual a great deal of thought in Sydney. Its not that I dislike it but I would still rather get in a team of four riders and batter around the track. It just feels more like my thing. A bit more punchy. In the individual, I struggle with pace judgement at the moment. In the last 12 months, we have been doing a lot of Madison and Team Pursuit work and we have tended to veer away from the individual stuff because later on I should be able to dial into it. I'd like to do more in the future, and see how far I can go with it though".
Ed is also at home on the road, won a round of the Elite Circuit Series last year and enjoyed being part of the win by Mark Cavendish in the Bendigo Criterium a few weeks ago. "I think we all enjoyed the crit" he says. "We turned up there as a unit and took control of the race. There was no point in the race where we were under any real threat at all. Me and Matt Brammeier were taking care of the little moves, Tom helped out in the lead out and we had a lot of confidence in Cav for the sprint."
Here in Los Angeles, Ed admits its nice to have his academy team mates around. Riders like Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavendish, adding he still has get to know the senior riders which he expects will take a little time. When asked how different it was for him now racing a World Championship and the support he gets, he answered "now all we have to do is concentrate on riding our bikes as everything is done for us here. Its pretty surreal. We walk down to the lobby to go on a road ride and they (the masseurs) are standing there with bottles and when you come back there is a big box for dirty bottles. We do end up with a lot of time on our hands and we have to concentrate on kicking back and keeping our feet up. I'd love to do a bit of body boarding on the beach and the temptation over came us in Sydney a couple of times when we hit the beach in Cronulla."
No matter the temptation, the weather here in LA isn't exactly great for body boarding so I don't think Ed will have a problem staying in the hotel and resting up for his ride in the Individual Pursuit. It is, he says, a prestigious place to have been given. If advice is needed, he doesn't have to go far with the likes of Chris Boardman, Paul Manning and Rob Hayles to name but two riders who have had success in the event. Ed admits he has had some advice from Chris in the Team Pursuit and knows he has a lot to offer the team in the events that Chris made his own when he himself was on top of the World.
Ed also finds just sitting down to dinner in the team hotel a unique experience. There, the team have three tables reserved for their use and Ed says "looking at the staff table, it is full of top coaches or former top riders, and then I look at the riders at the table and there are Olympic champions left, right and centre and world champions too. It feels a bit strange to be sat there with them. It can be a bit daunting to look around and see the company you're in."
Asked if being here in LA at the Worlds is different to other competitions? "There is definitely something about it, yes. The team meetings when Dave Brailsford lays down the law for example. And everyone is more on edge and ready for it. This is the Worlds and it doesn't get any bigger except for the Olympics which only comes along every four years."
On the track tough, with only a couple of other teams on the track at the same time, Ed does admit the training doesn't feel a lot different to what it was at Manchester knowing full well though that in a couple of days, its going to get busy in the track centre. Talking about the track itself, Ed says "the bankings are so tight, you really wang around them and the straights seem so long. There has been quite a lot of talking in the team pursuit about holding back in the bankings and not flying around them as this opens gaps up and then it all squashes up again in the straight. They have to ride it differently than the way they do on a track like Manchester. In the individual though, it is all about keeping the power the same."
Yesterday, Ed had been doing a couple of flying 2k efforts with Mark Cavendish. Asked how his training at Los Angeles was going, Ed says "in the second flying 2k, my legs felt really good. When I do the individual work, I still feel good and strong, but I am struggling with the pace judgement thing. Sometimes I am going too fast or slow. I just don't have a feel for the pace yet. Its going to take time."
His pace judgement ability isn't so surprising as the individual is quite different to the Team event and as Ed admits he had no individual training before Sydney and only three or four sessions in LA. He does however look in good shape and the experience in the Individual will stand him in good stead for the years to come like the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. We wish him a lot of luck in LA and look forward to following his progress over the years.