Talking to Paul Manning (GB Team Pursuit)

 

 

Interview by British Cycling's Larry Hickmott

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A rider who is one of the best individual pursuiters in the World, Paul Manning, is concentrating solely on the Team Pursuit in Los Angeles and I spoke to him as he recovered from the flu which struck at one of the worst periods it could, just before a major championship.

Paul has been representing his country since the mid-90's, like many of the current crop of riders and says his GB days really kicked off in 96 when he rode the Road Worlds in Italy (Under 23's). After 1996, he rode off and on for GB and when the performance plan kicked in for 1999, he has been a consistent representative for Great Britain, winning a bronze at the 2000 Olympics, Silver at the 2004, Olympics, and a handful of silver and bronze medals since then at World Championships. He even found time to go close to a medal in the Individual when he was fourth in 2003 and did succeed in winning a bronze in the Commonwealth Games just behind the two Brads, McGee and Wiggins.

Like many in the Team Pursuit though, they had high hopes for Athens and it didn't quite work out but in talking to Simon Jone, the squad certainly seem, to be learning a lot from their defeats and perhaps this is the year they will finally win the World Championship after pushing the Aussies all the way in Melbourne last year. I asked Paul if it was a chore getting back into the swing of things after such a high profile defeat in Athens.

 

Left: Chris Newton leads Paul as the two Team Pursuit teammates warm up for the session together, Paul on his SI pursuit bike, Chris on the bunch (upright) version of his SI bike.

"No, not at all" he replied. "We all enjoyed getting back into it for the World Cup (Manchester). The World Cup was a good training effort and good preparation for the Worlds. It was all fairly relaxed despite it being in Manchester and we seemed to be going well. After that, everyone has gone away and done what they need to for the Worlds. We're only going to gel once we're there at the venue -- that's the way it tends to be."

Asked if the Tour of Langkawi provided him and the team with a good base, he says "for sure, it did. Its' one of the early races in the year so it was good to get out there in good shape and get around it. And most people have had time to top that up in the meantime, so everyone should have pretty good endurance. For the team event though, endurance is perhaps not as important as pure speed so we should be close again."

On the subject of not having won the championship and whether that plays on their minds, Paul explained "No, I don't think so. My own pressure comes from wanting to do the best we can do on the day and you always stay focused on yourself in the preparation phase."

It was the final preparation phase however that Paul had something more serious to worry him, the flu. Asked how bad it was, he replied, "it was bit more than a cold, probably a small virus and it really knocked me off the bike for the best part of a week which was straight after a good quality training camp we had in Sardinia. It meant I missed a few events like the Eddie Soens, and the Giro del Capo, endurance events, but it's been good to get on the track instead and do some quality sessions so I think I'll be right before the race comes around."

Paul did admit though it was frustrating to know you should be riding your bike so close to an event but you also know you can't ride your bike because you have flu. He did however seem fine in training and says that once the squad are in Los Angeles, which they are now, it will only take a two or three sessions before they are ready to race. Once the Worlds have finished, it's a short break in the US to see his sister and then Paul returns home to tackle a road season. One of his key victories was the RAS in Ireland, so despite being more known for his track exploits, Paul can also do the business on the road and we wish him well in Los Angeles for the rest of 2005.

Right: Paul gets us a sweat in the warm conditions at the Manchester Velodrome the day before he headed for Los Angeles with the rest of the team not already out there.