Training Thursday Manchester World Track Cup

Manchester UCI World Track Cup

Training Day Features, Thursday, 22nd of February

UCI Manchester World Track Cup, February 23-25, 2007

(Tickets now available on the door at the Manchester Velodrome)

Day 2: Training, Wednesday Manchester World Track Cup

Day 1: Training, Tuesday Manchester World Track Cup

Day 3 (Training Days)

Stop Press -- Womens Endurance Rider Interviews: Just added ... For the last 10 days, three of the Women endurance riders in the Great Britain Cycling team, Rebecca Romero, Wendy Houvenaghel and Lizzy Armitstead, have been training in Newport and tonight (Thursday), arrived in Manchester for the World Cup.

BritishCycling.org.uk caught up with them at their hotel to see how they are all going prior to a major goal in their programmes. >>>>

20070222_MTWC_Brad_Wiggins The National Cycling Centre in Manchester was certainly a busy place to be today as the riders racing at the UCI World Track Cup took to the boards for their final hit out before competition starts.

Right: Bradley Wiggins had an accident while training on a treadmill last week which gave the Londoner quite a knock, a black eye and seven stitches.

The event also saw a press conference where four Olympic champions from Great Britain and Australia kindly gave up some of their time to talk to the media, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Anna Meares and Ryan Bayley.

Before the press could jump in with some questions though, Ryan Bayley being a sprinter, got the jump on everyone by asking tongue in cheek Bradley Wiggins how he got his black eye. Bradley, calmly and all so seriously then told all, saying

"I was training last Thursday and the towel got caught in the front wheel and it catapulted backwards at quite a speed," said Wiggins: "There was a danger that I might not be able to ride this weekend as I had quite a nasty gash (7 stitches required) at the time but things seemed to heal quite quickly over the weekend."

"It was just one of those things. I thought I would go on the treadmill instead of going out on the road because it is quite dangerous on the road and I ended up crashing on the bloody treadmill. It would have been a shame to miss the World Cup in Manchester."

Brad however was in great form on the track later that day when doing some individual pursuit efforts and it promises to be a very special event on Friday for those making the trip to Manchester. Bradley also spoke about the Team Pursuit, saying "we have been consistently doing times over 3k which over the full distance would see us go under 4 minutes which is something this line up has never done before in training."

"So we are certainly looking to go under four minutes and its exciting times for the Team Pursuit. We have quite a bit of strength in depth with Geraint Thomas and Chris Newton as well and Steve Cummings too racing for the Discovery channel."

20070222_MTWC_Team_Pursuit

The GB Team Pursuit squad during a 1K standing start effort...

20070222_MTWC_Aussie_05 Next there was a question for Ryan Bayley (Pictured right) about whether he had qualified for the Worlds in the Sprint to which he replied "I am racing in the sprint at Manchester and hoping to qualify myself a sprint spot in the team."

"I am pretty sure that we have got enough spots but I would rather do it on my own merits. I will be riding the sprint and the Team Sprint and then the JKA Keirin on Sunday. All of the best sprinters in the world are here for that and I am looking forward to it. It's always a hard race."

Asked how important the World Cup is for him so close to the World Track Championships, he replied "its very good for me because it's a big stepping stone for me, a pre worlds drill where I can see how everything is going. Hopefully I'll hit all my goals this week and come away with some good results."

Olympic 500m TT champion Anna Meares was asked how long she has been in Manchester to prepare and she replied smiling "probably coming up to a day now! We got in about 10 yesterday morning after 30 hours of flying and then had to wait for a few hours until our rooms were ready. As for training we had one session on the track yesterday and another today."

Anna then explained that she isn't doing the team Sprint with her sister Kerrie. "Kerrie is at home in Adelaide," said Anna: "I will be riding the team sprint with Christine Bayley. Kerrie hasn't done a qualifying time to ride for the Australian team at the world championships yet and she has until Sunday to do it and then it will be between Kerrie and Christine who rides at the worlds in the Womens Team Sprint."

20070222_MTWC_Aussie_06 The current 500m time trial record holder pictured right had considered a new record attempt on the super fast Manchester track. "I am tempted," she continued: "But I just feel that there is no need for me to ride another 500 until the world champs."

"I am chasing the rainbow jersey this year for that event particularly. I rode a 500 at our National Championships last week and just don't think it is necessary to really push myself after some tough competitions and a thirty-hour flight because I can write myself off after two laps. I don't want to do that with four weeks to go to the World Championships."

Talking about the new events like the Team Sprint for Women, Anna replied "Great. I think it is one of the best things for Womens Sprint Cycling but I think it particularly sucks at Olympic level (the event is not included at Olympic level) but we can't really do anything about that. I think its great the UCI are looking after the Womens sprinters at World level."

Asked if the Aussies will be travelling home before the World Championships or staying in Europe, she says "We're going to Germany, the old stomping ground of the Australian team, and doing our pre Worlds preparation there."

20070222_MTWC_Aussie_04
Anna Meares in action during training.

Chris Hoy (pictured right) said of the World Cup "its quite a big weekend for me because of the volume of racing I have, the Kilo on Friday, the Sprint on Saturday and then on Sunday the Team Sprint and Japanese Kierin. The results are important but its also like a 20070222_MTWC_Chris_Hoy dress rehearsal for the World Championships. Hopefully I'll come away with some medals in the Kilo and Team Sprint and you never know with the Sprint and the Keirin."

"We have a really strong squad now and it's helping to push the bar up. There are no problems in the team fighting for places as we all get on really well but it does make it tough for all of us."

Talking about the Team Sprint, he says "I have been drafted in to ride with Craig MacLean and Ross Edgar whilst the Science in Sport team will be Matthew Crampton, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff. Essentially it's a Scotland versus England team! Initially I wasn't going to ride the Team Sprint because I have quite a full programme."

All the British riders racing were at the track except for Jason Queally who has had chicken pox for the last two weeks and although now out of the contagious stage of the virus and back in training, he has been withdrawn from the World Cup and World Championships.

Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles RT
As well as the Great Britain teams, the Thursday training day of the competition also saw the PCA/Evans Cycles team having a hit out as well as Kate Cullen in Recycling colours and Freddy Johannson in the colours of Sweden with big Magnus Backstedt acting as his helper!

First onto the track today of the British riders were the competitors in the Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles racing team. After watching them go through their individual training efforts we spoke first to Tony Gibb who explained that leading up to the World Cup, they have been doing quite a lot of road work, strength efforts, seated power efforts and then speed work for the last 10 days.

20070222_MTWC_PCA_01

Tony Gibb training today at Manchester.

"Unfortunately we haven't had as much track time as we wanted because Newport have not been particularly helpful in giving us that track time." Tony added that the team expect to compete in the Scratch, Points, Individual Pursuit and Madison events and maybe the Team Pursuit.

"We are being realistic about this which is more of a marketing exercise for us whilst Jason (Allen) is here to try and qualify for the World Championships for New Zealand which he should do as he's been riding like a train."

Asked what events he is looking to do at Manchester, Tony says, "I'll be looking to do well in the Team Pursuit if we ride that and then the Madison. I'm pretty focused on doing that and having a good hit out there."

Asked why he isn't doing the Scratch race, an event he won a Silver medal in at the 2002 World Championships, Tony replied "its only fair James (McCallum) who won a bronze medal at the Commonwealths rides that event. It's a case of spreading it around so everyone gets an opportunity."

On the track in training during today's session, Tony explained that he did a warm-up on the blue line with the team, and then had half an hour of board time to get reacquainted to the Manchester track. "Then I'm doing two flying 500s, go home for some lunch and sleep before a roller session tonight."

20070222_MTWC_PCA_02

Looking ahead to the competition, the PCA/Evans Cycles team will be first on the track with Jason Allen (above) in the Pursuit followed by James McCallum in the Scratch race. Allen is one of the PCA/Evans Cycles best hopes for a top ranking performance. He was 4th in the Commonwealth Games behind an England clean sweep in the Individual Pursuit with a 4.22 and is one of two Kiwis in the team, the other being Gordon McCauley.

We spoke to Jason after his session where he was pleased with the efforts he made. Jason recently competed in a stage race in New Zealand and arrived here a few weeks ago. Asked how he feels the numbers are stacking up, Jason replied "its always hard going from training to racing but the times are starting to come down now. To get a ride at the Worlds for NZ, I have to get under 4.28 so that is the schedule I'll have with me on Friday."

Talking about his trade team giving him the opportunity to get a ride at the World Cup, Jason explained "yeah, its huge. They have given me a lot of support like I turned up and everything was given to me and I haven't had any stresses at all. Hopefully I can pay them back with some publicity in the Madison which we should be able to have a good run in".

After the Track Worlds, Jason intends to stay in Britain to race for PCA/Evans with the Tour of Britain a big aim for him and the team and we wish him lots of luck for the World Track Cup.

20070222_MTWC_Freddy_Johannson_01 Another rider in the PCA/Evans team but racing for Sweden is Freddy Johannson (pictured right) who says he is fine after a spill in Newport during a track league. "Its my first World Cup and I am really looking forward tomorrow. Hopefully my form is good. I am riding the Pursuit, the Scratch and Points."

"I have been training well before this. We (Magnus Backstedt and Freddy) were down in Majorca for two weeks and did a lot of long rides and efforts to get my form up as well. He (Magnus) has been really good and needs to keep calming me down because I am trying to hard for the first kilometre. We're working on it!"

Great Britain Camp
Later, in the GB camp, Victoria Pendleton was looking fabulous as always with some unique jewellery like tiny DuraAce Sprockets for ear rings. Talking about how things were looking for her World Cup, she explained "things have been going really well actually. My times in the last few weeks have been promising with some personal bests. I am probably in the best condition I have ever been in for a World Cup."

20070222_MTWC_Victorias

20070222_MTWC_Victorias_Ear Victoria (pictured above) will be racing for SiS in the World Cup and is planning on racing in all three individual events, the 500TT, Sprint and Keirin. Victoria explained she hasn't ridden a 500 this year so needs to do that to qualify for the World Championships and is hoping to do that with her ride at Manchester.

Right: Victoria's very special 'sprocket ear rings'

Talking about riding in front of a home crowd, including her family from Stotfold, Victoria says "fingers crossed there will be a big crowd. It always helps you to pull something more out of the bag".

After Manchester, Victoria then goes into the final preparation phase. "After this, we'll go into full on race preparation . I haven't really done much of that, a couple of days to sharpen up is all. So I'll be looking to get a little bit faster and smoother and hoping there are still gains to be made in that area."

Finally, asked if she has a special event, Victoria says she is not sure but after winning the Keirin in Moscow, who knows, adding that she will be happy to take what ever success comes her way.

Kate Cullen
20070222_MTWC_Kate_Cullen_02 Also on the track at the same time as GB was Recycling.co.uk rider, Kate Cullen (pictured right) . Going back to her trip to Los Angeles, Kate told us it was a nightmare. "The airline lost my bikes which didn't help so I was three days off the bike and got really lethargic. I went to LA as a test to see what it was like because these international races are always a shock to the system. I know what to expect now!"

Kate then thanked Charlie Jackson and John Herety at Recycling.co.uk for their help in giving her a ride at the World Cups where she wasn't guaranteed a ride with the national team. "It means I can ride the races and there is no pressure."

"I rode at Manchester last time and crashed 11 laps into the Points race but couldn't get out of the saddle because my knee hurt so much. I am though feeling quite positive about things this time round. Training has been going well and I have my bike this time."

Kate then explained that she has been staying in Cardiff with Alex Wharton and his wife whilst training at Newport. She also found that she was able to hire track time in Holland which she found a lot cheaper, useful when on a limited budget. Kate went on to say that she is expecting the heats of the Points race to be fast with the ones in LA being run off at nearly 30mph, quick for a womens event. "They were savage" Kate added!