Manchester UCI Track World Cup
Saturday, 24th February 2007 (Day 2)
Home Page, Manchester World Track Cup
Results:
Women's 500m Time Trial | Women's Individual Pursuit
Men's Points Race | Men's Sprint | Men's Sprint B | Men's Team Pursuit
Rob Hayles on the front GB in full flow on the way to a sub 4 minute 4000m
Team Pursuit
The 'dream team' of Wiggins, Clancy, Hayles and Manning went within an ace of the national record in Team Pursuit qualifying. Becoming only the second British quartet to go under 4 minutes, they recorded 3 minutes 59.876 seconds, exactly one hundredth of a second slower than the Wiggins, Newton, Cummings, Manning line-up managed at the Athens Olympics. Cheered on by the capacity crowd at Manchester, they roared round the first kilo in just over 63 seconds and then reeled off 57.8s and 58.1s second and third kilos, before a relatively sedate final four laps in 60.1s, after Rob Hayles dropped out. Brad Wiggins drove the team to the line and at the finish he had time for a pat on the back for the youngest member of the team, Ed Clancy.
Second place went to Russia with a time of 4.08.347, just a fraction quicker than the young 100% ME line-up of Burke, Bellis, Swift and Tennant who clocked 4.08.432.
Reactions
Rob Hayles spoke to us after qualification: "It didn't feel a lot different because you're always riding on the limit of what you have got and technically it was a smooth ride, really good. It was the first time I have ridden on Brad's wheel for years and it was fine."
Asked about dropping out with four laps to go, he replied with typically laid-back frankness - "my legs fell off" he admitted. "If you finish with four you are not going quick enough and that is the thing we need to do now, start losing men. Normally it would be man 1 or 2 that would go because four is the easier position, but I have been struggling in training. I thought I was going to be fine and it was like 'easy, easy and then Oh Sh@t, my legs have gone so get out the way'. I put a half in before I died too much. If you have to do half laps or get out of the way, you do what you have to to keep the team fast. There is no point staying in because of your pride and slowing the team down."
"That is the first time I have gone under 4 [minutes]. There were better conditions in Athens when the team last went under 4 minutes. These are good conditions though, but this is a World Cup, not the Olympic Games. That makes a difference. That is one of the things. Everyone expects every year to get faster and better, better, and I feel it takes something like the Olympic Games to bring out the best and that is what we are aiming for."
Ben Swift grits his teeth as he leads the 100% ME boys into the ride off for bronze
Women's 500 TT
A second national record within an hour came with Vicky Pendleton's awesome 34.070s in the 500m Time Trial. Going off last, she absolutely scorched round the track, inspired perhaps by Anna Blyth's equally impressive 34.866 in the previous heat. Pendleton is now within a whisker of Anna Meare's world record of 33.944 and the world championships match-up of these two looks set to be a classic. Blyth's ride, a new p.b. helped her to dispatch Nancy Contreras in her heat and was enough to give the young sprinter bronze. Heijgenaar of Holland was second.
Reactions
After her ride, Anna Blyth said: "Well happy with that, I can't believe it. It felt good all the way round but I didn't expect to be going that fast. It feels real warm and just awesome on the track." It's not surprising she's happy, considering its just a few weeks ago that she did a 35.7 at the Moscow World Cup. Talking about pace management, she said "it's flat out from the go. I had a good line all the way round the turns and had a nice gate as well, I'm well happy."
Victoria Pendleton was all smiles and she told us "That's a PB by loads. I have been doing a lot of big gear starts so it felt really light. I haven't really run through the full 500 since the nationals and the time before that was the worlds because I am training for the sprint. My legs felt fine after yesterday." Asked had she been doing more road work to help with her endurance, Victoria replied "Not really, I have just been using smaller gears on the track. My training has actually got easier and I am going faster so maybe I was doing too much before, I don't know. It's about finding a formula that works for me. It's quite warm out there and the crowd always help lift you a bit for a 500." And did she do any preparation for this event we asked? "I got on my tri bars once Wednesday and I wasn't doing a very good job either!"
Women's Individual Pursuit
The Women's Pursuit competition sprand to life in the penultimate heat with Alison Shanks going five seconds quicker than the previous best time and dipping under 3 minutes 40 seconds in the process. However, that was nothing compared with what was to come in the final heat. Wendy Houvenaghel (pictured) went head-to-head with fellow Brit, Rebecca Romero, and it was the former rower Romero who set the early pace.
However, Houvenaghel came back at her and then put in a blistering second half to the race to record an incredible 3m 33.788s, a new p.b. by some four seconds, but more importantly a new national record, eclipsing Yvonne McGregor's 3m 34.761s, set almost 10 years ago in a World Cup in Athens. Romero also recorded a massive p.b. doing a 3.36.684. Sensational performances by the British pairing who will now contest the final.
Men's Sprint
The Quarter finals of the Men's Sprint saw some very convincing performances from Nagai, Bourgain, Hoy and Tournant as all four swept into the Semi-Finals in two straight rides. Hoy had just too much speed for Tim Veldt and controlled both their heats from the front. Bourgain had too much for Matt Crampton, though the local lad did push the classy Frenchman hard in their first heat. Crampton went on to take 7th overall after finishing third in the ride-off for 5th to 8th places.
Mickael Bourgain looked in great from
Earlier, there was drama at the very start of the first round of the Men's Sprint, when World champ Theo Bos crashed as he attempted to pass his opponent Seidenbecher of Germany and had to retire from the competition due to injury. His injuries are not reported to be serious, but with the World Championships coming up he decided not to risk himself further.
Of the other riders, Matt Crampton and Chris Hoy got through with solid front-running rides. However, Jason Kenny made a tactical error and left himself too much to do on the last lap and had to give best to Nagai of Japan. Others going through were Arnaud Tournant, who was just too quick for Ryan Bayley to come round, Mark French, and a very rapid looking Mickael Bourgain.
Chris Hoy at full throttle in qualifying
In Qualifying for the Men's Sprint, Theo Bos and Mickael Bougain both went within 6 hundredths of a second of dipping under the magical 10 seconds mark. GB's Chris Hoy had looked well placed to qualify fastest after a very smooth looking 10.211 had removed Arnaud Tournant's 10.231 from the top of the leaderboard. But then Bourgain stunned the crowd with a sub 5 second first 100 metres, which he converted into a 10.062 at the line. Last rider to go, World Champion Theo Bos, failed to dip under 5 seconds for the hundred, but finished very quickly, despite clipping a foam pad in the final bend, to clock 10.058, the fastest of the session. Both Bourgain and Bos were inside the old Track record. The other Brits, Jason Kenny and Matt Crampton both rode well and qualified seventh and tenth respectively.
Men's Sprint B
Jason Kenny made amends for his earlier problems in the sprint, with a good run in the B Sprint. He made it all the way to final before meeting his match in Daniel Ellis of Australia.
Men's Points Qualifying
There were no alarms for the British riders in the qualifying heats with Chris Newton, Russell Hampton and James Taylor all going though to the evening's final.
Results:
Women's 500m Time Trial | Women's Individual Pursuit
Men's Points Race | Men's Sprint | Men's Sprint B | Men's Team Pursuit