Manchester UCI Track World Cup

 

Saturday, 24th February 2007 (Day 2)

Home Page, Manchester World Track Cup

Report Phil Ingham, Reactions and photos Larry Hickmott

 

 

Team Pursuit

 

 

British riders dominated the two Team Pursuit finals. The young 100% ME quartet of Steven Burke, Jonny Bellis, Ben Swift and Andrew Tennant clocked a world class time of 4 minutes 5.554 seconds to blow away their Spanish opponents by three seconds in their ride-off for bronze.  Then the senior team of Bradley Wiggins, Rob Hayles, Paul Manning and Ed Clancy almost dipped under the 4 minute barrier again as they caught the Russians in the final lap and a half of their gold medal ride-off. They would probably have beaten their impressive qualifying time if they hadn't spent the last 400 metres or so trying to get past their opponents as the huge crowd roared them on.

 

Rider Reactions

Ben Swift: "I am so pleased with that. This time last year there was no hope of me doing the Team Pursuit and now I'm doing a 4.05. We knew it would be tough but we rode a much better final.

Steven Burke: "That was a lot better than the Junior Worlds (bronze medal there). A higher level and we weren't expecting that (a 4.05) to be honest. I thought it would be a tight contest to be honest and didn't think we would beat them by so much."

Jonny Bellis: I'm made up with that. It never went to plan in the first ride when we went off a bit too hard but this time we controlled it well and we had the energy at the end to give a bit more. I'm made up to do a '5'. The under 23's won the Europeans last year with a '5' so I think there is a good future for this team, especially for the Europeans this year. This rates right up there, a medal in a World Cup after only a few months in the Academy, couldn't ask for more."

Andrew Tennant: On having a niggling injury which meant he wasn't 100 per cent (no pun intended), "I have been having problems ever since the Europeans when I went on a major diet and lost a lot of muscle mass, almost 2 kilos, so I just don't have the top end at the moment or the change of pace. So its going to take a while to get back. I only played a small in the Team, the other three boys were the power behind this. We have been working hard for this. Swifty has dropped in and been in awesome form and has given everything. They have all been amazing. Hopefully we can win the Europeans and next winter fight a really good campaign and push for that place in the first team. We get closer every time we ride".

Rod Ellingworth (coach of 100% ME): "Fantastic. I am very pleased with them. They worked hard for this. Andy has been having it hard the last few months but he's still in there doing a good job. We changed our target time to a long '6' before the final and didn't expect a 5 but they raced it at the end and were determined to win this."

 

Paul Manning: Asked to compare his two sub 4 minute rides he said "I can't remember Athens and it was in the heat of battle that day. We anticipated the catch today but there isn't much you can do about it. You are nervous about going around them, especially when the guy changes. Communication is also difficult when there is a race going on but there is more in there. We have a good squad of riders and Rob will admit to having had a bit of an off day today. But there is confidence in the group."

"We could have probably gone out even harder because it was quicker here. It felt more controlled than this morning. We wanted to go all out this morning and find the limits and then back up for the final which we did. We can now take that onto the Worlds. Going under 4 minutes was an added bonus. The way we rode the first ride was really satisfying, it was horrible and really hurt but satisfying that everyone was getting every little bit out by the finish."

Ed Clancy: "It feels good to go under 4 minutes. If they (the Russians) hadn't got in the way man we would have gone faster again. I am really pleased with our ride this morning. Not many people have gone under four minutes and not many teams have gone under 4 minutes when they have been the only team on the track."

"Barring disasters, we knew we could we win it so we wanted to see how well we could back up the rides. We really attacked the first ride this morning and gave it everything and did the job this evening. Recovering between the rides has been my downfall before and I was really smashed this morning so I'm pleased I was able to back up with the ride tonight."

"I think I am as good as these guys now, and consistently as well. I will never be as good as Brad for 4th wheel or as good as Paul for first wheel but I have found a good job in the team as second man. But you are never guaranteed a place in this team. We also have Geraint, Steve, Chris, and the young guys like Jonny Bellis, Steven Burke and so on. We're all good mates and as a whole unit, we can start kicking some ass".

"My job in the team as man two is I have to hold onto Paul's wheel and get as low as I can and save every ounce of energy because I'm off on the front on the second lap for a big 30 second effort and so you're really breathing hard before you have even done 500 metres. Then for the rest of the ride,  you're trying to hold the speed and with the big engines like Paul and Brad and when Robs on form, he'd be doing that as well."

Asked how they know when someone is going to do an extra bit like a lap and a half or even two laps, he said, "Pretty much on feel. We kind of decided before that if someone feels good, that the third kilometre on the third turn is the time to do it and see the team right for the last K. We don't plan it."

On the crowd, Ed says "Its nice to see the crowd appreciate it and they gave us a lift. Hopefully it will inspire a few people to go and ride their bike to work or do whatever they do."

Brad Wiggins: "It was pretty good that. We were just disappointed we had a crap catch there at the end. Its also nice to back up like that after just a few hours. I didn't feel great but at that point, you're just trying to block it out. It doesn't matter what you feel, you have a duty to the team to do. Everytime you pull the GB jersey on you have to perform like that these days. Ed did a fantastic job. For someone so young to perform and do the kind of pick up in the hardest position to ride in, twice, he has to take a lot from that."

"Rob seems to get better year after year and Paul is one of the most consistent people I have ever ridden with. You know what you're going to get from Paul. So its nice to be able to slot back into that team and help it go fast. We all play our part, there are no egos in that team now. Everyone looks after each other to try and go as fast as we can. This has been a dream return in many respects. I kind of expected that and imagined what I wanted - to come back and do two world class disciplines back to back and that is what I have got. So going into Majorca in five weeks time, I have the confidence we can win double gold, that is what I am aiming for there."

 

Result: Men's Team Pursuit

 

 

Women's Team Sprint

 

Anna Blyth, Shanaze Reade, Willy Kanis, Yvonne Hijgenaar, Kristine Bayley and Anna Meares.

 

The GB duo of Shanaze Reade and Anna Blyth were the fastest in qualifying in the Women's Team Sprint, going through to the ride-off for gold and silver against the Russians. Reade, making her Track racing debut was visibly quick out of the start gate and Blyth had her work cut out holding her wheel, before powering through an impressive second lap to stop the clock at 33.802 seconds.

 

However, the final didn't go to plan for the GB team. The awesome teen partnership of Shanaze Reade and Anna Blyth lost out to the World Cup title winning Dutch duo of Hijgenaar and Kanis. Crucially, the Dutch team false started, but Reade didn't notice the signal and rode a full lap flat out before realising what had happened.

 

 It was a great display of focus and concentration, but it probably cost her in the re-run a few minutes later. Nontheless, for Shanze it was a brilliant performance in her first ever competitive outing on the Track. Blyth too has been a stand out performer over the first two days, fitting in a series of mature and powerful rides in this event and the Sprint and 500m Time Trial. The ride-off for Bronze went to the Aussies who were a second faster than the French.

 

Anna Blyth: "What I think we can take from that is the worlds best time in only our third team sprint ever. The false start caught us off guard but that is part of the learning curve. The second ride felt good and it is the second quickest time we have done but just gutted we didn't win."

Shanaze Reade "That was definitely an experience. The first race I felt went perfectly. Come the second one, I wasn't sure about the gun shots but this is a massive learning curve and we can take a lot from it coming into the World championships. The first run in the final (the false start) definitely took a lot out of me because I got halfway down the back straight the second time and my legs were burning bad. I could never have dreamed I'd come away with a Silver medal in my first World Cup though."

 

Result: Womens Team Sprint 

 

 

Men's Sprint

 

 

The Men's Sprint semi finals produced towering rides from old Kilo adversaries Arnaud Tournant and Chris Hoy, who both used front running tactics and their sheer speed to defeat Nagani of Japan and Bourgain of France respectively. With the speed these two huge men have, it's very difficult to come past them and both have good endurance too, so they were clearly keen to cut tactics out of the equation and simply kept the speed high throughout. Both won in two straight rides.

 

On to the finals and Arnaud Tournant was simply unbeatable as he held off the considerable threat of Chris Hoy to win the gold medal in two straight rides. Hoy unsettled him in the first and almost came up the inside on the back straight. However, Tournant made no mistake in the second ride, powering past Hoy with a lap to go and holding him off with astonishing ease, recording 10.525 for the last 200m in the process.

 

It was also an awesome sprint series from Hoy, who is looking like the real deal in this discipline which offers him perhaps his best chance of an individual gold at the next Olympics, now the kilo has been dropped. Mickael Bourgain was able to beat Kiyofumi in two rides in the bronze medal match, underlining France's ongoing sprinting strength.

 

Result: Men's Sprint 

 

 

Women's Pursuit Final

 

Rebecca Romero, Wendy Houvenaghel and Alison Shanks.

 

Another world class ride by Wendy Houvenaghel , who clocked a 3.35.294, gave the rapidly improving GB rider the gold medal in the Womens' Pursuit. There was also much to admire in Rebecca Romero's defiant ride against her. Romero finished with a time of 3.39.143, but she stuck close to her rival's pace for a good two thirds of the race and only faded in the last 500 metres. It's great to see such a talented duo pushing each other so hard.

 

Rebecca Romero: “Initially I was disappointed because I don’t like losing but when I look at what I have achieved it was a massive personal best in only my third pursuit competition and a time that puts me well up there in the World ranking. I can’t be too disappointed. My preparation certainly wasn’t ideal, and doing a 3.36 without having done a full pursuit effort since Moscow, kind of hit me hard today. I kind of lost the pace in the last kilometre. Without that, I could have done an amazing time.”

 

“I just didn’t have the control of my race pace today after having been ill in the run up to this. I know in Moscow my pace was spot on, so I know I can do that, I just have to work on my second half. Its five weeks before the Worlds and to do this after less than 12 months of bike riding bodes well for me.”

 

“It is disappointing that the big hitters like Hammer and Mactier are not here because it is always good to put yourself up against  those riders because you want to know how you’re going to fare against them. Knocking big chunks of time off my personal best shows I am still on a big learning curve.”

 

Wendy Houvenaghel “I am very pleased with how the day has gone most especially with my time this morning in qualifying. That was really out of my wildest expectations to be honest. So I was really pleased with that and also with the fact I was able to back it up this evening. I would like to have done a ‘33’ again so I think there is more work to do there.”

 

“I went out there this morning to do the fastest time I could do without defining beforehand the time I was going to do. So that is what I achieved. I just went on feel and to ride as evenly as I possible could.”

 

Result: Women's Individual Pursuit

 

 

Men's Points Race Final

 

 

Greek rider Ioannis Tamouridis put in a dominating performance and looked well on course to win the Men's Points race in the middle stages. He was active throughout and not only took two laps lead on many of the field, picking up 40 bonus points in the process, he also figured heavily in the sprints.

 

However, it all went wrong for him in the closing twenty laps, when the Russian Serguei Klimov and Hong Kong rider Kam-Po Wong grabbed a third lap and with it control of the race. Klimov had also been active in the sprints, giving him an extra cushion of points, which proved decisive in the final reckoning. Multi World Champion over the years, Curuchet of Argentina took the bronze and a disappointed Tamouridis the silver.

 

Britian's Chris Newton had one of those races where, despite a lot of hard work, not a lot came off and he struggled in particular to find a way to gain a lap without taking one of the other leading contenders with him.

 

Russell Hampton: "It was flippen hard out there. I just wanted to get a lap, show my face. I couldn't go with everything because I'm not strong enough yet. I tried my best and although not all the moves come off, I pulled off one so I am happy with that. It's pretty new this. A few weeks ago, I wasn't going to ride Manchester so it was a privilege to ride it and to do as well as I did. I am really proud of the efforts".

 

Result: Men's Points Race 

 

 

MORE PHOTOS

 

Womens Team Sprint

 

Dutch woman Yvonne Hijgenaar  takes over from Willy Kanis on their way to Gold.

 

Shanaze Reade gives Anna Blyth a shout as the Leeds rider starts the final lap of their team sprint.

 

Aussie Anna Meares takes over from Kristine Bayley as Australia head for a bronze medal.

 

 

Womens Pursuit

 

After a '33', Wendy has the right to be smiling brightly!

 

Wendy on her way to a 4.33 for the Womens Pursuit that puts her right there in the World rankings, close to the fastest this year by Sarah Hammer of the USA who has done a 3.32 and faster than the '34' by Katie Mactier.

 

Olympic rowing Silver medallist and less than a year after her cycling career began, Rebecca is doing 36's.

 

Alison Shanks of New Zealand.

 

TEAM PURSUIT

 

World Cup champions, Russia, no match for the Brits on the day but coming back as a force in Team Pursuiting.

 

Russia power to a ride in the final, (Alexey Bauer, Evgeny Kovalev, Ivan Kovalev, and Nikolai Trussov)

 

Standing ovation for the ride by the Brits in the final for Gold.

 

Full credit to 100% ME riders Jonny Bellis, Steven Burke, Ben Swift and Andy Tennant and their coach Rod Ellingworth for a great performance.

 

Brad Wiggins face says it all whilst Paul Manning hides the pain of a fast start.

 

Womens 500

 

Ann Blyth -- what a star young rider!

 

Near World Record for Victoria, what more needs to be said!

 

Yvonne powers to a silver.

 

Yvonne Hijgenaar, Victoria Pendleton and Anna Blyth

 

Mens Sprint

 

Hoy, right up there in the World of Sprinting

 

Mickaël Bourgain (France) rides around a Japanese rival.

 

Double world champion Theo Bos was unlucky to fall when he 'fell over the rear wheel of his rival' to out of the competition. He suffered a sore shoulder and retired from the World Cup to concentrate on the World Championships

 

Hoy and Tournant watch each other like hawks at the start.

 

Tournant gives us the thumbs up after his Gold medal winning ride.