British Madison Championships

March 2, 2008; Manchester Velodrome
Report and pictures by Larry Hickmott

Mark Cavendish and Peter Kennaugh (above) were on a different level to everyone today when they crushed their rivals in the 50 kilometre (200 laps) British Madison championship. In a race where they finished 2 laps clear of their nearest rivals, Cavendish showed that he really is the class act that his victories on the road show him to be and he was ably backed up by his fellow Isle of Man rider Peter Kennaugh.

Mark arrived at the Velodrome well before the 11 am start time and explained he had just arrived from the Isle of Man the day before where he has been since he arrived home from the Tour of California. The night before arriving at the Velodrome though, he learnt that his partner for the Madison, Bradley Wiggins, was ill and was not going to be riding.

Mark has a word with Peter as he is slung into the race.

A new partner had to be found for High Road’s sprinter who had given up the chance to try and win Kuurne-Brussells-Kuurne to come to Manchester for this important Olympic qualifying event. His chosen partner was Peter Kennaugh who has impressed over the winter with his wins in the UIV six day races with Jonny Bellis among others. Luke Rowe was also sick and in all, there were nine teams on the track for the race and interestingly, five of those eighteen riders were from the Isle of Man.

The race began with a steady tempo for the first half of the race but anyone wondering how Cavendish would take to the track after not being near one since January was quickly left in no doubt as he turned the gas up and burned his rivals severely with a  brilliant turn of speed. He and Kennaugh won sprint 1 and although they had a race on their hands with the likes of Jonny Bellis/Andrew Fenn and Steven Burke/Alex Dowsett, Cavendish .and Kennaugh were always in command of the situation.

One of the teams to take the race to Cavendish and Kennaugh was Bellis and Fenn who went for laps and were joined by Cavendish and Kennaugh who kept their eye on the from the front of the race.

Teams would attack off the front and Cavendish would take his time, launch himself and destroy the move in a lap or two. He was quite simply awesome and if this is the type of form we can expect for the World Track Championships at Manchester in a few weeks then Cavendish and whoever his partner is for the event will surely set the track alight.

Rider Reactions
Mark Cavendish showed in the sprints that despite no track work since January, his class was enough to see him sprint well clear of the rest, winning by lengths at will and then with 114 laps to go after a steady opening, he and Kennaugh took a lap with ease.

Explaining how it felt on the boards, he says “it was good and the form was good but it wasn’t just me out there, I had Peter there who was going really well. The first time we ever Madison changed together was in that race and it felt right.” Asked was he testing himself out on the track, he replied “Yes, a little bit. There was no need to go for the lap at the end but I wanted to see how we could go after it had been on for the last 100 laps. I thought that would be a good test to see how we can go at the end of a race like the Worlds.”

It was the first time these two had ridden together in a madison and you would not have known it! Cavendish is slung into the race by Kennaugh.

“I came home Tuesday (from California) and paid extra out of my pocket to fly business class so I was in the best form to come here. I had trouble sleeping this week but had quite good form. I came here last night and will go back tomorrow.”

On proving himself in the race, the former World Madison champion (with Rob Hayles) says “people may frown on me for my form at Gent and Sydney in November but this is now with the worlds only four weeks away and so what matters is now and I am going well.”

On having no problem having found his track legs, he says “I put a bigger gear on but at the end of the day I could hold the pace but I was being put in at a superb pace by Peter and all I had to do was hold it. Maybe my zip wasn’t there but that will come with track work. I’m looking forward to being in this event at the Worlds when Brad should be better. If we can get silver at Beijing (World Track Cup, December 2007) when I was in rock bottom form then perhaps we come back here for the Worlds and win.”

We’ll have more from Cav later in the week.

A team during the winter at the UIV six day races, Peter Kennaugh and Jonny Bellis were put in different teams after the withdrawal of Bradley Wiggins.

Peter Kennaugh: “the race went really well and to plan. It was steady at the start and then geared up towards the end. The first lap we took was alright and didn’t really hurt that much but the last two lap takes I was relying on Cav a bit. We worked really well. In LA with Rob it was quite weird because of the height difference but me and Cav are similar heights and it was really good.”

“Everyone else was going alright but they were unable to come with us when we properly turned it on but fair play to them for getting stuck in.” Peter then explained that he didn’t feel brilliant great in the race and that for the last few days has had a sore throat after doing quite a few road miles back home on the Isle of Man during a ‘break’ before going to Italy on Monday.

Jonny Bellis/Andrew Fenn (2nd), Marck Cavendish/Peter Kennaugh (1st), Steven Burke/Alex Dowsett (3rd)

The first race to dare to attack Cavendish and Kennaugh was Burke and Dowsett who did enough to finish third in the race.

Result (58 minutes for 50 kilometres)
1. Peter Kennaugh/Mark Cavendish  25 pts

@ 2 laps
2. Jonny Bellis/Andrew Fenn 10 points

@ 3 laps
3. Steven Burke/Alex Dowsett 35 points

@4 laps
4. Russell Hampton/Mark McMally 12
5. Chris Whorrall/Dan McLay 7

@ 5 laps
6. Alistair Rutherford/Adam Duggleby 9
7. Andrew Williams/Sandy King 7
8. Mark Christian/Erick Rowsell 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MORE PHOTOS

Exclusive! One off shoes by Nike for Mark Cavendish...

Adam and Boyd Roberts change during the race.

Andrew Fenn who was very active in the Eddie Soens the day before, was also at the front of the madison race as well, finishing second with Jonny Bellis.

Cavendish throws in Peter Kennaugh as the rest of the field try to stay in the race.

Alistair Rutherford & Adam Duggleby (right).

Junior Sandy King throws in Andrew Williams.

Jonny Bellis throws in Andy Fenn during their race.

Daniel McLay throws in Chris Whorral.

Mark McNally throws in Russell Hampton.

Mark Christian, one of five Isle of Man riders, throws in Erick Rowsell.