Track sprinters continue Glasgow Commonwealth Games preparations in Cottbus

Track sprinters continue Glasgow Commonwealth Games preparations in Cottbus

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British Cycling sprint coach Iain Dyer says the recent sprint camp in Cottbus was a success as preparations continue for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Dyer said that the trip, which incorporated two weekends of racing, will stand them in good stead ahead of the Commonwealth games in Glasgow in a little over three weeks’ time in Glasgow.

“I think first and foremost, we got what we went for,” Dyer said.

“We went for two hard weeks’ work keeping pressure on in training with the added bonus of four days of really hard racing so I am really pleased from that point of view.”

The trip saw some encouraging displays of race performance with Phil Hindes winning the men’s sprint on the first weekend, followed by Kian Emadi’s impressive performance to secure silver in the kilometre time trial on the following day.

“It was nice to see Phil win the sprinter cup on the first weekend and Kian had a really good kilo that weekend too,” said Dyer.

Further successes were seen on the final weekend, this time in the women’s disciplines with Vicky Williamson making it all the way to the minor final in the individual sprint. She eventually lost out to Sandie Clair of France and had to settle for fourth place.  

 “It was really good to see Vicky get so far in the sprint competition to make the minor finals, she ended up with 11 rides that day,” Dyer explained.

“Gaining that type of experience is priceless really especially when you are racing across such world class competition.”

The Norwich rider made up for it though beating the current world champions in the team sprint along with her team mate and fellow Great Britain Olympic Podium Programme rider Katy Marchant, setting the fastest time of the finals in the process.

“It was really good to see Vicky and Katy to get one over on the world champions in the team sprint minor final ending up with the fastest time in the finals overall so that was really encouraging.”

The camp was always billed as hard but crucial work and the experience certainly lived up to expectations with riders undergoing a gruelling days racing with some partaking in excess of 20 rides in one weekend.

“You can do an awful lot in training but at the end of the day, nothing can beat that type of experience,” Dyer revealed.

“Some people across the weekend had as many as 21 competitive rides; some may only have had half that depending on how they got on in qualification.

“It’s still a good volume of work under competitive conditions.”

The hard work won’t stop here now though as preparations for the Commonwealth Games will begin almost as soon as the squad land back on home soil in Manchester.

“We are looking forward to three weeks on wood now and to putting the finishing touches to the work that we have done in Germany,” Dyer said.

“Everyone got stuck in and really did their best so I think that will stand us in good stead now for the Commonwealth Games.”

“I really am happy with where we are at. I think as far as the Commonwealth Games are concerned we will just see what we have got on the day.

“You can’t legislate for what other teams are going to do. For sure we will be trying our best. It will be interesting to see how, over the course of the next three weeks, we translate the type of work that we have been doing onto the faster surface indoors.”

The XX Commonwealth Games track events will run from 24 to 27 July at The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.