Preview: 2013 UEC European Track Championships

Preview: 2013 UEC European Track Championships

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2013 UEC European Track Championships
Location: Omnisport Arena, Apeldoorn
Event: 18 -20 October 2013

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The 2013 UEC European Track Championships will kick off this weekend in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands and will see an 18-strong Great Britain squad compete for places against some of Europe’s foremost riders.

This championship comes just a fortnight before the first round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester. With the squad for early November yet to be confirmed, this event will provide a great chance for riders to demonstrate their competency and suitability to selectors.

Sprint

Becky James

The women will be represented by Jess Varnish, Victoria Williamson and current double world champion Becky James. A decision on the team sprint line-up is still yet to be finalised but Varnish and James proved their credentials with the overall women’s sprint title in the 2012-13 UCI Track Cycling World Cup with victories in two of the three rounds.

With a strong show of form from Varnish at the recent British National Track Championships, in which she took the team sprint title with Dannielle Khan, she will surely be a favourite for any team selections.

James will also be looking to show her form to selectors in what will be her first outing in a major competition since taking two world titles in Minsk last February.

The men’s sprint squad will be fronted by Kian Emadi, Matt Crampton, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny. Having two of the three Olympic champions selected will form a strong platform from which a three-man squad for the team sprint can be formulated.

Kian Emadi, national kilo champion for the second year running, will give selectors food for thought when deciding who will ride the final lap of the team sprint on the opening night of competition this Friday.

In addition, 2011 European keirin gold medallist Matt Crampton will be looking to show he hasn’t lost form in that event after a disappointing seventh in last year’s competition in Lithuania. The 27-year-old from Manchester recently set a marker in the keirin, earning himself a hard-fought silver at the national championships as well as in the individual sprint where he earned himself a bronze medal.

Endurance

Jon Dibben

The European track championships will see Great Britain’s women compete over 4000 metres for the first time at senior level in international competition.

Olympic champions Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell will be joined by current world champion Elinor Barker and Scotland’s Katie Archibald in the women’s endurance team for the championships.

Archibald will make her Great Britain debut at the Omnisport arena off the back of a strong ride at the national track championships when she beat Elinor Barker to claim the bronze medal in the individual pursuit.

In a recent interview with British Cycling, Rowsell spoke of how, far from being uneasy about the new distance, they are in fact relishing the challenge as well as the opportunity to set a new benchmark.

The men’s endurance squad will include Southampton rider Jon Dibben, who has had some impressive results in what is a relatively short career in the GB ranks.

The 19-year-old has achieved a silver in the omnium at the 2012 UCI Junior Track World Championships in New Zealand as well as an impressive eighth place at the 2013 Track World Championships in Minsk against a world-class field.

Dibben will be joined by Olympic champions Steven Burke and Ed Clancy along with former world champion Andy Tennant, Sam Harrison and Owain Doull. This five man squad will form the still-to-be-finalised four-strong team pursuit squad.

During a recent interview with British Cycling, Dibben confirmed his intentions not only to ride the event in Apeldoorn but to reserve a regular spot in it on the road to the XXXI Olympiad in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in under three years’ time.

British Cycling will be bringing you round-ups and results across the three days of action in Apeldoorn.