|
Great Britain’s Andy Tennant considers his experience at the UCI Juniors Track Cycling World Championships both one of his career highs and lows.
The competition, which has acted as a key development milestone for many of Great Britain’s cyclists, visits the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow in 2013 from 7-11 August.
Now a British Cycling Olympic Podium Programme athlete, an 18-year-old Tennant revelled in individual pursuit gold in the 2005 edition of the event, fending off New Zealand’s Sam Bewley and Russia’s Ivan Rovny in Vienna, Austria.
But the following day brought differing emotions as a crash in the team pursuit gold medal ride alongside Steven Burke, Ian Stannard and Ross Sander denied Tennant a second rainbow jersey in as many days.
“I was lucky enough to compete and win at the junior championships,” Tennant recollects.
“A lot of the main pros today have won a lot of junior titles. I never thought about it when I started cycling that year, my main aim was to get on the Great Britain Cycling Team but luckily enough I competed there and won the individual pursuit.
“The juniors is a massive thing to win. I think it will be a great event and a great spectacle.”
Andy Tennant
“Then we crashed out on the team pursuit and got a silver medal so it was probably the highlight of my career and one of the biggest lows. I should of come out with two world titles rather than one, but it was a great experience."
Multiple UCI Track Cycling World Cup successes in the four-man event have followed, plus a senior world title at Melbourne in 2012 and most recently silver, again at the world championships, at Minsk in February.
For Tennant, his accomplishments on the junior stage still rank highly against his efforts since and he expects the same to apply for Great Britain’s athletes who grace the boards later this year in Scotland.
“It’s the biggest thing they can win at that age. It’s the biggest thing you can do as a junior, it’s a prestigious title.
“As a junior that’s all you think about is the title, having a rainbow jersey in track cycling, the only thing that beats it is an Olympic title.
“The juniors is a massive thing to win. I think it will be a great event and a great spectacle.”
Tickets for the event are available from the official website.
