Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Joanna Rowsell won her second Gold Medal of the opening round of the UCI Track World Cup, in Manchester, with a powerful display in the Individual Pursuit. In the red, white and blue colours of Great Britain, the 24-year-old Surrey rider posted a time of three minutes, 34.341 seconds in qualification, more than a second quicker than the next fastest rider, Rebecca Wiasak of Australia.
After two busy days on the boards of the Manchester Velodrome, where she had been part of Friday’s World Record breaking Team Pursuit, Rowsell’s winning time of three minutes 34.904 was fractionally slower than in qualification. It was still good enough to be almost two seconds quicker than Wiasak this time.
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s 20-year-old Italian Beatrice Bartelloni finished ninth in the event, with a time of three minutes, 47.107 seconds.
“I had a schedule to ride to, and I pretty much completely ignored it!” Rowsell laughed, following her winning ride. “Chris [Newton, Great Britain coach] walks the line and the idea is he’s on the line if you’re on pace.
“I came round after my second lap and he was up in the banking, so I thought: oh dear, I’ve gone out too fast here, which is absolutely fatal in a pursuit,” Rowsell continued. “But, doing so much Team Pursuit training, we’re used to starting fast, and doing 4-k Team Pursuit training luckily 3-k feels a bit shorter now.
“I got myself through the ride, and I could hear the crowd screaming really loud so I thought it was probably a good sign, but you never know until you hear the gun go at the end that you’ve won it,” she added.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Omnium, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Olympic champion Laura Trott was also competing for Great Britain. After finishing sixth in the Flying Lap, and seventh in the Points Race, the 21-year-old managed to put herself into contention in her speciality event, the Elimination Race.
Spending much of the early part of the race safely near to the front of the pack, Trott then moved further back for the later sprints, keeping the partisan Manchester crowd entertained as she pipped the other riders on the line each time.
The final sprint for race victory came down to Trott and Olympic bronze medallist Nettie Edmondson of Australia and, despite a valiant effort in the final metres of the lap, the British rider was just unable to come around on the line.
Second place in the race meant that Trott ended the first of the event’s two days in sixth place, but is just four points behind event leader, Gillian Carleton of Canada, in a closely packed top to the Omnium leader board.
Result Individual Pursuit
1. Joanna Rowsell (Great Britain)
2. Rebecca Wiasak (Australia)
3. Katie Archibald (Scottish CyclingBraveheart.com)
Photo Credit: SWPix.com
