Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s riders dominated proceedings in last night’s second round of the 2014/15 Revolution Series, at the National Cycling Centre, Manchester, with Laura Trott taking victory in three of the five women’s events. The two-time Olympic Champion began the day with a win in the UCI Points race, the took the Australian Pursuit, before bringing the house down on the capacity crowd with a virtuoso performance in her speciality event, the Elimination.
“It’s gone really well,” Trott smiled. “I’m really happy with how I’ve performed. After [the World Cup in] Mexico we didn’t know how we were going to react to the altitude, so we took a few days on the road, away from the track. Now we’re back on the track and I’ve been feeling really good.
“I’ve had a bit of a shaky start to the day, I didn’t feel that great in the Points Race, but I feel like I’m slowly coming round as the evening’s gone on.
“I really enjoyed the Elimination,” Trott added. “It’s an event that I really enjoy, and it happened to work at the end, so I was really pleased. This is where we train day in, day out, and normally it’s quiet and freezing cold, so it’s nice to come here with a massive crowd and it’s actually really warm!”
Racing alongside Trott in the black and orange colours of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling were fellow World Champions Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell, and recent World Cup winner Amy Roberts, while teammate Giorgia Bronzini raced the event in the blue of the Italian National Team.
Barker and Bronzini took second and third places respectively in the UCI Points Race, to complete a Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling podium. This was again repeated in the Australian Pursuit, where eight riders set off from separate stations on the track at the same time, where World Individual Pursuit Champion Rowsell (pictured) finished second to Trott, with Bronzini third once more.
In between these two races was the “Longest Lap,” a race introduced to the Revolution Series in the previous event in London, which saw the women included for the first time largely thanks to a suggestion on Twitter from Barker. The race saw the riders roll around half a lap, unable to cross the start/finish line until a whistle blew, which required them to track stand for quite some time! It was won by Team USN’s Ellie Coster, ahead of Italy’s Annalisa Cucinotta and Pearl Izumi’s Katie Curtis – who managed to hold off the men’s field that started half a lap behind – which saw Trott beaten in a Revolution for the first time in 19 races.
“I can’t do a track stand!” Trott laughed. I did a track stand for as long as I ever have done so there’s a positive in all that!”
“I wasn’t campaigning for it or anything,” Barker explained. “I just said I thought it would be fun. Thankfully, a lot of other people thought it would be as well, so they decided to put it in, and I thought it was a lot of fun!
“I think it was good to have a completely different race, and have completely different riders up there,” Barker added. “It mixes things up a bit, and it shows that – while it’s not exactly an Olympic event – it’s still quite a hard event to do, and it made it quite interesting.”
The evening competition began as the afternoon had done with Trott dominating the Elimination race. The Olympic Champion was faced with the French duo of Laurie Berthon and Soline Lamboley in the final three, but – as a specialist at the event – took the victory in front of a roaring home crowd.
The final women’s event of the night was the UCI Scratch Race, which went largely to plan early on for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling – although Roberts found herself taken out by a crash – as Trott and Barker were part of a five-rider group that managed to take a lap on the rest of the field. A series of powerful moves in the closing stages looked good enough for Barker to hold off the rest, but a powerful surge from Italy’s Annalisa Cucinotta saw her take it from Berthon, with Trott taking third.
“I had a good time. It was good racing,” Barker said. “Looking at the standard of the riders that got the lap I was never going to win the sprint, so with about four and a half laps to go I decided to make an attack. I had a few nice carrots up the road to try and chase, but as soon as I went they sat up and suddenly it seemed like such a long way to go!
“I got caught back back and then went again in the sprint,” she added. “But I didn’t really have the legs, and there’s nothing more to it really!”
Result UCI Points Race
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Elinor Barker (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
3. Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)
Result Australian Pursuit
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Joanna Rowsell (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
3. Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)
Result Elimination
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Laurie Berthon (France)
3. Soline Lamboley (France)
Result UCI Scratch Race
1. Annalisa Cucinotta (Italy)
2. Laurie Berthon (France)
3. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
Photo Credit: Luke Webber
