Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Laura Trott made yet another triumphant return to the boards of the Lea Valley Velodrome, the scene of her London 2012 glory, as she completed her second perfect Omnium of the year at the Revolution track meeting. The event had been billed as a head to head battle between the British two-time Olympic Track Champion, and Olympic Road Race Champion Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv), as the two went up against one another on the track for the first time, and so it turned out to be.
“I’m really happy how things went after returning from Euros in Guadeloupe last week,” Trott said afterwards. “That was a pretty hard race with such many girls. My form is good right now, and I hope I can continue like this in next weeks and months.
“This was a long weekend of racing with not much sleep,” Trott continued. “But it took a lot of stress away to win straight away in the Omnium. I did not expect to win all omnium events though!
“It was great to race against Marianne,” Trott concluded. “She doesn’t do much on the track, so it was very special for me. It was fun!”
A tactical Scratch Race opened Friday night’s competition, and saw Trott and Vos take a lap on the field, along with Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi). Further attacks from Vos, and Rabo-Liv teammate Roxane Knetemann, were policed by the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling trio of Trott, Barker and Amy Roberts and -with just over a lap to go – Trott made her victorious dash for the line that Vos was just unable to overcome.
The Individual Pursuit was to be another event dominated by the trio from Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling, as early starter Roberts managed to catch Knetemann in setting a marker time of three minutes 48.9 seconds for the 3000 metre event. Barker – up against newly-crowned European champion Archibald – then set a time of three minutes 39.822 seconds for Trott to aim at in the final heat.
Up against Vos, for whom pursuiting is one of the few weapons missing from her armoury, Trott managed to go more than three seconds quicker than Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Barker with three minutes, 36.519. While the local rider did not quite manage to catch Vos, she managed to take a full nine seconds out of the Dutch legend, and had her in sight by the finish.
Trott’s speciality event, the Elimination, saw the Olympic champion ride uncharacteristically close to the front as riders were pulled out one by one behind her. Unsurprisingly, the final pairing came down to a one-on-one battle between her and Vos and, despite the Rabo-Liv rider trying to outwit Trott, she was just too strong at the finish to complete a perfect first night.
The afternoon session of Saturday’s competition saw Trott maintain her perfect record in the event with victory on the 500m Time Trial. Her time of 36.093 seconds was almost three quarters of a second faster than that of Ellie Coster (Team USN). Trott’s Flying Lap time then was similarly dominant, with 14.685 seconds half a second faster than Archibald in second place.
With the new scoring system awarding 40 points for a win, Trott went into the final Points Race with an almost unassailable total of 200, with only a disaster between herself and victory. Despite having no need to do more than keep an eye on her rivals, however, Trott dominated the race, taking a total of 31 points to complete her perfect Omnium.
With the Omnium completed, Trott made it eight victories from eight events in the London Madison as she took the Australian Pursuit and Devil/Scratch Races that completed the Revolution Programme.
While not actually taking part in the racing herself, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s World Individual Pursuit Champion Joanna Rowsell was present as part of the TV production team; the event is set to be shown in the UK on Channel 4 on Saturday the 1st of November at 7am.
Result Scratch Race
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv)
3. Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi)
Result Individual Pursuit
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Elinor Barker (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
3. Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi)
Result Elimination
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv)
3. Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi)
Result 500m Time Trial
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Ellie Coster (Team USN)
3. Gosia Wojtyra (Poland)
Result Flying Lap
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi)
3. Gosia Wojtyra (Poland)
Result Points Race and Omnium Final
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi)
3. Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv)
