Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott became the first ever rider to complete a perfect Omnium in a UCI event, as she won six out of six races in the Revolution Series Round 5 last night. Having won the Flying Lap, Points Race and Elimination on Friday evening, the 21-year-old completed her total domination of proceedings with victories in the Individual Pursuit, the Scratch Race and 500 metre Time Trial.
Three minutes, 38.212 seconds was enough to give Trott the Individual Pursuit win, and with Elinor Barker, Dani King and Amy Roberts alongside her, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling was able to dominate the Scratch Race. The roof of the Lea Valley VeloPark Velodrome was almost lifted off by the capacity crowd for the final event – much as it had been during the 2012 Olympic Games – as the Olympic champion posted a time of 36.301 for the two-lap time trial to complete a clean sweep of the competition and hold off the challenge from Spain’s Leire Olaberria.
Despite having crashed heavily on her head and hip the previous evening, King was able to complete the event strongly to finish in fourth place overall.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini was continuing her strong return to the road in the Ronde van Drenthe, the first World Cup race of the year, after having competed at the recent UCI World Track Championships in Cali, Colombia,. The former two-time road World Champion was part of a select 20-strong group that approached the final climb of the steep VAM-berg, with less than 20km to go, but was just unable to hold onto the accelerations at the front as the race approached its decisive stages.
“I felt good. I was strong,” Bronzini said. “But for me there was so much wind. After the last section of cobblestones, when I was alone in the group of 20, it was normal that they try to do some attacks. Two times I had to pull to close the gap, because I was alone, and I lost so much energy.”
“In the final 20km there were two Rabo[-Liv] girls in front, and when [Boels-]Dolmans decided to close the gap with [Ellen] van Dijk she really broke the legs of five of the girls that were there, and I was left in the second group.
“I tried to work with Hitec Products to try to bring them back, so I had so much pain in my legs for the final sprint.”
Despite missing out on the result, however, Bronzini’s road form is cause for optimism in the coming races.
“The main thing is that I’m in good shape,” Bronzini concluded. “That’s good for the team, and for me, because normally track riders are more tired when they come directly to the road.
“I was happy for that, but I’m only sorry for my teammates that it was not quite enough.”
