Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Laura Trott reclaimed the Omnium title that she first took in 2011, despite a crash in the Elimination Race that left her needing stitches, at the European Track Championships, in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. Finishing tied on points with Netherlands powerhouse Kirsten Wild, with 15 each, Trott’s superior time in the final event, the 500 metre time trial, meant that the Olympic champion took the victory by almost a third of a second. Belgium’s Jolien D’Hoore took the bronze medal at the end of a close contest with 18 points.
Wild took the lead in the competition from the start, with victory in the Flying Lap, but Trott was able to stay in touch with third. D’Hoore then won a hard-fought Points Race, with Trott and Wild taking second and third respectively.
Trott was then brought down in a crash in the Elimination, along with several other riders, but managed to remount and continue despite her injuries. Unfortunately, however, the incident meant that she could only manage third in what is her speciality event. D’Hoore took the victory again, ahead of Wild, which meant that the Dutchwoman ended day one of the competition with a slight lead.
Wild then took the Individual Pursuit at the beginning of day two, which saw her open up a three-point advantage over Trott, who took second. The Dutch road sprinter then also took the Scratch Race, with D’Hoore second and Trott third, which meant that the British Olympic champion faced a five point deficit heading into the final 500-metre time trial.
A time of 36.025 seconds was good enough to give Trott second place in the the-lap event and, with Wild only able to manage seventh, the two riders ended the competition tied on 15 points. This meant that the winner would be the rider with the lowest accumulated time over the three timed events and, despite Wild winning both the Flying Lap and Individual Pursuit, Trott’s time in the 500 metres was so much faster that it meant victory was hers.
Result
1. Laura Trott (Great Britain)
2. Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)
3. Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium)
