Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott dominated the second day of the Women’s Omnium in the first round of the Track World Cup, in Manchester. Competing on her home track, in the red, white and blue colours of Great Britain, the 21-year-old started the day down in sixth place after the first three events, but took second place in the Individual Pursuit, then won both the Scratch Race and 500 metre time trial to complete what turned out to be a comfortable victory.
An early start to the third day of the World Cup saw Trott complete the 3000 metre Individual Pursuit in a time of three minutes, 34.293 seconds, which was little more than a quarter of a second behind overnight leader Gillian Carleton of Canada, and enough to move the British rider into the bronze medal position.
Trott then took the Scratch Race, after lapping the field with Poland’s Malgorzata Wojtyra, and moved into the overall lead as Carleton could only manage ninth. With the result in her own hands going into the final 500 metre time trial, Trott was able to take her second victory of the day with a time of 35.331 seconds.
A total of 19 points over the six events meant that Trott took her second Gold of the Manchester World Cup five points clear of Carleton, who finished on 24, with France’s Laurie Berthon in third place with 26.
“Normally, in an Omnium, you’re sitting back, and you’re just racing the people that are in the top six, but I was never going to win the Omnium by doing that,” Trott explained. “So my coach was just like: ‘just go for it!’ he said to me at the side that he was more nervous [during the Scratch Race] than me!
“I hardly went to start with, I didn’t go full gas, and I could see [Carelton] chasing, and it wasn’t until I passed my coach again. We have hand signals, and he just said ‘floor it,’ so I just thought ‘I’ve got no choice now!’
“In the 500 my first half lap felt horrendous, but [the crowd was] cheering so I thought ‘I’ve got to do it, haven’t I!’
“I don’t want people to catch me up,” Trott said of her postion of the almost undisputed World number one in the six-event discipline. “I feel like I’m putting myself on the back foot at the moment, so I do really need to focus in doing a bit more stuff in the Omnium, but we’re going to. It’s still three and a half months until Worlds, so I’ve got time to concentrate on it.”
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini and Elinor Barker were also both in action in the women’s Points Race, an event in which Bronzini – competing in the blue colours of Italy – was World champion in 2009. Despite both riders scoring well in the early sprints, five riders managed to lap the field; Bronzini took sixth place, and Great Britain’s Barker took 11th.
Result Omnium
1. Laura Trott (Great Britain)
2. Gillian Carleton (Canada)
3. Laurie Berthon (France)
Photo Credit: SWPix.com
