Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott took her second Great Britain national title in as many days in the Points Race in the National Cycling Centre Velodrome, Manchester. The 21-year-old took a total of 28 points during the one hundred lap race, to finish nine points clear of black and orange teammate Dani King, who took her second silver of the championships.
Having been denied in the Individual Pursuit the evening before, 19-year-old Elinor Barker took the bronze medal to complete an all-Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling podium for the race.
“It’s quite important for me, being an event in the Omnium,” Trott explained. “So I just needed to revert back to my junior ways, get stuck in, and have a good race. Which was what happened in the end.”
Taking an incredible 18 points from a possible 20 in the first four sprints, Trott had opened up a near-unassailable lead in the first half of the race. A further ten points from later sprints – including two points for third place behind Barker and King in a Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling 1-2-3 – gave the double Olympic champion an emphatic victory.
“I spoke to my coach at the start, and he said just to race it,” she explained. “It was 100 laps, it wasn’t 120, so he said to just get stuck in, have a good race, and don’t think too much about it.
“I don’t really like leading them out, I’m not really that confident,” Trott explained. “So I was just waiting for someone to roll over the top of me, and I’d just get on their wheel and come round really, really late. That’s just pretty much what happened in every sprint.
“Some of the sprints I just didn’t go for, because I was too far back. It’s all well and good wasting a lot of energy for five points, but I didn’t want to go flat out for the sake of a point.
With more events in the coming days Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling have plenty more British titles to aim at, but there is one in particular that would give Trott the most satisfaction of all.
“I’m looking forward to the Madison with Dani,” Trott said. “Although there’s not that many teams, it’s always nice to race with your teammates.”
Result
1. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Dani King (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
3. Elinor Barker (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
