The Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling quartet of Elinor Barker, Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott set a new World Record in the Team Pursuit in its very first competitive outing at the new 4000 metre distance. World champions Barker, King and Trott were joined by Rowsell – who was part of the Olympic Championship trio with King and Trott – to record a time of four minutes, 32.721 seconds, finishing almost 40 seconds quicker than the City of Edinburgh team in second place.
“It’s quite different really, an extra 4 laps, but there’s an extra rider as well so that changes things but we’re learning all the time and think we can only go quicker,” said King. “We took a similar approach to when we were a three only the changes were different but it’s all about maintaining speed.”
“It will be great to see how we progress this year,” echoed Rowsell. “We’ve got the three kilometre world record, which should stand forever, and it’s exciting to be able to try and do that all over again with the new event.”
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s near-perfect national championships were crowned later in the day as King and Trott teamed up to take the Great Britain Madison title. The duo managed to finish two laps ahead of the rest of the field, as well as taking the highest points total of all with 23.
“It was a brilliant race, but, to be honest, we made it hard for ourselves!” King exclaimed. “Taking two laps so early is never going to be easy, and we were going for the sprints in between as well. We just wanted to get out there, get stuck in and make it a really aggressive race to finish the week off.”
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Barker teamed up with friend and former teammate Ciara Horne of Team USN, and finished just off the podium in fourth place.
Result Team Pursuit
1. Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling (Elinor Barker, Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott)
2. City of Edinburgh (Eleanor Jones Madeline Moore, Adel Tyson-Bloor and Rachel Murray)
Result Madison
1. Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling (Dani King and Laura Trott)
2. City of Edinburgh/MG-Maxfuel (Katie Archibald and Charline Joiner)
3. Node4-Giordana/Scott Contessa (Hayley Jones and Emily Kay)
4. Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling/USN (Elinor Barker and Ciara Horne)
