British cyclists excel in Manchester

on November 4, 2008 by Administrator

A stunning performance by Great Britain’s track cycling squad during the World Cup meeting in Manchester this weekend has left British fans of the sport truly ecstatic. Dave Brailsford’s impressive squad were attempting to accumulate the maximum amount of qualifying points available ahead of next year’s World Championships, scheduled to be hosted by Poland.

The squad managed to win all six finals held on Saturday and the competition was extremely tough. Lizzie Armitstead needed to perform well in order to win the women’s scratch competition and she did not disappoint. She finished the race very strongly, using her outstanding ability to accelerate quickly and unexpectedly to maximum effect.

Armitstead was also in action in the women’s team pursuit on Sunday. Armitstead, Katie Colcough and Joanna Rowsell managed to please the home crowd by beating Germany with a time of just over 3 minutes and 26 seconds.

Lizzie Armitstead, who was making her World Cup debut at the age of 19, was keen to thank her female team mates for providing support: “they’re really friendly, they’re not above us or anything, really kind and make you feel welcome”.

The men’s team pursuit squad, made up of Rob Hayles, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas and Stephen Burke, managed to overtake Denmark and claim the win. Saturday also saw a good result in the men’s team sprint, with Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar performing well to beat Poland.

Chris Newton provided the Manchester crowd with even more excitement. Newton won the points race and then continued to triumph in the 120-lap race. He stated that he had been inspired by the performance of Armitstead and wanted to become part of the British success story of the weekend.

Victoria Pendleton, who had also impressed during Friday’s events, won the time trial in impressive style on Saturday. Sunday saw further fantastic performances from the British squad. A further four gold medals were achieved and Pendleton was once again involved in the success.

She managed to win her third gold in the women’s keirin, overcoming tough competition from Dina Maria Garcia Orrego and Gong Jinjie. Pendleton was pleased with the performance of the female cyclists in Manchester, stating that “it’s so good to see so many girls up here who are very driven and ambitious and they want to be as good as the boys”.

The only real disappointment of the weekend came in the madison event. Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas were unable to beat the German duo of Olaf Pollack and Roger Kluge, and could only manage to finish fifth.

Wiggins had previously spoken of his desire to be successful in this event with new partner Thomas, especially after his disappointment in the madison during the Olympic Games. He believed that the pair had a good chance at winning the event but sadly the competition proved to be too tough.

Fans of cycling will now be looking forward to the next World Cup Classics series, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, later this month.