The first of three sessions of the final round of the 11th Revolution Series took place on Friday night with the opening three events in the UCI Women’s Omnium, a GB vs Rest of the World Madison challenge and the UCI Men’s Keirin. A near capscity crowd packed the Olympic velodrome for the first competitive event at the venue since the Paralympics in 2012.
Women’s Omnium
The evening opened with the Women’s Omnium Flying Lap and it was Scottish Sprinter Jenny Davis who set the early pace with a 15.023 but it was Spaniard Leire Olaberria who was the first to dip under the 15 second barrier. That wasn’t what the crowd had come to see, though and Wiggle Honda’s Laura Trott – last to go – didn’t disappoint them clocking 14.528 to take the overall lead in the competition.
Women’s Omnium I – Flying Lap
1 Laura TROTT GBR 14.528
2 Leire OLABERRIA ESP 14.894
3 Jenny DAVIS GBR 15.023
4 Dani KING GBR 15.180
5 Katie ARCHIBALD GBR 15.336
6 Elinor BARKER GBR 15.561
GB vs Rest of the World Madison – Team Elimination
The first event in the Men’s Madison competition was a fast and furious Team Elimination feature a glittering array of current and former World and Olympic champions – among them the newly crowned World Madison Champions Albert Torres and David Muntaner.
It was one of the current Olympic and former World Champions – Steven Burke – who, with his partner Pete Williams was the first to be eliminated. And two of his illustrious Team Pursuit team mates – Ed Clancy and Andy Tennant – followed them off the track.
Muntaner and Torres were looking favourite for the win but were eliminated with three to go leaving Roy Pieters and Yoeri Havik of the Netherlands to face Christian Grasmann and Leif Lampeter.
The Rudy Project Racing duo are Six Day and Revolution favourites and the crowd was delighted when they took the victory.
Men’s Madison – Team Elimination
1 GRASMANN / LAMPATER
2 PIETERS / HAVIK
3 TORRES / MUNTANER
4 LATHAM / STEWART
5 CASPERS / VAN ZIJL
6 STROETINGA / STOEPLER
Back to the Women’s Omnium then – and the Points Race and Trott was dominant in a race where all attempts to break away and take a lap were quickly nullified. Trott stamped her authority from the start – taking the first sprint and taking second and third in the next two. Another win in sprint 5 – along with another second, third and a fourth left her on 21 points but it was Flying Lap runner-up Olaberrie who was second – four points back having pipped Trott to sprints two and five – to keep herself in overall contention. Trott’s Wiggle Honda teammate Dani King was third on 14 points.
Women’s Omnium II – Points Race
1 Laura TROTT GBR 21 points
2 Leire OLABERRIA ESP 17
3 Dani KING GBR 14
4 Ausrine TREBAITE LTU 7
5 Katie ARCHIBALD GBR 6
6 Hayley JONES GBR 5
Back to the GB vs Rest of World Challenge and this time it was a straight 200-lap Madison which was ridden at a frantic pace almost from start to finish – with just a slight lull in the middle phase.
Burke and Williams – first out in the Team Elimination – scored the first points in the Madison with Wim Stroetinga and Nick Stoepler of the Netherlands taking the second – ahead of Team Elimination race winners Grasmann and Lampeter. Young Brits Gabriel Cullaigh and Matt Gibson took sprint three with Grasmann and Lampeter taking the fourth – and moving into a lead that they would hold until the closing stages of the race.
Despite having lost a lap to the leaders, Muntaner and Torres continued to clock up up points and were 10 points ahead of the Rudy Project duo when they regained their lap and sealed the win.
Marc Hester and Jesper Morkov of Denmark and Stroetinga and Stoepler took the lap back with them and that was enough to lift them in to second and third places.
Men’s 50km Madison
1 TORRES / MUNTANER 26
2 911 HESTER / MORKOV 16
3 913 STROETINGA / STOEPLER 11
4 910 GRASMANN / LAMPATER 10
5 902 LATHAM / STEWART 12
6 915 PIETERS / HAVIK 7
Men’s Keirin
France’s Francois Pervis was unbeatable in the individual Sprint events at the World Championships in Cali two weeks ago – and he had clearly retained that form as he cruised through quali
fying and into the Men’s Keirin Final.
Callum Skinner led out the Final but was overhauled by first Kenny and then Crampton on the run in to the bell. But Pervis was poised and moved ahead in the run in – challenged only by Chris Pritchard of Scotland – with Matt Crampton not far behind. Pervis wasn’t going to be denied, though, and took the win ahead of the Scot.
Men’s Keirin
1 Francois PERVIS FRA
2 Chris PRITCHARD GBR
3 Matt CRAMPTON GBR
4 Svajunas JONAUSKAS LTU
5 Callum SKINNER GBR
6 Jason KENNY GBR
The traditional closing event of the first day of the Women’s Omnium has been a crowd favourite since the World Cup in London just over two years ago when Laura Trott began a remarkable series of wins in the event.
Her prowess in the event is quite remrkable and the fact that much of the crowd had actually come to see her ride what was, once, a novelty event at track leagues around the world and is still just one sixth of the Omnium programme is testament to that.
Jenny Davis was first to go – the sprinter looking under the weather early on and having followed her fine third in the Flying Lap with last place in the Points Race. As we got to the business end of the race it was Caroline Ryan of Ireland who had ridden most of the race from the front who was eliminated to leave a final five which included the top four in the competition – Trott, King, Archibald and Olaberria – as well as Hayley Jones of Team USN, who was next to go.
Trott will have been pleased to see Olaberria go next, but the events on the following elimination were far more dramatic with King and Archibald colliding on the finish line and crashin heavily. Neither was held to be at fault, with King being given second place while Trott rolled round, somewhat anti-climactically, to take the win.
Women’s Omnium III – Elimination
1 Laura TROTT GBR
2 Dani KING GBR
3 Katie ARCHIBALD GBR
4 Leire OLABERRIA ESP
5 Hayley JONES GBR
6 Caroline RYAN IRL
That left Archibald and King bruised and battered and Trott in a commanding position at the half way stage in the competition. With a perfect score of 3, she was 5 points clear of Olaberria with King third on 9 and Archibald fourth on 13.
Women’s Omnium Standings After Day 1
1 Laura TROTT GBR 3
2 Leire OLABERRIA ESP 8
3 Dani KING GBR 9
4 Katie ARCHIBALD GBR 13
5 Hayley JONES GBR 21
6 Caroline RYAN IRL 24