Round four of the 2014-15 Revolution Series hit Glasgow this weekend with a strong sprint line-up and the usual selection of men’s, women’s and youth races. The event provided a fantastic showcase for Scottish talent – in the Sprint and Endurance events and was the last competition for those riders heading off to Paris for the World Championships later this month.
Men’s Sprint
A strong field in the Men’s Sprint competition featured no fewer than four Scottish competitors including current British National Champion Callum Skinner.
Skinner’s strongest competition was always going to come from former World and reigning Olympic Champion Jason Kenny and the Englishman was the only rider to dip below 10 seconds in qualifying – posting a time of 9.972 to slip ahead of Skinner who just missed out on a sub-10 time with a 10.046.
200m Qualifying
1 Jason KENNY GBR 9.972
2 Callum SKINNER GBR 10.046
3 Matt CRAMPTON GBR 10.147
4 Lewis OLIVA GBR 10.149
5 Jonathan MITCHELL GBR 10.262
6 John PAUL GBR 10.315
7 Jiri JANACEK CZE 10.480
8 Joe TRUMAN GBR 10.699
9 Camiel LOK NED 10.783
10 Jack CARLIN GBR 10.837
Quarter Finals
The first three Quarter Finals went to form with Kenny showing a lot of respect to young Joe Truman in the first, World Junior Champion Jiri Janacek losing out to Skinner in the second and Matt Crampton seeing off former World Junior Champion John Paul in the penultimate heat.
The biggest upset came in the heat between the two closest qualifiers with Scot Jonathan Mitchell getting the jump on Lewis Oliva. The Welshman tried in vain top reel him in but it was 18 year old Mitchell that went through to the Semi Finals.
Heat 1
1 Jason KENNY GBR
2 Joe TRUMAN GBR
Heat 2
1 Callum SKINNER GBR
2 Jiri JANACEK CZE
Heat 3
1 Matt CRAMPTON GBR
2 John PAUL GBR
Heat 4
1 Jonathan MITCHELL GBR
2 Lewis OLIVA GBR
Semi Finals
Oliva’s a World Class sprinter who represented Great Britain at the recent World Cup in Cali, Colombia – but Kenny’s a rather different prospect and Mitchell’s progress – if not his impressive performances – ended in two straight defeats to Kenny. Mitchell showed no fear, though – and a good deal of talent – and wasn’t quite finished for the evening.
The other Semi was equally straightforward with Skinner taking his match with Crampton in two.
1 Jason KENNY GBR **
2 Jonathan MITCHELL GBR
1 Callum SKINNER GBR **
2 Matt CRAMPTON GBR
Minor Final
5 Lewis OLIVA GBR
6 John PAUL SCO
7 Jiri JANACEK CZE
8 Joe TRUMAN GBR
Finals
The Final itself was fairly straightfoward – Kenny showing promising form just under three weeks out from the World Championships by despatching local hero Skinner in two.
The excitement came in the race for third with Mitchell repeating his trick from the Quarter Finals and taking Crampton completely by surprise to go one up after the first race. Crampton wasn’t going to be caught twice and powered away from the young Scot to take the second race and the decider, but Mitchell is definitely one to watch.
1 Jason KENNY GBR **
2 Callum SKINNER GBR
3 Matt CRAMPTON GBR **
4 Jonathan MITCHELL GBR *
Elite Men’s Flying Lap
Ivo and Rui Oliveira from Portugal are the first pair of identical twins to line up in the same team in the Elite Men’s Championship at Revolution and it was Ivo who was first to show just how talented the 18 year olds are, edging out Bobby Lea and Martyn Irvine to win the Flying Lap.
Oliveira’s time of 13.715 was just over a tenth faster than Lea with Irvine a similar distance
behind – and those three the only riders to go under 14 seconds.
1 Ivo OLIVEIRA TIG 13.715
2 Bobby LEA MAL 13.826
3 Martyn IRVINE MGE 13.989
4 Joe HOLT USN 14.052
5 Yoeri HAVIC OGE 14.204
6 Miguel AMORIM TAL 14.281
Men’s Longest Lap
After the largely manufactured ‘controversy’ at the last Revolution Round where Adam Blythe was ‘unfairly’ disqualified for being the only rider not to know the difference between a gun and a whistle – a race he ‘would have won’ – things were slightly more straightfoward this time.
And, sure enouigh, Blythe showed he does have the ability to take ‘pole position’ – track standing just short of the line at the top of the track, ready to pounce when the gun – not the whistle – sounds. And pounce he did – powering away into a three or four length lead over the rest of the field… a field through which Joe Holt of USN steadily made his way, closing the gap to Blythe and passing him on the home straight to take the win.
1 Joe HOLT USN
2 Adam BLYTHE OGE
3 Rui OLIVEIRA TIG
4 Bobby LEA MAL
5 Jack ESCRITT JLT
6 Andy BROWN TSC
Women’s Points Race
Like Peter Kennuagh in the Men’s series last year, Lizzie Armitstead is clearly enjoying every minute of the Points Races at the Revolution. The relentless cycle of brief pauses and flat out sprints suits the punchy style that has served her so well in the Women’s World Cup series on the road – and, like Kennaugh, she has the ability to take laps at will.
Thirty three points is a big margin in a Points race, but in no way did it flatter the Otley rider who not only looked confident throughout, she looked like she was having fun as she took five wins, a second and a fourth place in the right sprints – as well as lapping the field three times.
Emily Kay of Team USN – who made her World Cup Omnium debut for the Welsh trade team in Cali two weeks earlier, was comfortable in second place with Sarah Storey – whose preparations for her Hour Record attempt at the end of February aren’t the ideal training for these short, sharp efforts – in third.
1 Lizzie ARMITSTEAD GBR 89 points
2 Emily KAY GBR 56
3 Sarah STOREY GBR 44
4 Emily NELSON GBR 25
5 Charline JOINER GBR 10
6 Manon LLOYD GBR 8
Men’s Keirin
Looking at the entry list for the Men’s Keirin it would have been a shock if the four GB squad riders – Kenny, Skinner, Crampton and Oliva – hadn’t made it through to the final; the real question – with two Heats sending three riders each through to the evening’s finalé, was who would take the two third place slots.
Kenny and Oliva duly took the first two places in Heat 1 with young Scot Jack Carlin holding off the impressive Mitchell to secure the third berth in the Final. Skinner won Heat 2 from Crampton with Paul – not quite back to his best, but fast improving – denying Janacek the final slot.
Heat 1
1 Jason KENNY GBR
2 Lewis OLIVA GBR
3 Jack CARLIN GBR
4 Jonathan MITCHELL GBR
5 Camiel LOK NED
Heat 2
1 Callum SKINNER GBR
2 Matt CRAMPTON GBR
3 John PAUL GBR
4 Jiri JANACEK CZE
5 Joe TRUMAN GBR
Minor Final
By way of consolation, Janacek took an easy win in the Minor Final, riding away from Mitchell and Lok at the bell, with Truman looking on from a distance.
1 Jiri JANACEK CZE
2 Jonathan MITCHELL SCO
3 Camiel LOK NED
4 Joe TRUMAN GBR
Final
You could have thrown a blanket over the second to sixth placed riders in the Final but the winner was comfortably clear of the pack. The crowd was somewhat bemused by the delay in announcing the result but it wasn’t Oliva’s impressive win that was in question – it was hometown rider Skinner, who seemed to have snatched second – but only by virtue of having taken to the côte d’azur in the Sprint; he was relegated to sixth with two of the other Scots – Carlin in second place ahead of Paul – providing some consolation fo
r the home crowd.
1 Lewis OLIVA GBR
2 Jack CARLIN GBR
3 John PAUL GBR
4 Jason KENNY GBR
5 Matt CRAMPTON GBR
6 Callum SKINNER GBR REL
Relegation : Riding on the blue band during the sprint
Women’s Longest Lap
After the success of the Men’s Longest Lap event – and Manchester’s combined Men and Women’s Longest Lap (and a half), this time round the race was included in both programmes and it was Kay and Team USN team mate Manon Lloyd who initially took up station at the head of the field to wait for the gun.
It was Kay who re-entered the home straight in the lead, too, but with Kayleigh Brogan on her shoulder. The three-time Future Stars champion held on to take yet another senior series win with Brogan second and Kay’s team mate Emily Nelson in third.
1 Emily KAY USN
2 Kayleigh BROGAN ASP
3 Emily NELSON USN
4 Manon LLOYD USN
5 Neah EVANS SCO
6 Sarah INGELBRECHT BEL
UCI Men’s Points Race
The Men’s Points Race took on a Six Days feel with Bobby Lea of Maloja Pushbikers picking up just seven points out of a possible sixty from Sprints, but picking up the win thanks to the three laps he took.
The scoreboard and velodrome commentator initially gave the win to Irvine, who took a lap in the closing stages to join Lea at the top of the leaderboard on 47 points, but Lea was away at the head of race when Irvine joined the back and he took his third lap gain with just two laps to go.
Irvine picked up a further three points – to bring his total from Sprints to 30 – in the final sprint to finish 10 clear of third placed Yoeri Havic, but Lea was the comfortable winner on 67.
1 Bobby LEA USA 67
2 Martyn IRVINE IRL 50
3 Yoeri HAVIC NED 40
4 Adam BLYTHE GBR 34
5 Tristan ROBBINS GBR 33
6 Owen JAMES GBR 29
Men’s Sprint Handicap
Determined not to let Mitchell hog all the limelight in the Sprint competition, Carlin ended the morning session with a win in the Sprint Handicap, beating Junior World Champions Janacek and Paul in the process.
1 Jack CARLIN SCO
2 Jiri JANACEK CZE
3 John PAUL SCO
4 Joe TRUMAN GBR
5 Camiel LOK NED
DNS Lewis OLIVA GBR
Women’s Elimination
Underlining her credentials still further, Kay found herself going head-to-head with Armitstead in the final sprint of the Women’s Elimination race and the Yorkshire rider leading out, the youngster from the West Midlands had to dig deep to take her second win of the evening.
1 Emily KAY USN
2 Lizzie ARMITSTEAD GBR
3 Neah EVANS GBR
4 Molly MEYVISCH BEL
5 Ellie COSTER GBR
6 Charline JOINER GBR
UCI Men’s Scratch Race
Bobby Lea achieved the same feat in a strangely cautious Men’s Scratch Race that only really came alive in the final third of the race.
In the closing stages Madison-Genesis came to the fore with Martyn Irvine attempting to break away before Tristan Robbins joined him to share the workload but, ultimately, It was too much, too soon.
Lea came round Orica-GreenEdge pair Yoeri Havic and Adam Blythe at the bell and eased away from Blythe on the run-in to notch his second win of the evening with Blythe forced to settle for second again – ahead of the ‘other’ Oliveira twin, Rui.
1 Bobby LEA USA
2 Adam BLYTHE GBR
3 Rui OLIVEIRA POR
4 Phil TRODDEN GBR
5 Miguel AMORIM POR
6 Joe HOLT GBR
Hoy Future Stars Girls Points Race
A close Points Race opened the Hoy Future Stars Girls competition for the evening with Team Polypipe’s Anna Docherty taking the opening sprint ahead of Rigmar Racing’s Rosa Martin, Henrietta Colbourne of NFTO and Sophie Capewell of Maloja Pushbikers.
Capewell took sprint two from team mate Hetty Niblett with Colbourne again third ahead of Rhona Callandar of Team Scotland. Jessica Roberts of Team USN took the penultimate sprint from Amber King of Rigmar Racers, Elizabeth Bennet of Team USN and series leader Eleanor Dickinson of NFTO.
Going in to the final sprint Capewell led on 6 points with Docherty and Roberts tied in second a point behind. Lauren Bate-Lowe of Team Ignitr took the final sprint with Docherty taking third, Roberts fourth and Emma Pitt of Madison-Genesis in fourth place. That gave the win to Docherty, with Roberts second and Capewell third.
1 Anna DOCHERTY TPP 8
2 Jessica ROBERTS USN 7
3 Sophie CAPEWELL MAL 6
4 Lauren BATE-LOWE TIG 5
5 Rosa MARTIN RIG 3
6 Hetty NIBLETT MAL 3
Hoy Future Stars Boys Scratch Race
The Boys Scratch Races are always explosive affairs and are almost invariably flat out from the gun. Almost as inevitable is the fact that series leader Rhys Britton will come to the fore in the closing stages and take maximum points.
It was Fred Wright who led at the bell, but Britton was on his wheel and came round to take the win with Wright holding on for second ahead of Sebastian Dickens of Maloja Pushbikers.
1 Rhys BRITTON USN
2 Fred WRIGHT TAL
3 Sebastian DICKENS MAL
4 Alex JOLLIFFE OGE
5 Frank LONGSTAFF JLT
6 William ROBERTS USN
UCI Women’s Scratch Race
A fast and furious Women’s Scratch Race saw Armitstead again among the pace-setters and, as the bunch started to break apart, she was part of a group of five – along with Kay, Manon Lloyd, Neah Evans and Sarah Ingelbrecht – that started to pull away.
The make-up of the lead group ebbed and flowed – with Sarah Storey joining along with Belgian Molly Meyvisch.
With most of the field back together in the closing stages it was Team USN team mates Emily Nelson and Ellie Coster who led out the sprint – with Nelson taking the win. Armitstead and Kay weren’t far away, though – taking third and fourth.
1 Emily NELSON GBR
2 Ellie COSTER GBR
3 Lizzie ARMITSTEAD GBR
4 Emily KAY GBR
5 Charline JOINER GBR
6 Kayleigh BROGAN GBR
Elite Men’s Madison Kilometre Time Trial
Once again, half the pairs in the Madison Time Trial went under a minute with just a second and a half separating third and sixth. The fastest of that group – Maloja Pushbikers – once again saw a rider step from the Future Stars to clock a first class time – Hamish Turnbull emulating Fred Wright’s Manchester performance, clocking 58.211 with Bobby Lea.
There was a second and a half gap from first to second when Orica GreenEdge duo Adam Blythe and Yoeri Havic took to the track. The mark they were aiming at was 56.862, set by Team Ignitr’s Ivo and Rui Oliveira – and for 995m it looked as though they were going to knock the twins off the top – but their lead evaporated in the final 125m, but only just – the Anglo-Dutch pairing just two thousandths behind at the finish.
1 TEAM IGNITR (Ivo OLIVEIRA, Rui OLIVEIRA) 56.862
2 ORICA GREENEDGE OGE (Adam BLYTHE, Yoeri HAVIC) 56.864
3 MALOJA PUSHBIKERS RT MAL (Bobby LEA, Hamish TURNBULL) 58.211
4 MADISON-GENESIS MGE (Martyn IRVINE, Tristan ROBBINS) 58.798
5 TELEGRAPH ALLSTARS TAL (Miguel AMORIM, Alberto MUNTANER) 59.468
6 RIGMAR RACERS RIG (Jack BARRETT, Phil TRODDEN) 59.714
Hoy Future Stars Girls 6 Lap Dash
Capewell may have missed out in the final sprint in the Points Race, but she wasn’t to be denied in the 6 lap dash, taking Roberts’ wheel at the bell and heading home Dickinson and Roberts at the finish.
1 Sophie CAPEWELL MAL
2 Eleanor DICKINSON NFT
3 Jessica ROBERTS USN
4 Jayati HINE TPP
5 Rosa MARTIN RIG
6 Elizabeth BENNETT USN
Hoy Future Stars Boys Points Race
Like the Girls’ Points Race, the Boys’ Race was a tight affair with Alex Jolliffe of Orica GreenEdge taking the first sprint, Alistair Fielding the second, Sebastian Dickens the third and Reece Wood the last – but none of them scored in any of the other sprints and, while Wood took second ahead of Dickens based on their finishing order, the win went to the rider who took second in the first two sprints – Rhys Britton.
1 Rhys BRITTON USN 6
2 Reece WOOD TIG 5
3 Sebastian DICKENS MAL 5
4 Alex JOLLIFFE OGE 5
5 Alistair FIELDING MGE 5
6 Matthew BURKE SKY 3
Hoy Future Stars Girls Scratch Race
Another fast-paced Scratch Race saw the bunch strung out for most of the race, coming back together with a couple of laps to go before the final gallop kicked off – led by the usual suspects – Roberts taking the win from Dickinson and Capewell. That second place was enough to ensure that Dickinson retained her series lead.
1 Jessica ROBERTS USN
2 Eleanor DICKINSON NFT
3 Sophie CAPEWELL MAL
4 Rosa MARTIN RIG
5 Rhona CALLANDER TSC
6 Elizabeth BENNETT USN
Hoy Future Stars Boys 6 Lap Dash
Britton had already comfortably retained the series lead before the final Boys’ event of the evening, but – just to keep things neat and tidy – he took that ones as well, winning the Six Lap Dash from Team Polypipe’s Matthew Draper and JLT’s Frank Longstaff.
1 Rhys BRITTON USN
2 Matthew DRAPER TPP
3 Frank LONGSTAFF JLT
4 Fred WRIGHT TAL
5 Alex JOLLIFFE OGE
6 Oliver PECKOVER SKY
Elite Men’s Team Elimination Race
A win for Blythe and Havic in the final Team Elimination Race saw Orica-GreenEdge take over at the head of the overall series, edging out previous leaders Maloja Pushbikers.
1 ORICA Greenedge OGE
2 TEAM USN USN
3 JLT Condor JLT
4 MALOJA Pushbikers RT MAL
5 TEAM Ignitr TIG
6 RIGMAR Racers RIG
