The second session of Revolution 50 in London was dominated by Dame Sarah Storey’s attempt at the C5, Masters and outright World Hour Records – but there was lots of other racing action during the course of Saturday afternoon.

Men’s Sprint

The Men’s Sprint competition kicked off with the 200m Time Trial and it was Hungary’s Sandor Szalontay who set the early running with a 10.133. Jeffrey Hoogland – fourth in the World Championship Sprint competition in Paris last week – couldn’t top that and his 10.247 would eventually be good enough for fourth – just a tenth or so ahead of Ireland’s Eoin Mullen who stopped the clock at 10.396.

Max Levy of Germany did manage to pop Szaolntay with a 10.111 but pole position for the Quarter Finals went to Kiwi Eddie Dawkins who pulled out his party trick of riding the 200 with a massive – 139″ – gear without getting out of the saddle. He’s done a 9.8 in similar circumstances, but 10.005 was enough to top the times.

200m Qualifying

1 Eddie DAWKINS NZL 10.005
2 Maximilian LEVY GER 10.111
3 Sandor SZALONTAY HUN 10.133
4 Jeffrey HOOGLAND NED 10.247
5 Eoin MULLEN IRL 10.396
6 Simon VAN VELTHOOVEN NZL 10.500
7 Matt CRAMPTON GBR 10.534
8 Joe TRUMAN GBR 10.681
9 Thomas SCAMMELL GBR 11.242
10 Jamie ALEXANDER GBR 11.242

Quarter Finals

The Quarter Finals saw a couple of upsets – Szalontay’s qualifying time wasn’t enough to see him past New Zealand’s Simon van Velthooven – but none more so than the final heat where Mullen pipped Hoogland on the line to dump the Dutch rider out of the competition.

Heat 1

1 Eddie DAWKINS NZL
2 Joe TRUMAN GBR

Heat 2

1 Maximilian LEVY GER
2 Matt CRAMPTON GBR

Heat 3

1 Simon VAN VELTHOOVEN NZL
2 Sandor SZALONTAY HUN

Heat 4

1 Eoin MULLEN IRL
2 Jeffrey HOOGLAND NED

UCI Women’s Points Race

The startsheet of the UCI Women’s Points Race had a distinctly British feel to it, with just Leire Olaberria (Spain) and Sarah Ingelbrecht (Belgium) the only starters from outside the British Isles. Olaberria had shown her credentials the previous evening however, finishing third in the elimination race to Laura Trott and Emily Kay, and was the only rider to challenge Trott in the closing metres of the scratch race.

However, the race started very much from where the scratch had left off the previous evening, with Trott taking maximum points in the first sprint, followed by Amy Hill (GBR), Katie Archibald (GBR) and Leire.

The next set went to the determined Spaniard, however, who just pipped Trott on the line. It was once again Archibald and Kay who took the minor points. Emily Nelson (GBR) took the next set, although with Trott taking the maximum points in the next two sets, victory seemed certain – unless someone was to take a lap in the final moments of the race.

However, rather than take a lap, Abbie Dentus (GBR) ended up being lapped by the field, losing herself 20 points. Dentus, who had come down heavily in the scratch race the previous day, perhaps had yet to fully recover from her injuries.

Trott won the race with a margin of 12 points, with her team pursuit compatriot, Katie Archibald, taking a well-earned second place. Olaberria, crossing the line first at the end of the race, did enough to take third place.

Results

1 Laura TROTT GBR 49 points
2 Katie ARCHIBALD GBR 37 points
3 Leire OLABERRIA ESP 36 points
4 Emily KAY GBR 31 points   
5 Amy HILL GBR 8 points   
6 Emily NELSON GBR 5 points      
7 Katie CURTIS GBR 2 points     
8 Sarah INGELBRECHT BEL9 0 points        
9 Abbie DENTUS GBR -20 points     
Keira MCVITTY GBR DNF

Sarah Storey – World Hour Record Attempt

The next event on the track was Sarah Storey’s much hyped attempt at breaking Leontien van Moorsel’s world hour record. Van Moorsel rode 46.065km in Mexico City in 2003, and it would be a tough ask to break the record – even for a rider of the calibre of Sarah Storey. No woman has attempted the record since Van Moorsel which is perhaps testament to the hard mark she has said to break.

Storey started the hour well and was up by 2 seconds on the previous record by five kilometres – good enough to be up on Van Moorsel, but not by such a margin that she would be threatened with fatigue in the latter stages, something which Jack Bobridge will have been only too aware of in his attempt a few weeks previously. However, by 20km her 2 second advantage had become a near one second deficit, and the crowd were raucously encouraging her to get back on schedule.

However, between around 30 minutes and 50 minutes, Storey became more and more laboured, and found herself some half a kilometre down with just 10 minutes remaining – a margin which would take a monumental effort to overturn. At 55 minutes, Sarah managed a final last kick – her 20 second laps becoming low 19s as the hour became ever closer. However, with more than four laps needed in the final 60 seconds, it was clear that even Storey was not going to be able to claim her 74th world record.

Agonisingly, Sarah completed 45.502km – 563m from Van Moorsel’s mark. Storey had given her all, and had to be helped from her bicycle by husband Barney.

Storey got the consolation of setting a new British record, Paralympic record and Masters record, but for a rider of Storey’s talent to miss out is exemplification in itself just how strong Van Moorsel’s record is. Storey may have failed on this attempt but, knowing Sarah’s grit and hatred of failure, it would seem very unlikely that, once the pain has ebbed away from her legs, she will be looking to attempt it again soon.

Men’s Points Race

22 riders lined up for the men’s 100-lap points race which contained an exceptional depth of riders. A strong favourite going into the race would have to be Glenn O’Shea of Australia: O’Shea was in bronze medal position in the world championships in Paris last week going into the final event – the points race – but leapfrogged the talented Italian rider, Elia Viviani, by virtue of his strong performance in the race to take home the silver medal.

It was Alex Rasmussen of Denmark who took full points in the first sprint lap, with O’Shea starting his campaign well to cross the line in second place. However, it was O’Shea who remained in command throughout the race, managing to take two laps during the race when second to seventh could only manage a single lap.

Leif Lampater of Germany took second place, pipping Martyn Irvine of Ireland for third. Germain Burton (Great Britain) finished on the same number of points as Irvine, but finished behind by virtue of their finishing order.

Results

1 Glenn O’SHEA AUS 58 points
2 Leif LAMPATER GER 32 points
3 Martin IRVINE IRL 30 points
4 Germain BURTON GBR 30 points
5 Mark STEWART GBR 29 points
6 Peter KENNAUGH GBR 25 points
7 Jack BOBRIDGE AUS 23 points
8 Alex RASMUSSEN DEN 5 points
9 Chris LATHAM GBR 4 points
10 Ed CLANCY GBR 3 points
11 Oli WOOD GBR 3 points
12 Jon MOULD GBR 2 points
13 Marc HESTER DEN 2 points
14 Christian GRASMANN GER 1 points
15 Joe HOLT GBR 1 points
16 Phil TRODDEN GBR 0 points
17 Andy TENNANT GBR 0 points
18 Jesper MORKOV DEN 0 points
19 Matt GIBSON GBR 0 points
20 David MUNTANER ESP 0 points
DNF Andy BROWN GBR  
DNF Alex MINTING GBR

Men’s Derny Final

A wealth of talent lined up for the men’s derny final. Could Peter Kennaugh (SKY), known for his endurance on the road, take the win with his derny pacer, Peter Baeuerlein. Glenn O’Shea (OGE) has looked impressive throughout, and could easily steal victory with his pacer, Ron Zijlaard. However, at only 10km, the race is short for a derny final so could see riders such as Ed Clancy (JLT) triumphing.

From the start, Kennaugh and O’Shea started to get away from the field. The pair gradually increased the pace, and ended up lapping the field. The rest of the field appeared to have no response to the pair and, with them lapping at 13 seconds, no-one had much chance to. In the end, it was Kennaugh who took victory, much to the delight of the crowd. O’Shea deserves praise for pushing him throughout the race.

Results

1 Peter KENNAUGH / Peter BAEUERLEIN (SKY)
2 Glenn O’SHEA / Ron ZIJLAARD (OGE)
3 Leif LAMPATER /Walter HUYBRECHTS (MAL) -1 lap
4 Ed CLANCY / Rene KOS (JLT) -1 lap
5 Jesper MORKOV / Rene DUPONT (NFT) -1 lap
6 Alex RASMUSSEN / Gerd GESSLER (TIG) -1 lap
7 Marc HESTER / Herman BAKKER (TAL) -1 lap
8 Mark STEWART / Peter MOHLMANN (TSC) -1 lap

Women’s Elimination Race

Laura Trott had never looked troubled as she took the win in the previous evening’s elimination race and, with a similar startsheet for today’s race, there was no reason the results would go any other way. Undoubtedly Spain’s Leire Olaberria would be keen to try and win her first race of the event, and Emily Kay had also looked particularly impressive the previous evening. However, with the event Trott’s speciality, it seemed unlikely the result could go any other way.

Despite a valiant attempt by Emily Nelson (USN), the final three riders left were Kay, Olaberria and Trott. When Kay, who is known for her sprinting prowess, was the first of the three to go, Trott’s victory seemed assured: the British rider consistently beats the Spaniard in head-to-head sprint competitions. And history certainly was on the crowd’s side this evening as Trott convincingly won the race.

Results

1 Laura TROTT (MFV)
2 Leire OLABERRIA (ESP)
3 Emily KAY (USN)
4 Emily NELSON (USN)
5 Amy HILL (RYG)
6 Katie ARCHIBALD (IZU)
7 Abbie DENTUS (DEV)
8 Sarah INGELBRECHT (BEL)
9 Keira MCVITTY (TGT)
10 Katie CURTIS (IZU)