Revolution Series Track Cycling Finale

by Anna Magrath | Mar 20, 2015

Saturday 14^th March 2015, Revolution 51

So we come to the end of another thrilling Revolution Series and what a treat it’s been, some of the worlds best sprinters and endurance riders mixing it up with top British Junior riders.

The finale of the season was held at it’s home track in Manchester at the National Cycling Centre where team Maloja Pushbikers stormed to victory in the Revolution Championship, Eleanor Dickinson and Rhys Britton took the young riders podiums in the HOY Future Stars Championships with consistent and tactical racing skills through this long season. The Championship crown didn’t go without a challenge, ORICA GreenEDGE were determined to upset the results with their bullish gutsy attacks and wins throughout the evening, Maloja Pushbikers had to work hard to remain on top. The nearest rivals to the HOY Future Stars top spot put in a fight too, Sophie Capewell and Fred Wright were in every attack with their teams.

Images ©chrismaher.co.uk/CyclingShorts.cc

AFTERNOON SESSION:

The afternoon got underway much to the disappointment of the crowd with the absence of headline sprinting star Jason Kenny who adorned the cover of the race programme. Jason pulled out of the meet after feeling unwell earlier in the morning. There was still a cracking line up for the sprint competitions with the likes of John Paul (Scotland), Lewis Olivia (GB) and Charlie Conord of France in the mix, all of which made it through the afternoons qualifying races to proceeding to the evenings action.

Elite Championship Flying Lap Men

Alex Edmondson of Orica GreenEDGE posted the best time, winning in a time of 13.487, 2nd was Achim Berkart of JLT Condor in a time of 13.858, and the rest of the riders posted above the 14 second mark with Leif Lampater (Maloja Pushbikers) posting a time of 14.014 in 3rd place.

Elite Championship Points Race (30km) Men
Alex Edmondson @ORICA_GreenEDGE storms to a win in the with a lead of 7 points with one laps to go, 2nd is @Maloja Pushbikes Leif Lampater starting the day off strongly,  3rd Achim Burkart.

UCI Mens Hour Record Attempt

Images ©chrismaher.co.uk/CyclingShorts.cc

Before the evenings Championship events got underway we saw Gustav Larsson take on the Hour Record. He was running a 58:14 schedule for his hour attempt. With 10km raced he was 13.03 seconds down and 1min 18 secs adrift at the halfway point. Unfortunately the clock worked against him and he saw the UCI Hour Record slip away from him. 50.160km gave him a new Swedish Hour Record. You can view Gustav’s times by clicking here.

Hour Record Holders under the new Unified rules set in 2014. Starting the renewed interest in the hour record, recently retired German Pro Cycling Jens Voigt set the benchmark of 51.110, the oldest holder of the record on 18^th Sept 2014. He was followed by:

Matthias Brandle (Swi) managed a time of 51.852 30 in Oct 2014

Jack Bobridge (Aus), attempted the record on 31^st Jan 2015 in Melbourne but fell short.

The current Record Holder is Rohan Dennis (Aus), who set his time on 8^th Feb 2015 in Switzerland, WR 52.491

Alex Dowsett, was meant to ride the hour on 29^th Feb 2015, but it was postponed with a possible April date rumoured. Alex is on the mend since his collarbone break and is back in training to tackle the record. Suggestions estimate a 17.1s lap average to beat Rohan Dennis’s time, around 53Kmph.

Other possible contenders this year include:

Thomas Deker

Bradley Wiggins – June 07th London

Fabian Cancellara

Images ©chrismaher.co.uk/CyclingShorts.cc

EVENING SESSION:

Elimination Race Women

Elimination womens race Brit Tate was first out. The race continued to drop riders off the back with 5 riders left in the womens elimination race Laura Trott appeared to be comfortable in her favoured style of riding (dangling off the back until she’s required to move to save her skin). After dropping some of the big names (Kay, Rowsell, Curtis & Barker) the final sprint for the line was between Laura Trott & Leire Olaberria of Spain, Laura won comfortably, it seems sitting on the devils tail suits Laura just fine.

Elite Championship Scratch Race (15km)Men

22 riders lined up for the mens Scratch race with vital Championship point up for grabs it was a two team race with Orica and Maloja fighting over the last few scraps of the championships spoils, Maloja Pushbikes lead the competition with 243 points. The Orica boys really needed Christian and Leif to struggle but there was no sign of that, there appeared to be tactics at play from Maloja, only making an effort when required and often sitting near the back and moving forward when there was a danger of Orica getting away. A change of tactics with 25 laps to go 11 riders broke off the front and gained half a lap. 4 riders break free from this lead group with Christian Grasmann leading them. At the 20 lap to go mark Joel Partington retires. Christian’s team mate Leif Lampater takes control on the front for a period with every move being watched by the Orica GreenEDGE boys who appear to have blistering speed to react to manoeuvres. At the 9 lap mark Trodden & De Ketele breakaway but to no avail.

The menace of Orica GreenEDGE’s Alex Edmondson & Miles Scotson force riders to react, along with Maloja’s Christian Grasmann they force all the riders to the top of the track as they get ready for the final sprint.

The form of Alex Edmondson is apparent as he looks like a pure sprinter as he attacks, Leif Lampater responds but has to settle for 2nd in what was a thrilling finish to the Scratch Race, unfortunately Orica didn’t really want to take Leif to the finish line with them as they just offset the valuable Orica points for the Championship, this was going to be a hard fought night of cycling and the Aussies meant business!

HOY Future Stars Scratch Race (5km) Boys

Going into the boys competition Rhys Britton was leading the championship with 400 points with 2nd placed rider Fred Wright on 354 points so it was all to play for. It was a high octane race, with 6 laps to go Anthony Anderson went off the front followed by Jamie Ridehalgh in a bid to win from the front, unfortunately the tactic didn’t work and the pack came back together with Fred Wright winning ahead of Matthew Draper and 3rd place was mopped up by Tom Piddock.

HOY Future Stars Scratch Race (5km) Girls

It appeared it was going to be an attacking evening of racing in all competition levels, but with 14 laps to go Sophie Capewell was striking out the peloton but the pack were carefully watching each other. It was a twitchy race. At 9 laps to go Monica Dew Hope took to the front for team Ignitr. In the closing laps of the race Esme Niblett for Madison Genesis held the front with the most active riders of the race sat on her wheel. When it came to the sprint for the line Sophie Capewell crossed the line first with Anna Docherty and Jess Roberts on her wheel taking 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Revolution Longest Lap (24 riders) Men 

Joel Partington of Madison Genesis decided he wanted to hug the start line at the top of the track and take the risk of being close to it until the gun went, it was a tactic that paid off, he managed to use his position and height to comfortably sprint to the finish with 2nd and 3rd placed riders breaking away with him. Joe Holt 2nd for Team USN and 3rd pace was Alex Edmondson of Orica GreenEDGE who was fast becoming the elite rider of the evening, he made sure he was in the mix in every one of his races.

UCI Scratch Race (10km) Women

The 40 lap race was all set to be a zinger, Jo Rowsell attacked 10 laps in and with a small group following her broke away. Jo managed to shake of the riders with her and went on to gain half to three quarters of a lap but she couldn’t break the elastic between her and the chasing pack. Laura Trott was sat in the wheels for the majority of the race as the crowd waited for her to attack, unfortunately for Jo she was drawn back into the peloton and the attack was left late by the riders and the race was taken by Ellie Coster, Laura only managed 3rd place with Katie Curtis taking 2nd, certainly not what the crowd expected but it was a brilliant tactical ride by Ellie Coster.

UCI Sprint 

With no Jason Kenny in the line up the competition wasn’t as spicy but the riders present put on a real show for the crowds. the Semi final was a match up of Lewis Oliva vs Jonathan Mitchell, Lewis knocked Jonathan out in two rounds after Mitchell was relegated for not holding his race line, no need for a decider. The face off between Charlie Conord of France and John Paul, went to just two rounds with Charlie being the victor in both to take him through to the race for gold with Lewis Olivia. In the end John Paul beat Jonathan Mitchell to the bronze without too much fuss.

The final ended up with Conord and Olivia taking a race each, it came to a decider. Not to be outdone the sprinters decided to show the crowd their track stand, it led to a frantic finish and the Frenchman won by a slim margin of 9cms on the line, it was confirmed on the velodrome screen to cheers from the crowd.

HOY Future Stars 6 Lap Dash Boys

The boys didn’t hold back with the race living up to it’s name, Rhys Britton and Fred Wright winding up the last few laps to fight for their valuable championship points, Rhys Britton won with Fred Wright 2nd and Matthew Draper 3rd, there seemed to be a group of usual suspects heading the peloton in the boys races for the evening.

HOY Future Stars 6 Lap Dash Girls

The 6 lap Dash was won by the consistently great Sophie Capewell ahead of Eve Jefferies and Megan Chard, Ellie Dickinson came in a close 4th.

Elite Championship Madison Time Trial Men

The mens Madison is always a favourite of mine and it didn’t disappoint.  Alex Edmondson actually struck quite an intimidating figure with his very strong riding style throughout the evening, he was like the Terminator on a bike, he and team mate Miles Scotson didn’t disappoint with their unbeatable time in the Madison TT, posting a time of 56.181, Team Maloja Pushbikers came in 2nd place but over one second down (57.862) JLT Condor were a whole second off their place (58.817) with the rest of the teams scattered between 58.896 and 1:00.840.

HOY Future Stars Points Race (5km) Boys

20 laps of the track and Fred Wright managed to get himself into every sprint earning valuable points. Rhys Britton managed to contest some points too stopping Fred from running away with all the goodies. Other riders who put in strong rides were Turnbull, Walls, Longstaff and Stewart, all contesting more than one of the sprints. The final race results where: 10 points to Fred Wright, 8 to Britton and 5 each for Longstaff and Stewart.

HOY Future Stars Points Race (5km) Girls

Another triumphant win for Sophie Capewell, the cherry on her championship cake, she won the first and final sprints of the race giving her an unassailable win of 10 points. Eleanor Dickinson came 2nd with 6 points and 3rd was Rebecca Raybould with 5 points, a close 4th was taken by Emily Tillett who also got 5 points but on count back hadn’t featured in the more than one sprint which was in the middle of the race to earn her points. Raybould.

Elite Championship Team Elimination Men

The elimination came down to the two teams of the evening and series, Maloja Pushbikers and Orica GreenEDGE. Int the final sprint Orica had more fuel left in the tank, no idea how since Alex Edmondson seemed to be over every move in every race of the day. A great win for Orica GreenEDGE who came away with the most points on the evening but sadly not enough for them to topple the consistency high scoring Maloja Pushbikers team of Christian Grasmann and Leif Lampater.

UCI Keirin

The last final of the 2014/15 Revolution Series was the UCI Keirin. It appeared the earlier racing had taken it’s toll on Charlie Conords legs as he came in 6th. The Czech rider Tomas Babek won with GB riders Lewis Olivia and John Paul jostling for position, coming in 2nd & 3rd respectively.

You can view the full Revolution 51 and final Championship results here.

The Revolution returns back to Freeview Television this series. The highlights will be shown the Saturday morning after the event on Channel 4. Then on 4OD catch-up on line.

Catch up with the highlights on Saturday 21st March at 7.00am. Presenting the one hour show will be Matt Barbet, Sian Welby, & Rebecca Charlton with Guest Presenter

The next round of Revolution, Season 13, will be back later in 2015 with Race 52.

It looks like there will be some changes to the Revolution Series for the 2015/16 season as it continues to evolve and dominate the track season in the UK, so watch this space for more information as it’s released!

NEXT SEASON TICKETS
A reminder that tickets for next season will go on sale on Monday 13th April exclusively to past customers – these will be available at a special discounted price to say thank you for your support again this season. Tickets will then go on sale a week later to British Cycling members and customers who pre-register for tickets here . Tickets will be on general release on 1st May.