Sensational Saturday: Finucane Stars at Lloyds National Track Championships

All Images © Cycepix4u / Chris Maher

Sensational Saturday: Finucane Stars at Lloyds National Track Championships

Day three of the Lloyds National Track Championships in Manchester delivered an action-packed Saturday, highlighted by Emma Finucane’s commanding Women’s Keirin victory and a flurry of multi-title wins across the individual, team, and para-cycling disciplines.

Here is how the action unfolded at the National Cycling Centre:

Women’s Events:

Women’s Keirin

• Gold: Emma Finucane

• Silver: Lowri Thomas

• Bronze: Lauren Bell

In the final event of the day, Emma Finucane put on a flawless performance. She dominated from the front, building a massive gap to secure the gold in style. Behind her, an intense battle for the podium saw Lowri Thomas narrowly pip defending champion Lauren Bell for silver.

Women’s Points Race

• Gold: Anna Morris (Private Member)

• Silver: Josie Knight (DAS-Hutchinson)

• Bronze: Katie Archibald (dooleys cycles)

Anna Morris stormed to her second victory of the week following Thursday’s Scratch win. After a reserved start, Morris, alongside Archibald, Knight, Jess Roberts, and Phoebe Taylor, made a decisive move at the halfway point to gain a lap and 20 points. Morris and Archibald traded late attacks, but Morris secured second on the final sprint to seal the title by more than ten points. Knight managed to sneak fourth in the final dash to edge Archibald out of the silver medal spot.

Men’s Events:

Men’s Elimination

• Gold: Matt Bostock (Rapha CC)

• Silver: William Tidball (Velo Club Villefranche Beaujolais)

• Bronze: Charlie Tanfield (Private Member)

Matt Bostock secured his second national champion jersey of the weekend in a chaotic elimination race. With a high-calibre trio remaining for the final laps, confusion arose regarding the bronze medal elimination between Tanfield and Tidball. Bostock capitalized on the hesitation, riding away for a straightforward victory.

Men’s Team Sprint

• Gold: Team Inspired A (Matthew Richardson, Marcus Hiley, Harry Radford)

• Silver: Team Inspired B (Ed Lowe, Hamish Turnbull, Hayden Norris)

• Bronze: Team Inspired C (Lyall Craig, Joe Truman, Archie Gill, Oliver Pettifer)

Team Inspired A backed up their dominant qualifying run with gold, but they had to fight for it. After an inspired turn by Hamish Turnbull, Team B held a slender lead heading into the final lap. However, Matthew Richardson proved he was on another level, unleashing a massive burst of speed to swing the pendulum back to Team A and win by over a second.

Para-Cycling Events:

Women’s B Individual Pursuit

• Gold: Sophie Unwin & Jenny Holl (Private Member)

• Silver: Georgina Bullen & Miriam Jessett (Born to Bike)

• Bronze: Amelia Robertson & Kate Richardson

World champions Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl completed a spectacular hat-trick, securing their third national title of the week. Racing in their rainbow stripes, the duo produced a textbook ride to overtake Bullen and Jessett in the second half of the pursuit.

Women’s C1-5 Scratch

• Gold: Crystal Lane-Wright (Private Member)

• Silver: Rebecca Newark (Jadan Glasdon pb Vive le Velo)

Crystal Lane-Wright made history by becoming the inaugural women’s C Scratch champion, adding to her C5 Elimination win from Thursday. Lane-Wright, Newark, and Morgan Newberry accelerated away from the pack just past the halfway mark. After dropping Newberry, Lane-Wright stayed cool on Newark’s wheel until the bell, powering over the top on the final bend to cruise to victory.

Men’s B Sprint

• Gold: Frederick Ireland & Aaron Pope (Private Member)

• Silver: Tim Caldwell & Benedict Elliot (Weaver Valley CC)

An illness to pre-race favourite Matthew Rotherham (piloting world champion James Ball) blew the competition wide open. Ireland and Pope—who only got on a tandem together for the first time this week—seized the opportunity, comfortably beating Caldwell and Elliot in the final.

Men’s MC C1-3 Time Trial

• Gold: Finlay Graham (1:08.546)

• Silver: Matthew Robertson (+1.210s)

• Bronze: Callum Deboys

Finlay Graham blitzed the track to win his third gold of the week, overcoming a tough field to secure the national jersey.

Men’s C4-5 Time Trial

• Gold: Alex Jones (1:06.221)

• Silver: Jody Cundy (+0.243s)

• Bronze: Sebastien Tyrie (1:09.468)

In the most fiercely contested para-cycling event of the day, Alex Jones pulled off an overwhelming victory, edging out silver medallist Jody Cundy by a razor-thin margin of just 0.243 seconds.