Para-Cycling World Championships – Final Day Report

GB Mixed Sprint Para Team - Darren Kenny, Sarah Storey & Jody Cundy - ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

The final day of the competition saw Jody racing in the Mixed Team Sprint alongside Darren Kenny and Sarah Storey. The GB team started into the competition as defending Champions and WR holders, however a rule change after last year’s World Championships – allowing fewer points per team – had forced the British coaches to reorganise their Team Sprint line-up. So today’s race was “a complete mystery” as Jody put it before the competition.

Tension was on after the Chinese posted a time of 51.152 but GB’s Darren Kenny got the team off to a great start. With Sarah loosing a little bit of time on lap two however, it was down to Jody to secure GB a ride in the final. And Jody did just that crossing the line in 51.114, only .038 ahead of China.

With both teams that close, it was obvious that the final for Gold would be a tough one for Darren, Sarah and Jody. And disaster stroke at the start of the first lap already, when Sarah slipped through the attachment on her handlebar, which she uses to compensate for the lack of grip caused by her disability. Sarah said “ I slipped out of it in the first banking which gave me an even bigger gap on Darren than this morning. The one thing that has never happened before, happened today, which is very annoying.”

Having issues with her handlebars, Sarah struggled to get onto Darren’s wheel and more importantly into his slipstream. Unsurprisingly then, GB was down after lap two and it was down to Jody again to try to make up the lost time. Unfortunately for him though, the damage was already done and the time gap too big to make up, so the GB team had to settle for Silver in a time of 51.175 behind the Chinese who rode a 50.564. The first time since 2007 that Great Britain has not won the Team Sprint title.

Team GB out the gate - UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships Los Angeles, USA - ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

After the race, Jody said “We gave it all, but we lost to the better team today. Unfortunately, we had some issue with Sarah’s handlebar attachment, which had a deadly knock on effect. She lost Darren’s wheel so she didn’t get the benefit of his slipstream and as a result faded more towards the end of her lap. As a consequence, the delivery speed dropped so my lap wasn’t as fast as it could have been neither.”

Looking at the positives, Sarah commented, “We rode the same time (as in the qualifying) with a problem, and that problem cost us a lot of time. However, it would be worse to come away from this situation knowing there was nothing we could do, but we’ve got so many things that we can do now.”

One of these things will be to add more Team Sprint training into their programs, as Jody explained, “I think if we had practiced more, we could have been better. Maybe we have been a bit complacent with the Team Sprint because we’ve always won it comfortably, but we literally did our trial and no practice. Effectively, we had only done one training session in this line up, so it’s probably our own fault for not practicing.”

However, Jody and the rest of the team feel confident that they can win back the Team Sprint crown in London. Jody said: “We’ve got a lot of things technically, that we can pick up easy, free speed. The Team Sprint race has been a lot more competitive than we expected, but we’re not a million miles off from where we were last year and from where we need to be right now. I don’t think we’re out of this at all, I think we’re in a strong place for London.”

Silver on the Podium - ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

Although these World Championships have not been Jody’s most successful ones, he emphasized the fact that the London Paralympic Games are his main focus for 2012 “We have been working incredibly hard, but there is still a lot more work to do for London. I’ve defended my kilo title and picked up a silver and a bronze in the team sprint and pursuit, so I cant complain. What has been really amazing though is the support myself and the team have been getting from the fans back home! I’d like to say thank you to all of you, it really does mean a lot to me and I can’t wait to get to London and perform in front of a home crowd!”

Jody will now enjoy a brief holiday with his family in Los Angeles, before returning to the UK and starting his intensive preparations in the run up to the Paralympic Games.

 

Christina.
 
 
 
 
 

Revolution 33 Report – The First of the Season

All Images ©Copyright Chris & Ben Dando @ Cycling Shorts.
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Click SL (slideshow) or FS (fullscreen)

 
Last night saw the first round of the Revolution series 2011 get underway. As an enthusiastic crowd filtered into the velodrome through the National Cycling Centre‘s new vaulted reception area the riders were out on the track warming up. There was a real buzz in the air, everything felt fresh and new, the presence for the first time of the TV cameras brought an extra bit of excitement to the proceedings. ITV4 set up their pundit interview area near the finishing line with Ned Boulting and Rob Hayles readying themselves to broadcast.

Rob Hayles & Ned Boulting - Image ©Copyright Ben Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

The format and teams for this season’s Revolution really feel right, the perfect balance has been struck. The team sponsors and structures give the whole event a classic track event feel, with stylish new sponsors including Rouleur Magazine, howies Cycling Clothing, Cunga Bikes and Team UK Youth which is in it’s inaugural year, was set up by the unlikely benefactor Nigel Mansell. The team takes the name of the formula one star’s charity and they fly the flag for the work the organisation does to support over 750,000 young people. These teams were joined by the Revolution old guard of CHEP, Sky, Rapha Condor Sharp and last year’s Championship winners Maxgear.

The headliners included Sky’s Alex Dowsett (British National Time Trial Champion), Steven Burke (National Pursuit Champion), David Daniell and Frances Michael D’Almeida (World Team Sprint Champion)

Devil Scratch Race
Things got underway with the Devil. For those unfamiliar with the format of this fast paced race, there really isn’t any chance of hiding away at the back of the pack waiting to seize glory. The riders have to avoid elimination for the first part of the race with the last rider over the line being disqualified. This happens until you get down to just a handful of riders left on the track and they then fight it out for the win. Alex Dowsett, who’s had a very successful first year on the Sky Pro team, didn’t hang around and was obviously in the mood to show the long road season had been knocked out of his legs. With six or seven laps to go Alex decided to lead out from the front, he shot off the front of the pack and within a couple of laps he had the back of the peloton in sight. He didn’t quite make the catch before the finish line but to be honest I don’t think he tried to. He sat up to celebrate well before the line and the peloton was only metres ahead. The rest of the riders rolled across the line some time later led by Sam Harrison.

There was one thing that seemed different about the atmosphere as people settled in their seats and wandered around the food and bike stands, and it took me a while to realise what it was…. no Watt Bike Challenge! I’m guessing the reason being the huge amount of noise it can generate from the bikes and the spectators. The sound would be a nightmare for the ITV production team to compete with, it did make it was a lot easier to hear Hugh Porter‘s trademark catchphrases over the tannoy too which are always a joy!

DHL Future Stars Girls
One of the standout riders of the evening for me was the lovely Emily Kay. She returns this year to defend her title and she kicked off her first event of the series with an emphatic win in the DHL Future Stars Girls 5km Points Race where she scored points in every sprint for points and then still had enough for a final attack at the finishing line. Alice Barnes took a tumble in the back straight but she got up and dusted herself down to cheers of encouragement from the crowd. Second and third positions were hotly contested by Megan Boyd and Ellie Coster, both putting in great performances. This was just a taster of what was to come later in the evening from Emily though. She continued her charge on the championship jersey with a win in the Girls 6 lap dash and rounded the evening off with the Girls Scratch Race. Riders tried attacks throughout the three Girls events but Emily just stayed calm and controlled the situation. Emily does seem to be head and shoulders above the competition at the moment. She has amazing strength and tactics, an unstoppable combination. I can’t wait to see where her career goes, she’s destined for great things!

Kian Emadi winning his heat against Michael D'Almeida - Image ©Copyright Chris Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

Revolution Sprint
In the sprint competition Round 1 saw Louis Oliva beaten by David Daniell and Kian Emadi proved he’s a talent to be watched as he nudged out Frenchman Thierry Jollet. Philip Hindes was beaten by Michael D’Almeida. Craig MacLean never ceases to amaze me, his experience and strength seemed to be too much for John Paul who put in a valiant effort.

Round 2 saw Craig MacLean make David Daniell work hard for his win and Kian Emadi dispatched World Sprint Champion Michael D’Almeida with an audible gasp from the spectators. I’m not even sure Kian expected that result.

In the Losers 6 Lap Dash race John Paul pushed his way past Thierry Jollet to deny the French yet again.

The Final of the sprint was a great fight between Dave Daniell – who’s obviously on form – and 19 year old Kian Emadi. They were well matched through the early stages of the race but David Daniell had the better of Kian in the second half and powered to the line by almost a bike length.

DHL Future Stars Boys
While the boys events weren’t dominated by one person there was good news for Team CHEP taking 2 wins; Jake Scott took the first of the boys events (Boys 5km Scratch Race) beating Zac May (howies) and Ollie Wood won the Boys 6 Lap Dash ahead of Adam Lewis (Cunga Bikes) and Chris Lawless (Maxgear). CHEP teammate Jake Womersley said, “The races went very well for me and my team, we came out with two wins which was brilliant, they weren’t from me but I tried to help my team mates to get where they needed to be. It was good to be in front of a large audience like that, it really motivates me to do well”.

The Future Stars Boys Scratch race went to Ryan Whatmough. Ryan rode stongly last season and it looks like he’s back to make a play for the championship. He crossed the line ahead of Matthew Cross in 2nd. Jake Ragen put in a great performance throughout the evening with 2nd place in the points race and 3rd in the Scratch race.

Russell doing his Fonzie Mexican Wave - ©Copyright Chris Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

1km Madison Time Trial
Russ Downing whipped up the crowd with Alex in his trademark Fonzie Mexican wave style in preparation for the 1km Madison Time Trial. Alex Dowsett and Russell put in a good performance but in the end they didn’t do enough to get Sky a win, they came in third behind Rapha, winners Leif Lampater and Jon Mould for howies looked very focused and slick taking the win in 58.980.

Points Race – 15km
Russell Downing (Sky) dominated the Points race coming home with 24 points, 9 ahead of David O’Loughlin and Adam Duggleby. I caught up with Russell after the race,

Alex Dowsett Austrailian Pursuit - ©Copyright Chris Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

“I’m loving it, good to know I’ve still got it, I love the Revolutions the crowd create a party atmosphere.”

Australian Pursuit
One of the races I love is the Australian Pursuit. This race is one you have to keep focused on as you need to keep your eyes on the riders and their team manager, who stands throughout the races and acts as their individual start and finishing line. The riders (in this case 8 of them) are evenly spaced out around the track and the object of the twelve lap race is not to be caught by riders starting behind you on the track. If a rider is caught they are immediately eliminated. The winner is the first rider back to their starting position after 12 laps. This endurance race is a great crowd pleaser but pure endurance and in this case it favoured Jens Mouris the Dutch Vacansoleil pro rider in the Rapha colours for the Revolution series. Steven Burke and Alex Dowsett came in second and third respectively.

Feature Race – Round the World Pursuit
A break from the championship came from a special event: in February 2012 Sean Conway intends to cycle solo around the world without a support team in 150 days or less to raise money for SolarAid, hoping to raise £100,000. Throughout this season’s Revolution Series there will be a number of events to help raise money for Sean’s efforts. Each Revolution Sean will take on a different challenge.

Sean Conway on his Pursuit - ©copyright Chris Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

For the first Revolution the challenge was a 12 lap pursuit on fully laden touring bikes. Sean would be up against Vin Coxthe current Global Bike Race record holder, this was going to be tough for both riders as the track is not the environment either of them are used to and touring bikes with panniers aren’t the ideal choice for a velodrome. Sean got off to a good start but the lead swapped a number of times with Vin Cox finally getting the better of Sean and he opened up a gap and made it stick.

After his race Sean challenged members of the audience to beat him on the rollers at his stand. For more information on Sean’s amazing adventure please visit his website and please donate www.cyclingtheearth.co.uk

Keirin (8 laps)
Back to the sprint racing and Craig MacLean got his revenge on the rest of the sprint field as he powered on to win the Keirin.

Scratch Race – 10km
The Scratch Race was the penultimate event of the evening and Rouleur ruled the event with Sam Harrison winning and teammate Tom Murray coming in 3rd. Steven Burke of Team Youth UK came 2nd.

Team Sprint – GB v France
The final crowd-pulling event was a two man international team sprint grudge match between Team GB and France. Riding for GB were John Paul and Dave Daniell and for France Michael D’Almeida and Thierry Jollet. It was a nail biter and the crowd really got behind the GB team but World Team Sprint Champion D’Almeida and teammate Jollet put in an impressive performance and crossed the line in 31.949 with Great Britain finishing in 31.971. A great ride by both teams and while it may have been a bit of a disappointment for the home team I came away smiling when the delightful Michael D’Almeida pulled up to the railings and handed me his winners bouquet… a true gent!

Future Stars Emily Kay & Ollie Wood - Image ©Copyright Ben Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

Championship
The team leading the Championship after the first round is Rouleur with 204 points. So our very own Tom Murray was on the podium I had a chat with him afterwards, “I’m trying to find my track legs still! So not at my best tonight, but a great result for the team, but always a good laugh doing Revolutions with a big crowd”. Emily Kay (Cunga Bikes) now leads the girls DHL future stars competition with 90 points and looks like she has no intention of giving up her long held crown. Ollie Wood (CHEP) leads the boys competition with 50 points. It looks like it’s going to be an excellent series so don’t leave it too late to book. The next meeting will be headlined by Sky’s Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavendishwith more to be announced shortly.

Image ©Copyright Ben Dando @ Cycling Shorts.

Watch highlights on Monday 31st October
at 7pm on ITV4 in the UK

To buy tickets or to find out more about the Revolution please click here.

Revolution Team Championship

1 Rouleur204
2 Team UK Youth 190
3 Sky Procycling 165
4 CHEP 160
5 howies 159
6 Cunga Bikes 158
7 Maxgear Racing 154
8 Rapha Condor Sharp 132

Future Stars Girls Leader
Emily Kay

Future Stars Boys Leader
Oliver Wood
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The American “FIESTA”

 

Pan-American Games - Guadalajara - Mexico

Last week was very crazy and very intense! It was time for the PanAm Games in Mexico!!!
This track is brand new and its SUPER fast, believe me when I say it could be one of the fastest tracks in the whole world, the track is in a place with great altitude (Guadalajara, Mexico) and it’s a nice indoor track. I think it’s perfect for someone who’s planning to break a World Record.
The races were so much fun to watch, the first day Colombia broke the PanAm Record in the Team Pursuit (4.59) and they won the gold medal against the Chilean team, while the women from Venezuela won the Team Sprint against Colombia, Mexico came 3rd with a team led by the veteran Nancy Contreras.

It was good to see Njisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago) break the PanAm Record in the 200 metres (9.91) in the morning of the second day of competition, he’s very friendly and knows how to get the crowd going crazy. He calls himself “the black Mexican” and all the people in Mexico love him. Unfortunately, he lost in the semifinals against Hersony Gadiel Canelon from Venezuela and had to race from the bronze medal. The final podium: 1st Hersony Gadiel Canelon (VEN), 2nd Fabian Puerta (COL), 3rd Njisane Phillip (TRI)

Another great race to watch was the men’s omnium with Juan Esteban Arango from Colombia dominating the field from start to finish, he was never lower than top 5 in all six events of this tough race and won 3 events to finish with 13 points, Luis Mancilla (CHI) was 2nd with 20 points and Walter Perez (ARG) 3rd with 28pts.

Sofia Arreola Omnium - PanAms 2011 - Image Copyright Nancy Arreola

In the women’s Team Pursuit Canada was the one who took the highest place in the podium posting a time of 3:21.448 with Laura Brown, Stephanie Roorda and Jasmin Glaesser (who is German and got her Canadian citizenship just weeks before the event). 2nd and 3rd places went to Cuba and Colombia.

Of course my favorite event to watch was the women’s ommnium as my sister Sofia was riding for Mexico, if the crowd was going crazy with Njisane Phillip I don’t know how to describe it when Sofi was riding. The track was completely full and you could hear all the audience screaming “Sofia, Sofia, Sofia” and “si se puede, si se puede!” (its Spanish for “you can do it”). It was fantastic to be there, and it was a great experience for Sofi to be able to race this big event in her home country.
She started with the 250 flying lap and finished 4th behind Cuba, Venezuela and Canada but in the points race she was super aggressive all day and managed to get away with 10 laps to go and lapped the field at the very last moment, it was such an epic moment and the audience went wild!
After that it was time for the elimination race, Sofia was now in 2nd place in the overall standings and again gave us a great performance, she pulled at the front the whole race and at the end Angie Gonzalez from Venezuela beat her in the sprint. It was good, 3 events done and 3 to go and she was sitting in 2nd place with a good advantage.
The first event of the second day was the individual pursuit, she didn’t post a good time and finished 4th again, so the overall standings were close and Stephanie Roorda from Canada had a chance to move her from her second place so in the scratch race it was all or nothing because Sofi is not good in the 500mts so if she wanted to keep her silver medal she had to win the scratch.
The race started with many attacks but nothing that would last, the average speed was very high because everyone wanted to finish in a good position. With 6 laps to go Sofi took control of the bunch again, pulling on the front all the way to the finish and setting a very high speed. It was impressive, no one could pass her and she won the scratch as Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia finished far behind.

Sofia Arreola with her Silver medal PanAms 2011 - Image ©Copyright Nancy Arreola

That put Sofia only one point away from the gold medal with only the 500mts to go and now with huge advantage on the 3rd and 4th place. Marlies Mejia from Cuba posted a very fast time in the 500mts (35.1) finishing first and that result put her in the top 3 in the final classification.
Women’s omnium results: 1st Angie Gonzales (VEN), 2nd Sofia Arreola (MEX), 3rd Marlies Mejia (CUB)

This is just the start of the track season, the World Cups start next month in Astana!! It’s going to be super fun to see which riders qualify for the London Olympics because nothing is written in stone yet!

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

500 Days To Go!

500 Days to go!

by Jody Cundy
 

Can’t believe it, this coming Sunday when thousands of people will be running the London marathon, another milestone on the run in to the Paralympics rolls around, 500 days to go!

All of a sudden the Paralympics in London are becoming very real, and I couldn’t be more excited. With the world track championships all done and dusted for another year, it’s time to switch focus to the road, but not before hitting the track at the Good Friday meet, which for the first time in a few years won’t be rained off as it’s moved away from the outdoors of Herne Hill velodrome in London to the indoor velodrome, and my home track Manchester. The event is going to be the racing debut for the team I helped set up, and all our riders are down to ride, I can’t wait to pull on my skinsuit in the Para-T colours for the first time, and fingers crossed the couriers manage to deliver it in time! I’m going to be racing in the international sprint and keirin, which is a change from the normal track racing I do, which is usually me against the clock, but with others riders on the track elbow to elbow, it should be good fun.

Following the Good Friday meeting my road season really kicks off as I fly out to Sydney for the 1st round of the Paracycling road world cup series. I’m part of a small team of 8 riders heading down under aiming to score more essential points for the London qualification process. First up with have a 9- 10day training and acclimatisation camp in Wollongong, and then we head into Sydney and to the Eastern Creek raceway for a 75.6km road race, and then a few days later it’s a 24.8km technical (tight and twisty) time trial around the Sydney Olympic park in Homebush Bay.

Since the world championships I’ve had a very chilled few weeks and been busy with a few appearances. I returned to my home town to give an after dinner speech at the Rotary Club of Wisbech’s 74th Charter Night. I was also present in Salford Quays at the opening of the 2nd of 8 nationwide volunteer selection centres, where over 5000 people will be interviewed for an opportunity to volunteer at the London 2012 games.

Jody Cundy - Image ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

As a team we had a day of meetings at the Celtic Manor in Newport Wales, a venue that we’ll be seeing more of in the future, as it will be our base for the holding camp into the London Paralympics. During our day of meetings we had chance to find out what was in store for the next 500 days and how the team was planning to take us forward. We also had an update about the now complete velodrome and the equipment that we’re developing for London, as well as a fitting session with Adidas and Next who will be providing the sportswear and formal wear for the Paralympic team in London. With my new found endurance legs it turns out that in the quest for qualification points I’m going to be racing more than I ever have, so should be an exciting year. However we did hear some disappointing news, the UCI have decided for no apparent reason to change the rules for the Paracycling team sprint event, and have reduced the number of points a valid team can be comprised of. It’s an odd change of rules as the top 4 teams from the recent world championships are now deemed to be illegal under the new rules. As world champions we’ll never be able to ride all together in the world stripes we earned in Montichiari, and the WR we set will no longer be valid. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement and I have no idea why it happened, but the UCI are famous for this and we’ll just have to adapt our team and continue to challenge at the very top. However, I will enquire to find out why, as it seems like such a strange rule change at a particular sensitive time in a Paralympic cycle, and is bound to upset and disrupt many riders who were aiming to ride the team sprint in London.

Next week I will be at the Lee Valley White Water Rafting Park, for the official opening of the first Olympic venue that will be open to the general public prior to the games next year. It’s going to be a scary and exciting day as by the sound of it I’m in a raft with a bunch of others to test out the course, oh boy the things I have to do! I also have my rider review, where I’ll sit down with my coach and managers and discuss how the last 12months have gone, and how I can maximise my performance and make sure no stone is unturned on route to London.

Catch you all soon, with hopefully good news from down under.

Jody
 
 
 
 
All images ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

World Championships Review, Montichiari, Italy 2011

World Championships Review

(Montichiari, Italy 2011)
by Jody Cundy
 

Wow what can I say, 3 days of competition, 3 medals, 2 World Records and 1 National Record. Going into Italy the main concerns I had were:
1. Could I pull out the pursuit ride my training has been geared to?
2. Would all the pursuit/endurance training I’ve done effect my top end speed?
3. Would 3 events back to back be a step too far?

Day 1 (4km Pursuit)
Well question 1 was answered on day one and it was a big yes!
Preparing for the worlds myself and my coach (Chris Furber) targeted 4:45 as a realistic target, if I could do this, then based on previous results this would put me in the top 5 or 6 riders in the world and score a healthy amount of points for the London qualification process. However it would be a massive challenge as my best time prior to the world championships was a 5:03.286. Things had been going well in training, and I was on target, I just had to get up there and put all the components together. With Chris walking the line I tried to keep my 1st kilometre measured and controlled as I’d been finding it easy to get carried away, especially when your legs feel good. More importantly though this had been my big downfall in training and had led to some rather slow and incredibly painful efforts!

Jody at the World Championships Italy 2011 - Image ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

By the time I reached 3km I was feeling strong and still in control of my speed, and I now had my opponent all set for the catch. I swept by him in turn 3 and then pushed on through to the end, with my legs beginning to really burn with a lap to go, but hearing the bell I just had enough to get me to the finish line.

As I looked up to the score board I was amazed to see I’d rode a 4:44.085 (an almost 20second personal best time) and had a rank 1 next to my name! With just one heat to go it meant I’d definitely be doing a 2nd 4km in the finals, but I would have to wait 5mins to find out what medal I’d be racing for. In the final heat world champion and world record holder Jiří Ježek posted the fastest time of 4:41.895, and with his opponent falling short of my time it meant I was a guaranteed silver medallist and I would be racing Jiří in the final.

Before the final I talked with Chris and discussed how we were going to attack it, as now I had made the final my competitive nature had taken over, and I wanted to give Jiří a good fight and make him work for the title. My qualifying ride was a controlled measured effort, and I believed I could squeeze out a little more and put some pressure on Jiří. So we decided on riding to the WR schedule, and see what would happen! This was all well and good, however by the time I was at lap 3 I was a long way up on schedule, a very dangerous place to be in a pursuit, especially as this schedule was 4 seconds faster than I rode in the morning. By lap 6 my over exuberance started to take its toll as I struggled to maintain the rhythm and speed I’d started with. Kilo’s 2 and 3 were pretty steady before I managed to find my legs again, but by then my race was over, Jiří had me in sight. I managed to make it to the 4km without being overlapped, but Jiří was world champion, and I now had a new pet project to add to my list for London!

Day 2 (1km Time Trial)
With the pursuit over, and all my goals reached and exceeded it was time to get back to events I know and love, and to answer question 2. The kilo was going to be an interesting race, with 25riders down on the start list and team mate Terry Byrne snapping at my heels in training the pressure was on. Terry was off 2nd rider and was out to post the marker everyone would be aiming at, and he did just that blasting out the gate to a 2second PB and a time that only I had gone quicker than, and he’d done this before I’d even started warming up!

I was last to go and with Terry’s time still top of the table with Jiří Bouska 2nd and Eduard Novak 3rd, it was time to see how much my legs had recovered from the previous days efforts. Out of the gate and I wanted to get the bike up to speed as fast as possible, 1st lap complete and I was 0.971 seconds up, my legs were feeling good as I settled into my tri bars and continued to accelerate through the middle section of the ride as I crossed the line I was a full 2.55 seconds clear of Terry and 0.3 seconds inside my WR winning time from Manchester 2009. Question 2 was answered, I’d not lost any of my speed, and as a bonus from all the endurance training the last 2 laps didn’t hurt as much as in previous kilos. I think that’s the first time I’ve actually been able to enjoy my victory laps!

Jody World Championships, Italy 2011 - Image ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

Day 3 (Team Sprint)
The last day of competition was the team sprint, and I was teaming up with Darren Kenny, who had already successfully defended his 3km Pursuit and Kilo titles in the previous 2 days, and Terry Byrne who would be riding man 2 after his silver medal in the kilo the night before. This was a new line up compared to past events, as the rules and classification classes had changed since the last world championships, as our existing team was no longer a legal line up.

With 15 teams riding the competition had become stronger, and in ride 10 the Chinese team set a new WR time of 51.655, taking 0.5 seconds off the existing mark. However this didn’t faze us as we knew that in training we’d been quicker than this new standard. Lined up on the track it was important that we executed the starts and changes over smoothly and legally, as fast as possible, and we did just that, blazing around to a 49.809 to take the top qualification spot and smash the WR in the process. In the final, after looking at the race data from the heats we made some different gear choices and felt confident we could go faster. As we blasted round the track our confidence was well founded as we smashed the WR again, taking it down to 49.540 with the feedback from the morning making a big difference in the final, the Chinese finished in 51.771.

Jody shows off his latest bling from the Worlds - Image ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

With the final race complete and under my belt it was clear all my questions at the start of the week had been answered, I could pull out a world class pursuit, I hadn’t lost any of my top end speed, and to top it off I was still riding fast on the last day of competition, setting the fastest 3rd lap I’d ever done in the heats of the team sprint, with a 14.198.

Montichiari was a fabulous experience and one of those weekends of racing that as an athlete you love, because all the hard work has paid off and everything has come together.

As a team we topped the medal table with 9 Golds, 8 Silver and 1 Bronze. It’s starting to look good for London. All that’s left to do now is sit down with Chris and analyse the performances and work out how to get even quicker for London. I have a few days off, and then I’ll be back on my bike preparing for a summer of endurance that will hopefully set me up for next year.

Happy cycling!

Jody
 
 
 
 
All images ©Copyright Christina Kelkel

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