The Manchester Velodrome was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and its legacy continues as it hosted the UCI Track World Cup Classics, which was, once again dominated by British cyclists. I went on the second of the three days and, being a patriotic Brit, was thrilled by the phenomenal performances of our cyclists.
In order to register more British competitors, two teams were entered to represent our nation. One was Team Sky HD, which contained the more marketable names of Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton. The other was Team Great Britain, which was larger and consisted of the likes of Wendy Houvenaghel and Lizzie Armitstead.
Sir Chris Hoy, recent star of an advert filmed outside the Velodrome, looked a lot more comfortable on his bike inside it. His event was the men’s sprint, which consists of three laps of the 250 metre long circuit against one other opponent. It was the best of three sprints to progress to the next round, Hoy was undefeated throughout. To conserve valuable energy the riders tend go very slowly around for the first two laps, sometimes almost coming to a standstill to force their opponent to make the first move before unleashing phenomenal power and speed to cross the line ahead of their rival.
This scenario may seem bizarre to the uninitiated as it does not look like a conventional race, and this feeling was accentuated by the use of music such as the Pink Panther theme. The contrast between the focus and determination shown by the athletes and the levity of what was being played through the public address system worked brilliantly. It showed that the sport is taken seriously, yet also serves as a form of entertainment. The incredible power and tactics of the 33-year-old Hoy prevailed, and it was a British 1-2-3 with Matthew Crampton and Jason Kenny coming second and third respectively.
Wendy Houvenaghel had ‘God Save The Queen’ played in her honour after she won the Women’s Individual Pursuit, where two riders race at the same time but start at opposite ends of the track with the quickest rider progressing to the next round. Houvenaghel has built on the success of winning silver at last year’s Olympic Games and devastated her competitors by being nine seconds faster than anyone in the heats. In the final she won by making up the 125 metre gap and overtaking Australian Josephine Tomic.
Victoria Pendleton, the golden girl of British Cycling, came second in the 500 metres Time Trial, to another Australian, Anna Meares.
Being able to walk around the venue gave the opportunity to get a look from different angles. Standing at the top of the 42.5 degree banked curve showed how scarily steep the track is. Made out of Siberian Pine, it rumbled as the peloton in the Women’s Points Race sped past before, right in front of me, there was a crash! Four riders were involved, with one being run over by a competitor. The scene was quite sickening as we watched them slide down the slope and there were a worrying few moments as they lay on the deck. However all four got back up and put diving footballers to shame by completing the race with a set of new wheels and a few holes burnt in their skin suits. Brit Lizzie Armitstead won the final to complete a wonderful day for British cycling and national pride.
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