Revolution 2015

Team Pedalsure won the first round of the Revolution 2015 Series in Manchester on Saturday, with Team Wiggins finishing 3rd. Six day legend Iljo Keisse and Bitish endurance rider Andy Tennant were consistently at the top in all the events, with the pair coming second in both Madison events, and Tennant winning the scratch race.

The men started the day with the flying lap TT, with JLT’s Ollie Wood winning by just over a tenth of a second ahead of Maloja Pushbikers’ Marcel Kalz and Sky’s Elia Viviani. Wood has had a flying start to the track season, finishing a close 2nd in the Six Day London only the day before.

Second up was the points race, which was won by Viviani. Sealing victory with one sprint to spare, he comfortably beat Iljo Keisse into second place. Team Wiggins’ Owain Doull retired with 17 laps to go with what seemed to be cramp, visibly in pain in the rider pits afterwards. That left Team Sky leading after the morning session with 42 points, with Wiggins’ team way down in 8th with only 14.

The evening session kicked off with Andy Tennant pulling off a surprise victory in the scratch race, pipping Wiggins and Viviani in a four man sprint for the line. Speaking afterwards in the track centre, he seemed to be as pleasantly surprised as everyone else, saying that “the nuances of bunch racing defeat me normally”. He also said that his training as part of the British national squad has helped, with an emphasis on fast starts in the first 1000 metres of the team pursuit. The speed he and Wiggins showed against Viviani is surely a sign that GB’s training is going to plan.

The perennially thrilling Madison races were the final events of the day, each involving teammates relaying each other into the race with a hand sling. Elite series title holders Maloja push bikers won the 1000m TT with an impressive time of 55.907 seconds, and Team Wiggins won the elimination race by a whisker, to ensure some glory for the home favourite. However, Tennant and Keisse were by far the most consistent, finishing second in both events, and took the overall win of Revolution 2015 Round 1.

Britain’s women were showing their class once again outside of the Elite series. The points race was very much a duel between GB teammates Laura Trott and Katie Archibald. The two managed to lap the field together and from then on they were the only possible winners. What was a close run race was eventually won by Trott with a sprint to spare. Trott had to deal with being a marked rider, being unable to launch a surprise acceleration without the commentators announcing it to the crowd over the tannoy system, making her victory even more impressive. Trott also won the elimination race while Emily Nelson won the Scratch race. Elsewhere, the women’s sprint was won by South Africa’s Bernette Beyers and the Keirin by Nicky Degrendele of Belgium.

The event itself, seen as a crucial stepping stone to the World Championships in March, was well attended by cyclists at the top of the sport. Australia’s Glenn O’Shea, himself a former World and current Commonwealth Champion, had a disappointing day but said that as an event goes, Revolution 2015 is good preparation for the Omnium—the track equivalent of the decathlon. He also went on to say: “Australia doesn’t really get crowds like that very often in track cycling. It’s unbelievable that every time a cycling event is put on, this many people turn up.”

The next round of Revolution 2015 will take place at the Olympic Velodrome in London on November 14th.

Elite Series Standings after 1 round

1st Team Pedalsure 97

2nd Maloja Pushbikers 83

3rd Team Wiggins 76

4th JLT Condor p/b Mavic 66

5th Team Sky 62

6th VCUK-Champion Systems 48

7th Scotland 46

8th Orica-Greenedge 31

9th ONE Pro Cycling 31

10th Telegraph Allstars 26

11th Team USN 22

12 The Nab Racing 21