Revolution Champions League opens in Manchester

Team JLT Condor won the opening round of the new Revolution Champions League at the Manchester Velodrome on Saturday.  The duo of Jon Mould and Ed Clancy racked up a sizeable 199 points over 9 races to put them firmly in the lead going into the final round in London.

The newly revised format also proved a success, as British and international teams battled it out over two days.

In spite of the World Tour teams being the new major attraction, the track specialists dominated the standings, with all of Saturday’s races being won by riders for non-World Tour teams.  Elia Viviani arrived as Olympic champion, and was hoping to replicate some of that success at Revolution. However, his immaculate chrome blue and gold bike was not enough to overcome the Revolution regulars, and had to settle for second place in the team elimination as his best result of the weekend.

JLT Condor cemented their place at the top of the standings with three wins and two second places on Saturday.

The nearest placed team to them, Team Pedalsure, notched up a win each for both of their riders — Andy Tennant and 6-day legend Iljo Keisse — and trail JLT by 27 points. They will be hoping to overturn this deficit in London this weekend.

Owain Doull managed to recover from a nasty crash on Friday night to compete on Saturday, and managed a solid third place finish in the scratch race.

Maloja Pushbikers’ Max Beyer won the scratch race after escaping with leading group with five other riders and pipping Clancy on the line in the final.

The women’s elite omnium also gave fans a first look at the new format. The UCI recently changed the omnium from six events over two days to four events over a single day, and removed all of the timed races. Revisions to the rules of one new addition, the tempo race, only came through on Friday night, meaning riders had to be quick to adapt to new regulations.

Team podium ambition finished top of the standings at the end of the weekend, with Voxwomen and Great Britain in second and third respectively.

The men’s sprint omnium also saw plenty of tense racing, with it being dominated by France’s Quentin Lafargue, and Lithuania’s Vasilijus Lendel. Matt Rotherham also managed to revel in the home support, and earned himself a solid fourth place among a tough field.

The riders now go on to London’s Lee Valley Velodrome for the final round of the Champions League, on the 2nd and 3rd of December.

Champions League Standings after 9 races

JLT Condor p/b Mavic 199

Team Pedalsure 172

Maloja Pushbikers  127

Team Sky 102

Cannondale Drapac 89

Team Wiggins 83

Giant-Alpecin 72

LottoNL-Jumbo 70

France-Alé 58

Trek-Segafredo 53

Orica-BikeExchange 42

Lampre Merida 25