15th for Caroline Ryan in the Omnium at the Track Worlds

Aggressive racing in the Points Race by Ryan nets 15^th in the Omnium at the Track Worlds in Paris

On day two of the Women’s Omnium at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Paris, Caroline Ryan finished in 15^th position overall at the end of the six event competition. With day one featuring her stronger events, Ryan started the 500m TT in 10^th place overall before dropping a few places in the sprint events. The final race of the day was the Points Race, where Ryan raced aggressively to pick up several points; and to come within striking distance of a top 12. This rounded off a mixed week of racing for the Irish in a team that blended both experience and upcoming talent. The World Championships took place in the Velodrome Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Paris, and ran from the 18-22 February.

 LISTEN TO CAROLINE RYAN SPEAKING AT THE END OF THE OMNIUM HERE

While Caroline Ryan started the Omnium strong, with her stronger endurance based events feature in day one, and while she has made significant improvements in her sprint performances in events like the 500m and Flying Lap, in the Omnium event at the World Championships there is not much room for a poor position, resulting in Ryan dropping from a solid 10^th place on day one to 15^th at the end of day two. After the event she contemplated the championships “I think the best I could have done today was a top 13, yesterday going into day two in tenth was fantastic, it’s the highs and lows of the Omnium, I had the high of the scratch race, a good pursuit, everything was heading in the right direction. In the elimination then I was hoping to make it to the halfway point last night, and I didn’t do that. In the 500m, I mean it was my best 500m execution wise, and to finish last in it is hard. I’m not a natural sprinter, I’m able to do it better now, and am hitting better times, but it really does take it out of me.”

 In the flying lap Ryan was happy with how she executed it, using a bigger gear, but finished towards the end of the ranking. In the last event, the Points Race, Ryan rode aggressively and said “Everyone is suffering at that point, and you just have to dig in. It didn’t let up, it was a fast race, there was no recovery at all! It was so close twice there today to getting the lap, some days it happens and some days it doesn’t. Overall I have to be pretty happy with that, it’s a World Championships, it’s not a bad place to be for next year, it’s just  I really do have to step up a level again.”

LISTEN TO BRIAN NUGENT SPEAKING AT THE END OF THE WORLD CHAMPS HERE

This year Ireland qualified the biggest team ever to the World Championships, and Head Coach Brian Nugent was happy with the overall performance “It’s the biggest number of riders we have ever qualified for the World Championships, and we’ve got some team events in there. Everyone performed to the absolute best that they had on the day. Everybody did as much as they could in the last six months, on the day the performances weren’t enough to get top results, but we’re performance focused, we’re building. Overall we have progressed a lot, but we certainly need to improve more.”

The focus of the current track programme is not just on the Rio in 2016, but on Tokyo in 2020 and Nugent was impressed with the performances of the young riders “Eoin making the top 24 in the sprints, and getting that valuable experience, Eoin is a 20 year old top 20 in the world, Ryan is a 20 year old top 7 in the world, it’s fantastic, you couldn’t really ask for much more. Looking at the long long term, there is a big future there, and if it’s not happening right now, it’s going to happen soon.”

While the riders will get a few weeks break, and then will focus on the road a bit. However, there will be regular track camps at the base in Mallorca, “We will have 7-10 day camps, in Mallorca, every month. We’ve got the summer to bridge the gap, we’re not done here, we’ve just started. If we can do that just starting, what can we do in 12 months’ time?”

This brings to an end a solid World Championships where Ireland qualified its biggest team. The UCI Track Cycling World Championships took place in the Velodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Paris from the 18-22 February.