SESSION TWO REPORT: Irvine 15th in Elimination Race, Round 3 of Omnium at Track Worlds in Paris
Halfway through the Men’s Omnium Ireland’s Martyn Irvine is lying in 16th place at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Paris, after finishing 15th in the savage Elimination Race. Day one was a tough day for the Irish man, who put in gritty performances across the events, showing that he has recovered from the broken collarbone that he suffered following a crash in the World Cup in Mexico last November. Going into day two Colombia’s Gaviria Rendon is leading overall, ahead of Viviani (ITA) and Boudat (FRA). The Omnium is a six event competition, with riders being awarded points depending on their finishing position in each event. The overall winner in this Olympic class event is the rider with most points at the end of the six events. The World Championships run from the 18-22 February.
The Elimination race is a lottery race, where every second lap the last rider over the line is out. Once there are two riders left, the winner is the person who wins the last sprint. The race started furiously, with the pace high even in the neutralised lap before the official start. Irvine immediately moved to the front of the bunch, finding a position that kept him safe for the opening rounds. The pace never let up, and with 15 riders remaining on the track Irvine was announced as the last rider over the line on the sprint lap. This position made him drop a place to 16th overall.
This is an event that isn’t one of Irvine’s favourite, due to its unpredictability; Irvine said “This is an improvement on my last race, where I finished last, or second last in the last elimination I did. You know, it was really hard to get to the front, it was a full gas kind of race, and when there are twenty other guys going flat out it’s hard to get past them.”
The race wasn’t without drama, with Irvine getting jostled by another rider who head butted him in the ear “I got a head butt in the ear from a rider, when it’s only a sport and they’re willing to do that to someone, it’s not quite right. It’s a sport at the end of the day, it’s not life or death and some just push you to the limit a bit.”
Tomorrow is day two of the Omnium, which sees a few more sprint events, along with the Points Race “If I don’t see improvements tomorrow I don’t know what I have to do, I’ve been doing a bit of work with the kilometre starts and flying lap efforts, so fingers crossed there’s some sort of progress.”
Tomorrow is a full day for the Irish with sprinter Eoin Mullen first on the track with the qualifying rounds of the 200m Sprint. Straight after his race Caroline Ryan races in day one of the Omnium. In the afternoon attention will be on young time trial specialist Ryan Mullen, who races in the Individual Pursuit, an event in which he finished fourth last year as a 19 year old. In the Women’s Scratch Race Ryan will be competing, making it a full day for the Kildare woman.
The UCI Track Cycling World Championships take place in the Velodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Paris from the 18-22 February.
RESULTS:
OMNIUM
OVERALL AFTER ROUND THREE:
1 COL – GAVIRIA RENDON Fernando
2 ITA – VIVIANI Elia
3 FRA – BOUDAT Thomas
16 IRL – Martyn Irvine
PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE:
(All times quoted are Irish time; schedule may be subject to change)
| Day 1 – Wednesday 18th February 2015 | Results | ||
| 14.00
| Caroline Ryan Lydia Boylan Lauren Creamer Josie Knight Melanie Spath | Women Team Pursuit – Qualifier (Four riders to compete) | 16th Place
4.40.388 |
| Day 2 – Thursday 19th February 2015 | Results | ||
| 20.05
| Martyn Irvine | Men’s Scratch Race – 15km | 10th |
| Day 3 – Friday 20th February 2015 |
| ||
| 13.35 | Martyn Irvine | Men Omnium I Scratch Race | 20th |
| 15.50
| Martyn Irvine
| Men Omnium II Individual Pursuit | 9th 4.26.814 |
| 21.15
| Martyn Irvine | Men Omnium III Elimination Race | 15th OVERALL: 16th |
| Day 4 – Saturday 21st February 2015 |
| ||
| 12.00 | Eoin Mullen | Men Sprint 200m TT Qualifying Round |
|
| 12.40
| Caroline Ryan
| Women Omnium I Scratch 10km |
|
| 13.00
| Eoin Mullen | Men Sprint 1/16 Finals |
|
| 13.40
| Martyn Irvine | Men Omnium IV 1km TT |
|
| 14.30 | Caroline Ryan | Women Omnium II Individual Pursuit |
|
| 15.25 | Eoin Mullen | Men Sprint 1/8 Finals |
|
| 15.30
| Martyn Irvine | Men Omnium V Flying Lap |
|
| 15.55 | Ryan Mullen | Men Individual Pursuit Qualifying Round |
|
| 18.10 | Caroline Ryan | Women’s Scratch Race 15km
|
|
| 18.55 | Martyn Irvine | Men Omnium VI – FINAL Points Race 40km |
|
| 19.55 | Ryan Mullen | Men Individual Pursuit Finals |
|
| 20.55 | Caroline Ryan | Women Omnium III Elimination Race |
|
| Day 5 – Sunday 22nd February 2015 |
| ||
| 10.00 | Caroline Ryan | Women Omnium IV 500m TT |
|
| 10.25 11.00 11.35 | Eoin Mullen | Men Sprint ¼ Finals |
|
| 11.40
| Caroline Ryan | Women Omnium V Flying Lap |
|
| 13.10 | Caroline Ryan | Women Omnium VI Points Race 25km - FINAL |
|
| 13.45 14.05 14.30 | Eoin Mullen | Men Sprint Finals |
|