Action kicked off in Manchester yesterday for Ireland in the second Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup on the 2017/2018 calendar, with three Irish riders in action. Lydia Boylan finished the Omnium in 15th place, after a full evening of action, Marc Potts was 13th in the Men’s Scratch Race, and Lydia Gurley was 14th in the Women’s Scratch Race.


Potts has had an incredible debut to bunch racing on the world stage, clocking up a fourth place in the Scratch Race at the European Track Championships and fifth in last week’s Track World Cup in Pruszcow, Poland.


“Sometimes you’re the hammer, and sometimes you’re the nail,” said a disappointed Potts after the race. “Last night I was the nail. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well for me. I didn’t feel great from the start and knew I was going to struggle.”


Potts will be lining up in the Madison on Sunday with Felix English, in the absence of Mark Downey, and is looking forward to the challenge - “I hope I come around a bit for Sunday, the Madison has been a big goal of mine, so I feel pressure to perform in it.”


In the Women’s Scratch Race, Gurley was equally disappointed, having raced an attacking 10km race – “It was a fairly attacking race. I tried, I went out hard and I thought the small group chasing me would work for the lap, but it took them quite a few laps to catch me, and then they didn’t want to work. It was one of those moves that if it worked it would be epic, but it didn’t.”


Gurley will be competing with Boylan in the Madison on Saturday, an event in which they won a European silver medal last month – “The legs are there, and hopefully I can use them a bit better in the Madison today.”


Today is a big day for Team Ireland, with eight riders in action, including the newly formed Talent ID/Transfer squad, who will be competing in the Women’s Team Pursuit. The World Cup runs from Friday 10th November to Sunday 12th November.



RESULTS:

Men’s Scratch Race

Gold PANASSENKO Nikita (Kazakhstan)

Silver MOULD Jonathan (Wales)

Bronze STROETINGA Wim (The Netherlands)

13th POTTS Marc (Ireland)

Women’s Scratch Race

Gold BARBIERI Rachele (Italy)

Silver YANG Qianyu (Hong Kong)

Bronze D'HOORE Jolien (Belgium)

14th GURLEY Lydia (Ireland)

Women’s Omnium

Gold VALENTE Jennifer (USA)

Silver ARCHIBALD Katie (Great Britain)

Bronze DIDERIKSEN Amalie (Denmark)

15th BOYLAN Lydia (Ireland