English and Potts 8th in Madison at Track World Cup

The new madison pairing of Felix English and Marc Potts impressed today finishing 8^th in a world class field at the second Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester, UK. The 30km race was won by dynamic Danish duo, Niklas Larsen and Casper Von Folsach, France won silver, with Poland taking bronze. Robyn Stewart finished 27^th in the Sprint event – qualifying for the 1/16^th match sprint finals.

Speaking after the race English was happy with their performance, particularly in light of gathering sufficient points to qualify for the World Championships – “Overall we are pretty happy with tonight. Today was the first time that we got enough points to qualify for the worlds, and it was Marc’s first time, so it was a really good time to learn. We were close to the top five, which is where we want to be.”

“It was my first time racing the Madison on a 250m track, so it was a bit quicker than what I’m used to,” added Potts. “The experience I got tonight will stand me well for the future though, and I’m happy I got the opportunity to ride the Madison at this level, and come away with a respectable result too.”

It has been a long block of racing for the Irish Team, with four consecutive weeks of tough racing. English is looking forward to a two-week break – “It’s been a long block, it’s the first time we have had such a lot of racing in a short period of time, so we have learnt some things about how to approach this the next time. I’m looking forward to my break now before getting back into it in Majorca. I’m disappointed with the Omnium yesterday, it was a bit lack lustre for me, but I can’t do anything about that.”

Potts has also had a long season, having competed on the road as well as the track – “I think the heavy road calendar straight into the track season has caught up with me! Tonight, I felt a bit like I did in the Scratch Race on Friday – not much power.”

In the Sprint Stewart is progressing with each race and is relishing the experience – “I’ve had a great experience the last couple of weeks. Qualifying to actually get to the world cups has been a goal all year, so I was delighted to get this far, and to qualify to race in such a stacked field.”

She added “I am a little disappointed with my performances, but there are so many positives I can take away. I’m progressing with each race. One thing for sure is it has only made me hungry to get better and be the best I can be.”

Today was the final day of racing in a four-week race block for the Irish team, confirmation of teams for the upcoming World Cups will follow. The Manchester World Cup ran from Friday 10^th November to Sunday 12^th November.

RESULTS:

Men’s Madison

Gold Denmark (LARSEN Niklas, VON FOLSACH Casper)

Silver France (THOMAS Benjamin, KNEISKY Morgan)

Bronze Poland (STANISZEWSKI Daniel, PSZCZOLARSKI Wojciech)

8^th Ireland (ENGLISH Felix, POTTS Marc)

Women’s Sprint

Gold VOGEL Kristina (GER)

Silver VAN RIESSEN Laurine (MPC)

Bronze VOINOVA Anastasiia (RUS)

27^th STEWART Robyn (IRL)