Tenth Place in Fast Paced Race at the Worlds in London


Felix English has finished tenth in the Men’s Scratch Race at the UCI 2016 Track Cycling World Championships today. This is a second top ten result for the Irish cycling team following Melanie Spath’s seventh place in the Individual Pursuit earlier today. In the Scratch Race an early break of four riders who gained a lap set the tone for an aggressive race which was won by Spain’s Sebastian Mora Vedri, with Ignacio Prado (MEX) winning silver ahead of Claudio Imhof (SUI) in bronze. The World Championships run from today, Wednesday 2nd March until Sunday 6th March.


The Scratch Race is a tactical bunch race, where the winner is the first person over the line after 60 laps of the track. It is particularly tricky as once a rider laps the field they can roll around with the rest of the riders and recover. In English’s race a group of four riders broke away in the opening laps. With a Great Britain rider in this break the crowd willed them along until they lapped the field, despite most of the main contenders still being in the main bunch.


English described an active race saying “It was super confusing, groups going off the back, groups going off the front, split in mid bunch; it was really really hard to follow even in the race.” Speaking about first attack he said “It went so early, and there were still a lot of favourites in the main bunch, say, like Viviani and Glenn O’Shea. I thought it was going to come back so I basically risked it and hoped it would. But when I saw them getting on the back I knew it was always going to be difficult.”


While the Scratch Race didn’t quite go to plan, English is already looking forward and focusing on Friday night’s Points Race; “Just bring on the points race. I’m going to aim for a medal again. I felt really strong there and I think if I can race a bit more aggressively it’s definitely something I can achieve.”


Tomorrow will see the Women’s Team Pursuit in action along with Shannon McCurley in the Keirin and Lydia Boylan in the Scratch Race. The Team Pursuit and Keirin are both Olympic events, with this weekend being the last opportunity to gain qualification points for the Olympic Games in Rio. Racing at the UCI 2016 Track World Championships takes place in the London Lee Valley VeloPark from 2-6 March 2016. BBC and Eurosport will be broadcasting the highlights of the events throughout the championships.


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RESULTS:

Men’s Scratch Race

1. MORA VEDRI Sebastian (ESP)

2. PRADO Ignacio (MEX)

3. IMHOF Claudio (SUI)

10. ENGLISH Felix (IRL)


Women’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying Rounds *

GOLD: WIASAK Rebecca (AUS) 3.31.287 (in qualifying round)

SILVER: WOJTYRA Malgorzata (POL) 3.34.519 (in qualifying round)

BRONZE: FOREMAN-MACKEY Annie (CAN) 3.35.694 (in qualifying round)

7. SPATH Melanie (IRL) 3.40.030