The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Archibald ready to form ‘formidable’ partnership
Scot will team up with Laura Kenny in today’s Madison
Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny have never raced a Madison together but the Scot is adamant their European Championship partnership can be “formidable”.
The pair will lay 23 European titles on the line when they team up for today’s Madison in Glasgow, looking to bring the house down for one last time.
But Archibald will do so with a score to settle in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The Milngavie native watched her omnium defence title come to an end at the hands of Dutchwoman Kirsten Wild yesterday, agonisingly close to a hattrick of titles in the discipline.
But with less than 24 hours of recovery before her final event of the week, time for licking her wounds will be minimal.
“There wasn’t much I could do,” she said. “I realised early on that I didn’t have the speed on Kirsten. I think maybe if I’d been a bit more sensible about it. I don’t know what I could have changed tactically.
“I was never going to get the space on a lap gain and I think I let it get in my head and maybe didn’t fight as much as I should have.”
“I don’t think my legs are that terrible, just not quite good enough.
“There’s so much more to tomorrow. There are 120 laps and there are two of us and I think Laura and I are a fairly formidable team. I think we’ve got good depth which will give us strength.
“The competition to make omnium selection in Great Britain is pretty fierce. You probably have the same kind of scene with Italy and Denmark, but with the Netherlands, Kirsten is pretty solid as their omnium rider.”
Kenny meanwhile could not stop grinning from ear to ear at the thought of joining forces with Archibald for the first time, with the two already standing atop the podium as part of the team pursuit squad.
Yet with the Scottish crowd already on their feet on multiple occasions for their home favourite, the 12-time European champion Kenny is hoping she can make it a lucky 13 as her partner eyes up a tenth.
“The crowd are going to absolutely love Katie, win or lose, being Scottish” she said.
“So, it should be a good atmosphere and seeing how she rode in the individual pursuit and how I went into the elimination, you’d hope we would make a good partnership.
“It is our first time doing a Madison, we’ve had a few changes in training but that’s it. But I would hope that we do quite well.”
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