Young riders shine in London
British Cycling showed once again that the future is in safe hands at the London Track World Cup, with young riders having a hand in five of Great Britain’s six medals. This included two golds, courtesy of the women’s team pursuiters with 20-year-old Ellie Dickinson, and a dominant performance by Matt Walls in the omnium that saw him finish eight points ahead of Mexico’s Ignacio Prado Juarez, with Elia Viviani in third place.
Twenty-one-year-old Joe Truman also helped GB to team sprint silver, while Fred Wright, aged 19, paired with Walls to take another in the Madison. The men’s team pursuiters — averaging less than 19 years old — took bronze behind Belgium and winners Huub-wattbike.
The only medal not qualifying for a ‘youngsters’ tag was the gold of mid-20s Madison pairing Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny, whose dominant performance perhaps reflected their comparative experience.
Walls, whose win in the omnium was one of the final acts of the weekend, told
CW: “I’ve had real good legs throughout this whole event. I went into the points race real confident — it was just stay out of trouble and just see how many points I could get.”
It was his third medal of the weekend, after the Madison silver and team pursuit.
“The level of the field is just unbelievable,” added the 21-year-old, who has also been omnium national champion two years in a row. “To come away with gold is just incredible, especially in front of a home crowd as well. Just when your legs are screaming at you to stop, you hear the shouting and you have that extra little bit,” he said.