Braveheart Archibald can’t stop terrific Trott
KATIE ARCHIBALD could not topple her friend and rival Laura Trott at the Glasgow Revolution series as the English rider took the Points, Elimination and Scratch races.
The 21-year-old Scot returned to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, where she won Commonwealth bronze behind gold medallist and British Team Sprint colleague Trott — and history repeated itself as Archibald ended five adrift in the Points Race.
French rider Laurie Berthon kept pace with the Brits throughout, finishing two points off top spot in second.
Come the Elimination, Archibald led the group with seven laps to go.
She was riding alone way out in front, but Trott reeled her in and cruised to the win, with Berthon third.
There was a similar outcome in the Scratch, when Archibald again tried to take control with 25 laps to go.
Trott, who took double Olympic gold in the Omnium and Team Pursuit at London 2012, looked in superb form but Archibald rued tactical errors which cost her over the 20km, 80-lap UCI Points Race.
‘You need legs that are 10 times as big if you are not riding very well with your head. I didn’t have either,’ said the girl from Milingavie.
‘I just kept making mistakes and the more I thought about it, the worse it got.
‘I could never force them (Trott and Berthon) to go and follow me — I’m always the one who leads it out.
‘My main strength is attacking and trying to get a gap, and I just did not have it today.’
Despite taking the last sprint, three points was not enough for Archibald.
But aged only 21 and up against two of the world’s top performers, it was a valiant effort.