Report: European Track Championships (Final Day)

At the end of a busy week of racing Neah Evans and Pfeiffer Georgi performed strongly to take fourth place in the women’s Madison, narrowly missing out on a medal after an agonising final sprint.

Report: European Track Championships (Final Day)

At the end of a busy week of racing Neah Evans and Pfeiffer Georgi performed strongly to take fourth place in the women’s Madison, narrowly missing out on a medal after an agonising final sprint. Mounting their attack at the race’s halfway point, the pair took maximum points on the eighth and ninth sprints, in addition to a lap on the field, sending them to the top of the leaderboard.

Further points followed in the 11th, 13th and 14th sprints, however approaching the all-important final sprint the pair found themselves tied first on 36 points with France, with Italy hot on their heels with 35 and Denmark sitting in fourth place on 28. With missed changes adding to the fatigue, the British pair found themselves unable to compete for the final points alongside their rivals, and maximum points for Denmark further compounded matters, helping them to leapfrog Evans and Georgi into third place.

Afterwards, Georgi said: “At the beginning there were stronger sprint teams in the race, so Neah said to me let’s go for a lap, and I think that was the only tactic we had to win. We managed to get the lap, which was hard, but it was a shame to miss out in the end. It’s our first time as a pairing and my first elite Madison, so it was a bit of a shock to the system!”

Evans added: “Even when you do loads of training together there’s nothing like a race. There’s just so much going on the whole time, even when you’re resting there are riders all over the place, so to come into a race having such little experience together was always going to be a huge ask. We put in a really good effort, but there were a lot of really strong pairings out there and it just wasn’t enough for a medal, but given everything we’ve done to be here it was a really solid performance and we need to be happy with that.”

KEIRIN

In the women’s keirin Sophie Capewell finished fourth in her first round heat, before progressing through to the semi-final after a third place finish in the repechage, where she progressed again after finishing second behind Poland’s Marlena Karwacka. Returning in the second session, a confident tactical performance saw Capewell finish third in her semi-final, securing a place in what would turn out to be a stacked final, lining up against the likes of reigning world and European champion Lea Sophie Friedrich and Mathilde Gros.

However, after an eventful week on the track which included a crash in Friday’s team sprint, Capewell was unable to force her way through the field, finishing sixth. After finishing sixth and fourth in her first round and repechage respectively, Lauren Bell did not progress to the semi-final.

Hamish Turnbull was Great Britain’s sole representative in the men’s keirin, and after finishing fifth in his first round heat, he then progressed through the repechage with a second place finish. A fifth place finish in his semi-final ended Turnbull’s quest for the podium, but he ended the day by finishing second in the 7-12 final to take eighth place overall.

MEN’S MADISON

After feeling unwell during yesterday’s omnium, Ollie Wood was replaced by Will Tidball for the men’s Madison, alongside Rhys Britton. The young pairing held their own in a strong field, scoring two points in both the sixth and ninth sprints, however just past the halfway point Tidball was brought down, and despite initially returning to the track the pair were soon forced to abandon the race.

Great Britain Cycling Team riders Tom Pidcock and Cam Orr will be in action on Friday as the men’s mountain bike event takes place in Munich’s Olympiapark, followed by Isla Short in the women’s race on Saturday.

A British Cycling Press Release