UCI Track Champions League 2021 - ‘It will have kept her up at night’ – Kenny on Archibald’s ‘fluffed’ scratch race
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ByEurosport
Published 28/11/2021 at 00:02 GMT
Katie Archibald produced a dominant performance at the Cido Arena to cement her lead at the top of the endurance standings. The two-time Olympian doubled up in Lithuania to move onto 73 points, some 13 points clear of Canada's Maggie Coles-Lyster in second. The UCI Track Champions League is here and you can watch all of the action live on the Eurosport app, eurosport.co.uk and discovery+
‘I know it will have kept her up at night’ – Kenny on Archibald Mallorca regret
Jason Kenny says that Katie Archibald’s failure in the scratch race at the Mallorca round of the UCI Track Champions League will have driven her on to success in Lithuania.
Archibald impressed in Mallorca winning the elimination race and finishing fourth in the scratch race to lead coming into the second round of the inaugural UCI Track Champions League.
However, the Great Britain star – disappointed with that fourth – said that she had only come to Lithuania “really to win the scratch”, with more limited expectations around the elimination race.
And the two-time Olympian would double up at the Cido Arena to cement her lead at the top of the endurance league. She now has 73 points, some 13 points clear of Canada's Maggie Coles-Lyster in second. Her brilliance was discussed post event by Oral Chennaoui and Jason Kenny.
“That such a Katie thing to say,” said Kenny of the implication that Archibald would take it easy in the elimination.
She wouldn’t have been able to sleep since last time. I know it will have kept her up at night the fact that she fluffed that scratch race last time.
However, Kenny – a seven-time Olympic gold medallist – added that, although Archibald has collected 73 points from a potential 80 on offer over the two sessions, the Track Champions League is incredibly competitive.
“As evidenced today, it is really competitive and really hard – small mistakes are punished and that is what happened last time but she put it to bed now."
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‘Got it absolutely right!’ – Archibald makes amends for Mallorca with scratch race win
However, despite her dominance, Archibald herself says that it was nowhere near as straightforward as it might have seemed.
"It definitely doesn't feel easy,” she said afterwards, of her dominant-looking performances.
In the opening round Archibald won the elimination race, but finished fourth in the scratch. All the same, she says:
I had some really nice breathing space in Mallorca. I didn't win all the races but I felt really comfortable in my body.
The current omnium world champion was more visible in the early laps of Saturday’s elimination than she was in Velòdrom Illes Balears de Palma, typically an indication of a rider in difficulty. Twice she came close to being knocked out, only managing to stay in the race at the last moment.
Archibald admits that she could not precisely put her finger on why that was:
“I'm going to be interested to see the power and speed differences because for me, physically, it just felt like 'go!' You go hard for 10 laps and you think it cannot last, but it did. And it just kept going and going.
I need to figure out: is it me, or is it the track? I really struggled in the start of that race.
Next up for Archibald is two rounds in London before the series concludes in Tel Aviv on December 11th.
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The UCI Track Champions League returns for round three on December 3 and you can watch all of the action live on the Eurosport app, eurosport.co.uk and discovery+. Find out more about the "mind-blowing" new era for track cycling.
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