UCI Track Champions League 2021 - 'No lights, no fat' – Ed Clancy on the beauty of velodrome racing
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Updated 01/11/2021 at 07:54 GMT
The 36-year-old is relishing track cycling's new headline event, which starts in Mallorca on November 6. "It's the ultimate combination of man and machine with no other purpose than to go fast in this gladiatorial stadium and do battle," he said. Clancy will compete in the Endurance League, which will see riders tackle scratch races and elimination races at each of the five meetings.
Clancy on scratch race: 'At least half the field will want an absolute tear-up!'
Ed Clancy has explained what makes track cycling so special ahead of the inaugural UCI Track Champions League.
The three-time Olympic team pursuit champion will sign off his career as a founding rider in the five-event series, which start live on discovery+ in Mallorca on Saturday.
Clancy will compete in the men’s Endurance League, which sees riders tackle a scratch race and elimination race at each meeting. The Sprint League features sprint and keirin races.
“I like all forms of cycling but the track is just kind of pared down and raw,” said Clancy.
“I'm into motorsport but when you see even a go kart or a Formula car... there are no lights, there are no number plates, there's no fat.
“The only things on the bikes are the bare essentials and it's designed not for comfort, not to be quiet and refined, just to go fast.
It's the ultimate combination of man and machine with no other purpose than to go fast in this gladiatorial stadium and do battle.
Riders score points in every race for every position, with results tallied up to create a league table in the respective disciplines (men’s and women’s Sprint League; men’s and women’s Endurance League).
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Clancy on elimination race - ‘Like a game of chess at 40mph’
‘LIKE A HORNET’S NEST – IT’S ABSOLUTE CARNAGE’
We asked Clancy for his thoughts on how to survive the elimination race, a discipline that sees the whole field start together before one rider is whittled away every two laps until just one remains.
“I haven't got the energy to sit on the front for 20 or 30 laps in the wind so you want to be near the front, not on the front,” said Clancy.
“But the big problem with that is everybody wants to do the same thing. It's like a hornet's nest, it's just absolute carnage.
“Everyone wants to do well: nobody wants to be on the front, nobody wants to be on the back, so nine times out of 10 you're just in total chaos.
“It's not like driving your car down the motorway, there's no indicators, there's no rules, there's no gentlemen's code.
“You look after your own front wheel, try and pre-empt things. It's like a game of chess but at 40mph, there's a lot of different pieces on the board that are all moving independently but they all have an impact on each other when it comes to the crunch point.
“There's a lot going on and when you've got a bandwidth of zero because you're absolutely flat out, it's a very difficult thing to do right.”
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'I'm done' - Emotional Clancy pulls out and confirms Olympic retirement
MY SECRET HOPE…
The other discipline in the Endurance League is the scratch race, a straight-up battle between the whole field over a fixed number of laps.
“There's different ways to skin a cat; there's different ways to ride a scratch race,” he said.
“You can go at it from anywhere you want, the sort of more endurance guys are always keen to go for the breakaways and go for the long solo breaks.
“And if you're a sprinter type like myself, you're always secretly hoping there's going to be a steady race that ends in a big dirty bunch sprint.
“So there's many ways you can go at a scratch race, and you can pick your tactics, pick your gear choice based on what your tactics are, and it's just fun.”
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The UCI Track Champions League is coming 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, with the first event on November 6 in Mallorca.
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