Next Generation Track Race - Apeldoorn
Over the weekend of the 7th-8th January I had the amazing chance to race in 'The Next Generation' UCI track race in Apeldoorn, Holland for the Welsh Junior Team, where there was a total of eleven nations competing which included Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark. We left Britain on Friday 6th January, caught the tunnel at about 2 in the afternoon, drove through France, got to Belgium and got stuck in some really bad traffic around Antwerp which ended up with us sitting there and only moving about 20 miles in the next 3.5 hours. After finally arriving at the accommodation for the weekend at about 10.30 we got to bed as soon as we could.
On the Saturday, the track opened for warm-up at 10 o’clock so we had breakfast and got to the Velodrome for 9 o’clock in order to get the bikes, wheels and kit out of the vans. As soon as the track warm up opened, all of us in the Welsh team got onto the boards to be able to see how this track compared to our local track in Newport. The Velodrome in Apeldoorn was obviously a very new track with seating for roughly 5,000 spectators, so the wood was nice and smooth which would be good for racing on.
The first event of the day was the flying 200m which was a way of seeding for the Keirin which would be later in the day. I had been put into the Keirin to gain as much experience as possible from the weekend, so I was up against full-time track sprinters from France, Germany etc. I did my flying 200m and got a time of 12.05s which was a PB for me. Unfortunately the quickest time posted was 10.5s meaning they were 1.5s quicker than me, and I got the slowest time seeding me last for the Keirin, which was my next race of the day, and as I was the only rider in the race who wasn’t a full track sprinter, I knew I couldn’t leave it down to the sprint as I wouldn’t be able to beat the others who would be much quicker than me, so as the bike pulled off with three laps to go I moved forward in the group, and as we came round to 2 laps to go I attacked under the group as fast as I could, and had a small gap, but as I came into the final bend, I got over taken by the whole group.
The first bunch race of the day then was the elimination race, which is a characteristically quick race with the final rider over the line each lap eliminated. Unfortunately, I found myself boxed in quite quickly into the race and this resulted in my elimination much earlier than I was hoping for, coming roughly 15th place.
The second bunch race was the scratch, which was a very fast race with it only being 16 laps long, and coming into the sprint I could only manage to finish at the back of the group with my legs feeling very tired from the other two races I had done that day already.
My final race of the Sunday was the tempo race which is a newly introduced race, which included 5 laps on roughly neutral riding, with the next 20 laps being so the first person across the line each lap gets 1 point, with no one else in the group getting any points. This race was dominated by a few people, so most of didn’t get any chance to gain any points, so the final positioning came down to each person’s final placing on the 25th lap, I managed a 10th overall which was my best result of the whole weekend.
On the Sunday then my first race was the match sprint which until that morning, I hadn’t even known I was doing because entry to the Keirin automatically entered me into the sprint. As I was trying to gain as much experience as possible I went up for the sprint willing to try 100%, like with the Keirin I knew I couldn’t leave it down to the final lap to try and win, so with 2.5 laps to go I tried to slow down my opponents as much as possible, before launching the biggest attack I could. Unfortunately, man 2 was too close to my wheel so came round me in the final corner with man 3 following him.
The first bunch race of the Sunday was the points race, which were 40 laps long with points every 10 laps for 1st-4th place over the line on that lap. This race was so fast, especially with my legs having done all the races I had already, which were more than almost everyone else in the race as most people only targeted a handful of races. I managed to hang on for the entirety of the race, but didn’t manage to do much more because I was so exhausted.
The final race of the weekend was the Madison, which was a 50 lap race with points every 10 laps, my partner was Matt Burke, and I started off as the resting rider, so Matt started off the race, and as we came in for our first change, everything was going well, then the next time I was resting rider and Matt came in for a change, someone changed above Matt, forcing him off the back of the group, which caused us a problem as the group was coming into their first sprint lap so the pace got considerably higher, so over the next 35 laps we had to try and close down this gap, and each time we got any closer, it would be a sprint lap so the gap would go ever bigger. With 5 laps to go we unfortunately lost a lap to the group, so in the end coming in about the 11th team.
This weekend was such a great experience for me with the level of racing that was the best you could find in Europe of people under 18, and I loved every minute even though I didn’t get any of the results I was hoping for. If I get the chance again next year I will definitely take up the offer. A huge thanks to Welsh Cycling for taking us on this trip!