Track Cycling UCI Nations Cup 2024

[Nish 7]

2 minutes ago, Rafa Maciel said:

To be fair I think we've all followed every major track cycling event in the last 14 months . I don't think @heywooduis too far out by saying there's 10-15 riders with significant medal chances - after all, all that means is that anyone who gets themselves into a semi-final is in with a medal shout.

 

And for what it's worth, here's my take on the 10-15 genuine medal chances and why I think they are in the mix:

 

 Emma Finucane & Katy Marchant - Finucane is European silver medalist, won the event in HK and is the cyclist probably in the best form whilst Marchant took silver in Adelaide. Could even make an argument in favour of Sophie Capewell.

 Emma Hinze & Lea Friedrich - Hinze took silver in Hong Kong whilst Friedrich is European Champions, was 8th in Hong Kong and 6th in Adelaide. 

 Mina Sato - Champion in Adelaide and 5th in Hong Kong.

 Mathilde Gros - 4th in the Europeans, 7th in Adelaide and 6th in Hong Kong - will also have home town advantage and unlikely to have the additional 3 rides from team sprint. 

 Hetty van de Wouw & Steffie van der Peet - van de Wouw was bronze medalist at Europeans and 4th at Worlds in Glasgow whilst van der Peet made the small final in Hong Kong and in Glasgow. 

 Ellesse Andrews - '23 World Champ and UCI TCL Champion. Will be interesting to see how she performs on her return from injury. 

 Nicky Degrendele - 5th at the Europeans, 4th in Hong Kong and made the small final in Adelaide. 

 Martha Bayona - silver medalist at last year's world champs and made the small final in Adelaide.

 Lauriane Genest - silver medalist at '23 PanAm champs and bronze medalist in Adelaide.

 

That's a fairly easy list of 12 names and there are more besides.

 

i am sorry I get your point but head to head is what I am going by. Just coz Andrews and Bayona hasn’t competed in this latest edition of Nations cup doesn't put them out of contention. Less than 6-8 months ago Andrews and Bayona were dominating both World Cup followed by UCI Track Champs league which featured many names of list above. Any doubt raised for Andrews should be cleared in a months time. I mean many don’t even list her a contender until I mentioned her just now. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

3 minutes ago, Nish said:

i am sorry I get your point but head to head is what I am going by. Just coz Andrews and Bayona hasn’t competed in this latest edition of Nations cup doesn't put them out of contention. Less than 6-8 months ago Andrews and Bayona were dominating both World Cup followed by UCI Track Champs league which featured many names of list above. Any doubt raised for Andrews should be cleared in a months time. I mean many don’t even list her a contender until I mentioned her just now. 

I don't think anyone has been discounting either Andrews or Bayona - we're simply saying that based on past experience, the keirin is the most unpredictable event in track cycling for the sprinters and there is no clear medal favourite. 

 

From my perspective, I wouldn't be reading too much into the results of the TCL - it took place at a time when the riders were still in heavy training and the format differences doesn't necessarily give a good read across to what will happen in Paris. 

[Nish 7]

31 minutes ago, Rafa Maciel said:

I don't think anyone has been discounting either Andrews or Bayona - we're simply saying that based on past experience, the keirin is the most unpredictable event in track cycling for the sprinters and there is no clear medal favourite. 

 

From my perspective, I wouldn't be reading too much into the results of the TCL - it took place at a time when the riders were still in heavy training and the format differences doesn't necessarily give a good read across to what will happen in Paris. 

Fair enough. Don’t agree with it. But surely wouldn’t rate Dutch and British girls as favourites. But sure let’s wait for next few months. We shall see. 

[phelps 8,287]

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Yep, that's what I meant with her being very much a contender in the big mix. There's a whole bunch of contenders who have all worked super hard for it (presumably all of them 'want it the most', and that kind of thing), and if there's one unpredictable event, it's the keirin. Gonna be fun, at least 10-15 riders have a significant medal shot and the fight for gold is most likely going to be fantastically tight  

tbh, Keirin was unpredictable when it was in its prime

 

when UCI started to change the rules and made it just another performance event where tactics and "madness" count for only a very small percentage, it became quite predictable...nowadays it's only about the most powerful sprinter with the quickest recovery skills

[RussB 189]

6 hours ago, Nish said:

Fair enough. Don’t agree with it. But surely wouldn’t rate Dutch and British girls as favourites. But sure let’s wait for next few months. We shall see. 

I don't think any of us here would discount Andrews at all, in either the keirin or the individual sprint. In fact I think all we have said is that the Keirin is genuinely open. In terms of winning the gold medal, I think about 6 ladies have realistic chances, which is great and more unpredictable than most of the track events. It will be interesting to see how Andrews comes back and where she slots into the pack. However, not to recognise Finucane as the number 1 women's sprinter right now, who is clearly becoming more accomplished at the Keirin recently (and therefore has to be considered to have strong chances for Paris) is a strange hill to die on in my view. It was a dominating performance this weekend in HK across all 3 disciplines and that's where we are right now.

Come Paris the story may very well be different...looking forward to seeing the racing in 4-5 months time (hopefully in person if I can sneak a spare ticket when the exchange site opens) :D

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

Provisional entries are out for the final Nations Cup event in Milton (12-Apr - 14-Apr)

 

As always, take the UCI entry list with a pinch of salt as they have been wrong in the past in terms of the actual line-ups used...

 

Men's Team Pursuit:

• No  team entered and also no  or 
•  will be favourites for the event as they send one of their strongest teams - Bigham / Tanfield / Vernon / Charlton
•  not going with their A-Team favouring Lamon / Boscaro / Giaimi / Moro although Consonni and Viviani are in the squad for Madison so would be available for TP.

 

Men's Team Sprint:

• No  so will be a relatively straightforward win for  
•   and  all fighting for the last quota spot and competing with pretty strong squads -  and  have the same squad from 2023 World Champs whilst  have the European bronze medalist team. Realistically the battle will come down to  v  with Poland needing to finish at least 1 place higher than Canada to take the final quota. 

 

Women's Team Sprint:

• No  and a second string  squad with no Hinze or Friedrich.
• It's a case of now or never for  - they need to take advantage of the absence of the big 2 and get themselves into the medal rides and hope that  finish mid-table.

 

Women's Team Pursuit:

• No  or 
•  will likely be favourites as they are sending their top team - Archibald / Knight / Morris / Barker with Evans available as sub. Think they may want to put a marker down given they've seen New Zealand take the last two NC events

 

 

Other Thoughts:

•  Ellesse Andrews is back after her crash in Adelaide. With no  and the top  missing, she'll likely start as favourite in the Keirin, but it won't tell us as much as we would have liked about her medal prospects.
•  Martha Bayona is back in both the Sprint and the Keirin after less than stellar results in Adelaide. 
•  Katie Archibald is down for both the Madison (with Neah Evans) and the Omnium.
• Women's Omnium will be missing  Ally Wollaston and  Lotte Kopecky but the gold and silver medalist from Glasgow are in the field alongside the silver medalist from Tokyo so it is still pretty stacked.

 

[Adriano 625]

Poland could not  fly to Canada due to lack of funds.

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

44 minutes ago, Adriano said:

Poland could not  fly to Canada due to lack of funds.

I guess they've still got time to figure out a solution. 

[copravolley 498]

53 minutes ago, Adriano said:

Poland could not  fly to Canada due to lack of funds.

Poland has been the most economically developing country in Europe in recent years. I am very surprised that they invest so little in professional sports.

[rybak 3,303]

55 minutes ago, Adriano said:

Poland could not  fly to Canada due to lack of funds.

Dont create mess, please, our Ministry of Sport approved new law and will help Cycling Federation in funding and will fund trip to Canada wor this event and also for other events.