GB Cycling

[Grassmarket 4,269]

It was a hard-fought race for about three minutes, but after one lap Zoe B has a 23 second lead.   There’s no mechanical.

[mpjmcevoy 377]

5 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

It was a hard-fought race for about three minutes, but after one lap Zoe B has a 23 second lead.   There’s no mechanical.

Interesting to see the generations coming through - obviously Zoe is an absolutely generational talent, but Cat Ferguson already looks a world class prospect (reminds me a bit of the cross country athletics where GBR have Megan Keith and Innes Fitzgerald coming through back to back)

 

On the 'drome, Men's pursuit had precisely the result they wanted and will be feeling a lot better about things. Seems to me to be getting clearer that the women's sprint are going to look to bring four if they can, with Marchant focussing on Kierin.

[Rafa Maciel 1,706]

25 minutes ago, mpjmcevoy said:

On the 'drome, Men's pursuit had precisely the result they wanted and will be feeling a lot better about things. Seems to me to be getting clearer that the women's sprint are going to look to bring four if they can, with Marchant focussing on Kierin.

I think you are right that Marchant will be on the team but with the restrictions on the quotas, I think GB would struggle to bring a 4th sprint rider. 

 

So for me, it's looking likely that Lauren Bell/Lowri Thomas will make way as lead-off and will be replaced by Marchant. Capewell and Finucane will then go in the individual sprint and Capewell and Marchant in the Kierin. 

 

Comparing the last few results for GB against Germany, Marchant is fairly consistently about 0.1 second slower than Germany whilst Finucane on the final lap is about 0.1 second faster. So if Capewell can make marginal improvement then the final will be very tasty. 

[RussB 189]

I’d imagine Emma will ride the Kierin with Marchant… otherwise agree that the team sprint line up will be Katy Sophie and Emma. 
 

GBR will take 4 endurance (that selection is looking incredibly difficult to predict, especially without knowing where Laura Kenny is at). You have to think Archibald and Eleanor Barker are pencilled in. In my view Neah Evans has done enough to be considered a spot, and doubling up in the Madison with Barker / Kenny, with Archibald doing the Omnium. Leaving Morris or Knight out if that was how it played out.

Not sure what options GB have of adding a 5th endurance rider from another discipline aside from Backstedt that has already been discussed. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,706]

Looking increasingly unlikely that Laura Kenny is going to feature in Paris:

 

Dame Laura Kenny given only ‘slim chance’ of competing at Paris Olympics (msn.com)

[RussB 189]

I believe Stephen Park used very similar wording last year when discussing Laura's involvement in Paris. I think it has always been less than likely she will be in the team, and as discussed above it is actually a difficult conundrum to figure out how the team can actually accommodate her even if she was able to return to a level that genuinely competed to make the team pursuit / an individual event.

 

I'm a bit sceptical how much she could really improve GB hopes if she did return. You have Evans & Barker (madison), Archibald (omnium), plus Knight or Morris for the team pursuit (if we are able to take 5, then potentially Backstedt or a road racer can round out the team).

[Orangehair43 315]

I do wonder if she will she retire unless she is aiming for LA. British cycling have never cared that much about anything but the Olympics. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,706]

2 minutes ago, RussB said:

I believe Stephen Park used very similar wording last year when discussing Laura's involvement in Paris. I think it has always been less than likely she will be in the team, and as discussed above it is actually a difficult conundrum to figure out how the team can actually accommodate her even if she was able to return to a level that genuinely competed to make the team pursuit / an individual event.

I think he had said previously that we would have a clearer picture by March, so he has been true to his word. The fact that she hasn't returned to team training and didn't make the squad for Hong Kong is the nail in the coffin for her Olympic hopes although I think she realised that the World Champs later in the year was a more likely prospect for a return.  

[Rafa Maciel 1,706]

Mixed bag of results for  in Hong Kong

 

Great win for the women's team sprint - I think we've got our squad set for Paris now with Marchant, Capewell and Finucane. I'm not quite ready to jump on to the "they're the favourites for the Gold" bandwagon, but the team has to be regarded as the strongest medal chance in the velodrome. 

 

Men's elimination - great gold for Will Perrett who never looked in trouble but not sure it will be enough to get him a spot on the team for Paris.

 

Men's team pursuit finished in 6th. Sure it is disappointing, but this is definitely not our top team and they still did enough to finish ahead of Belgium and China so it's done no harm to Olympic quota spot. 

 

Men's team sprint continues to be the runt of the litter. Sure they didn't have Jack Carlin in the squad but I'm not sure that he would have made much of a difference.  have come on so far in the last 12-18 months that I don't see GB getting on to the podium when we get to Paris.

 

[mpjmcevoy 377]

On 3/5/2024 at 2:41 PM, Rafa Maciel said:

I think he had said previously that we would have a clearer picture by March, so he has been true to his word. The fact that she hasn't returned to team training and didn't make the squad for Hong Kong is the nail in the coffin for her Olympic hopes although I think she realised that the World Champs later in the year was a more likely prospect for a return.  

They've made a point of talking up the fact - perfectly legitimate - that Laura is still young enough to have LA and even Brisbane in front of her, if she so chose (I'm not sure she will, but having Jason as a coach in the Manchester system doesn't hurt). I'm guessing she'll miss Paris, come back for Worlds, and work back towards LA. Choices about brisbane will wait till after that.