It was another successful day for the Great Britain Cycling Team’s endurance riders in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with Neah Evans, Matt Walls and Laura Kenny all making visits to the podium at the UEC European Track Championships.
Speaking of her second victory in as many days, Neah said: “When it sinks in, it’ll feel very special – I’m delighted! It’s been a busy week; it’s been a bit bizarre as effectively we’ve had a summer of no racing and then to come to the European track champs where it’s just been non-stop. It’s been great to get back racing, and to get some really good results is just amazing.”
Matt Walls backed up his elimination race gold medal from Wednesday with another European title, this time in the men’s omnium race. Walls finished third in the scratch race, won the tempo race and finished second in the elimination race, meaning he went into the points race as the race leader with a four-point advantage. Matt comfortably handled the pressure, showing his strength right through to the end to take the overall victory by 12 points.
After collecting his medal and jersey, Matt reflected: “It was a tough race, it’s been a long day. I managed to come into the final points race with a bit of a lead, I was able to hold that lead and ended up with another win. I’m really happy to come away with a second jersey. I’ve got the Madison on Sunday so I’m looking forward to that and hopefully I can make it a third.”
Fresh from her team pursuit victory last night, Laura Kenny was the silver medalist in today’s women’s omnium. After the first two races – the scratch race and the tempo - Laura was tied in first place along with Maria Martins from Portugal and Elisa Balsamo from Italy. A second-place finish behind Elisa Balsamo meant Laura went into the all-important points race in the silver medal position, just two points adrift of gold. A cagey points race saw Laura demonstrate her bike handling skills to avoid a crash, but she was unable to shake Elisa who marked Laura well throughout the race. Laura finished in second place overall, nine points behind Elisa Balsamo, the new European champion.
The Great Britain Cycling Team are back in action tomorrow in the women’s keirin and the men’s and women’s points races.
