2009 British Time Trial Championships

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Post Race Reactions

Hannah Barnes (First Junior Female, above): “It went quite good, quite fast. There was a headwind on the open bit and that was quite hard but the other bit of the course was really fast. I think my second lap will be slower though because I’m not used to 20 miles”.

“I have done shorter time trials before as well as a 25 but I’m never doing that again! To prepare, I did one hard ride round here with my sister on my road bike but it is the first time I have been on a Time Trial bike since Assen (Dutch stage race). The course was quite enclosed but when there was a gate you could feel the wind catching the front wheel but at lease it wasn’t as windy as it has been.”

Hannah, who is hoping to join the ODP next year, says that there is no rest now as she is getting ready for some cyclo-cross, mountain biking and then perhaps the Track Nationals. Good luck to Hannah.

Steven Burke (Olympic Bronze medallist). The rider more known for his exploits on the track including that fantastic bronze medal in the Individual Pursuit in Beijing says he’s only raced around 10 days whilst in Italy and is glad the track season is round the corner as that’s where its at for him.

Talking about the Time Trial Championship, he says “It was hard but not super hard -- a draggy course that featured two very short sharp climbs. I found the roads are heavier here than in Italy. The effort is totally different to the Pursuit just like the Team Pursuit is different to the Individual.”

“As an Under 23, I haven’t really done any TTs but as a junior I did a few 10s and was quick at them. I hold the joint 10 mile junior record with Alex Dowsett.  I have shown I can time trial but I need to develop it more if I want to succeed in it.”

Asked about the winter ahead as the Track International season approaches, he says “my main focus will be the Team Pursuit at Manchester where we’ll go for the track record which would be quite something and then in other World Cups, I’ll be more focused on the Individual event”.

Sarah Storey  (4th, World Masters champion, multi Paralympic Gold medallist) “I have been beaten by three fantastic bike riders but the gap isn’t as big as it has been in previous years. So I’m pleased although it’s next week that is the really big focus so I can’t get too excited until I have done the business there in Italy.”

“The World Masters course was an out and back 20 kilometres as fast as you can and then today was 20 miles on a circuit with a similar profile of what I will face in Italy. So last week the distance was right and today the profile was right so it’s all been good preparation – good for the bike handling, good for getting the position right and that kind of stuff.”

“The danger on the road is you can get form and if you don’t race hard enough, you can lose it so I have carried on with last weeks form and hopefully that will carry though to next Friday and the time trial”.

For the British championships where it was quite windy, Sarah explained that she changed from a trispoke front wheel and used a deep section instead. “The only place I had any issues was on the left turn at the bottom of the descent before one of the hills. The camber was a bit odd and it was a bit narrow and I’m sure if you talk to the people stood there they’ll tell you my brakes squeaked the most and I went round the slowest!”

“Two years ago I crashed before the Worlds and ultimately didn’t get to ride the road and so today I was very conscious to stay upright so I got to Italy in one piece.”

“I definitely managed to get the effort all out. Coming up the climb to the finish, at the end of the second lap, there were all these people up there and I’m thinking ‘oh my goodness, I’m going to throw up’ and it wasn’t the place to do that! Fortunately I didn’t!”

Wendy Houvenaghel (2nd, Women’s Championships): The Olympic Silver medallist was at the event with her husband who competed in the Masters racing in the morning and whilst known as the Olympic Silver medallist in the Pursuit, it is in Time Trialling where it all started on the bike for Wendy. Asked how she found the day out and the Silver medal, Wendy replied “it was a lot of fun today.”

“During the summer, I decided to enter the event and I haven’t really targeted it as such but was pleased with how I got on today. I do enjoy time trialling. Doing this is a different kettle of fish to what I am used to doing these days like the standing 3k efforts which require a lot of intensity and are over in three and a half minutes. With this, it is much longer but I enjoyed the challenge of time trial.”

“It was a long lonely ride, especially on the second lap when I don’t think I saw many riders to chase whereas on the first lap I did have quite a few. With time trialling you get into a rhythm and I’m good at that.  It was good to be out in the fresh air and doing something different.”

“I felt the ride went well, I paced myself well and was able to keep the momentum going through out and came across the line knowing I had done what I had set out to do. So yes,  I was pleased with the performance.”

Alex Dowsett: “I raced here last year on the Rudy Project series so I knew what to expect. I came into it confident that I could put in a decent ride.  I’d been out on the course on Wednesday and so was well prepared for it. I came into the race knowing I was going well but I also knew that there was a chance someone was going better.”

“The wind was in quite a good direction. There was only one grippy section and the rest it was just nagging. The only difficult bit was the climb at the end of the lap and how to judge it. Everyone went up it differently. Wiggins on the little ring on the tri bars while I went up on the big ring out of the saddle and Andy used the little ring. So that was the only part I had to think about.”

“The World Time Trial championship (Under 23) is the next goal.  I have another week at home and I’ll be talking to Paul (Manning) about what I am doing to prepare. I may do a club 10 between now and then but nothing else really. I have gone well today off the back of time trial training where as at the Europeans I didn’t touch the time trial bike and I went well in that too.”

AndyTennant, Alex Dowsett and Andrew Griffiths.

Rob Hayles -- fighting hard for a medal and just missing it

Chris Newton fighting hard for a medal too -- Bronze as it turned out.

Riding for local bike shop, Corely Cycles, Simon Gaywood.