Last night saw a magnificent performance from the women’s and the men’s British Cycling teams, both securing gold at the UEC European Track Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland.
Laura Trott, Katie Archibald, Joanna Rowsell Shand and Elinor Barker started extremely strong and caught Russia up within 2500m to win the women’s final at the Velodrome Swisse, setting a time of 4:17.010.
We Talk to Joanna Rowsell Shand About Preparing for Rio 2016
After such a stunning performance of speed and tactics, team mate Archibald said:
It’s so rare – we’ve never had a catch where we’ve continued on riding. Paul had said to us beforehand that he wants us to do three full rides and we all kinda went, ‘Really?’
Earlier that day, Barker, Archibald, Rowsell Shand and Ciara Horne defeated the Polish team and Trott replaced Horne in the final to win overall.
The men’s team, consisting of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Andy Tennant, Owain Doull and Jon Dibben followed in the women’s trail of glory to defeat hosts Switzerland by two seconds in 3.55.243.
Laura Trott on Promoting Women’s Cycling and Being Nervous Sometimes
Double gold is a great sign for the British Cycling teams and we hope to see these successes continue as we get closer to Rio.