The first round of the Revolution Series Season 11 kicked off over the weekend, with Olympic champions Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Roswell returning to the boards in the UK.
For the first time the Series features five rounds, with the finale marking the return of elite cycling to the Olympic Velodrome on March 15, 2014. If that wasn’t enough, the 2013-14 season also sees the Revolution Series recognised as a UCI Class 1 event, a great boost for all those involved.
So, with UCI points up for grabs for the first time, it was pedal to metal infront of a sell-out home crowd, to try and gain those all important points.
Afternoon session
The highlights over the afternoon session, was Dani King’s (Wiggle-Honda) victory in the women’s points race, over 25km. With an Olympic winning team behind her including Trott, Rowsell and new team mate Elinor Barker, Dani managed to beat Anastasia Chulkova (Rus-Velo) by just one point.
Evening session
The evening session kicked off with the women’s sprint, with Jess Varnish and world champion Becky James beating Dani Khan and Katy Marchant to a place in the final. However, it would eventually be Varnish who saw off James in the sprint final to win.
Although Olympic champion and world record setting Laura Trott won comfortably in the elimination race, she couldn’t make it stick. Emily Kay (Team USN) stopped Trott’s evening short, by beating her to the line in the scratch race. Spanish rider Leire Olaberria delivered another blow, by taking second place, making Trott finish third.
In the Keirin, Varnish was beaten into second place by double world junior champion Dani Khan who’s adding to her impressive racing career.
HOY Future Stars
The Revolution Series of course isn’t just about elite racing – it also looks to bring through young talent, and its youth competition ‘Future Stars’ has a new sponsor. Sir Chris Hoy’s bike brand backing HOY Future Stars, what better sponsor, than one of the world’s top track cyclists!
Sophie Capewell of HMT-Sportscover topped the rankings for the girls contest of the ‘HOY Future Stars’ after the opening round.
Highlights of Saturday’s racing, which took place in front of a sell-out crowd at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, will be shown on BT Sport 2 at 7.30pm on Tuesday October 29th.
REVOLUTION SERIES SEASON 11 DATES
Round 1: 26th October – National Cycling Centre, Manchester
Round 2: 30th November – Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow
Round 3: 4th January 2014 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester
Round 4: 1st February – National Cycling Centre, Manchester
Round 5: 15th March 2014 – Lee Valley VeloPark, London
