The final round of the Revolution UK Champions League in London saw Neah Evans finish on the top step of the podium in the Elite Women’s Championship.
Unusually for a track event, riders raced in teams, so Evans’ performances meant her team Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa claimed glory.
Evans’ efforts, alongside those of her Podium Ambition team mates that included Dame Sarah Storey and Katie Archibald, saw the team collect 586 points in total. Voxwomen were in second, with 461, and Great Britain finished third with 408.
Unfortunately, due to financial pressures, Podium Ambition will not race as a UCI team in 2017. We’re still awaiting news of how the team will evolve for the coming year. However, we know managers Dame Sarah Storey and Barney Storey are typically rather industrious and creative, so we look forward to celebrating the next move for the team.
Racing against World Champions and Olympic Gold medallists, Evans is a relative beginner in the cycling world, having taken up the sport in 2014. Formally a hill runner, she began cycling when injury took her away from her favourite hobby.
Over the course of the London event, held at the Lee Valley Velodrome, the 25-years-old full time vet raced to first place in the omnium, finishing with 156 points, ahead of Laura Kenny (nee Trott) with 148.
The London event consisted of three sessions, on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening. Evans won the scratch race and points race on Friday, elimination scratch race and omnium tempo race on Saturday afternoon and the flying lap and omnium points race on Saturday evening.
She commented: “It’s been great for me, I’ve managed to race every single round, but importantly it’s been a real team effort. There’s been quite a few different riders racing at each round Katie [Prankard] tonight, Katie Archibald at the first two rounds, Sarah [Storey] and Monica [Dew] came out as well and everyone put in a lot of effort so it’s great to get the win.”
The crowds had high expectations for Laura Kenny, who is now the most decorated female Olympian after scooping up her third and fourth gold medals at the games in Rio.
London’s Revolution round was her first attempt at the new format of the omnium, which sees the seven event competition reduced to a four race format which favours bunch racing over individual efforts.
Kenny won the omnium elimination race on Saturday, but struggled to find form throughout the weekend. Having taken six weeks completely off the bike after marrying Jason Kenny, Friday’s racing was only her fifth time back on the track. The drop in form was to be expected and we’ll no doubt see her back to full fitness as she behind her next cycle towards Tokyo in 2020.
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