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After the success of the Italian Pursuit at Revolution on 14th October Gordon Harling, Technical Director for the event has been racking his brains to come up with something equally exciting and just as hard to call. And it was Bradley Wiggins who came up with an interesting proposal: A flying team sprint featuring himself, Staff and Chiappa on one team and Millar, MacLean and Van Eijden on the other.
The event is completely new to Revolution and Bradley seems keen:
“There didn’t seem much point in Dave and I doing another pursuit, especially as Obree will be there, and we are both in the early stages of training after the off season. Gordon had mentioned doing the team sprint before and I just thought it will be a brilliant spectacle and actually a pretty hard race to call”
Millar was just as enthusiastic. “I like the idea of it being flying, and as long as I lead it out I’m happy. I learnt my lesson after that Italian Pursuit….man that was hard…so I’m totally up for giving it a try and hopefully I’ll have some more form than a month ago!”
Wiggins will also feature in the Isaac Galvez Memorial Madison with partner Franco Marvulli. The Madison will serve as a tribute race to the rider who died tragically at the Ghent Six day last weekend and who was meant to be appearing at Revolution on Saturday. Gordon Harling spoke of the decision:
“We felt it was entirely fitting that our Madison be renamed the Isaac Galvez Memorial – we hold a Madison each season at Revolution and from now on it will always been in memory of Isaac. We will also be raising money for the foundation started by Patrik Sercu. We have started the ball rolling by donating Isaac’s appearance money to the fund, there will also be collection boxes at the event if people want to donate.”
As for the ‘traditional’ sprint boys there’ll be a ‘Santa’s “Win Your Weight” Sprint Omnium’ for them!
Jamie Staff, Craig MacLean, Roberto Chiappa, Jan Van Eijden and Jason Kenny will all be taking part in a 3 event omnium at the end of which the victorious rider will be weighed and will win their weight in Ravenswood Vintners blend wine. Christian Lyte, David Daniel, Steven Hill and Tom Buck will also be involved in the omnium but unfortunately being under 18 will not be eligible to win their weight in wine so have the slightly less festive, but perhaps more useful prize of winning their weight in SIS products!!
Now, sprinters are not known for their slender builds – these boys are big so we checked out which rider stands to gain the most from a victory and it’s Jamie Staff who weighs in at an impressive 93 kilos.
“I am really looking forward to taking part in the omnium! it’s going to be tough because Craig is on fire at the moment. I have to say I’m not sure that much wine would have a beneficial effect on my season next year – but I’m game. At least I won’t have to buy any Christmas presents…it’ll be wine all round at the Staff residence!”
Tickets for Revolution 15 on December 9th can be purchased from www.cyclingrevolution.com or by calling 07005 942 579 or 0161 223 2244.
