Ireland’s Caroline Ryan showed her strength in the points race at the Mexico UCI World Cup
Caroline Ryan has at the UCI World Cup in Mexico shown the kind of form that brought her a World Track Championships bronze medal last year.
The Team Ireland rider put in a very aggressive display in her points race that saw her go on the attack in the early stages to take the first sprint and lap the entire field alone.
In her individual pursuit second event, which took place earlier today Irish time, she again put in a very good ride to go 5th fastest and just miss out in a head to head to settle the bronze medal at the meeting.
Her performances were perhaps her best since her amazing ride to win the bronze in the points race at the World Championships in Melbourne last April and will give her confidence heading into the 2013 Worlds in Belarus next month.
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In the points race in Mexico yesterday, Ryan was to eventually finish just outside the top 10, in 11th place, after her storming start.
The race involves 80 laps of the track with points on offer at a sprint on the line eight times during the event. The finishing order is decided on points, or on finishing positions in the final sprint if some riders are equal on points.
Ryan attacked the bunch early in the race, taking full points in the first sprint, before lapping the field and gaining an extra 20 points. Over the course of the race two other groups also took a lap, meaning the final result after 80 laps came down to the order on the finish line.
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Pawlowska of Poland took the gold medal, with Czech rider Machacova and Dominguez from Cuba taking silver and bronze respectively.
Coach Andy Sparks said he was impressed with Ryan’s approach and form.
“We are really happy with the final result. It wasn’t her best result in a points race, but it was definitely her best performance from a tactical point of view. She rode not only strong, but smart also. She led for half the race against the world’s best, and did the Irish jersey proud”.
In the 3km individual pursuit today, a race Ryan has dominated at home, the Irish woman was right in the mix in the qualifying rounds.
She posted a time of 3:35.245. She was three seconds behind Laura Brown of Canada who was 4th and who qualified for the bronze medal ride off with Rebecca Wiasak of Australia, who was third fastest in the qualifying round.
Quickest of the 15-rider field was Polish points race winner Katarzyna Pawlowska, who meets Colombian rider Maria Luisa Calle Williams in the ride off for gold and silver.
Ireland’s Eoin Mullen is also in action in Mexico and takes in the sprint and keirin events today and tomorrow.
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