The development of the madison, now that it's an Olympic event, was clear to see with the ramping up of the speed at the Worlds this weekend compared to 12 months ago.
Mark Downey, Felix English reflect on Worlds omnium
Felix English and Mark Downey have finished 9th in the omnium at the World Track Championships.
While disappointed with the result, they felt there were plenty of positives to take away. Germany won gold from Spain and Australia.
During the 200-lap race in Apeldoorn, the Germans won five of the 20 sprints on offer. The Irish scored in five sprints, collecting 11 points.
“After today’s race we can take some positives and some negatives,” Mark Downey said.
“We were technically so much better than last year. We were ninth, which is not something to shout about. But this is a new Olympic event so it’s hotly contested.”
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Downey and English, already World Cup gold medal winners in this event, have the Olympics firmly in mind.
As usual they were honest in their appraisal of their own performance; recognising work needed to be done. But they also expressed confidence they would get there.
“The race was pretty quick straight away,” said English. “A lot of teams were competitive.
“(That was) unlike the last few years when there were one, two or three teams really dominant. There were a lot of teams fighting for it.
“We were a lot more competitive this year. And I thought that technically we rode really well.
“We just lacked a bit physically still. But I’m pretty confident we can get up to that level over the course of the summer.”
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Downey agreed, saying the racing was now faster but expressing confidence he and Felix English would match the event’s progression.
“The madison is really just taking off,” said Downey. “I looked at the speed of last year’s race, and it was 55.3km per hour.
“And this year it was 57.1, which is a huge difference if you look at the watts.”
Now with road Continental outfit Team Wiggins, Downey said he felt he was the weaker of the Irish pair yesterday.
“We were technically so much better than last year,” he said. “But I felt that I just lacked some of the legs on the day.
“Felix held me together a wee bit. I didn’t feel I was on a good day and felt under pressure.
“We went out and literally laid everything on the line to see what we could do. For the first 100 laps I think we raced quite well.
“But in the end, I think my legs fell off a wee bit on me. I felt I lacked a bit of endurance at that top end speed today.”
Olympic madison in mind
And while the Worlds was only just ending, Downey is already thinking of Tokyo 2020.
“The next two years is really important. Qualifying for the madison in Tokyo is going to have our full focus.
“We feel we took a step forward from last year. But need to take another few in the right direction to be competing at this level.
“It’s definitely going to be an exciting journey for the next few years, focusing on qualifying for the Olympics. Our full focus is going to be on that, so watch this space.”
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