In a night of spectacular racing, new events and some familiar faces, Saturday night’s Revolution 31 proved a hit with spectators as they headed to the National Cycling Centre to see the Revolution championship standings heat up.
The first event, the Team Elimination was a tightly fought match. Team strength was the name of the game as the last rider in the race is eliminated, along with his entire team. As teams left the race, Team Sky and Le Col were left to battle it out. Franco Marvulli’s strength, helped by Andy Fenn and Jon Mould helped Le Col clinch the victory.
The 200m Qualification time trial was won by David Daniell in 10.338, ahead of Roy van den Berg and Tuen Mulder. This would decide the heats for the Revolution Sprint, which would happen throughout the evening.
The 1km Madison Time Trial was a crowd favourite as usual, with Manchester City Council’s Claudio Imhof and Sam Harrison took the best time in the first round, but Le Col’s Franco Marvulli and Andy Fenn beat them in the second round in 58.485.
Roy van den Berg was prolific throughout his sprint heats, but only managed to win his sprint semi final by less than half a wheel, proving the closeness of the racing tonight. But when he came up against Brit David Daniell in the final, he was completely blown away in an impressive and convincing victory.
The Team Points race was another close one. With 20 laps to go, there was just three points between the top four teams, with the Team Sky of Russell Downing, Pete Kennaugh and Tom Murray leading at that point. Marvulli’s dominance was further proved as Le Col’s team captain took the next two sprints, pushing Le Col into a 5-point lead. At that point, they just couldn’t be brought back but Sky kept up the fight. Le Col eventually took the win with 29 points, over Team Sky’s 25 points.
Marvulli at this point in the event, was on a roll, and continued to get the crowd going by his trademark arm waving routine.
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The Australian Pursuit was an event that raised a lot of eyebrows when spectators checked the event programme. All was made clear with Hugh Porter’s explanation, and the race turned into a dramatic one. Russell Downing and Leif Lampater were quick off the mark, and soon it was a battle between the two. Downing started to tire, with Lampater just pipping him in the pursuit. It’s certainly a race that was appreciated by the crowds.
In the 10km scratch race, Dean Downing made an early attack and got the crowd going, before being quickly brought back and countered by Alex Dowsett, Pete Kennaugh and Sam Harrison. But those attacks didn’t count for much, as it was underdog Jon Mould who took the win for Le Col. His performance, added with Marvulli’s dominance certainly helped Le Col in the team standings.
The event finished with another fantastic Revolution spectacle, a Great Britain vs Holland team pursuit. Ross Edgar adopted Dutch nationality for the event, and joined Tuen Mulder and Roy van den Berg. They faced David Daniell, Pete Mitchell and Philip Hindes of Great Britain who were victorious in a great finale.
Le Col were presented to the crowd as the winners of the evening, with the leaders of the Revolution series still being Maxgear. And with only one event left in the competition, Marvulli and his team will be looking to edge ahead in Revolution 32 on Saturday January 15th 2011.
