Mark Downey determined to bring ‘A’ game to World Track Championships
The Banbridge youngster, son of ex-Olympian Seamus, is Ireland’s main medal hope at the UCI World Track Championships currently taking place in Hong Kong.
He takes to the boards tomorrow for the first of his two events, the 40km points race followed by the Madison (50km) on Sunday alongside Felix English.
The Points Race is a 160-lap affair where a sprint is held every 10 laps, with five, three, two, and one point(s) awarded to the top four finishers in each sprint.
There are also 20 points on offer for anyone who laps the field.
The rider with the most at the end of the contest is declared the winner and Downey, having won gold in two of the three UCI World Cup events in the Netherlands and Colombia this season reckons he can be there or thereabouts again tomorrow — as well as Sunday.
“It’s the one event everyone brings their ‘A’ game and let’s hope I can bring mine too,” he said of his maiden World Championships at elite level.
“I will be watched. It will be similar to Cali (Colombia) but with a few more key players so I just need to race smartly.
“But with the race being 160 laps instead of 120, it will suit me better and the fact I competed with the current world champion at the Euros last summer, Jon Dibben, gives me confidence that I can do something,” he added.
Downey and English are also among the most feared Madison partnerships in the business and that’s effectively the same as a Points Race, just with two riders instead of one.
They have earned a great reputation of two of the most hard-working and plucky riders out there, as evidenced by their shock gold medal in Los Angeles at the second UCI World Cup in February.
One rider is always ‘active’ while the other continues to ride round the track, though he is effectively ‘resting’ at the top of the track.
When the ‘active’ rider needs a breather they ‘hand-sling’ their partner into the action and with all teams racing at the same time, trying to gain a lap on their rivals or win intermediate sprints, it can be quite confusing to follow.
But the winners are the team with the most points at the end of the race, as with the Points Race.
And after grabbing silver in Colombia in February, Downey reckons they can be rightly regarded as contenders.
“There will be at least seven teams with a really chance but if Felix and I have a good day we will compete with them all and it should be a really exciting race.”
The Irish got their campaign underway yesterday when newcomer Lydia Gurley finished 15th in the 10km scratch race.
Next up for the Irish are national road race champion Lydia Boylan in the Omnium — a four-race event held in one day — and Felix English in the men’s 15km scratch race.
Meanwhile, Damien Shaw (An Post Chain Reaction) claimed the opening stage of the Tour du Loir et Cher (UCI 2.2) in France yesterday.
The 32-year old Mullingar man also leads the race heading into the second of five stages today.
Shaw finished four seconds ahead of former Rás stage winner Thomas Rostollan (Cycliste Armee de Terre) while in third was Joey Van Ree (Destil-Joe Piels CT) a further two seconds back.
The main bunch was 47 seconds behind lone winner Shaw at the end of the 154.5km stage from Blois to Mont-Près-Chambord.
