Laura Trott insists Olympic champion Katie Archibald will put on a show this weekend as she helps kick off the new-look Revolution Series in style.
Milngavie’s Archibald joined forces with Trott at Rio 2016 to claim team pursuit gold courtesy of a world record time of 4:10.236 minutes in the final against USA.
And the 22-year-old will compete for the first time since returning from her maiden Olympic Games this Saturday for round one of the Revolution Series in Manchester.
This year marks the 14th season of the Revolution Series and there are a whole host of exciting changes to make it bigger and better than ever – including the creation of new Champions League and Elite Women’s Championship competitions.
And despite the dust barely having settled from their Olympic heroics, Trott – who will be in Manchester to sign autographs and meet the supporting public – is adamant Archibald will be all guns blazing.
“Katie is an amazing cyclist and it will be great for her to be back in action so soon after the Olympics and knowing her as I do she will both be keen to lay down a marker,” four-time Olympic champion Trott said.
“She will be up against another of our team pursuit team in Elinor Barker and I was actually on the track in Manchester with Elinor earlier and she was absolutely flying and hasn’t stepped off and is looking in great shape.
“I actually text Katie and said ‘good luck’ as she was looking great.
“But they are both amazing riders and I couldn’t have had the success I had in Rio without them.
“They played such a huge part in the first gold medal I won in Rio and the team pursuit is the main one we focus on so to do so well gave me a huge boost.
“We had been getting better and better all the time and I said in the build-up to Rio that everything was there to be successful but it just hadn’t all come together on the day.
“But thankfully it did at the Olympics and that tells you what you need to know about Katie and Elinor as they were able to pull out there best on the biggest stage of all.
“And that is the attitude of the whole of British Cycling as we all have that mindset that we bring our best out when it matters most.”
Another change for the 2016 season of the Revolution Series is that this year’s competition will be the first to include a newly-formatted Elite Women’s Championship.
Elite teams will race to accrue the most points in a league table across six rounds, with the winners announced at the grand final in London on December 3.
And Trott believes having the likes of Archibald competing for prizes will only help grow the sport of cycling among females even further.
“As a kid the Revolution Series for me was absolutely huge. That is the first major event I went to and the first time I actually competed in front of a large crowd,” she added.
“The Revolution Series really made an impact on me and it is great that it is now in its 14th season and is getting bigger all the time.
“And the great thing about it now is that for us women we now have an event all for us which is brilliant.
“Before we used to rock up on the day and race but it didn’t actually count towards anything.
“But now it does and it counts to something which is brilliant for our sport. I am starting on the back foot sitting this first one out but I will be back and raring to go.”
See Team GB’s Olympic heroes go head-to-head in the Revolution Track Cycling Series, Manchester, 17 September. Secure your seat at www.sky.com/tickets
Image courtesy of UK Sport via Youtube, with thanks.
