Katy Marchant become the first ever British woman to be crowned European champion in the 500m time trial, while Ethan Hayter added a second European title to his collection in the men’s omnium. Jess Roberts also added an elimination race bronze to Great Britain’s haul, bringing the team’s total medals to 11 on the penultimate day of the UEC Track Elite European Championships.
Women’s 500m time-trial
Katy Marchant added another British first to the championships, taking her first European title in the women’s 500m time-trial. Qualifying fastest with a time of 33.252 seconds, Marchant asserted her dominance backing up her ride with a time of 33.319 in the final to take the title.
Lowri Thomas put down an impressive qualifying time of 33.939, taking her through to the final where she delivered a powerful ride to finish sixth overall in her maiden Elite European Championships.
On her win, Marchant said: “It’s so special. I’m just so happy. I did put a really good ride together this morning and I just really wanted to execute and back that up and I'm just so, so happy that I could.
“That [result] fills me with confidence. Watching Emma win yesterday was inspiring and the younger girls are inspiring me. This is my first senior European title and I think that just goes to show the level that we're at every day and you need to be winning your European titles to get a place in the team and hopefully I’m showing that I’m capable and I’ll be on that plane to Paris, all being well.”
Men’s omnium
Ethan Hayter became men’s European omnium champion in superb fashion, leaving spectators guessing right to the final sprint of the points race.
Hayter made an impressive start to his omnium campaign with a second-place finish in a chaotic scratch race that saw him gain a lap with a breakaway group of riders towards the end.
A high-paced tempo race saw Hayter quickly take four points in the opening half, before conserving energy after two riders including omnium leader Yanne Dorenbos took a lap. Deciding not to attack saw him take fifth place in the race, putting him third overall with 70 points.
A risky elimination race saw Hayter ride mostly off the back, sprinting over the top to maintain his place in the race before making a move to the black line where he eventually got caught out, finishing eighth place.
The elimination result put Hayter into fourth place overall, making for a nail-biting final points race as he worked hard to control proceedings and get onto the podium.
A non-stop points race saw Hayter constantly tested over 100 laps, making sure he followed moves and stayed in control as the field attacked from all angles, riders desperate to take every point possible.
Initially staying reserved, Hayter allowed other attacks before following a move from Dorenbos, putting him in an ideal position to take his first sprint and then another, moving into the podium positions with 106 points.
Entering the second half of the race, Hayter was tied with Dorenbos and just six points behind leader Fabio Van den Bossche, before the Portuguese rider took a lap to move just three points behind the Brit. With impressive skill and control, Hayter turned his performance up a notch to take two consecutive sprints, cementing his position on the podium moving into the silver medal position. With just nine laps to go and two more points to Britain, it was all even at the top between Ethan Hayter and Nikalas Larsen, who had risen up the leaderboard after taking a lap. The final sprint brought the result down to the wire and giving it one final push, Hayter made his way across the line ahead of the Dane to clinch the title in spectacular fashion and take Great Britain’s fifth European title of the week.
Hayter said of his win: “It was obviously really close, I hadn’t planned for it to be that close or to pace myself. I felt from the start it was really tactical but on the sprints, I had the edge so I started scoring and guys were marking each other out a little bit and I just focused on picking up points.
On his earlier team pursuit win: “It’s really nice to win as a team, that was quite a good feeling... I’ve not raced on the track in over a year, I was getting dropped on the team pursuit efforts all the time, it was a bit of a shock to the system so it’s really nice to pick up two wins. It’s been a great week.”
Women’s elimination
Jess Roberts rode a tactical elimination race to take a brilliant bronze after spearheading much of the race from the front.
Roberts controlled the race from the gun, racing from the front to safely stay in contention and avoid an early elimination. The Welsh rider stayed comfortable on the black line in the opening laps, before being forced up the track to avoid being boxed in. Roberts came over the top and dropped to the front to stay out of trouble, with world champion Lotte Kopecky staying tight on her wheel as the peloton reduced. Making it into the final medal positions, a valiant effort from Roberts saw her take the bronze medal.
Women’s points race
Sophie Lewis finished 10th in an animated women’s points race. A steady start saw Lewis in contention near the front of the bunch, just missing out on points in the first two sprint laps. The pace increased with the Czech Jarmila Machacova off the front attempting to gain a lap as Lewis claimed three points in the third sprint.
With 65 laps remaining, Polish rider Wiktoria Pikulik bridged over and overtook the solo rider, but a big push from behind saw Lewis claim another point and reel them back in.
As world champion Lotte Kopecky continued to push the pace inside the final quarter of the race in a bid for the title, attacks came thick and fast with a front group of seven forming with 20 laps to go. Lewis continued to chase in the group behind before a ferocious sprint in the final metres saw Lewis miss out on the double points, settling for 10th place.
After four days of competition, Great Britain storms ahead on the overall leaderboard, with 11 medals; five gold, five silver and one bronze medal ahead of the final competition day tomorrow.
Tomorrow the competition will conclude with world champions Elinor Barker and Neah Evans racing the women’s Madison. Will Perrett will take on the men’s points race while Josie Knight and Anna Morris contest the women’s individual pursuit title. European titles will be up for grabs in both the men’s and women’s keirin for Hamish Turnbull, Jack Carlin, Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell.
You can watch the finals live on Discovery+ from 13:30 and follow updates on the British Cycling social media channels.
