Timed training is a funny one but sometimes it’s an indicator who could be giving it the beans after a bit of practice. Danny Hart qualified first here a few weeks back at the BDS, the track might have been different but the position was the same, first place for Danny today.
His time was virtually the same as Gee Atherton’s winning time here at the BDS, 4.46.110 today for Danny and 4.46.222 for Gee before the changes were made to the track in preparation for this race.
Sam Dale and Greg Minnaar both commented on how fast the track felt today and getting up to speed didn’t seem to be a problem for most riders. Troy Brosnan was +1.430s back in 2nd, Blenkinsop clocked in +2.960s, Brendan Fairclough is right up there in 4th +5.258s back and with Matt Simmonds +5.833s there are some fast Brit’s in the mix.
Emmeline Ragot went fastest in the women’s and there was a monster gap back to Rachel Atherton in 2nd, +12.196s back. Siegenthaler was close +14.469s back on Atherton but then the gaps widened further. +55.640s for Casey Brown in 4th and German Steffi Marth rounded out the top 5 women just under a minute back on Ragot at +59.960s.
The Junior men were some of the tightest times but Loris Vergier took the top spot here, Amaury Pierron was +0.309s back with Vergier’s closest rival Luca Shaw +12.340s back. Getting back to full power Taylor Vernon laid down a solid 3rd place.
However, this is just timed training and with no points available it’s often just riders spinning a decent run down but not at full race pace. The times will drop and close tomorrow when the riders qualify and the numbers count.
Here’s some more from the third round of the World Cup here in Fort William.
