Friday, March 29, 2024

Katie Archibald – the new World Omnium Champion!

-

HomeInterviewsKatie Archibald - the new World Omnium Champion!

Once again we’re proud to bring you an exclusive interview with Olympic Team Pursuit Champion, Katie Archibald. Together with her brother’s multiple successes which we’ve covered on the site recently we’ve considered renaming the site “VeloArchibald“!

Here, Katie tells us about her latest triumph in the World Omnium Championship – and puts us chauvinists at VeloVeritas securely in our box!

But we still respect and love the lady. 

The new omnium format obviously suits you well, Katie?

“Ha, I guess it does.

“I think I’ve broken even compared to the old format where I was good at the pursuit, bad at the 500 metres TT and middling at the flying lap so it’s no loss or gain to me. “

Katie Archibald
Katie Archibald – World Champion! Photo©BritishCycling

It’s a long flight to Hong Kong – when did you get there and how was acclimatisation?

“We flew direct from Manchester, the dream.

“I’d been gradually trying to shift myself to Hong Kong time to make the jetlag easier (by travel day I was getting up at 3am) but a lot of my teammates seemed to be so exhausted from the travel that they slipped into Hong Kong quite well – you probably could have hung Elinor Barker out the hotel window those first few nights and she’d still have slept 12 hours.”

The scratch went well for you…

“It did but the result didn’t calm me down.

“Usually after the first race of an omnium the nerves dissipate a bit as you get into the swing of things (especially if you win). However, I could feel how hard I’d gone and it panicked me.

“Sure, I felt fast, but I was worried I’d just emptied the tank completely to do it. “

So did the ‘tempo race’ but can you remind us how it works and what your strategy was?

“After four empty laps at the start there are sprints every single lap where first over the line gets one point.

“You get 20 points for gaining a lap.

“My tactic was to sit close to the front early doors and attack over the top of the first major attack to go, thinking everyone would stall with the chase and I’d get a few sprints.

“However, I didn’t position myself well (I was way too far back) so as soon as the bunch swung up and I saw a chance I had to take it so I guess the first major attack came from me.

“From there I tried to both gain points myself and deny my closest omnium rivals (Amy Cure, Kirsten Wild, Sarah Hammer..) of points.

“Easier said than done, at the end of the day you just have to ride hard.”

Fifth in the elimination – were you happy enough with that placing?

“No, I was pretty gutted, that’s when I began to panic about the points race.

“I didn’t ride the elimination well and I ended up going out on legs rather than head which I’ve not done for a while. I just kept going round the outside and flapping about in the wind wasting energy, even playing cat and mouse with Hammer at one point for some stupid reason.

“Every race has to be calculated not just to save costs to win that race, but to think about the entire omnium.

“I didn’t succeed in that at all. “

You went into the points race level on points – what was the tactic?

“I had to get a points advantage on Cure early and that would allow me to react to her rather than end up on the back foot and find myself trying to shift her.

“I also think she knew if it went to sprints I had the edge so she had to go for the lap.

“In hindsight I really should have paid more credence to this and not let it get as close as it did to being over, but my legs hurt!

“Wild played it really well, she knew it was mine to lose and watched me chase like a dog until I was on my knees and she attacked.

“I just had to put everything into staying in contact through that middle part but I had no idea if there’d be even a second of respite that I could recharge.

“Well! I guess we know the result, I held on and managed to extend the points lead I had.”

Katie Archibald
Katie wins the Scratch Race at the World Omnium Champs. Photo©British Cycling

That last sprint in the points was a cracker – you seemed to come from nowhere…

“There’s always something special for the last sprint!

“I haven’t seen the full footage but I can tell you I just kept looking side to side figuring out if I should force my way out forwards or go back and round?!

“I was panicking and I knew if I could just get out I’d light that final match – the way to do it was the long way in the end, round the outside and God, I thought my whole body was going to splinter into separate parts when I crossed that line.”

How was the track – and the organisation?

“I like the track and the organisation was fantastic.

“Anyone from Hong Kong I spoke to asked me the exact same thing though; it became funny.

“Each person seemed so proud of Hong Kong that they wanted to know what I thought of their city and was I impressed by it and what would I change and am I enjoying the food and eventually felt like all the Hong Kong locals wanted to know was; “Do you love us? How much do you love us?“.

“The answer is ‘very much,’ thanks for having us.”

You just missed out in the pursuit, qualifying fifth – any ‘what ifs’?

“Aw, man, I’m gutted about the pursuit!

“There’s no way I would have been close to Dygert (US rider Chloe Dygert won the final in 3:24, ed.) but I wanted to go sub 3.28, I was even having day dreams about a 26.

“But I was miles away. I was exhausted.

“Whenever I sat still my legs would throb with yesterday’s effort but I thought I could just overcome it somehow. I couldn’t.”

And no team pursuit – that would have been ‘too much?

“I’ve been away a lot and so not involved in the team training, it wouldn’t have made sense for me to jump in.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to it next season though.”

You’ll be glad you missed the madison – it looked mad!

“I’ll be honest, I’ve taken mild offence at this question.

“There’s been a rhetoric ever since I’ve been involved in track cycling that women shouldn’t ride madison because it’s carnage and so often I’ve heard this come from my male teammates.

“Of course we can’t ride a madison like Cav and Wiggins, you never give us any races to ride!

“And it’s conversation like this that perpetuate that opinion.

“I’m gutted I didn’t get to ride the first ever women’s world championship madison.

“From the stands I watched my teammates fight for a fantastic silver medal and I feel really proud of them and excited for where the event will go in the future now that people are giving us the opportunity to ride it.”

What about the dragon hat, is it a good fit?

“Brilliant fit. I wanted to wear it on our night out but was persuade to go with jeans and T-shirt instead.”

Did you get a chance to celebrate your win?

“Yes, though I’ll confess we didn’t get very far out into Hong Kong – there was a bar two streets away from the hotel…”

You’ve been hard at it all winter and spring – you must be due a break?

“August I think I’ll have a break. Although yesterday I rode for an hour and a half and had a tub of Ben and Jerry’s for lunch so I guess I’m having a mini break at the moment.”

What’s the next goal?

“Next weekend I go to Luxembourg to race Elsy Jacobs (stage race held to honour that nation’s most famous female rider, world champion and world hour record holder, ed.)  then I have a few Tour Series rounds (including Motherwell), and I’m racing Durango (one day) and Bira (five days) on the bounce out in Spain…

“Lots, basically!”

With thanks again to Katie and wishing her ‘all the best’ for season 2017.

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed's been involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he's been a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He's also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months was often working in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed remains a massive fan of the sport and couples his extensive contacts with an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the minutiae and the history of our sport. In February 2023 however, our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed suffered a devastating stroke and faces an uncertain future; Ed has lost his ability to speak, to read, and has lost movement on the right side of his body. He's working with speech and physical therapists on rehabilitation, but all strokes are different and each patient responds differently, so unfortunately recovery is one day at a time. Ed ran his own business installing windows, and will probably not be able to work again. Please consider joining us to make a contribution to Ed's GoFundMe page to help stabilise and secure his future.

Related Articles

Callum MacGregor – First Time Working on the Tour de France 2015

With Dave and Martin on family holidays it was down to Callum MacGregor to step in and put up with me for the annual mad whirl around France. As an experienced racer and fan but a first timer working on the race I thought it would be good to get his impressions of Le Grande Boucle. And there's time to spare on the long haul from L'Alpe d'Huez, north to Paris.

Daniel Cain – the Engineer behind Scottish wheel maker ‘Streamline Cycling’

Daniel Cain is a rider with GTR Return to Life with his wheel business, ‘Streamline Cycling’ providing the ‘p/b’ in the team’s name; the 27 years-old is also an Aero-Mechanical Engineer who has been designing and building his own composite wheels which have been used to good effect by quick GTR riders like Chris Smart.

Shane Archbold – Fiorenzuola Summer Six Day 2013 Winner

We talk to Shane Archbold about the Fiorenzuola Summer Six Day. My favourite Shane story is the one where I pulled him in off the track at Copenhagen during the Six Day.

John Herety – Pro with Coop Mercier; “By the end of the third year I was sleeping 18 hours each day”

In recent years John Herety is best known for his work as manager of the various incarnations of the popular and successful Condor continental team. But he’s a man who’s ‘got the T-shirt’ – British and French amateur Classic wins, a Peace Race stage, a year with ACBB, three years with Coop Mercier, the British Professional Road Championship, the GP Pino Cerami (nearly) and a stage in the Tour of Britain Milk Race (eventually).

At Random

La Vuelta a España 2014 – Stage 19; Salvaterra de Miño – Cangas de Morrazo, 176.5 km. Adam Hansen Takes the Win!

VeloVeritas cycling sage, Vik hates those narrow bars Adam Hansen uses - they're to make him more aero and save those precious watts - but they certainly didn't do him any harm, today in Cangas de Morrazo. Not just a win; he's saved Lotto's Vuelta - it goes from 'Ligthart and Hansen enlivening the breakaways' to 'stage winning' and that's about a million miles. By good fortune we had a chat with the man just before this Vuelta kicked off...

Chris Anker Sørensen

It was ironic that Chris Anker Sørensen’s life should end doing what he had become known for after his career as a professional cyclist was over – preparing meticulously for his role as a TV race commentator, out riding the parcours of Sunday’s World Individual Time Trial Championship in Flanders.

Phil Edwards – Part One; Moser’s Gregario, the Early Years

He looked super cool on a Fred Baker with a Western Road Club jersey on his back; plonk him atop a silver all-Campag Benotto clad in Sanson strip – complete with crumpled Oppy cap at just the right angle – and well, you were into the Simpson/Ocana/Merckx zone on the CooloMeter. Phil Edwards is that man; omnipresent on the GB amateur scene he piled up the wins then headed to Italy, made a name for himself in the savage amateur scene there before stepping smoothly up into the glamorous but cutthroat Italian professional world.

Copenhagen Six Day 2012 – John’s Mega Photo Album

Fietsenphotography's John Young has supplied us with lots of great images from the Six Day season this winter, and it's been great to focus on some racing, rather than all the other stories which mire the sport's image. John's photos have illustrated our recent Diary pieces from Denmark, but we have lots left that we haven't used, we're sure you'll enjoy looking through them to get the flavour of the final Six of the season.