Georgia Baker and Alex Manly win UCI Track Nations Cup Madison silver in Adelaide

Georgia Baker and Alex Manly’s last minute heroics in the women’s Madison led the ARA Australian Cycling Team showing on the second day of racing in Adelaide at the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup.

In stifling conditions, Baker and Manly continued to prove themselves as one of the best Madison pairings in the world, winning Australia’s only medal for the day.

Their 27 points earned them a silver medal behind Great Britain duo Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald, with the Australian taking a big chunk of learnings from another vital Madison performance before the Paris Olympics.

“It was a solid ride out there. It was really hot in the velodrome as well, but I thought we raced a pretty technically good race, and we learned a lot,” Baker said.

“The main thing for us is like a lot of our strong competitors are here, and so it's also learning how they race as well.”

“Also, how we like felt on the gears, because that all goes into what we're going to choose to do at the Olympics,” Manly added.

The duo took confidence from the fact they rode a technically sound race, which helped them accumulate points in the back half of the 30-kilometre, 120-lap race, highlighted by winning the final sprint to earn 10 points and propel them into the silver medal position.

“We're a team that like, we’re constantly doing the basics throughout the race, and you can see that we're still mentally switched on in the back half. So that's why you see us generally getting more points in the back half,” Manly said.

“So, we really just tried to do everything that we know that can execute a good result, and yeah, we did that in the final sprint,” Baker indicated.

“Our goal was to be on the podium and yeah, we did that.”

Picture: Con Chronis

Earlier, Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer both progressed through the early rounds with strong opening performances in the men’s keirin, buoying hopes for more podium finishes in the evening.

However, in the first semi-final, Glaetzer found himself caught on the inside behind the leaders with three laps to go, and the effort required to get out and around proved to be too great and he finished fourth, placing him in the 7-12 final.

Richardson advanced to the 1-6 final flawlessly but found himself at the front of the train as the derny swung off for the final three laps of the keirin final.

The 24-year-old kicked hard with two laps to go but couldn’t hold his rivals on his hip and had to settle for a frustrating fifth.

ARA Australian Cycling Team’s hopes in the women’s sprint hinged on Kristina Clonan after she defeated younger teammate Alessia McCaig in the 1/16 finals by just 0.016 seconds.

Clonan progressed through to the quarterfinals where she faced French 2022 sprint world champion Mathilde Gros, and held a strong position with a lap and a half remaining, but the Aussie couldn’t hold off the French woman over the last 200 metres, finishing 0.017 seconds behind at the finish line.

Picture: Con Chronis

A pleasant surprise for the ARA Australian Cycling Team on Day 2 was the performance of 22-year-old Oliver Bleddyn in the men’s omnium.

After opening up with a 16th place finish in the scratch race, Bleddyn clawed back ground on the front runners with a higher finish in the tempo race, highlighted by leading the field across the line for the final point.

However, it was in the elimination race where Bleddyn captivated the crowd. Riding at or near the front of the field for the duration, Bleddyn managed to avoid the drop zone as the field dwindled. His effort to stay with the leaders earned him a third-place finish, and moved him into eighth in the standings ahead of the points race.

Another two points were added in the final discipline, enough for 12th place overall, and there was plenty to be positive about in Bleddyn’s first international omnium.

“Pretty smashed at the end of it all,” Bleddyn said.

“A hot day today. 33 degrees in here. But no, it was good.

“I think Tim (Decker) and Glenn (O’Shea) told me before, you’ve just got to not get bogged down in the race if it goes wrong or if it goes right, and just move on to the next race. And I find that works pretty well, and just look at the race for what it is: take it as an individual race and try not to get caught up in what happened previously.”

The West Australian native also revealed some of the lessons learned throughout the day.

“I was happy with the elim and the tempo race. I think I had good legs in the scratch race, but just found myself a bit out of position and let myself down a bit with the decision making,” Bleddyn said.

“I was probably a bit nervous about the elimination, but managed to have a pretty good result there, and then tried to really reset and just give it everything in the points race, but I just didn't have the legs in the end. But gave it a good crack.”

After a rough start to the year with pneumonia and then fighting through post-virus fatigue, Bleddyn’s form over the last few weeks has been impressive, with strong performances on the road through the summer of cycling and now at the Track Nations Cup.

“We've got a good environment here, so I just manage to keep pushing to try and get back to where I was back in August. But getting there slowly,” he said.

Day 3 at the Adelaide Super-Drome includes finals for the men’s Madison and individual sprint, and the women’s keirin and omnium.

2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup - Adelaide

Tickets are on sale via the website and Humantix.

All evening sessions in Adelaide will be broadcast live on SBS On Demand:

• Sunday: 4pm – 7:41pm (AEDT)

The Adelaide Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup website is your information hub for the event.

Results and start lists can be found at Tissot Timing.

Each round of the UCI Track Nations Cup spans three days, with the same programme of events for men and women: keirin, individual sprint, team sprint, Madison, omnium, team pursuit and elimination race, i.e. the events of the Olympic programme, with the addition of the elimination race.

The 2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup in Adelaide is proudly supported by the South Australian Tourism Commission.

Photos: Con Chronis