Dave Peck Preview with Ellen Bennett
With it being almost 2 years since Ellen was last on the start line of a road race her expectations are low with no pressure on herself. However, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t consumed her thoughts for the few days leading up to the race, what the course is like, how the race would ideally play out and how best to race without burning all her matches before crossing the finish line.
“I need to think about how best to race without burning all my matches before crossing the finish line”
The race fields a full start list including reserves and as a first year U23 this prospect seems rather daunting for Ellen; having come from the junior ranks not only is the level of racing unknown, so is the competition. ‘‘There’s almost 70 riders on the start list and I think I know maybe 10 of them which is so different from when I was a junior, I think I knew nearly everyone there.’’
The circuit is 8km long in total with 10 laps, as a rider Ellen said she feels her confidence will grow throughout the race and with so many laps you can really get to know the course and how the race could play out. It’s a team cup which means the UCI teams can’t race, for Team OnForm having so many riders in the race this could be really beneficial and a chance for the team to practise the team tactics rather than going with a race that’s already being dictated by other bigger teams. Ellen is ‘‘looking forward to being able to ride as a team, after a block of racing on the track its exciting to ride with tactics that are changeable throughout the race, its very different to the velodrome, at track nationals I only had 1 job and 2 circles to ride, here anything could happen, I don’t want to burn matches making all the attacks or chasing them all and then not get round.’’
“at track nationals I only had 1 job and 2 circles to ride, here anything could happen”
Ellen has spent 3 weeks in Spain prior to racing the National Track Championships where she was part of the quartet that took hope the winning jerseys from the team pursuit. With a good lead up to the race and form already proven on the track from Ellen, team manager Mark Botteley has his hopes set high for the young rider this weekend.
Alongside Ellen with be Abi Cooper, Sannah Zaman, Laura Pittard, Hope Inglis and Freya Eccleston. We wish all the girls the very best of luck.