Lydia Gurley clocked up a fine fifth place finish in the women's points race at the European track championships on Saturday, registering the best Irish finish on day two of the event.
She went close to taking a medal, having temporarily taken the race lead early on when she and four others gained a lap on the field. She was sitting third with 20 laps to go, but drifted to fifth by the end of the race.
“I was really happy with the lap I seemed to get it relatively easily. David (Muntaner, the team coach) told me to let up and wait for the group so we got it together and saved a bit of energy that way.
“Maybe I could have held back for the sprint, but I really wanted to get the lap. It was five away from the sprint lap so you never know what the group is going to do. I thought get the lap, get the twenty points and then move up the standings. I was able to get up in a few sprints and move up in the rankings a bit and I’m happy. It’s a decent result.”
Also in action was Felix English, who rode well in the first two events out of the four race Omnium. He was 12th in the scratch race and eighth in the tempo, putting him tenth overall prior to the elimination and points races on Saturday evening.
In fact, he went close to a big result in the scratch race. “It was very close - I went with three laps to go and got caught with 20 metres to go,” he said. “It wouldn’t be my normal tactic.”
Elsewhere, Dan Martin was a solid 12th in the Clasica San Sebastian in Spain. He finished 43 seconds behind the winner Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep Floors), who outsprinted Bauke Mollema for the win.
