2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup: Day 1 winners and words from Adelaide

The first medals of the 2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup season were awarded on Friday night in Adelaide with the finals of the elimination races, team pursuits and team sprints.

Here’s everything the winners had to say on the opening day at the Adelaide Super-Drome.

Men’s Elimination

Dylan Bibic (Canada)
Feels great, it’s my first nations cup win. In my mind it’s about time I get a win in the nations cup, but it’s a great feeling.
I actually really like (Adelaide Super-Drome). It’s like a nice homey feeling. It’s hard to explain. Like most velodromes are like very industrial. But this is like a nice like a casual feeling. I love it.

Dylan Bibic. Picture: Con Chronis

Women’s Team Pursuit

Bryony Botha (New Zealand)
Yeah, I think we’re super stoked with that, coming into an Olympic year. We’re not peaking at the moment, but I think it’s a good place to start and I think it can only go better from here, so I’m really looking forward to what we can do throughout the rest of the year heading into the games.

Ally Wollaston (New Zealand)
I think just consistency across the day. We swapped a couple of riders in and out, so just adapting within the rounds and trialing a couple of new things. I think we had a few questions we wanted answered today and did a pretty good job of answering them, so yeah, I think the strategy was, I’d say just consistency across the day.

Women’s Team Sprint

Emma Finucane (Great Britain)
Yeah, it feels incredible. I don’t think the women for nations cup have been in the final for like 11 years for British Cycling, so yeah, it’s amazing.

Like, the girls, we put such a good time down. Like some of the times were like really close to what we’ve ever done before, so yeah, I’m really proud of the girls and where we’re going, and this is like, another start, and especially coming into the Olympic year, yeah I’m super excited for what’s to come and yeah, it’s a really good step forward for us.

I’m hoping to like to carry that forward for obviously this Nations Cup in Adelaide and then Hong Kong and then hopefully the Olympic Games, but I’m just taking each race as it comes. Like me and the girls are working really, really hard behind the scenes in Manchester with Scott, our new coach, so yeah, I’m really proud of us and I’m excited for what we can do.

Emma Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant. Picture: Con Chronis

Men’s Team Pursuit

Josh Tarling (Great Britain)
Super happy, you know. It’s always nice to do it with the lads, so it’s a nice, big team win and yeah, super happy.
It’s nice, you know. You don’t get to go these kinds of speeds, and it feels nice to get on a TT bike not in the snow in Andorra, so super happy.

Women’s Elimination

Ally Wollaston (New Zealand)
Yeah, really happy. I think I was a little bit uncertain after doing three rides in the team pursuit today, but yeah, as soon as the race started, I knew I had good legs out there and felt really confident in what I was doing and yeah, now I’m just blown away and yeah, really happy with that ride.

Yeah, I mean you’re always going to go full gas on the last lap, but yeah, as soon as Jen (Valente) kind of went down to the black line, I knew I had to use the track to my advantage, so I just yeah, kept height on the track and really made a run at the wheel and it yeah, worked really well in my favour so I’m really happy.

Matthew Richardson. Picture: Con Chronis

Men’s Team Sprint

Matthew Richardson (ARA Australian Cycling Team)
It feels good. I don’t think we really could have asked for more today. We executed basically to the plan that we set before we came in and I think the win is just the cherry on top.

Matthew Glaetzer (ARA Australian Cycling Team)
It was a credit to how well we work as a team, how consistent we can be, and that we can just back each other in to rip another super-fast time every time we step out on the track, so got an awesome team here and good things to come.

Leigh Hoffman (ARA Australian Cycling Team)
As Matt said, just we all have a team job to play and that’s my job and we all just stuck to the plan. We had ambitious gears today for all three of us, and I think we can take away the confidence of pulling out that time at the end.

2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup - Adelaide

Tickets are on sale via the website and Humanitix.

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

Saturday

• 6:30pm - 9:55pm (AEDT)

Sunday

• 4:30pm - 8:11pm (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 Tissot 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, 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.

Pictures: Con Chronis