SEASON FINALE FUTURE STARS REPORT
For every season of the Revolution, we see new faces at the forefront of the Future Stars events. Previous Future Stars series winners Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh have successfully made the changeover in senior ranks and gained a place on British Cycling’s performance plans. New winners of the Future Stars series stand a good chance of doing so too.
Season five was no different and spectators would have witnessed the emergence of some promising talent. Future Stars Hannah Manley, Dan McLay, Corrine Hall and Chris Whorrall took the opportunity of racing in the Geoff Thomas Foundation Italian pursuit; racing side by side with cycling stars Chris Hoy, Arnaud Tournant, Victoria Pendleton and Peter Shep. McLay and Manley’s contribution saw Geoff Thomas’ team take victory in 1.39.701.
The first Future Stars event was the Boys 5K Scratch Race, the first few laps were steady with odd attacks from riders looking for their few seconds of fame. An unfortunate mechanical problem for young hopeful, Kian Amadi meant that his chances for points into the running for the overall were compromised. A small break formed towards the latter stages of the race, but an alert bunch made it their priority to close the gap. George Atkins launched a convincing attack with 2 laps to go and quickly gained a good gap, it was Luc Jones’ counter attack that took the win from Atkins in the final stages, with Jones using excellent judgement and timing to his advantage.
1st – Luc Jones (Wales)
2nd – George Atkins (East Midlands)
3rd – Dan McLay (East Midlands)
The Future Stars Girls kicked off with a 6-lap dash, a fast-paced event over 1.5km. This race however, started slowly with no one taking it upon themselves to raise the pace or go clear of the bunch. Katie Fearnehough from the Yorkshire region attacked with four laps to go, a seemingly impossible feat to win with such a long distance alone. The girls realised this, and did not pick up the pace up until a few laps to go. It was Helen Barnes who attacked on the back straight with just over a lap to go and held off the competition for first place.
1st – Hannah Barnes (East Midlands Region)
2nd – Helen Scott (West Midlands Region)
3rd – Dani King (South/South West Region)
The points race always proves exciting; it takes the strongest of riders to be consistent enough to take points time and time again. Mechanical victim from the 5km Scratch Race , Kian Emadi seemed determined and took the first points in the sprint convincingly. Before Emadi had a chance to take a breather and look behind him, Manxman Chris Whorrall counter attacked with a group of two. East Midlands rider, Dan McLay needed the points to be sure of his Future Stars series victory and so launched after the three. Despite McLay’s best efforts, Chris Whorrall took the maximum points. Luc Jones took the points in the next sprint, proving decent form from a rider who has been quiet recently. Kian Emadi proved consistency and took the last sprint, giving him the overall win.
1st – Kian Emadi (West Midlands Region)
2nd – Luc Jones (Wales)
3rd – Chris Whorrall (North West Region)
The Future Stars Girls then took their turn for the 5km Points Race. It proved a battle between three riders; Hannah Manley, Corrine Hall, Harriet Owen and Lucy Martin who were all dominant throughout the race. Riders like Harriet Owen took full points in the sprints, but it was consistency that prevailed again with Lucy Martin taking the win. Her performance throughout the four sprints gave her the edge over her rivals.
1st – Lucy Martin (North West Region)
2nd – Harriet Owen (Central Region)
3rd – Corrine Hall (South East Region)
The last event of the series for the Future Stars boys was the fast and furious 6 Lap Dash. A relative newcomer to the sport, Kian Emadi has made a real impression with his sprinting ability throughout the Revolution series. The dash was the icing on the cake for Emadi, taking another win for the night over Chris Whorrall and Chris Leg. Emadi held off in the chases for the attacks and picked his moment perfectly.
1st – Kian Emadi (West Midlands Region)
2nd – Chris Whorrall (North West Region)
3rd – Chris Legg (Central Region)
The girls finished with the 5km Scratch Race. The first 4k were somewhat slow with any attacks being either unconvincing or pulled back quickly. Lucy Martin went off the front with 4 laps to go, but was pulled back when the bell rang. Harriet Owen finished ahead of Hannah Manley and Laura Allen in an impressive sprint.
1st – Harriet Owen (Central Region)
2nd – Hannah Manley (Wales)
3rd – Laura Allen (North West Region)
Dan McLay has come on leaps and bounds over the past year and now is renowned as a strong force on both the track and road. McLay (East Midlands Region) took the overall, a testament to his improvement under guidance from the Talent Team. Chris Whorrall was next in line, with Tom Wieskowski in third.
1st – Dan McLay – 339 points
2nd – Chris Whorrall – North West Region
3rd - Tom Wieskowski – South / South West Region
Corrine Hall, Hannah Manley and Katie Fearnehough are now all well-known names within women’s cycling. This could be due to their impressive performances throughout the Future Stars series; the experience of riding in front of a packed crowd is invaluable to a rider’s development. Corrine Hall took first with 332 points, Hannah Manley was not too far behind with 315 points with a larger gap between Katie Fearnehough who had 275 points.
1st – Corrine Hall (South East Region)
2nd – Hannah Manley (Wales)
3rd – Katie Fearnehough (Yorkshire)
The North West region won the overall team competition, beating last year’s winners West Midlands Region by 173 points.
1st – North East Region – 1368 points
2nd – West Midlands – 1195 points
3rd – Wales - 1151 points