Interview – Emma Pooley

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Emma Pooley “It was a very challenging course and I just wish we’d been able to do two laps like the guys!”
Interview – Emma Pooley

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Interview – Emma Pooley

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2014_TTChamps_EmmaPooley

A rider who made such a mark in the Women’s Tour back in May, showed yet again just why she is one of the World’s best in the Time Trial when she won the British title so comprehensively on Thursday. Emma Pooley.

The former Silver medallist in the Olympics and World Champion in the Time Trial played down the form she had at the Women’s Tour when I watched her day after day, attacking off the front. Emma explained that because it was a bunch sprint each day, it was hard to judge how her form was and that she treated the race as good training and good hard racing which it was.

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Asked what the victory in the British Time Trial Championship means to her, Emma replied “It’s a real honour and I am pleased because it’s been a while since I won a race and it’s rather nice!”

“It was a very challenging course and I just wish we’d been able to do two laps like the guys. I don’t see why not. It’s only 40k and I think at some point, they should start making it the same distance. It was super challenging out there, there wasn’t more than 5k in a straight line or with a corner and a hill and beautiful as well.”

“They closed the roads which was fantastic so we could really ride it properly and there were people watching at corners where they could get to the course and that was really nice to have spectators at a national championship”.

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Asked how she rated the climb, Emma replied “really hard. I had ridden the course twice in training, last night and this morning, probably the approach to be honest, so I knew it was going to be tough but it hurt like hell. I had 39 x 25 on the bike and I have 650c wheels so that’s the equivalent of a 39 x 27”.

Talking about what lies ahead for her this season, Emma replied, I have the road race on Sunday and then the Women’s Giro starts on Friday next week, so everyone, try and follow that because it will be just as exciting as the men’s Tour!”

“Then I’ll be training for Glasgow because that is a big goal for me especially as today I managed to show I could do a time trial well again. The competition is really strong and Katie Archibald is clearly a very good rider”.

Asked does she doubt her time trialling, Emma replied “of course I do. When was the last time I won a time trial and I am the kind of rider who always doubts until I have won a race. I know what I have done (in the past) but it doesn’t have any bearing on what I can do now”.

“And it’s pretty hard when I have spent a year and a half with people saying ‘you’ve retired’ and that was becoming annoying because I haven’t. I didn’t retire in 2013, I was just riding less and I definitley hadn’t retired this year!”

“I am in no way funded or supported by British Cycling anymore and you begin to feel thatif everyone else thinks I’m crap and retired, so maybe I am so it was nice today to show that I wasn’t”.

Crap is certainly not what the fans thinks of Emma and like Wiggins in the Men’s race, Emma showed yet again what a super talented rider she is and who knows what she can do in the Women’s Giro is the courses are kind to her and then the Commonwealth Games that follow. Good luck to Emma and thanks for the chat.

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