‘I always get nervous’ – Katie Archibald on scratch race tactics and inspirations ahead of UCI Track Champions League

Katie Archibald has revealed that she “always gets nervous” before the scratch race, the “purest” track cycling event according to the British star.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Archibald won the scratch race in Panevezys during the inaugural UCI Track Champions League competition in 2021 and came runner-up in London the same year.

The 29-year-old is relishing another crack at a medal in Mallorca this weekend, but says she still gets nervous in the lead-up to the race.

“The scratch race is the purest of the track cycling events. But it’s not that simple,” she insisted. “You have sprinters in the field, and riders looking to make it a longer, more drawn-out event. I sit somewhere in the middle myself.

“I always get nervous. As simple as it seems, there’s a lot of gambling on what lucky move will work and what skilful move will work.”

Archibald has Olympic gold medals in the Team Pursuit, which she won at the Rio Games in 2016, and the Madison which she claimed in Tokyo two years ago.

Ahead of the third UCI Track Champions League campaign, Archibald opened up on the riders that she looks up to.

“I take inspiration from riders like Kirsten Wild and Jennifer Valente, who were consistently the best in the world at this, and that takes a lot of top-end speed,” she said.

“There’s something kind of cool about your longer riders, the more endurance space, like Lotte Kopecky, who is only going to win this if they go for a lap, if they go off the front.”

Archibald, who recently celebrated 10 years since her first Team GB selection, backs herself as a “big, strong” rider, and is intrigued to see who the fans in Mallorca will get behind.

“It’s a bit of a personality test for the spectators to see who they’re rooting for,” she said. “The big, strong riders, which I hope I can put myself in that category, or the more tactically astute riders that are looking for something sneaky.”