‘I was cooked and he was cooked’ – Ollie Wood addresses Mathias Guillemette incident at Track Champions League

Great Britain’s Ollie Wood celebrated turning the “ripe old age of 27” with a win in the elimination race at the Velodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Saturday night.

Wood surprised the Eurosport pundit team with news of the occasion, telling them “it’s nice to get a win on your birthday.”

It was another great evening for Wood in the Track Champions League. After surviving a fast first 10 or so eliminations, he fought through the next set of knock-outs to make it into the head-to-head showdown against Canada’s Mathias Guillemette, who led the Endurance League coming into the third round of the Track Champions League.

“I think I got down to the last five and I thought ‘one more, just one more,’” said Wood. “Then before I knew it there was two [of us] left, so I had to dig deep and get the win.”

Eurosport’s Adam Blythe – partially joking – put it to Wood in the post-race interview that Guillemette “came up to you and bashed your handlebars” but Wood dismissed it.

“He actually apologised after the race, which was nice of him.”

Explaining the incident, Wood said, “I was cooked and he was cooked, and he just swang up. The transitions are quite steep on the track, so they take you a bit by surprise. His leg caught my elbow, but it was alright.”

Asked by Orla Chennaoui if perhaps a few of his rivals were taking the racing a little too seriously, Wood responded that he hadn’t particularly noticed anything amiss.

“From where I rode it, that one wasn’t very dangerous at all,” he said, “but I think I rode it a lot more from the front this week, so perhaps that’s why.”

Wood also denied the suggestion that there was any sort of game plan between him and fellow Brit, Mark Stewart. Stewart also made it to the final five riders, and at times it seemed as if they were helping each other.

“I just found myself to the side of him and took a bit of shelter. He was pressing, I could barely get round him, but it worked out alright. You’ve got to save energy where you can.”

Looking to next weekend’s double-header in London, Wood said he is aiming to achieve a similar result in front of the British fans.

“Hopefully I can grab one win,” he said. “Four events, I’d be happy with one win.”

Wood now finds himself in fifth place in the competition, having taken two wins in this year’s Track Champions League, including scoring a brilliant scratch victory in Berlin.

One more should make the home crowd very happy indeed.