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We caught up with Mark to talk about how the UCI Track Champions League prompted his return to track cycling, making the most of his opportunities, and his goals for the rest of the season.
What were your thoughts when you first heard about the UCI Track Champions League?
I think as you get older you get less excited about anything new, because these things come and go, and people promise a lot. But I know some of the guys who competed during the first season in 2021 - Corbin Strong, Ed Clancy and Aaron Gate - and they only had good things to say about it.
I was lucky to get a late call-up for season two because most riders qualify as a result of their performance UCI Track World Championships, but I didn’t take part in that as I wasn’t racing with Great Britain.
But you clearly know a lot about the series now?
Absolutely. Not only did the UCI Track Champions League get me back into track cycling, it allowed me to compete against some of the best riders in the world, and also beat them. That made me realise I can still be competitive at this level, even though track cycling’s changed massively over the past few years. My performances last season prompted me to phone the GB coach and explain I was potentially the best track cyclist in the world not doing the whole track calendar. That led to a couple of opportunities and got me back in the squad.
Can you elaborate on how track cycling’s changed in the past few years?
I think the first thing is that other nations have caught up to what Great Britain have been doing for years. So everybody now has fast tyres, fast skin suits, fast positions, and that means speeds and the intensity of the racing’s gone up. From a Men’s Endurance point of view, years ago, you’d come in off the road with a small gear and get by producing aerobic, lung-heavy efforts, whereas now it’s all about big gears, big muscles, and big power.
What was it like hitting the track in that first round last season?
I was quite nervous because, like I said, I’d stepped away from track cycling for a while, and it’s quite an intense atmosphere, but it was good to be back in that environment and experience those nerves. And then once you’re racing it’s just what you do, it’s what you’ve done since you were a kid.
How did it feel different from your previous racing experiences?
If you just take the racing into account, it seemed to change from round to round because of the overall competition element. So in the first week it was very simplistic racing, you race to win. But then in the second round I noticed a few people started to follow me, and that changed how I raced. After that I had it kind of figured out, and by the fourth round, it felt like the experimentation was over and everyone in the field knew what they were doing.
In your vlog from the Grand Finale in London, you said winning the Scratch was the best feeling you’d ever had on a bike…
It genuinely was, I couldn’t believe it. Cycling’s a hard sport, there are so many ups and downs, so when you actually do feel the elation of winning a bike race, which actually doesn’t happen that often for riders like me, and then to share it with 5,000 people in the exact same moment – I think that’s why it felt so special.
Did anything surprise you about the event, or the organisation?
The professionalism and the communication was most surprising, everyone involved is so good at what they did. The way I see it, we’re all equal in the organisation. We’re just the athletes, but whether it’s the mechanics or the media and logistics people, or even the managers, we’re all just cogs in the machine. So it was really cool to work with people from all sorts of different backgrounds.
What are your goals for the rest of the year?
Honestly, I’d like to ride the UCI Track Champions League again. I’ve had a long road season, and racing the series will mean I can’t have a month off, but two years ago I was a lifeguard cleaning toilets in a swimming pool in New Zealand, so I’ll never say no to these types of opportunities.
Is there a chance at Olympic qualification?
Apparently so. I don’t know if I believe it, but the coach seems to have me in the running. I just think these things get decided in boardrooms, I don’t have much control over it. If they give me an opportunity, I’ll be ready and I’ll take it, but until then I’ll just worry about the things I can control.
But do you have the Olympics in the back of your mind when you think about racing the UCI Track Champions League?
It’s true you’re only as good as your last result. Sport is vicious like that, if you’re winning races against world-class riders, then it’s definitely not going to hurt your chances.
