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Geoff Stoker's Masters World Championship Story from Roubaix 2024

27 Oct 2024

Masters World Championships in Roubaix for 2024

It was so great to be back in France, one of the countries where cycling is nearly a religion. Just so you know, the velodrome from Paris-Roubaix is right next door to the new STAB velodrome. They even have cobbled carpet in the tunnel leading into the  track.

Training this year had gone well, my bike all good and fitted with new Vittoria Pista Oro tyres packed up and nice flight. The last few days of preparation were great, I had my friend Joachim Ritter, a Danish rider who lives in Switzerland to work with. I have known Joachim for a few years and he is really quick. 

Being a different track with shorter, tighter bends and longer straights, I had trouble on day 1 getting around at top speed. After a strong chat with myself, day 2 all went well.

 The first event for me was the 500m Time Trial. I knew it was going to be tough competition wise, with one of the younger Brits coming up into the age group to race me and he had been quick last year in Manchester. One thing which was different this year in Roubaix and didn’t work out too bad thinking about it now, was the seeding order. The French who were running the Championships for the UCI, didn’t worry about seeding; I should have been in the final heat in the front straight; instead I was heat six out of twenty two. 

I am normally warming up listening to all the competitors ride faster times each heat and the pressure building. So no pressure this time, I just locked into the gate, listened to the countdown and ripped into it as hard as I could. I was the fastest right up to the last heat. Lee Rowe the Brit rode really well and got me by just over 0.1 seconds. So things to work on for me for 2025; I had to stay focussed I had the sprint 2 days later.

It was a nice early start for the Sprint Qualifying round at 10.00am. One thing worth mentioning: the temperature in Roubaix was quite cool, about 10 degrees at that time of the day. Inside the track was heated, it was so warm with no need for leg warmers or a jacket. Heat and low barometric pressure are great things when you want to go super quick, so conditions were right. Working with Joachim those couple of days, I had changed just a couple of things in my qualifier. Again the seeding wasn’t right, so I was about 4th rider off and should have been last. Everything felt right; I hit it super hard and qualified 1st 10.985seconds for the 200m -a new Australian record and just 0.04 off the World Record and the fastest qualifier by a good margin. Into the knockout rounds for the fastest 16; I won through then down to 8 riders, 2 straight heats down to 4 for the semi finals.

In the semi-final it was time to even up, I had to race the Brit Lee Rowe who beat me in the Time Trial. That was a nice feeling, 2 straight heats and into the final to race for gold. The other semi final between Bjorn Andersen from Norway and the French champion Guy Mansio, went to 3 rides which was good for me as they had to do a little more work to get to the gold medal final. 

So, the World title was up for grabs with one French champion to beat. First race, I was leading coming into the back straight 375m to go and Mansio dove down the bank and went for the long one. He opened up about a 20 metre gap but I had him in my sights and rounded him up in the finish straight. Race 2, the roles were reversed, he led and I jumped around him coming into the final lap and he couldn’t close the gap. It always feels nice to win and get a new World Champions jersey.

No time to think about the sprint too much, the presentation was the last thing in the night, then back on the track for the Team Sprint early the next morning. This year was interesting and challenging in a few ways for the Team Sprint. Our team this year was Gary Mandy getting us out of the gate and on the way, I was the second rider with Chris Murray finishing it off. Exposure for us was that Gary had his sprint qualifying and the first rounds of his sprint competition on the same day. 

For the first time in this championship, the French organisers changed the starting order and seeded us correctly in the last heat. The heat went to plan; Gary’s bike locked into the start gate with Chris and myself lined up ready to go, countdown and a nice powerful clean start. I got onto Gary quite early; we were up to speed coming into the front straight with Gary moving up and out of the way. My lap felt fast, smooth, aero and strong; I moved up and Chris came through to finish it off. He looked strong and fast as he finished, the time came up on the board- nice; fastest qualifiers. The finals were in the late afternoon and we were racing the Canadian team in the gold medal final. As I mentioned before, Gary had a few sprint rides through the day; the team from Canada were organised even down to having a large cheer squad in the stands. 

I felt good lining up for the final. Countdown, off we go and I’m onto Gary nicely. My lap felt good and after I got out of the way to watch Chris finish it off; I noticed how close the Canadian team were. Checking the splits for the race, Gary was slightly slower for the first lap, so the Canadian team were in front. Between Chris and myself we got it back and put a gap into them. It was great to get the gold medal and the jersey.

2024 Masters Track Worlds Results

500m Time Trial 2nd Silver Medal

Sprint New 200m Australian National Record

Sprint World Champion

Team Sprint World Champion