Maggie Coles-Lyster took on a world-class field at the Belgian International Track Meeting, January 27-28, 2018, and showed that she can compete to win against the world’s best.
The races started off with a Points Race on Saturday, January 27, placing 9th at the end of the race. Maggie then teamed up with another first-year elite, Chiara Consonni of Italy for the Madison, where the two arm-slingers held their own against local favourites and current World Champions, Jolien D’Hoore and Lotte Kopecky, finishing in a respectable 8th place.
Maggie’s favourite and strongest event, the Ominium, was held on Sunday, January 28. After placing 12th in the opening Scratch race, followed by a 12th place finish in the Tempo Race, Maggie raced to a 6th place finish in the Elimination race.
With three races down and only the Points Race to go, Maggie was sitting at 10th overall and 16 points out of her goal of a top 5 finish. In typical Maggie Coles-Lyster fashion, when the going gets tough, she just gets stronger. In the first sprint, Maggie took 2nd place and after some more sprint points she got into a break and lapped the field to gain 20 points. This put Maggie in third and in position to podium but Diana Klimova of Russia got away and took the podium spot with her. Maggie ended up winning the Points Race leaving her with an impressive 4th place finish overall in the Omnium. Lotte Kopecky of Belgium finished in 1st place.
“Going into the points race, I had nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain. With this in mind, it gave me the freedom to play and push myself to a place I haven’t felt since Junior Track Worlds last year. When I looked up at the lap board and saw myself sitting in 3rd, I was surprised at first but then was like ‘hey! I can race at this level’!” expressed Maggie.
“This race was huge for Maggie in many ways. She had 3-solid days of training on the Belgian track and came into the races with a positive attitude. I gave her full reign to try things, accept mistakes, and have fun. This recipe has proven successful for her over the years. As a coach, this is my first time working a race at this level and I am very grateful for the experience,” comments coach Barry Lyster.
Maggie now heads to Copenhagen for the Copenhagen 6-Day / Ladies Cup where she will join top Canadian track cyclists Steph Roorda, Jasmin Duehring, and Allison Beverage for the event.
This is Maggie’s first year as an Elite and the 2017 Junior Points Race World Champion and Omnium Silver Medalist has put together her own project to help her achieve her goal of making the 2020 Olympics.
Maggie needs these opportunities to race against the best riders in the world at high sanctioned UCI races. Not only does she need the racing experience, she will need to collect enough UCI points to make her eligible for World Cup races next season. After a somewhat challenging transition from Junior to Elite, Maggie has now found her place in international track cycling.
These projects are all self-funded, and would not be possible without the amazing support from sponsors and supporters. Maggie would like to thank TaG Cycling, Vision, FSA, Power2Max, Evoc, TheBlack Line.ca, Born Sportscare, Ryders Eyewear, ISM Seat, Local Ride Racing, Cycling Canada, Macogep-Argon18-Girondins pb Mazda, and all of the generous people who have helped out this project financially.
For more information, and to help with Maggie’s 2020 Olympic project, contact Barry Lyster at localrideracing@gmail.com.
