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Blowout Brings Chris Down

18 March 2008, Manchester

Lucky escape at the velodrome as Chris crashes in training

Chris brought gasps from the watching coaching staff and fellow team members today when he hit the deck following a full speed motor-paced effort on the new boards of the Manchester Velodrome.

He had just finished a major effort behind the motorbike and pulled off to the top of the banking to warm down when he had a blow-out in his rear tyre. He lost traction and the back end dropped sending him down the track on his side and back before finally coming to a stop. He was pretty shaken but finally got up and was able to walk back to the pits.

After the medics checked him out, they confirmed there was no major damage, just a fair bit of skin left on the track. It's nipping a bit tonight but he is happy that it is not any worse. If it had gone during his full speed laps, it could have been much worse.

This may well bring back memories of Athens when he came down in front of a bus in the Olympic village. It resulted in the memorable phrase, "He's lost a bit of bark there" from Gary Sutton during the BBC coverage of the Kilo. That did him no harm so perhaps this is just part of his traditional preparation!

He is happy with his form and training times over the last few weeks and tells me that the other members of the team are all moving towards peak condition. Chris moves in to the team hotel on Friday and the final work will be done over the next few days as he tapers to what we all hope will be perfect condition for next Wednesday when he will start this year's World Championships riding third man in the Team Sprint.