The crowd at the second round of this seasons Revolution track series, at the Manchester Velodrome on December 1st, will be treated to a rematch between the women’s Olympic road race gold and silver medallists as Marianne Vos takes on Lizzie Armitstead. The two riders were part of the three-rider break that sprinted for the medals in the pouring rain on London’s historic Mall, with the Dutchwoman edging out the British rider to take the title; less than two months later, the undisputed World number one finally added her second road rainbow jersey on her home roads of Limburg, Netherlands.
Armitstead, acting as co-commentator with ITV’s Ned Boulting at the Revolution’s first round on Saturday night, made the announcement to the capacity crowd. The programme will be broadcast on ITV4, at 8pm this evening, October 31st.
"I'll be racing at the next Revolution and I've been told that Marianne will be here too,” she said. “It's only a few weeks away so I'll need to get training!”
Both riders are past World champions on the track - and Vos was the Olympic Points Race champion in Beijing 2008 - but both abandoned the boards for London this summer in order to concentrate on the road race.
"It will be amazing to return to track racing at the Revolution Series after winning Olympic Gold in the Road Race in London,” said Vos. “I have great memories of competing in Manchester - I won the Points Race at the World Championships there in 2008 so it's where I started to have success on the track.
“I'm really looking forward to competing at Revolution against some of the best riders in the world," she added.
Vos’ own preparation for the event may not be entirely perfect, as she is currently on the Netherlands Antilles Island of Curacao, ahead of her participation in the tenth Amstel Curacao Race on Saturday, November 3rd.
Both riders will be riding in new colours in 2013, with Armitstead transferring to Dolmans-Boels after the collapse of her current AA Drink-Leontien.nl team; the colour of Vos’ jersey - when she is not wearing the rainbow stripes of World champion, that is - has yet to be decided, with current sponsor Rabobank pulling out of the sport in response to the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
The Revolution 2 on December 1st, and Revolution 3 on January 5th, are both sold out, but highlights of both events will be broadcast on ITV4. The fourth, and final, event of the season will be held at the new Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on February 2nd, and tickets are still available.
Full results and further details - including ticket sales - can be found on www.cyclingrevolution.com.