Cycling: Aussies plot Ulmer's downfall

1.00pm

ATHENS - Australia's track cycling hierarchy have been working overtime formulating a race plan to undermine Sarah Ulmer's gold medal charge in the Olympic individual pursuit.

Australia's main hope in the 3000m endurance event, Victorian Katie Mactier, was runner-up to Ulmer at May's track world championships in Melbourne -- the second consecutive time she has been the bridesmaid at world level.

While Dutch legend Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, who bounced back from her road race tumble last weekend to win yesterday's time trial, is considered Ulmer's main danger, Mactier also commands respect.

Noted for her lightning fast start, Mactier typically has a two second advantage over her opponent after the opening kilometre.

This was the case at Melbourne's Vodafone Arena three months ago where she also led at the 2km mark, albeit by a slight margin, before the world record holder and Commonwealth champion relentlessly reeled her in to eventually take gold comfortably by more than 3sec.

Australian endurance coach Ian McKenzie and Mactier's personal mentor John Beasley have been tinkering with her tactics ahead of Saturday's qualifying session and first round at the Olympic Velodrome.

"We don't want to change her approach too dramatically but there are a couple of areas where we can lift her performance by about 5 per cent," Beasley told the cyclingnews.com website.

"Quite clearly it's the pacing strategy that we need to alter slightly while maintaining an approach that best suits the way she rides.

"She starts at a very rapid speed and that's her strength, but the trick is to try and get her to maintain that through the entire 3km."

The brains trust have also been working on Mactier's mental state in the lead-up to racing.

"We needed to look at the way she manages herself and try to relieve some of the stress which she puts herself under.

"She realises that she doesn't cope too well with the pressure but Katie has already worked on that.

"She really needs to come up with a routine that gets her in the ideal arousal state. She doesn't want to be too excited and she doesn't have the sort of character that would see her ever approach a race under-aroused, but she just has to be comfortable," McKenzie said.

Mactier, who developed a close friendship with Ulmer during their road racing days in the United States, turned to the velodrome only last year and has made remarkable progress.

However, she downplayed her chances of squaring the ledger with the Aucklander on Sunday.

"I'm a realist, it's going to be a tough medal to attain. I'm healthy, I'm a contender and a personal best could put me in the mix," she said.

- NZPA