Oliva Hoping Medicine Will Soothe World Championships Exit

Lewis Oliva is heading back to his medical textbooks searching for the tonic after his maiden World Track Championships were ended in Hong Kong.

The Cardiff-based rider had been tipped for a potential podium place by none other than Sir Chris Hoy after his form this season.

The 24-year-old had reached the final in all his World Cup appearances for the Welsh Cycling backed Team USN winning a bronze in Glasgow as well as being crowned British champion.

But after getting boxed in in his opening round, he finished third and despite being handed a lifeline in the repechage went out after finishing fourth.

“It didn’t out any pressure on me as I was going really well in training,” said Monmouth-product Oliva, of two-time Olympic keirin champ Hoy’s tip.

“The training would have pointed towards that and so would have the run of World Cup finals this year and the World Cup medal.

“It is pretty much as consistent as you can be on the world stage and it’s the same guys here who I’ve beat time and time again all season, it just wasn’t my time today.

“If I was a betting man I would have liked to have sunk on a few quid as well for a podium, but that’s top-level keirin racing. It’s a bit of a lottery.

“It may have just been one event too far.”

Oliva will now head home to spend time with girlfriend and fellow top Welsh cyclist Ciara Horne, who is recovering after being knocked off her bike by a car last month.

And the Cardiff University medical student will also be hitting the text books with exams coming up.

He added: “I’ve got some exams at the end of May. That’s my next target. I’ve got two weeks off the bike now and it’s seems like it’s been a three year long season.

“I’m looking forward to getting away from it all a little bit and getting back to studying.

“I’ll probably be studying some more keirin videos on line as well so I can bounce back

“It is pretty sad coming out all this way and going out in the first round, but that’s international keirin racing for us.

“You can feel good, be going well but you can make some wrong decisions and end up on an early plane home.

“I got boxed in in the first race. You could say 95percent of that race was executed well but it’s that last five per cent that unfortunately let’s you down.

“It’s the World Championships, these are the best keirin riders in the world and there are only 28 riders who have qualified.

“These guys are not messing around so you cannot afford to make those mistakes but we’ll learn from it and hopefully be back in the team at some point in the future.”

Oliva already has his sights set on the next World Cup campaign as well as representing Wales at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast next April.

He said: “I’ve already planned ahead to doing the next World Cups with Team Wales and then the Commonwealth Games which hopefully will go a little bit better than today.

“It’s difficult combining studying medicine and training, it is hard but the things you have to balance are the physical aspects, trying to get the training in.

“They are not the things that let me down today. I cannot blame studying medicine for that, that was tactics.”