Rugby League stars to race Italian Pursuit at Revolution 23

Two legends of Rugby League go head to head in a celebrity Italian Pursuit at Revolution 23 on Saturday night. Denis Betts and Mike Forshaw both played for Wigan and England in their career but this time the ex-club mates will be squaring up on the Velodrome track.
 
The Italian Pursuit will kick off the race programme with a mix of Future Stars, Endurance riders and Sprinters making up the teams. Betts and Forshaw will race the first lap before peeling off to allow the DHL Future Stars to take over. There will be legs from two elite women riders before Victoria Pendleton and Ed Clancy go head to head with Anna Blyth and Jason Kenny over the final two laps. The teams have been designed to be evenly matched but it is the start and first lap that can make the difference, so the pressure will be on the rugby stars.
 
The race will continue the rugby theme in the Italian Pursuit following Martin Johnson’s appearance at Revolution 20 last season. On that occasion the ex-England captain nearly broke his Dolan track bike under the force of his standing start but still proved triumphant over a team led by Geoff Thomas.
 
There will be more celebrity action on the Rollapaluza Roller Racing rig which returns to Revolution presented by Condor Cycles. Betts will feature once again as he goes head to head against 400m Olympic medalist Iwan Thomas. Thomas will be at Revolution covering the event for Channel 4 so the roller race will give the TV cameras the chance to show their man in action.
 
Revolution 23 is sold out but TV highlights will be aired on Channel M - www.channelm.co.uk. Highlights of the event will also be shown on Channel 4 as part of the new 4Sport show. For full details of programme times go to www.cyclingrevolution.com.