2005 Junior World Championships Day 2 (Track)

 

August 8, 2005; Austria;

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Above: Andy Tennant, Great Britain's latest world champion is all smiles with his rainbow jersey and gold medal.

Two World Champions in the one day
Well almost two ?One World Championship went to Andy Tennant who rode a fantastic race to beat his New Zealand opponent in the Individual Pursuit and win the first of perhaps many rainbow jerseys. The second Championship, the Keirin, should have gone to Jason Kenny, a first year junior who showed he had no fear when a door opened at the front of the final and he kicked hard and took the opportunity to get to the front with no hesitation. Unfortunately for him, the Polish rider who had opened the door and gone above the red line, came back down on him forcing him off the track.

In one of the most dubious decisions since the one that saw Jamie Staff DQ'd at the Olympics, the officials disqualified Kenny for riding on the blue and awarded the jersey to the Greek rider. Later, when they saw sense and took up the offer of looking at the video, they admitted they had 'cocked up'.

Right: Jason Kenny, unsure about whether he has won, raises his arms after having sprinted clear of the rest to cross the line first in the Keirin title - only for the officials to deny him the title.

To say that the GB staff were keen for the officials to look at some film they had of the incident would be an understatement but the judges initially refused and, with no right of appeal, and having just given the jersey to another rider, there was no way they were going to reverse the decision, leaving Jason Kenny without the title he so richly deserved. He showed however he has the talent to come back and win again in the future and is a sure-fire GB start of the future, which is surely what these championships are all about anyway.

That drama was just one of many for GB on the second night of competition. In the Madison, a missed change almost certainly cost Ben Swift and Matt Rowe a medal and they were both gutted afterwards, especially having seen Andy Tennant win a champion's jersey earlier. Lizzy Armitstead rode a gutsy Womens Points race but missed out as well finishing 7th and Anna Blythe made her way to the semi finals of the Womens Sprint in her typical aggressive, gutsy manner and not without controversy either!. It was a night the team won't forget for a while - especially poor Jason!

Above: This is Jason going for it in the final bend and at the line he was well clear...

Day 2 Evening



Anna Blyth watches her opponent who almost brought her down at one stage but Anna disposed of her 2:0 to make it to the semi finals....

After a short break of two hours after the morning session, many of the team were back at the track for the evening competition which was packed with races but disappointingly there were very few people in the stands. That said, those who were there made a lot of noise with shouts of encouragement, the sounding of air horns and clapping when their favourite rider took to the track. As well as the Kilometre, where GB had no-one riding, the line-up of events included the Men's Keirin, Women's Sprint, Individual Pursuit, Madison and Women's Points.

The GB endurance riders who were racing started to arrive in the track centre as the Kilometre was unfolding. In another part of the GB pen, GB Performance Manager Shane Sutton could be seen alongside Iain Dyer, giving Jason Kenny - who was warming up on the rollers - some advice on how to ride his next round in the Men's Kierin. There were lots of hand signals and words of advice with Jason coolly taking it all in as he warmed up.

GB's first action was to be the women's sprint where Anna Blythe was be aiming to get herself into the semi finals but first she had to win a best of three against Korean Eunmi Park. The first run was going to plan until the Korean decided to come down into the sprinters lane whilst Anna was still in it and they touched, almost bringing Anna down. The officials later disqualified the Korean, but not after she had given Anna a big scare.

Anna wrapped up the next one pretty easily, leading from the front and having the speed and power to hold her opponent off. She was then able to head back to the hotel and prepare for Wednesday's semi finals without having to resort to a third ride.

Next up for GB was Jason Kenny, in the second round of the Men's Kierin and it wasn't one of his better races tactically: he had to get a little physical with the Japanese rider on the home straight to free himself from a boxed-in position. Thankfully, unlike later on, the judges looked upon his actions favourably and he went through to the Keirin final all fired up.

 

Above: Andy Tennant on his way to a Gold medal....

Once the ride off for the bronze medal in the Individual Pursuit was over, it was the turn of Andy Tennant to ride for gold. He actually won it easily in the end and it lifted the spirits in the camp after the disappointment of several riders just missing out on medals night before. Talking to Darren Tudor, who has only been ODP Coach for seven months, he said of Andy's win "I think its fantastic. He has worked hard all year and done everything you can ask. He's a brilliant pursuiter and I think he proved tonight all the conditioning work he has done has helped him back up his rides really well. He's almost matched what he did this morning (a new national record) which is fantastic."

Asked how the ride went for Andy, Darren who was walking the line (i.e. helping with pacing), said that Andy went down by fourth tenths on his timed schedule early on and then quickly brought it back by two tenths. Darren explained, "He was a little bit slower than his schedule on the second and third laps but after that he just held it which was pretty amazing after the state he was in after his ride this morning".

But to get the real facts on the ride, we had to talk to the rider himself and so we got ourselves up by the podium where Andy would receive his rainbow jersey. Andy readily admits that 12 months ago he would never have expected to be World Champion - remember, at the track nationals last year he finished  only 5th and, for him, this year was all about trying to get on the GB team: "I never envisaged going to the worlds or winning it!" he confessed.

His first words as he stood in a rainbow jersey were"I'm over the moon to say the least. I could feel this morning's ride in my legs from the start and that soreness was there all the way through but I knew the other rider would feel it as well. I just tried to keep to my schedule that Darren had set for me and keep it going. At the end I could see I was creeping up on him and I started to smile and the pain was going away. I was saying to myself, 'I can do this, I can win'."

Asked if, prior to the race, he was nervous about riding for a World Title, he replied "There were definitely nerves! I didn't do as well as I wanted at the Europeans so I wanted to try and prove a point here. I had big ambitions for this race, this was the one I wanted to do well in as well as the Team Pursuit tomorrow."

Simon Jones, the GB National coach, who has a wealth of experience in training riders (including world and Olympic champions) for endurance events, admits to having seen the Pursuiter in Andy last October and he says that there plenty more to be done to help Andy go faster.

Andy was quick to pay tribute to Simon's input and that of Darren Tudor: "They have worked well together to help me which has been very useful" GB's newest world champion said. "They have both given me a lot of advice and Darren's conditioning has seen us working hard throughout the year, which has paid off. I've given up a lot but it's all been worth it."

Finally, we spoke about the equipment changes Andy has had to cope with as he gets to grips with the sort of high tech bikes and equipment that the senior squad enjoy, the SI bike, the double disks, and the Dugast tyres, for example. "You can definitely feel the difference between the SI and the other bikes " he says. "It's so rigid that you push the pedals and it goes forward. I was also on SI wheels and Dugasts so I was on top equipment with the best bike so I had to show it was good enough to win."

Andy then went off to see his parents whilst we returned to the track where the Women's Points race was getting ready to start. In it for GB was a newcomer, Lizzy Armitstead, and full credit to her for having a real go. It was an awesome ride by a young rider who was a bundle of nerves beforehand.

The race started rather strangely with the riders rolling around for quite a few laps, and it was only when a rider suddenly joined the race from the pits that the event started properly. The action began with a Korean rider attacking early and after a few laps of freedom she was eventually brought back.

It was in the second sprint that Lizzy showed what she can do by leading out a sprint and finishing second. At another point in the race, with a dangerous looking break getting away, Lizzy again put her head down and got away, but only succeeded in bringing the race back together. It was quite noticeable that most riders were happy to sit in after nullifying her attack.

 

The race did see a number of breaks getting away from that point on, including Lizzy on her own at one stage, but nothing stuck, but still Lizzy never gave up and finished 2nd or 3rd in the last sprint to end up 7th overall, a good debut result.

The Madison
This was another event where GB knew they had the talent to win a medal - just how do-able that was can be seen by the fact that had the two GB riders, Matt Rowe and Ben Swift, not missed a difficult change, they would have gone on to win the next sprint and finished with Silver. Ifs and buts however are part and parcel of racing and it wasn't to be. The race was all go and as hard as any madison from any age group and Ben Swift and Matt Rowe were certainly giving it everything .

The hand sling changes were, as always, one of the most dangerous aspect of the race. At one point Ben had to shove someone out of his way to get to Matt and in another incident, the two French riders went down hard on the home straight in a change that went badly. Talking about having to make a rider move out of his way, Ben explained "I was asking him to move but he wanted to be a pain so I had to give him a shove. It was one of those races where you have to make gaps for yourself and put yourself where you need to be."

Once the race had finished, with the GB pair without a medal, they were both sitting motionless in the GB pen, partly through fatigue but mostly through disappointment - the really bitter disappointment you get when you know you could have medaled but didn't through one single error. The distress they felt
was etched into their faces and there was no way we were going to intrude and ask them 'how was your race?'

Even many hours later, as we met Ben Swift walking down the hotel corridor, he was still pretty down with what had happened. He said that he felt better than he did at the Europeans where he was 5th in the Points race and that during the year he has steadily progressed towards his main goal which was this World Championship event. "The form has been there, the moves just haven't gone my way" he said, summing up his Worlds experience so far.

Talking about the missed change that may well have cost them a silver medal, he said "it is just one of those things really. Matt was looking for me in the bunch and didn't realise I had gone off and when he actually saw me, he had to squeeze through the tiniest gap to get to me and was just a finger tip away."

Talking about how his legs felt after the Points race the night before, he said "I think that raced opened me up bit" and it was just as well he had good legs because he needed them to keep up with the non-stop pace of the Madison. Matt and Ben were involved in a number of moves that never managed to stick, as indeed none did on the night. The only one that got close was at the end of the race, when they were probably third and they got away chasing the final points in the final sprint.

Asked why he made the late attack, Ben replied "Darren had told us we needed to win the sprint and we tried to work it out so Matt would sling me in with the minimum distance to go and so I went off the front as hard as I could. We got a change coming out of the last banking and I knew riders were closing in so I just gave it all I could and although they had to go the long way round, we ended up a bike length behind."

The final thing I spoke to Ben about was the road race. I've seen him win a few and he was second in Belgium not so long ago. "I'd like to do well in but we'll need to see what the strategy is. The best way for me to do well would be for me to get in a little move like I did in Circuit de Region. I have definitely been enjoying the road racing this year". We wish Ben and Matt the best in the road race.



The French had a bad change that saw them both crash heavily -- they rejoined the race.

Day 2 Morning Session

The day began with the Women's Sprint qualifying and with a lot of competitors, there was quite a wait before Anna Blythe took to the track for her flying 200 meters. To start their ride, competitors were lined up in the back straight and as soon as one competitor came past in the 200 metre effort, the next competitor would be pushed onto the track to start their three laps for the 200 metre Time Trial. Anna's coach was looking for a sub 12.4 ride and Anna duly obliged, with a 12.304 placing her 9th fastest and through to the first round.

Once the Women's Sprint qualifying was out of the way, it was the turn of the Men's Individual Pursuit where Great Britain had Andy Tennant riding. After his 5th in the Europeans, the coaches and managers were looking for a ride of around 3.22. After a long wait as two by two, the riders from the other countries came and went in the warmish conditions, Andy finally got his chance. Prior to taking to the track, both his ODP coach Darren Tudor and National Head coach Simon Jones sat down with him in the GB pen to talk him through the ride.

When Andy's turn came, Darren came out on to the track on the back straight which is where the GB pen is situated. Andy came out of the gate quickly, a little too quickly and Darren was soon walking the line to let his young charge know how he was faring on his schedule. It was, no doubt, a difficult ride to schedule as there were still a handful of seeded riders left to ride. With the fastest two going straight through to the final for Gold and Silver, the team  had decided to set Andy a tough schedule. He was equal to the task, riding very smoothly from the start, with only the scoreboard giving an indication of just how quick he was riding.

As he crossed the line, his had smashed the times of the riders who had gone off before him and he had broken the British record by four seconds. His time of 3.19.415 was also within striking range of the World Record of 4.17.7, set last year by Michael Ford of Australia. Interestingly, Andy time was very similar to the legendary Bradley's McGee's previous world Junior record of 4.19.

Andy's wonderful time came at a cost and as he came off the track, he had certainly ridden himself into the ground, with the coaches sitting him down but unable to talk to him for a good few minutes as he gradually recovered. At the end of qualifying, no-one had got within a second of him, but the team were concerned that the second-placed New Zealander, who appeared comfortable in his ride recording a 3.20.639, might be a threat in the final. A little later, when he returned to the hotel after lunch, he did appear a lot better and everyone was crossing their fingers that Andy could follow in the footsteps of Bradley Wiggins, who last won the title for GB in 1998.

Speaking afterwards, Andy's coach Darren Tudor said it wasn't unexpected, even though he had finished fifth at the Europeans. Darren explained that Andy had done some work on the Individual Pursuit and had learnt a lot from the Europeans and his talks with the coaching staff. The exact wording of Head Coach Simon Jone's reaction to Andy's ride can't be repeated, though the word 'Brilliant' did feature!

When Simon had recovered his verbal control, he said of Andy "He's still learning how to pursuit but I think he's got a fair idea of what he can do. We were on a 21.7 schedule to begin with, just to hold him back early on, which he still went up on, which was fine. Then we told him to empty the tank, which he did quite nicely at the end. He has the ability to torture himself and is a natural pursuiter."

Andy's ride certainly lifted the spirits of the team and it was then left to Anna Blyth and Jason Kenny to carry on the work for GB. In the1/16th final, Anna Blyth made light work of the Spanish rider Helena Casas Roige. Anna led from the front and when she jumped in the back straight, the Spanish rider had no answer to Anna's power and the GB rider crossed the line well clear. Anna could now retire to the GB pen and it was time for Jason Kenny to get himself ready for the Kierin.

Jason was in heat 4, so he had plenty of time to watch the action which was pretty physical and the aggression was anything but for show: it was a testament to the riders' bike handling that no-one fell. Finally Jason got his chance and he slotted in at the back for the first five laps of his heat and once the derny had come off the track, he lit the fuse and down the back straight he rode around the rest, leading the Greek rider into the bell lap. His effort was taking its toll and into the final bend, first the Greek rider, followed a Dutchman and the Polish rider came around home leaving Jason in fourth and with a ride in the repechage to stay in the competition. As Jason came to the GB pen, Anna Blyth left for her 1/8th final race against the French rider Claire Sandie.

As with the previous ride, Anna rode from the front and seemed to control the ride well holding the French girl on her hip all the way around the final bend but then the short straights didn't stop Sandie from jumping and getting the verdict over Blyth. So Anna too was going to have win her repecharge to stay in the competition.

Jason Kenny then took to the track for his recharge and, like in his earlier heat, but with a bigger gear this time, Jason started his race at the back, content to stay there while the derny was on the track. When the derny swung off, the riders were all making their move and Jason was on the inside with the race led by a New Zealander sitting well above the red line. Jason didn't need any more of an invitation and raced through the gap before the Kiwi rider could close him down. As the New Zealand rider faded, Jason again lit the fuse but this time no-one got around him, although a Spanish rider certainly had a good go. Jason was through to the 2nd round of the Keirin with what had been a brave ride as well as a technically good one.

All that was left now was for Anna to do the same in her repecharge and she duly obliged. Racing against riders from New Zealand and Italy, Anna stayed on the front on the inside and held her challengers off, even having time on the final bend to look around to see where they were, only to find the challenge was fading and she was through to the Quarter final, where she would meet the Korean Eunmi Park.

After five hours of competition and endless heats, it had been a good morning for GB with all riders still in their respective competitions. Jason Kenny's run in the Kierin though did mean he would have to miss the Kilometre, which was to be held on the same evening, a strange piece of scheduling. However, the team went away from the morning confident Jason had the ability to do a ride in the evening.

Results

Men's 1km TT Final
1 Maximilian Levy (Germany) 1.03.757 (56.464km/h)
2 KÙÐn Sireau (France) 1.04.080 (56.180km/h)
3 Scott Sunderland (Australia) 1.04.378 (55.920km/h)
4 Dong Jin Kang (Korea) 1.04.517 (55.799km/h)
5 Benjamin Wittmann (Germany) 1.04.528 (55.790km/h)
6 Alexandre Volant (France) 1.05.201 (55.214km/h)
7 Jackson-Leigh Rathbone (Australia) 1.05.485 (54.974km/h)
8 David Wilken (Germany) 1.05.821 (54.694km/h)
9 Dawid Glowacki (Poland) 1.06.290 (54.307km/h)
10 Maxim Tarakanov (Russia) 1.06.453 (54.174km/h)
11 Vasileios Reppas (Greece) 1.06.652 (54.012km/h)
12 Tomas Babek (Czech Republic) 1.07.042 (53.698km/h)
13 Spencer Hartfeld (USA) 1.07.510 (53.325km/h)
14 Pavel Korzh (Russia) 1.08.134 (52.837km/h)
15 Yoshinori Sasaki (Japan) 1.08.277 (52.726km/h)
16 Josúílfredo Flores (Guatemala) 1.08.398 (52.633km/h)
17 Patrick Bos (Netherlands) 1.08.640 (52.448km/h)
18 Raul Baez De Aguilar Gome (Spain) 1.08.970 (52.197km/h)
19 David Vidal Garcia (Spain) 1.09.040 (52.144km/h)
20 Konstantinos Iordanidis (Greece) 1.09.241 (51.992km/h)
21 Eric Smith (Canada) 1.09.288 (51.957km/h)
22 Jonathon Lewis (New Zealand) 1.09.617 (51.712km/h)
23 Ivo Vildomec (Czech Republic) 1.09.804 (51.573km/h)
24 Lukas Goc (Slovakia) 1.10.137 (51.328km/h)
25 Reniell Matthysen (South Africa) 1.10.403 (51.134km/h)
26 Svetlin Radev (Bulgaria) 1.10.850 (50.812km/h)
27 Michael Singer (Austria) 1.10.857 (50.807km/h)
28 Matthias Krizek (Austria) 1.11.985 (50.010km/h)


Men Individual Pursuit

Qualifying
1 Andrew Tennant (Great Britain) 3.19.415 (54.158km/h)
2 Sam Bewley (New Zealand) 3.20.639 (53.828km/h)
3 Ivan Rovny (Russia) 3.23.506 (53.070km/h)
4 Patrick Gretsch (Germany) 3.24.100 (52.915km/h)
5 Vitaliy Shchedov (Ukraine) 3.25.271 (52.613km/h)
6 Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania) 3.25.308 (52.604km/h)
7 Darren Shea (New Zealand) 3.25.437 (52.571km/h)
8 Alessandro Cantone (Italy) 3.26.392 (52.328km/h)
9 Zakkari Dempster (Australia) 3.27.434 (52.065km/h)
10 Jochen Helfen (Germany) 3.28.098 (51.899km/h)
11 Alexandre Lemair (France) 3.28.767 (51.732km/h)
12 Artur Kanyuka (Ukraine) 3.30.342 (51.345km/h)
13 Vincent Dauga (France) 3.30.450 (51.319km/h)
14 Kilian Moser (Switzerland) 3.31.762 (51.001km/h)
15 Nateghi Hossein (Iran) 3.32.286 (50.875km/h)
16 Todd Dawson (Australia) 3.32.406 (50.846km/h)
17 Povilas Chorlampenkovas (Lithuania) 3.32.695 (50.777km/h)
18 Michel Kreder (Netherlands) 3.32.898 (50.729km/h)
19 Isma¹¨Kip (Netherlands) 3.33.557 (50.572km/h)
20 Rigoberto Uran (Colombia) 3.33.697 (50.539km/h)
21 Jakub Kratochvila (Czech Republic) 3.33.736 (50.530km/h)
22 Michal Nawrocki (Poland) 3.34.566 (50.334km/h)
23 Sergey Valynin (Russia) 3.34.759 (50.289km/h)
24 Daniel Holloway (USA) 3.34.792 (50.281km/h)
25 Eric Smith (Canada) 3.35.263 (50.171km/h)
26 Francesc Mateu Orfi Zanoguera (Spain) 3.35.548 (50.105km/h)
27 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spain) 3.36.152 (49.965km/h)
28 Siarhei Sakavets (Bielorussia) 3.36.545 (49.874km/h)
29 Hristomir Angelov (Bulgaria) 3.36.634 (49.854km/h)
30 Felix Kaineder (Austria) 3.37.161 (49.733km/h)
31 Martin Munroe (Ireland) 3.38.689 (49.385km/h)
32 Berik Kupeshov (Kazakhstan) 3.38.959 (49.324km/h)
33 Takayuki Kawanishi (Japan) 3.40.883 (48.895km/h)
34 Krisztian Lovassy (Hungary) 3.42.517 (48.536km/h)
35 Michael Singer (Austria) 3.42.589 (48.520km/h)
36 Yury Yurchanka (Bielorussia) 3.43.871 (48.242km/h)
37 Greg Thompson (South Africa) 3.44.448 (48.118km/h)
38 Bertram Siebritz (South Africa) 3.50.453 (46.864km/h)
DSQ Alexey Stepanov (Kazakhstan)

Final for 3rd and 4th
1 Ivan Rovny (Russia) 3.22.702 (53.280km/h)
2 Patrick Gretsch (Germany) 3.23.940 (52.957km/h)

Final for 1st and 2nd
1 Andrew Tennant (Great Britain) 3.20.835 (53.775km/h)
2 Sam Bewley (New Zealand) 3.25.261 (52.616km/h)


Men 30km Madison
1 Russia (Andrey Klyuev/Alexey Shiryaev) 15
2 Germany (Norman Dimde/Marcel Kalz) 8
3 Australia (Cameron Meyer/Mitchell Pearson) 7
4 Switzerland (Tristan Marquet/LoPerizzolo) 7
5 Czech Republic (Martin Hacecky/Vojtech Hacecky) 6
6 Great Britain (Matthew Rowe/Ben Swift) 5
7 Austria (Patrick Gelosky/Michael Kocner) 5
8 France (Jonathan Lahoun/Guillaume Perrot) 5
9 Italy (Fabrizio Braggion/Stefano Castoldi) 2
10 Netherlands (Pim Ligthart/Yondi Schmidt) 3
11 New Zealand (Eliot Crowther/Michael Northey) 0
12 Belgium (Dave Mertens/Dieter Verbeek) 3
13 South Africa (Reniell Matthysen/Greg Thompson) 0
14 Spain (Martzel Elorriaga Azpitarte/Iban Leanizbarrutia Cruz) 0
15 United States (Daniel Holloway/Richard Schenk) 0


Women's 20km points race
1 Andrea Wolfer (Sui) 28 pts
2 Rushlee Buchanan (Nzl) 25
3 Irina Zemlyanskaya (Rus) 23
4 Mie Bekker Lacota (Den) 15
5 Amanda Spratt (Aus) 14
6 Stephanie Pohl (Ger) 9
7 Elizabeth Armitstead (Gbr) 5
8 Katarina Uhlarikova (Svk) 5
9 Silvia Castoldi (Ita) 3
10 Roxane Knetemann (Ned) 3
11 Maria Tzoumanika (Gre) 2
12 Dalila Rodriguez (Cub) 2
13 Andrea Botero (Col)
14 Berenice Castro Plaza (Mex)
15 Daniela Fink (Aut)
16 Naomi Cooper (Can)
17 Natalie Klemko (Usa)
18 Pascale Jeuland (Fra) -28
DNF Alena Charnyshova (Blr)
DNF Joana Eslava Fernandez (Esp)
DNF Inkyung Jung (Kor)