Sydney: UCI World Track Cup

December 2; Day 3, Sunday

Gold for Victoria Pendleton

There was a Golden feeling to the end of the World Track Cup in Sydney as triple World Champion, Victoria Pendleton, sealed a glorious end to the three day competition winning Gold in the Women’s Keirin. There was also a Bronze for Chris Hoy in the Men’s Sprint .

Gold for Victoria in the Women's Keirin. Photo ©: John Veage (email: regallo@bigpond.com)

MENS MADISON
This was to be the first major test for a new pairing in the Madison for Great Britain as one of the World's top roadmen sprinters Mark Cavendish, a former Madison World Champion, joined forces with Olympic medallist in the Madison and undoubtedly one of the Worlds top track and road riders in Bradley Wiggins.

Their Olympic qualification campaign started in qualifying heat number 1 for the Madison. The qualifiers which were required due to the Olympic qualification system now in place and the number of riders from around the world wanting to challenge for Olympic spots. In a race where no laps were taken and the placings were decided on points taken during the mid race sprint's, the GB pairing just scraped through in 9th place after gaining 2 points in the second sprint.

In the second qualifying heat, it was down to the 100% ME duo of Ben Swift and Jonny Bellis to fly the British flag. That they did well finishing fourth, a lap down on the winners of Llaneras and Torrent from Spain but scoring well in the second and third sprints.

With Both British teams having made it to the final, there was the opportunity to score some valuable qualification points for the Olympics which for both teams on limited preparation was a  major bonus for the team. The race though didn't go as planned and Wiggins & Cavendish riding in GB colours were 13th whilst the Academy duo of Swift and Bellis were a few places further down in 16th.

Final
1. Holland
2. Spain
3. Denmark

13. Great Britain (Mark Cavendish & Bradley Wiggins)
16. 100% ME (Ben Swift & Jonny Bellis)

Qualifying, Top 9 go through
Heat 1
1. Holland
2. Poland
3. Argentina

9. Great Britain (Mark Cavendish/Bradley Wiggins)

Heat 2
1. Spain
2. Belgium
3. Denarmk7 1
4. 100% ME (Ben Swift/Jonny Bellis)

Final

WOMEN'S KEIRIN
Gold for Victoria

Photo ©: John Veage (email: regallo@bigpond.com)

Britain went into this competition with two riders, World Champion Victoria Pendleton and Olympic Academy rider Anna Blyth. In the first round, Pendleton did enough to make the second round after finishing second to Simona Krupeckaite of Lithunia whilst in heat 2, Anna Blyth was caught out and finished fourth which mean she was relegated to the repechages.

In her repechage, Anna made up for the first round by winning her heat to make the second round but that was as far as she got in the competition as she finished last in her heat whilst Victoria Pendleton, suffering with a cold going into the competition, again did enough (3rd) to make the final for Gold.

In the final, Victoria took up the position behind the derny, using her experience to keep an eye on her opponents on the opening laps until the derny was ready to pull away. It was at this point that Tsylinskaya made her move but the attack wasn’t strong enough to gain her any distance and the rest queued up behind her. Into the final bend four wide, Victoria used her blinding speed to end the World Track Cup on a high and win the Gold for SiS. 

Round 2 and Victoria takes the long way round while Anna Blyth finds herself stuck on the inside. Photo ©: John Veage (email: regallo@bigpond.com)

1st Round
Heat 1
1. KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
2. PENDLETON Victoria SIS
3. KANIS Willy NED
4. MEARES Kerrie AUS
5. CARLSON REAP Elizabeth USA
6. TING Ying,Huang TPE
7. RASTRICK Jocelyn NZL

Heat 2
1. LARREAL Daniela Grelui VEN
2. MUCHE Christin RAD
3. CLAIR Sandie FRA
4. BLYTH Anna GBR
5. SHULIKA Lyubov UKR
6. CASAS ROIGE Helena CAT
7. HIJGENAAR Yvonne NED

Repechage
Hat 3
1. BLYTH Anna GBR
2. ALESSIO Valentina ITA
3. MUSTAPA Fatehah MAS
4. NOH Hyo Seong KOR
5. CARLSON REAP Elizabeth USA

Round 2
Heat 2
1. REED Jennie MOM
2. FRISONI Elisa ITA
3. PENDLETON Victoria SIS
4. GARCIA ORREGO Diana Maria COL
5. LARREAL Daniela Grelui VEN
6. BLYTH Anna GBr

Finals
1-7
1. Victoria Pendleton, SiS

2. REED Jennie MOM
3. TSYLINSKAYA Natallia BLR
4. KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
5. FRISONI Elisa ITA
REL SANCHEZ Clara FRA

Final 712
7. KANIS Willy NED
8. GARCIA ORREGO Diana Maria COL
9. MUCHE Christin RAD
10. BLYTH Anna GBR
11. MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS
12. LARREAL Daniela Grelui VEN

MEN'S SPRINT

Bronze for Hoy

Hoy versus Sireau of France with the Frenchman winning. Photo ©: John Veage (email: regallo@bigpond.com)

There was a huge field of 67 starters in the qualifying round of the Men's Sprint and from that, Great Britain had three riders in the top 10 whilst France ominously had three in the top four! It was in the next round, the 1/8th finals however, that Britain’s challenge for medals in this competition was reduced to one as only Chris Hoy, winner of the Keirin competition already, won through to the quarter finals.

For Ross Edgar and Jason Kenny though, both beaten in their winner takes all rides in the eight finals, they were relegated  to riding the B rounds to establish their position in the competition overall. Hoy meanwhile won his next round, the quarter finals beating the rider that put Ross Edgar out, Shane Perkins whilst in the B quarter finals both Kenny and Edgar won their respective rounds.

Hoy came up against young French hope Kevin Sireau in the semis and lost that two riders to nil which mean he would be riding off for Bronze against another Frenchman, Gregory Bauge. Back in the B semi finals, Edgar beat experienced Italian campaigner Roberto  Chiappa whilst Kenny was beaten by another old hand Stefan Nimke of Germany.

In the final for Bronze, Olympic Champion Chris Hoy was too strong for Bauge, winning two nil, saying to CyclingNews.com afterwards "The fact that Gregory had to go to three rides against Mickael meant that he was maybe a little bit tired from that so it gave me a mental boost to know that he would be feeling it a little more than I would. We are all tired, it's the third day of competition, I have been racing since Friday and everyone's tired. So to know that he was a little more tired gave me that mental boost, I gave it everything that I possibly could. When I came past him it was a good feeling."

Hoy (right on the podium to collect his second medal of the World Track Cup. Photo ©: John Veage (email: regallo@bigpond.com)

Qualifying (67 starters)
1. HOY Chris GBR 5.048 (4) 10.179 70.733
2. BAUGE Gregory FRA 5.005 (1) 10.188 70.671
3. BOURGAIN Mickaël COF 5.039 (3) 10.193 70.636
4. SIREAU Kévin COF 5.034 (2) 10.215 70.484
5. BAYLEY Ryan TOS 5.060 (5) 10.243 70.291

9. EDGAR Ross SIS 5.099 (9) 10.307 69.855
10.  KENNY Jason GBR 5.106 (11) 10.312 69.821

1/8th Finals
1. HOY Chris GBR 10.732 67.089
2. SEIDENBECHER Michael GER

1. BAUGE Gregory FRA 10.716 67.189
2. MULDER Teun NED

1. BOURGAIN Mickaël COF 10.763 66.895
2. VELDT Tim NED

1. SIREAU Kévin COF 10.604 67.898
2. CHIAPPA Roberto ITA

1. BERGEMANN Carsten GER 10.780 66.790
2. BAYLEY Ryan TOS

1. FRENCH Mark AUS 10.833 66.463
2. NIMKE Stefan RAD

1. PERVIS François FRA 10.922 65.921
2. KENNY Jason GBR

1. PERKINS Shane AUS 10.599 67.930
2. EDGAR Ross

Quarter Final B
1. EDGAR Ross SIS 10.937 65.831
2. SEIDENBECHER Michael GER

1. KENNY Jason GBR 10.634 67.707
2. MULDER Teun NED

1. NIMKE Stefan RAD 11.193 64.325
2. VELDT Tim NED

1. CHIAPPA Roberto ITA 10.642 67.656
2. BAYLEY Ryan

Semi Final (B)
1. EDGAR Ross SIS 10.682 67.403
2. CHIAPPA Roberto ITA

1. NIMKE Stefan RAD 10.859 66.304
2. KENNY Jason GBR

Quarter Finals
1. HOY Chris GBR 10.807 10.784
2. PERKINS Shane AUS

1. BAUGE Gregory FRA 10.750 10.582
2. PERVIS François FRA

1. BOURGAIN Mickaël COF 10.538 10.769
2. FRENCH Mark AUS

1. SIREAU Kévin COF 10.795 10.764
2. BERGEMANN Carsten GER

Semi Final
1. SIREAU Kévin COF 10.598 10.300
2. HOY Chris GBR

1. BOURGAIN Mickaël COF 10.903 10.762
2. BAUGE Gregory FRA 10.722 REL

Minor Final
5. FRENCH Mark AUS 10.520 68.441
6. PERVIS François FRA
7. BERGEMANN Carsten GER
8. PERKINS Shane AUS

Final

Bronze
1. Chris Hoy, GBr 2:0
2. Gegory Bauge, Fra

Gold/Silver
1. Mickaël Bourgain, Fra
2. Kevin Sireau, Fra