UCI Track World Cup (Beijing)
Day 1: December 7th
Medal Feast for Britain in Beijing
One Gold (Wiggins), Three Silver (Romero, Pendleton and Newton) and a Bronze (Team Sprint-Hoy,Queally & MacLean) on day one of the UCI World Track Cup (round 2) was just the tonic the team needed as they get going in their World Track Campaign.
Men's Individual Pursuit
Gold for Our Brad
World and Olympic Champion Bradley Wiggins has as expected won Gold in Beijing in a tight fought contest against Sydney gold medal winner Volodmyr Dydudya of the Ukraine. Wiggins recorded a time of 4.25.316 to the 4.25.847 of his rival in a see sawing battle.
Wiggins went out the quickest but then was slower than his rival over the next two kilometre splits before again coming home quickly, over a second quicker over the last kilometre, to win by almost half a second. With the times being significantly slower than those on other tracks, Wiggins was over 10 seconds slower than his personal best.
Right: Bradley Wiggins on form in the Pursuit already.
Qualifying
World and Olympic Champion Bradley Wiggins, who won Gold in Sydney in the Team Pursuit, turned his attention to the Individual Pursuit and in cold conditions, was fastest in qualifying, doing enough (4.22.690) to beat the second fastest qualifier from the Ukraine. Stephen Cummings qualified in 11th place with a 4.29.649 out of the 30 starters.
Wiggins went out steady, fifth fastest in the opening kilometre with a 1.08.974 to the Ukraine riders 1.08.116. Bradley started to make ground however as the metres passed under his wheels, doing the second kilometre in the fourth fastest split of 1.04.623, applying the pressure in the third kilometre to record the second fastest kilo of 1.04.595 and then showing what great pace management he has to be the fastest over the final kilo with a 1.04.498.
Qualifying
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) 4.22.69 (54.817 km/h)
2. Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukr) 4.22.99
3. Alexander Serov (Rus) 4.23.34
4. Taylor Phinney (USA) 4.24.36
11. Steve Cummings 4.29.649
Finals
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team High Road 4.25.316 (54.274 km/h)
2. Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukr) 4.25.847
3. Alexander Serov (Rus) 4.26.240
4. Taylor Phinney (USA) 4.26.349
Men's Team Sprint
Bronze for the Brits
Moving up a place from Sydney, the GB team finished the qualifying session in third place which meant again, like in Sydney where they qualified fourth, they would be competing for the Bronze medal in that competition. The line-up in Beijing was the same as Sydney 2000, where they won a Silver medal, Chris Hoy, Craig MacLean and Jason Queally. For the latter rider, the Sydney Olympic Kilometre champion, the World Track Cup competition was his first major competition since last winter.
The GB team got off to a flying start with Craig MacLean, third fastest and fastest of the top three teams at the end of the three laps. Their second laps however was only 9th, well behind the times of the top two teams France and Holland respectively. The GB team recovered though for the third lap and were again third fastest and that was where their 44.698 helped them to finish overall in qualifying.
No such luck for the other British team however, Science in Sport as they qualified down in 10th place. Jamie Staff, competing with Jason Kenny and Craig MacLean for a Man 1 spot at the Olympics, got them off to a good start with 7th fastest, a 10th behind the GB first lap. Their second lap was even better, third fastest (4th fastest overall) but their final lap, 19th fastest let them down and they were out of the hunt for medals.
Final
In a Great Britain versus Australia final for the Bronze, Craig MacLean got the Brits off to a flying start with a 18.0 opening lap to the Aussies 17.9 before the Brits hit back on the second lap with the fastest second lap by two tenths. The Aussies however came back at them on the final lap, fastest by a 10th over the last 250 metres but the Brits held on by the skin of their teeth to win the the race by just over a tenth of a second.
Qualifying
1. France 0.44.22
2. Netherlands 0.44.35
3. Great Britain 0.44.51
4. Team Toshiba 0.44.70
10. Science in Sport
Final
1. Netherlands 0.44.35
Theo Bos, Teun Mulder, Tim Veldt
2. France 0.44.41
Gregory Bauge, Francois Pervis, Arnaud Tournant
3. Great Britain 0.44.84
Chris Hoy, Craig MacLean, Jason Queally
4. Team Toshiba (Australia) 0.45.01
Daniel Ellis, Shane Kelly, Scott Sunderland
Men's Points Race
Silver for Chris Newton
After a top placing in Sydney, Chris Newton celebrated the birth of his daughter recently with an awesome ride in the Points race where he won the Silver medal. Newton started the race with a winning sprint, scoring five points in the first sprint of the 30 kilometre race. He was then part of a move that gained a lap and didn't score any more points until sprint number 7 where he gained a solitary point. He then scored eight more points in the next five sprints as well as gaining a second lap to finish the race with 54 points to the 60 of World champion Llaneras who was at Manchester recently for a Revolution track open. Britain's other two riders, Rob Hayles and Ben Swift finished well down the order.
Qualifying
Chris Newton made a return to the Points race in Beijing in the colours of Recycling.co.uk, his trade team for the UK. In a race won by Gent six winner, Iljo Keisse, Newton was very consistent, scoring two points in no less than five sprints and another point in the final one to finish fourth in his qualifying heat. In the second qualifying heat, Rotherham's Ben Swift was the winner riding for 100% ME, ensuring his place in the final as he finished ahead of former World Champion Peter Schep.
In the final qualifying heat, GB's Rob Hayles showed he's on form by clinching the final place on offer in the final when he was eight in his race. With six other riders having taken a lap, it was vital to have the points on board to ensure a place in the final and this he did right at the death of the race in the final sprint, winning it and going through by the skin of his teeth!
Qualifying
Heat 1
1. Iljo Keisse (Bel) 12 pts
2. Greg Henderson (NZl) 10
3. Makoto Iljima (Jpn) 9
4. Chris Newton
Heat 2
1. Ben Swift (GBr) 10 pts
2. Peter Schep (Ned) 9
3. Michael Morkov (Den) 8
Heat 3
1 Cameron Meyer (Aus)
2 Vasili Kiryenka (Blr)
3 Mehdi Sorabi (Iri)
8. Rob Hayles
Final
1. Juan Llaneras (Spa) 60 pts
2. Chris Newton (GBr) 54
3. Cameron Meyer (Aus) 53
4. Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) 49
Women's Individual Pursuit
Silver for Rebecca Romero
After finishing second in qualifying, Rebecca Romero went into the finals hoping to beat the rider who is one of the favourites for a medal in the Beijing Olympics, Katie Mactier. In the ride off for Gold however, Romero did not have the form after illness recently to beat the Aussie who took another Gold with Rebecca winning the Silver.
Right: Rebecca Romero at speed in the Women's Individual Pursuit.
Qualifying
World Championships Silver Medallist Rebecca Romero, who had a tough in Sydney being unwell, showed she was on the way back with second fastest in qualifying while Wendy Houvenaghel (Science in Sport) did not have such luck and qualified in 7th place after a fourth place in Sydney.
Qualifying
1. Katie Mactier (Aus) 3.35.18
2. Rebecca Romero (GBr) 3.37.08
3. Sarah Hammer (USA) 3.37.68
4. Karin Thurig (Ger) 3.38.04
7. Wendy Houvenaghel
Finals
1. Katie Mactier (Aus) 3.37.62
2. Rebecca Romero (GBr) 3.40.53
3. Sarah Hammer (USA) 3.37.11
4. Karin Thurig (Ger) 3.42.69
Women's Sprint
Silver for Pendleton
World Sprint Champion, Victoria Pendleton (Science in Sport), unwell in Sydney but still a Gold medallist in the Women's Keirin, got her Beijing competition off to a flying start with fastest time in the Sprint qualifying with a time of 11.143 with Sydney winner Willy Kanis down in 5th place. GB's rider, Academy rider Anna Blyth finished the qualifying competition in 16th place, the final position for a ride in the next round. It did mean however, she would meet her teammate Victoria Pendleton.
As expected, Pendleton beat Blyth in the one off 1/8th final and cruised through to the next round. For Anna, the B rounds of the competition awaited her. There, in the quarter finals, she met Yvonne Hijgenaar of Holland and the Dutch girl was too quick for Anna who went of the competition. Meanwhile, in the hunt for medals, Pendleton beat two matches to one the former Cuban Junior champion Lisandra Guerra who was relegated in one of the riders.
In the semi final of the Women's Sprint, it was a Britain versus Australia Semi final match. There is a lot of water under the bridge between Victoria Pendleton and the quite physical Anna Meares, an Olympic Champion, but the British World Champion showed who was the World Champion by winning her heat two rides to nil to go through to the final for Gold.
In the final for Gold, Pendleton came up against the former World Champion who beat her in Sydney, Natalia Tsylinskaya and despite racing better than she had in Sydney, the Stotfold rider was starting to tire and lost the Gold medal two rides to Nil.
Women's Sprint
Qualifying
1. Victoria Pendleton (GBr) 0.11.14
2. Simona Krupeckaite (Ltu) 0.11.24
3. Shuang Gao (Chn) 0.11.25
16. Anna Blyth
1/8th final
1. Pendleton (SiS)
2. Anna Blyth (GB)
Semi-Final
1 Victoria Pendleton (GBr)
2 Anna Meares (Aus)
1 Natalia Tsylinkskaya (Blr)
2 Clara Sanchez (Fra)
Final
1. Natalia Tsylinkskaya (Blr)
2. Victoria Pendleton (GBr)
3. Clara Sanchez (Fra)
REL Anna Meares (Aus)