Three Golds from Four Races for GB in Melbourne World Cup
Story posted November 20
The UCI World Track Cup moved to Melbourne, Australia this week and there racing for Great Britain are three of the young ladies who did the country proud at the Manchester World Track Cup last month. The Melbourne event is now under way and despite only flying out this week for a whistle stop visit to the Australian city, already the British girls are making their mark by winning the two races they contested on day 1. The competition has now moved into Day and racing for GB are Lizzie Armitstead and Katie Colclough.
Day 3: Women's Team Pursuit
Third Gold for Brits on Day 3
In front of a partisan Aussie crowd who were right behind their team in the final for Gold, the three British girls showed tremendous courage to hold off the Aussie challenge and win the final by just under a second. After the heavy crash to Lizzie Armitstead yesterday, coach Simon Cope did a great job in getting them prepared for the final.
Briefing them on how to ride the race and to not be shy of cutting their turns short to keep the speed, the World Cup leaders fought hard all the way, staying strong behind World Champion Joanna Rowsell who had had the luxury of a day off on the Friday and thus fresher legs for the big challenge.
The Brits started the quicker of the two teams, doing a 1.11 for the first kilo to the Aussies 1.12, half a second down. The British girls continued to lead through the second kilometre and the gap was now almost a second but with the Aussie crowd going crazy behind their team, the Aussie girls came back at the Brits in the final kilo. Joanna, Lizzie and Katie however dug deep to hold on to win by six tenths and earn yet another Gold medal.
1. Great Britain 3.29.890
2. Australia 3:30.506
3. Ukraine 3:34.842
4. Spain 3:37.858
It was a great finish to an awesome World Track Cup for the girls who went out there to win four Gold medals and come back with three. Talking to team manager Shane Sutton, who is now going to look at the course for the 2010 road worlds, he explained that because of where the Melbourne World Cup fell in the racing calendar, most of the riders from the Olympics and Academy were using this period to have a decent break.
Because of the success at Beijing, where the team gained a lot of qualifying points for the World Track Championships, and the subsequent success at the Manchester World Cup, the team's coaches have had the luxury of picking and choosing how they use the World Track Cups this season and whilst small teams will be travelling to Cali and Beijing for the World Track Cups there, the big hit will be the Copenhagen one prior to the World Championships.
Prior to Copenhagen, the team will be spending a month in Perth (Australia) for warm weather training at a venue they have used many times before. They will then go all out to put the icing on the cake before travelling to Poland.
Qualifying
On the final day of the Melbourne World Track Cup, the small team of three women racing for Great Britain are all racing in the Women's Team Pursuit. Having won the event at Manchester, the three British girls, two of whom are still teenagers and the eldest is just 20! (Lizzie Armitstead), they went into the event as favourites although after Lizzie's heavy crash yesterday, there was uncertainty on how it may have affected her.
Judging by the time the team did in qualifying, 3:31.578, fastest by a tenth or so over the Aussies, the British trio certainly lived up to their favourites tag, racing around the track with World Champion Joanna Rowsell as part of the mix to qualify for the Gold medal ride. Their time in Melbourne was well down on the time they set to win in Manchester and its fingers crossed for the final!
Qualifying
1 GBR Great Britain 3:31.578
ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth, COLCLOUGH Katie, ROWSELL Joanna
2. Australia 3:31.743
ANKUDINOFF Ashlee, KENT Sarah, TOMIC Josephine
3. Ukraine 3:35.069
GALYUK Svitlana, KALITOVSKA Lesya, SHULIKA Lyubov
4. Spain 3:37.213
GALVEZ LOPEZ Debora, OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire, USABIAGA BALERDI Ana
5. Russia 3:39.589
CHULKOVA Anastasiya, KONDEL Viktoriya, ROMANYUTA Evgeniya
6. New Zealand 3:40.438
ELLIS Lauren, BUCHANAN Rushlee, DAY Penny
Day 2: Colclough through to final, Armitstead crashes out of Points race competition
Qualifying
After two Gold medals on day 1, there was dissapointment for the GB team when triple Gold medallist from Manchester, Lizzie Armitstead crashed heavily in her Points race heat, needing eight stitches to a deep cut on the arm, and failing to make the final. Team manager Shane Sutton however thinks she'll be okay after some rest although after such a heavy crash, the Yorkshire lass is expected to be feeling the effects for a few days to come.
With the first 12 riders to qualify out of a field of 19 riders, Lizzie who won Gold in the Scratch race, failed to score in any of the four mid race sprints after the crash came with 20 laps to go and despite the injuries from that crash, Lizzie showed great courage to get involved in the final sprint for the line and managed to finish 5th in the final dash for the line.
That placing however counted for nothing as every rider above her had at least a single point. Missing the cut in the Points race meant that her opportunity of winning another three Gold's was dashed with the Team Pursuit to come tomorrow (Saturday) providing she has recovered from her crash.
In the second qualifying heat of 19 riders, there was better news for GB's Katie Colclough who qualified 11th after gaining a point in the final sprint to go through to the final. Katie won a Bronze medal in the same event at the Manchester World Track Cup and has showed that she has the talent to compete at this level after she helped Lizzie to a Gold medal the day before.
Left: Lizzie leads the field in qualifying. Right, the deep cut to elbow requiring stitches bleeds as Lizzie picks herself up from the track and carries on with the race. Photos: PhotoSport International (email)
Final
There was to be no fairy tale ending for Katie Colcough in this race when she finished 11th after gaining one point in the race. The team now focus on the Team Pursuit tomorrow.
______________________________________________________________
Day 1:Double Gold for GB!
Gold for Joanna Rowsell in the Women’s Pursuit.
Joanna Rowsell on her way to a Gold medal in Melbourne: Photo: PhotoSport International (email)
London girl, Joana Rowsell who finished third to British Olympic Silver medallist Wendy Houvenaghel in the Manchester round of the World Cup, has won the Gold medal in the second round of the UCI World Track Cup in Melbourne and now leads the UCI competition for that event. Joanna, who is a World Champion in the Women's Team Pursuit, beat Aussie Josephine Tomic in the final for the Gold by well over a second with a time of 3:41.183.
Talking to the Gold medal winner for the Women’s Pursuit, Joanna explained that everyone in the British camp was still feeling the effects of the travelling after arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. “It’s been quite tough acclimatising to the time difference so we were very tired after we arrived and not sleeping well at night. We made ourselves stay awake during the day yesterday and we’re fine today.”
Joanna explained that in qualifying the young Aussie started a lot faster than she did but then the British girl came back in the final kilometre to win that by the narrowest of margins. “I knew from the qualifying ride she was going to be up on me early on and that I was going to have to really drive it hard in the final kilometre.”
In the final, in front of a bigger crowd than in qualifying but still not the same atmosphere there was in Manchester (Joanna said they were the best!), Joanna was a second down after the first kilometre but came back in the second and final kilometre splits to win the Gold medal ride off convincingly. On how she is finding doing the Individual Pursuit, Joanna replied, “it’s been quite a big jump to be doing the Pursuit” Joanna explained. Melbourne is only her second World Track Cup with Manchester being the first. Two World Cups and two medals is a dream start for any young girl especially as her times are world class as well.
“I’m really pleased to have won here and I’m looking forward to the Team Pursuit on Saturday” the Olympic Academy rider explained. In the Team Pursuit, Joanna will be joined by the same riders that combined to win Gold in Manchester, Lizzie Armitstead and Katie Colclough.
Melbourne will be her final World Track Cup until Copenhagen where she is hoping to get a ride again. Joanna and the team fly back on Sunday.
1. Joanna Rowsell 3:41.183
2 TOMIC Josephine AUS 3:42.692
3 KOZLIKOVA Lada CZE 3:40.793
4 VAN DIJK Eleonora NED 3:43.028
Joanna was also fastest in qualifying, riding to a time of 3.38 for the 3,000 metres to edge out Aussie favourite, Josephine Tomic. Like Joanna, the Aussie girl is one of the new generation riders and with hundredths separating their qualifying times, a great final was expected but the British girl had far to much in the tank for Tomic despite the long flight to Australia and little time for acclimatisation.
Qualifying
1. ROWSELL Joanna GBR 3:38.088
2. TOMIC Josephine AUS 3:38.138
3. KOZLIKOVA Lada CZE 3:38.454
4. VAN DIJK Eleonora NED 3:39.558
Women's Scratch -- Gold for Lizzie Armitstead!
Victory for Lizzie Armitstead on the charge! Photo: PhotoSport International (email)
After three Golds at the Manchester World Track Cup, Lizzie Armitstead added to that tally with Gold in Melbourne to make her one of the hottest bunch race riders in the world right now. The young lady from Otley in Yorkshire has improved out of sight since her operation for a back problem in May of this year. First, she was a key rider for GB in the victory of Nicole Cooke in the Women's Road Race. That was Lizzie's first proper road race since the operation and she spent all day in the break and then helped Nicole in the closing stages!
Then, in Manchester, Lizzie showed what she could on the track as well with three victories in the first World Cup of the track season and has now followed that up with a victory in the second round of the World Cup.
Armitstead had her teammate Katie Colclough to help control the peloton and then in the final three laps of the race, the former Junior World Championship medallist got herself into a position from where she was able to see another victory in her sights. Afterwards she explained to CyclingNews.com "I thought I might be quite marked and Katie could go. We'd try a few things, and if that worked then that's great, I could chase. Fortunately, Katie got on the front and did a perfect job. The only pressure I felt was [what] I put on myself - I wanted to perform to the same level. I just see it as an opportunity, really.
Lizzie then admitted she got a lift from seeing her Academy teammate Joanna Rowsell on the podium before her race, adding that the team she is part of is the best in the world. Katie also spoke to CyclingNews and just as she did in Cottbus in 2007 at the European Championships, the East Midlands young lady admitted that she went out there to shake the race up a bit. "I wanted to make sure I shut the main attack [from world champion Eleonora Van Dijk] down because I knew what she could do" Katie explained to CyclingNews.com.
Photo: PhotoSport International (email)
Final
1. ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth GBR
2. CUCINOTTA Annalisa ITA
3. ROMANYUTA Evgeniya RUS
4. OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire ESP
5. MACLEAN Malindi NZL
6. QUINN Rebecca SBW
7. GOSS Belinda TOS
8. NA Ah Reum KOR
9. GILMORE Rochelle HPT
10. DRUYTS Kelly BEL
11. OLDS Shelley PRO
12. WOLFER Andrea SUI
13. DOWNING Tess BTA
14. SOLDO Eleonora ITA
15. WICHANA Thatsani THA
16. DAY Penny NZL
17. CHULKOVA Anastasiya RUS
18. USABIAGA BALERDI Ana ESP
19. CLIFFRYAN Theresa VBR
20. LEE Ju Mi KOR
21. VAN DIJK Eleonora NED
22. BECKER Charlotte GER
23. COLCLOUGH Katie GBR
Katie Colclough showing the other women her back wheel
Qualifying
In the Women's Scratch race, triple Gold medallist at Manchester last month, Otley's Lizzie Armitstead, qualified for the final finishing eighth in the heat. Katie Colclough who finished with a Bronze medal in Manchester, also made the final after finishing 10th in her heat. These events will give the British girls the top level experience required to help GB develop riders to challenge for more Olympic and World Championship Gold medals in the Women’s bunch races.
Qualifying
Heat 1
1. BECKER Charlotte GER
2. LEE Ju Mi KOR
3. DRUYTS Kelly BEL
4. GOSS Belinda TOS
5. DAY Penny NZL
6. WOLFER Andrea SUI
7. OLDS Shelley PRO
8. ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth GBR
9. CHULKOVA Anastasiya RUS
10. USABIAGA BALERDI Ana ESP
11. CUCINOTTA Annalisa ITA
12. WICHANA Thatsani THA
Heat 2
1. ROMANYUTA Evgeniya RUS
2. OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire ESP
3. DOWNING Tess BTA
4. QUINN Rebecca SBW
5. GILMORE Rochelle HPT
6. MACLEAN Malindi NZL
7. NA Ah Reum KOR
8. CLIFFRYAN Theresa VBR
9. KALITOVSKA Lesya UKR
10. COLCLOUGH Katie GBR
11. VAN DIJK Eleonora NED
12. SOLDO Eleonora ITA