Manchester UCI World Track Cup

 

Sunday 25th February 2007 (Day 3)

Home Page, Manchester World Track Cup

Report Eddie Allen, Pictures and reactions Larry Hickmott

 

The Dutch team were the best nation for the overall World Track Cup competition whilst the Great Britain team were the best nation in Manchester.

 

Day 3 of the UCI Manchester World Track Cup saw a big pay day for Chris Hoy in the Japanese Keirin when he and Ross Edgar combined to see off the challenge from the rest of the world. There was also a brilliant third Gold for Victoria Pendleton. Hoy and Edgar along with Craig MacLean were also in action in the Team Sprint and they trounced the opposition with a clear victory but there was heartache for the SiS team when they were deemed to false start twice, a learning experience for the younger riders in the team.

 

The Madison was as brutal as ever in final worthy of a World Championship race, where the riders attacked each other to a standstill and at the end of it all, there was a Silver medal For Rob Hayles and Geraint Thomas. There were also two Brits in the top six in the Women's Scratch Race (Armitstead/Cullen). BritishCycling.org.uk has a report, post race reactions and lots of photos with many more to come!
 

Mens International Keirin

 

Teun Mulder, Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar with their prize money after an exciting JKA Keirin series.

 

Round 1

 

Heats

Heat 1 of Round 1 got underway after a slight delay due to mechanical problems. Perkins took up pole behind the derny and after an initial attack by Narita, the Australian Perkins took the first heat ahead of Bauge, with Volikakis and Ptachnik making the repechage. In heat 2, Yaguchi took pole behind the dernyand when the pacer peeled off, Hoy attacked with Mulder in hot pursuit. However, the Dutchman couldn't match the power of Hoy over the last lap, despite coming mighty close. In Heat 3, Ross Edgar took up pole behind the derny and when Poland's Zielinski started the attacks, Edgar took the lead and scorched the field, leading from the front for almost 2 laps.

 

Repechages
With no Japanese riders through from the heats, it was not surprising that Watanabe took pole position in the first repechage. However he valiantly tried to lead from the front but was swamped, with Malaysian Ng taking the win joining second place Vynokurov in the final. 

 

Former winner, Frenchman Bourgain, had a lot to prove and with two Japanese riders in the second repechage heat, faced stiff opposition. However  Narita and Nagai held first and second with the French rider finishing fourth and failing to qualify for the final. Three Japanese riders lined up in the final repechage heat, bringing team tactics into play. Yaguchi and Ptachnik qualified for the final after some intimate contact between the chasers.

 

Round 2
Heat 1
Hoy took up pole behind the Derny with Perkins on his tail. As the Derny peeled off, Hoy upped the pace, eyeing his Australian rival all the way, with no rider having an answer to the Scot's sheer speed. Shane Perkins tailed Hoy in second with Vynokurov following them into the final.

Heat 2
From the gun Ross Edgar dropped in at the rear of the sextet, with three Japanese Keirin riders in the heat. The Japanese trio held the top three places behind the Derny. Edgar kicked when the Derny peeled off. Then Bauge's rear tyre burst like a gunshot, right in the middle of the banking, bringing the Frenchman down hard and leaving him badly injured on the apron. He eventually got to his feet to warm applause. All of which overshadowed the result, Edgar edging the win from Mulder followed by Narita.

 

Finals

Places 7-12
Sadly, Frenchman Bauge was unable to contest the Final due to injuries sustained in the earlier round leaving five riders to slug it out. Yaguchi and Nagai led out behind the Derny, Yaguchi got the jump on the Derny and held the opposition. However Ptacnik played a waiting game and came over the top with Ng on his tail to take the win, with Yaguchi coming in third.

Final (1-6)
So to the final of the Keirin competition and the last event of the weekend. With heavy hitters Hoy, Edgar, Mulder and Perkins in the final, things were always going to interesting, especially with 15,000 Euros up for grabs. Hoy muscled into pole behind the Derny, with Edgar dropping in on his shoulder. Hoy left a gap behind the Derny to accelerate into and when the pacer dropped away, Hoy stretched six riders into a line, with nobody having an answer to his speed. Edgar held on until the last corner when former World Keirin champion Mulder came around him to narrowly take the second place prize money. 

 

Hoy wins the big pay day from Mulder (obscured) and Ross Edgar in third.

 

Reactions

Chris Hoy on 10,000 reasons he's happy "You can say that money doesn't make a difference but it does and you could see the incentive it gave all the riders today and it was a fierce competition. Its been the longest weekend of racing I have ever had so to finish on a high makes it all truly memorable."

"The keirin, even if you have good legs, is an unpredictable event and I had a good ride in LA but there were a lot of guys here that weren't in LA. So my aim was to have good rides in the Olympic events and I had good rides in the Sprint and Team Sprint as well as the Kilo and this was like the icing on the cake. I was really happy to be selected to ride it and wanted to see how far I could go. I never really expected to win it."

On his strategy, he said "I'm a bit of a one trick pony at the moment and my real strength is to hit out hard at the start, keep the pace high enough they can't come past and when it comes to the last lap, hang in there thanks to my kilo strength. It worked in LA and here but I am working on my tactical side of things to be an all round sprint and keirin rider."

During the Keirin final, it was clear there was a little teamwork going on. After Hoy got the back wheel of the derny, there was a little musical places as Hoy and Edgar worked it so they had positions one and two and pushed Mulder back to three. Talking about the tactics, Chris explained "There is strength in numbers and the Japanese today used their heads to ride very smartly and we tried to do the same to give us some protection. We were hoping for a 1-2 but it was great to get us both on the podium."

 

Results: Mens International Keirin

 

 

Men's Madison

 

Left, Hayles and Thomas of Great Britain with their silver medals along with  Schep and Mouris (Gold) and Russia's Serguei Klimov/ Nikolai Trussov.

Qualifying Heat 1

Team 100% Me took the first sprint from Cespa-Eustrak. New Zealand almost gained a lap shortly after but the pack reacted and splintered. On the second sprint New Zealand held the lead with Italy taking second. The Dutch Team of Schep and Mouris attacked followed by ASC Dukla Prah, both taking a lap and 10 points apiece. They were quickly followed by the Danes and the Ukrainian team. The French team almost gained a lap but slipped back with around 1km to go. However France held on for the final maximum points of the Heat. Denmark took the overall, followed by Ukraine.

 

Qualifying Heat 2
The second heat got underway with the crowd's collective eye on the GB pairing of Rob Hayles and Geraint Thomas. The first sprint was taken by Argentina, followed by GB, Switzerland and the Australian team. Spain attacked after the first sprint and took a lap followed by Arda Natura. Sprint 2 was taken by Australia, followed by Poland, Czech Republic and Russia. The Russian and Australian teams took a lap and with 6 points gained from sprints, lead going into the third sprint. Brazil took the third sprint followed by GB fighting hard to take second ahead of Czech Republic and Argentina. The Australians had a commanding lead heading into the final sprint. In the last sprint Hayles of GB took third, guaranteeing a place in the finals, with Australia taking 1st place.

 

Final
GB got off to a positive start taking the 3 points in the first sprint, behind Arda Natura Pinarello who eventually gained a lap. Sprint 2 was taken by USA, with Dukla Prama taking second and GB third, putting the pairing of Hayles and Thomas in joint second. Arda Natura promptly lost their hard earned lap, then GB confidently took the 3rd sprint and the overall lead. Sprint 4 saw the Czech Republic take their first points with British outfit 100% Me taking third place and moving up to third overall. GB maintained their lead by 2 points over Russia.

 

The Dutch team broke away and took 5 points at the 5th Sprint with 100% Me taking a further 2 points. The Dutch breakaway resulted in a lap gain, pushing GB down into 2nd overall. Overall World Cup leaders, the Danes, reacted to the Dutch challenge in an effort to retain their supremacy. Sprint 6 was won by Argentina with the Danes taking second, moving the Argentines into the top five overall.

 

Then Hayles launched a scorching attack but Thomas seemed to have nothing left in the tank after the hand sling, quickly slinging his more experienced partner back in. Shortly after, Hayles attacked down the inside, hitting the green apron (and getting a warning in the process) and quickly took half a lap and 5 points in the next sprint, consolidating their second place but unable to gain the vital lap needed for overall victory. Things were tight at the top, coming into the last sprint, with the Netherlands in the lead overall and controlling the race on the track. With 3 laps to go Geraint Thomas launched a ferocious attack with Team 100% Me taking the 5 points, and GB taking second, and second overall, with the Dutch Team taking top spot and overall World Cup Victory in the Madison.

 

Reactions

Rob Hayles "I'm knackered! It was brutal out there for everyone . We started off really strong and then had a bit of a low spot in the middle and them came around really well. 'G' (Geraint Thomas) held it together really well and we finished strong. The strategy was to win the race, do as well as we could being a new team together."

"We went out to score points and once we started scoring we just continued that. You always know someone is going to have a go at the lap. You either do what we did here or what Cav (Mark Cavendish) and I did in LA which is absolutely nothing and then hopefully take a lap on your own. If you do it with other teams then you still need to score to win the race."

Rob agreed it was one of the harder World Cup Madisons. "They were all having a go out there. I geared up from this morning otherwise I would have been in trouble."

Geraint Thomas "I was finding it hard just sprinting, recovering and then going back in. Coming from the road it takes a while. In the Team Pursuit it is a lot easier because it is a constant and more like a lead out is for this. This was on/off, on/off and it took me a while to get into it. I managed to hold it together and Rob was really strong and dragged me round the middle part of the race when I was on my knees. I had to dig deep because I didn't want to let him down. I did the Madison in Moscow and that is still fresh in my memory so I had no problems with the technical side of things. Rob and I seemed to settle in nicely."

Jonny Bellis "I'm really pleased with that ride. We just went out and got stuck in, picked up a few points early on. We both got caught in a bad position at the halfway mark and that took a lot out of us and means we missed a couple of sprints. We realised we had a chance of a medal so we gave it everything but didn't quite have enough to get there. Fourth - we're really pleased."

Ben Swift "I'm made up being out there. Any top 5 in a World Cup, you gotta be happy. My goal back in October was to get a top 5 but that went out the window when I did my shoulder in. Now I have been able to come back and do it, I'm really happy. The shoulder was fine out there, no problem at all. It was just the legs taking a bit of a battering in the middle when I went through a bad patch. Another year and I think we'll be ready to have a good go!"

 

Results:  Mens Madison 

 

Double Dutch celebration!

 

Women's Scratch

Heats

Heat 1 started with a very early break from Boyarskaya and Bronzini. Cuban Gonzalez and American Day joined the breakaway pair for the final lap, with Boyarskaya taking the sprint from Day. Heat 2 was a canny affair until 2 laps to go when, Recycling's Kate Cullen took the advantage and a comfortable win.

 

Final
A field of 9 riders including the two Brits Armitstead and Cullen gained a lap on the bunch and made things really interesting going into the final stages of the race. A heavy fall on the bell lap, resulting in a rider being stretchered off overshadowed the win by Wang, and a strong 4th and 6th place for Lizzie Armistead and Kate Cullen respectively.

 

 

Reactions

Lizzy Armitstead: Shocked was how Lizzy reacted when she learnt she had been fourth, a placing she has had a number of times in major competitions and so close to a medal. "It was an experience out there. I went into the first race apprehensive and I race better when I am confident, so I raced the final and was quite surprised how easy I found it. I wasn't far off from being up there today when I rode more aggressively and how I like to ride. So it was good. Crossing the gap was fine. My conditioning was good and I feel I just lacked the top end speed these riders do. It's all positive."

 

Results: Womens Scratch 

 

Kate Cullen streets them in the heats to get through to the final.

 

 

Women's Keirin

 

Grishina, Pendleton and Guo on the podium after the Women's Keirin race. 

 

Round 1

Heat 1 suffered a false start as two riders jumped the gun and overtook the Derny. After the restart Casas held the lead until the bell when Chinese Guo kicked at took the victory ahead of Bailey. Heat 2 saw GB's Anna Blyth take on team sprint nemesis Willy Kanis. Blyth held the lead as the pacer dropped off.

 

Kanis came over the top like a steam train but Blyth responded and took the win with conviction with Fang taking second. Heat 3 saw Pendleton take the lead behind the Derny. Pendleton stamped her authority on the heat, upping the pace incrementally and easily distancing Clair in second. Heat 4 saw Hijgennar and Grishina battle for top spot, with the Dutch woman all over the bike trying to hold of eventual winner Grishina.

 

Round 2

Heat 1 : Contreras of Mexico came over the top after the Derny pulled off, but Guo unloaded and easily took the heat with Grishina and Garcia taking second and third respectively.

Heat 2 : Pendleton and Blyth faced off with stiff opposition from the Dutch pairing of Hijgennar and Kanis. The Derny peeled off and the Dutch riders hit the front with Pendleton coming over the top. On the line, Pendleton stole the win by a whisker with Kanis second and Cueff forcing Anna Blyth into fourth and out of the final.

 

Finals

Minor Final (7-12): Blyth once again took up pole behind the Derny in an attempt to allay her disappointment in missing out on the 1-6 final. Anna lead from start until around 10cm from the line, with Australian Bayley taking the win.

Final (1-6): Pendleton had a lot to do when the Derny swung off but did not disappoint, using her sheer power to pass Grishina and early leader Guo to claim the Gold Medal.

 

Pendleton wins comfortably her third Gold medal of the competition.

 

Reactions

Victoria Pendleton: The winner of no less than three Gold medals at Manchester this weekend, a fantastic performance from the Stotfold rider, said after her final win that everything went to plan in the final and that she had no legs left. At which point she promptly sat down (collapsed!) and took her shoes off whilst the BBC waited to interview her.

"I just went with the flow of the race out there. I thought Shuang would be pretty strong and that she would take the front with a lap and half to go. I have a lot to live up to now!"

Anna Blyth The 18 year old, a World Junior Keirin champion last year it must be remembered, said of her rides in the senior Keirin: "I was disappointed to miss the final. It was so close in the Semi but I got myself into a pickle and didn't help myself. I just wanted to go out with a win really and just pressed on a bit too early in that last one and paid for it at the end. I am well happy with my World Cup though."

 

Results: Womens Keirin 

 

 

Men's Team Sprint

 

Team Sprint Podium, Germany, Great Britain and SouthAustralia.com

 

Qualifying

Disappointment for trio of Kenny, Staff and Crampton, as SIS were disqualified for two false starts. However, British spirits were instantly raised by a stunning 44.155 from the GB trio of Hoy, Edgar and Maclean.

 

Finals

Bronze Final

South Australia triumphed over Australia 'proper' in a close race where teams were never more than 2 tenths of a second.

Gold Final
A blistering ride from Hoy, Maclean and Edgar, saw them win Gold by over a second over the Germans, with a faultless display of technique and power.

 

Results:  Mens Team Sprint 

 

Great Britain's Craig MacLean peels off the front and Ross Edgar takes up the challenge in the Team Sprint as Chris Hoy lays off ready to make his final lap dash to seal the victory for the World Cup leaders.

 

Reactions
Craig MacLean "I was where I expected to be and hopefully there is more to come for the trial in two weeks time and who knows, the Worlds after that. Overall, the ride and time today was fantastic. I didn't feel like I was particularly on it today but that's more down to where I am in my training right now. A few more tweaks will make all the difference. At the World Cup last time I did a 17.54 and that was pretty much bang on where I was today (17.55). There is more to come for sure."

RESULTS: Mens International Keirin | Mens Madison |  Womens Scratch | Womens Keirin | Mens Team Sprint 

 

 

PHOTOS (lots more images to come later in the week)

 

JAPANESE KEIRIN (JKA)

 

A former great in sprinting, Fred Magne, now coaching the Japanese team, gives them a talk prior to the Japanese Keirin event.

Round 1 action as Hoy dispenses with the Japanese challenge as Mulder waits to pounce. 

 

Start of the final as Hoy charges to the front for the derny and Edgar goes to the back before moving up to join Hoy at the front of the string.

 

A lap into the race and the formation is settled and Hoy leads, Edgar, Mulder and Perkins.

 

Bell lap and Hoy streets them and goes all the way to take the money.

 

10,000 reasons for Chris to be well chuffed with the victory.

 

Hoy celebrates with family after the victory.

 

MADISON

 

A paring that has been on the top step of the World Championship podium many a time, Juan Esteban Curuchet and Walter Perez (Argentina).

 

Thomas finds his sprinting legs during a battle for points.

 

Rob Hayles slings in Geraint Thomas.

 

The Dutch pairing of Peter Schep & Jens Mouris (inside) go for their lap take passing one of the lapped riders as they do so.

 

Tony Gibb of PCA/Evans Cycles hand slings in his partner Jason Allen during the heats of the Madison.

 

Russias Nikolai Trussov and Serguei Klimov on their way to a bronze medal.

 

TEAM SPRINT

Daniel Ellis,  Mark French, and Joel Leonard on their way to fourth place in the competition for Australia.

 

Double Olympic champion Ryan Bayley leads the SouthAustralia.com team (with Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland) on their way to a Bronze medal. 

 

Bad news for Jason Kenny as his rear wheel slips and he comes to grief on the start line.

 

The commissaires study the video footage from the EIS which shows just what happened in the second false start by the SiS team.

 

Ryan Bayley hams it up on the podium...

 

WOMENS KEIRIN

 

Minor final and Kristine Bayley (Australia) edges out Anna Blyth and Nancy Contreras Reyes (Mexico).

 

In the final, Diana Maria Garcia Orrego leads from China's Shuang Guo. Victoria Pendleton sits near the back waiting her moment.

Final and Diana Maria Garcia Orrego opens a gap with two laps to go as Chinas Shuang Guo chases and Victoria Pendleton starts her run around the outside.

 

Round 2, heat 2, and Anna Blyth has the rear wheel of the derny as the Dutch group behind her.

 

Round 2, heat 2, which was more of the final with all the big hitters in the race, was a win for Victoria Pendleton ahead of Willy Kanis, Virginie Cueff and Anna Blyth just missing out on the main final in 4th.