Men's Team Sprint

 

2008 World Track Championships - Day 1

MEDAL FINALS

 

The ride-off for gold saw another in the series of epic encounters between the GB and French trios. From the gun the crowd exploded in their support for the two teams - the French are well known and loved from their regular appearances at the Revolution meetings through the winter - and at the end of the first lap Jamie Staff and Gregory Bauge had both turned in 17.2 second efforts. The French had a lead of just 7 hundredths.

However, the second lap saw the French gain control, extending their advantage to 4 tenths of a second, a margin which grew by a further tenth on the final lap as Chris Hoy tried in vain to stem the tide as the rampant and very technically neat French came in in a truly remarkable time of 43.271 seconds, to claim a hat-trick of titles since 2006.

Jamie Staff swings up, Ross Edgar takes over and Chris Hoy is poised to lead the Brits home to their fastest ever time for the Team Sprint.

 

If one had to identify the difference between the two teams, it was probably the French team's technical perfection. The GB trio just were not able to keep their formation as tight on the first lap and this loss of aerodynamic advantage probably cost them on the last two laps.

 

Long may the epic encounters between these teams continue. There was a final heartwarming moment when the French anthem failed at the medal presentation and the crowd enthusiastically filled in with a hearty rendition of the Marseillaise.

Earlier, the Dutch built a steady lead in their ride off for bronze against the Germans and smoothly cruised to a stunning time of 43.718s to claim the medal.

1. FRA France (BAUGE Gregory, BOURGAIN Mickael TOURNANT Arnaud) 43.271s
beat
2. GBR Great Britain (EDGAR Ross, HOY Chris, STAFF Jamie) 43.777


3. NED Netherlands (BOS Theo, MULDER Teun, VELDT Tim) 43.718
beat
4. GER Germany (ENDERS Rene, LEVY Maximilian, NIMKE Stefan) 44.275

The amazing French team who raised the bar again for the Team Sprint.

 

Post race reactions:

Jamie Staff: “It was good, it is so weird. I was probably the freshest I have ever been and the best shape I have ever been and with that comes this really weird feeling. You feel that good, you can hardly feel youR legs. That first lap, I could not have told you if it was a 18.5 or 17.0, I just had no idea (it was 17.279). Normally, there is some fatigue in there and you kind of get an idea of how fast you are going but with the crowd screaming and the everything else you feel numb.”

 

“I was ecstatic to see the time I did in the first lap (qualifying - 17.355) and then I knew I could dig a little deeper in the second one and I just got aggressive and gave it my best and did another best time. Unfortunately it was not enough but it was another British best time and we’re moving in the right direction – we just need to close the gap to the French.”

 

“They are phenomenal team and everyone knows that. It is not out of the question though and we can beat them. We have a good platform to work now and hopefully there is no more trial and error and everyone knows what works for them. I know what works for me. I’m looking forward to going home now and spending time with the family after being away for a week.”

 

Chris Hoy: “I don’t think even they would have predicted a 42.3 – that is an incredible time but it shows if you get the preparation right, and all three riders are on form on the day then it is possible. I was really pleased for us to do our best ever time and we can’t be disappointed. It is not as though it is even a super fast day it's Manchester and we train here all the time so it's great to have that gauge to see how fast we are going. If you do your fastest ever time ever and get beaten, you have to shake the hand of the team that beat you.”

 

“The winter has been fairly disappointing in the Team Sprint and what gives me a lot of satisfaction from this is we made a significant step on from the world cups and have gone even faster than Palma last year. The French raised the bar again and it is going to be up to us to prove we can match that for Beijing. I was more disappointed last year to come second by such a small margin. At least there was no question that the best team on the night won this evening.”

 

Ross Edgar: “I was really happy with the start after psychologically missing a rev, and losing a few inches to him round the bend, I was really digging deep to hold his wheel. The crowd were fantastic, it was really good support. We are moving with the times and getting faster and faster and holding our spot at the top. I think we’re still in contention for the top spot in Beijing.”

 

Arnaud Tournant: “There is a lot of emotion after this. It was no easy for me today as I was just a substitute for the qualification. Since 1997, I take the Team Sprint and it is a big event for me. I am very happy with the first place today. Yes, the time was a surprise but during the season all the podiums for the Team Sprint for the World Cup and for Revolution, we have been very fast. It was though our best performance and a crazy time for us and the British”.

 

“I have a good history at Manchester since the 2000 and the World Championships and the Kilo with Chris (Hoy) and Jason (Queally) and it has been a good career for me here at Manchester. I am very happy racing here and the support we get.”

 

Ross Edgar is truly wasted after being part of the fastest British team ever over three laps of the track around Manchester. 

The Brits are still in a state of recovery as they stand on the podium for the medals.

 

QUALIFICATION

 

With all respect to the rest of the competitors, the Team Sprint Qualifying was all about the last two heats. Going off against the Germans in the penultimate heat, the GB Team produced their best ever time of 43.910, built on a stunning first lap by Jamie Staff in which he was clearly in danger of dropping second man Ross Edgar.

 

Edgar did brilliantly to hold on a squeeze out a fine lap of his own before handing over to the world's best all round sprinter, Chris Hoy, who knows a thing or two about producing the goods under pressure and he duly delivered to bring the team home under the magic 44 second mark. It had been a bit ragged, but it was quick. Would it be enough to reach the final?

The final heat was all about Gregory Bauge's awesome 17.2s first lap. From there they were always on a roll and came home in the fabulous time of 43.514, a world's best in the event and by a distance. Almost unnoticed the Dutch trio came in, apparently well down, but actually also under 44 seconds. It took several seconds to grasp that they had only narrowly missed out on the gold medal final, finishing just outside the GB time and going in to a ride-off for bronze against the Germans.

GB get off to a fast start.

After Teun Mulder started the Dutch off, Theo Bos takes over with Tim Veldt in his slipstream.

German team get under way.

 

Qualification

1. FRA France 43.514s
BAUGE Gregory
BOURGAIN Mickael

SIREAU Kevin

2. GBR Great Britain 43.910
EDGAR Ross
HOY Chris
STAFF Jamie

3. NED Netherlands 43.958
BOS Theo
MULDER Teun
VELDT Tim

4. GER Germany 44.257
ENDERS Rene
LEVY Maximilian
NIMKE Stefan

5. AUS Australia 44.615
ELLIS Daniel
FRENCH Mark
KERSTEN Ben

6. RUS Russia 44.898
BORISOV Sergey
KUCHEROV Sergey
RUBAN Sergey

7. CHN China 45.004
FENG Yong
LI Wen Hao
ZHANG Lei

8. UKR Ukraine 45.061
BOLIBRUKH Yevhen
TSYUPYK Yuriy
VYNOKUROV Andriy

9. JPN Japan 45.081
KITATSURU Tsubasa
NAGAI Kiyofumi
WATANABE Kazunari

10. USA United States 45.128s
BLATCHFORD Michael
DUVENDECK Adam
MASSIE Giddeon

11. POL Poland 45.164
BIELECKI Maciej
KUCZYNSKI Kamil
KWIATKOWSKI Lukasz

12. ESP Spain 45.276
ALONSO RUBIO Alvaro
MAZQUIARAN URIA Hodei
MELIA MANGRINAN Salvador

13. CZE CzechRepublic 45.679
BABEK Tomas
PTACNIK Filip
SPICKA Denis

14. GRE Greece 45.699
MANTZOURANIS Athanasios
VOLIKAKIS Christos
VOUKELATOS Panagiotis

15. MAS Malaysia 45.708
AWANG Azizulhasni
MD YUNOS Muhammad Edrus
NG ONN LAM Josiah