Results and Reports for December 9-10

Germany

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Berlin Rad Gala

Berlin Rad Gala

Berlin Velodrome, December 9, 2000

Report

Saturday night saw the first of hopefully many "Rad Gala" (Cycling Gala) meets at the Berlin velodrome. To honour Germany's multiple Olympic and world championship medalists, the organizers put up 150,000 DM in prize money and invited sixteen world-class track riders to compete in an omnium event, Germany against the "world elite", with teams of four sprinters and four "pursuiters" each. For Germany, Jens Fiedler, Jan van Eijden, Eyk Pokorny and Soeren Lausberg lined up as sprinters, alongside Jens Lehmann and Guido Fulst from the world record team pursuit squad and the world champion Madison pairing of Stephan Steinweg and Erik Weisspfennig.

For the rest of the world, the sprint quartet consisted of a temporarily unretired and blindingly quick Frederic Magne (France), Jason Queally (Great Britain), Roberto Chiappa (Italy) and Ainars Kiskis (Latvia), while the "pursuiters" were some of the best Six-Day riders on the circuit: Etienne De Wilde (Belgium), Silvio Martinello (Italy), Juan Llaneras (Spain) and Jimmi Madsen (Denmark).

A medium-sized but very enthusiastic crowed cheered on the riders. There was a good atmosphere in the velodrome, with the riders relaxed and enjoying the competition, fans spilling into the pits to seek autographs between events.

Among the evening's many highlights:

Two rainbow jerseys went head-to-head in the sprint competition, with sprint champion Jan van Eijden taking keirin champion Frederic Magne for the win. Jens Fiedler pipped Roberto Chiappa for third. In the qualifying round, Fiedler lead into the final banking then left the sprinter's lane to take Pokorny up the track, leaving a small opening for Magne, who dove underneath and shot past to win the heat. Kilometre specialists Jason Queally and Soren Lausberg finished one-two in the four lap sprint handicap, which saw the pure sprinters looking a little blown towards the end.

For the pursuiters, local hero Guido Fulst won the miss-and-out from Six-Day legend Etienne De Wilde in a close sprint. Juan Llaneras rode away from the field to dominate the points race. The 3 km team pursuit made the older riders and fans nostalgic, ridden as it was on normal track bikes without disk wheels. Despite lining up with half the world and Olympic champion pursuit squad (Lehman and Fulst) and the second-best individual pursuiter at the Worlds (Steinweg), Germany lost to the "world elite" by one second. The winning time was 3:27, which most of the squad could have bettered individually. But watching Llaneras and Lehmann lead their final laps did make one wonder what the Spaniard is capable of in a pursuit.

The keirin was unorthodox if entertaining. Mechanical problems put the Derny out of action so Six-Day rider Steinweg volunteered to lead the event himself, mugging for the crowd in a large motorcycle helmet. Both Fiedler and Magne rode up alongside to deliver friendly head-butts in the opening laps. Van Eijden led the sprint out after the pacer pulled off, but Fiedler and Magne swept past, with the German revenging his world championship loss.

Also on the program were two stayer races behind the big motors. In the first heat, Switzerland's Hanskurt Brand narrowly beat Germany's Carsten Podlesch and Mario Vonhoff in a thrilling sprint, three abreast for the final two laps at close to 80 km/h. In the second heat Podlesch charged from behind to take Brand by a wheel.

To conclude the evening and settle the omnium, all sixteen riders took to the track for an Olympic pursuit, each man leading for one lap. The world team took a slight lead at the bell after Madsen threw Llaneras past with a Madison hand-sling, but Germany's anchor Stephan Steinweg, who uncorked a few furious long sprints in earlier races, rode a brilliant final lap for the win.

Results

Sprint

1 Jan van Eijden (Ger)
2 Frederic Magne (Fra) 
3 Jens Fiedler (Ger)
4 Roberto Chiappa (Ita)

Sprint Handicap

1 Jason Queally (GBr)
2 Soren Lausberg (Ger)

Miss-and-out

1 Guido Fulst (Ger)
2 Etienne de Wilde (Bel)

Points Race

1 Juan Llaneras

3000m Team Pursuit

1 World (Llaneras, Martinello, de Wilde, Madsen)	3.27
2 Germany (Fulst, Lehmann, Steinweg, Weisspfennig)

Keirin

1 Jens Fiedler (Ger)
2 Frederic Magne (Fra)

Stayers

Heat 1

1 Hanskurt Brand (Swi)
2 Carsten Podlesch (Ger)
3 Mario Vonhoff (Ger)

Heat 2

1 Carsten Podlesch (Ger)
2 Hanskurt Brand (Swi)

Olympic pursuit

1 Germany
2 World

Results and report courtesy of Scott Anderson