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Marion Clignet
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Olympic news for September 21
More on Llaneras and the points race
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Spaniard Juan Llaneras was unstoppable last night in the points race, after he took two laps out of the bulk of the field to win the gold medal. He was always in front and always in the breaks, meaning that he made both groups that took that vital lap.
A points race (and a madison) is decided primarily on laps and secondarily on points - a rider who laps the field but has no sprint points will still win the race. For example, last night local favourite Stuart O'Grady finished with more points than anyone (26) due to his quick sprinting, but missed both moves that took a lap out. He finished 10th, but had he joined one of them, he would have had the silver medal.
Of course, this raised criticism from some Australian fans who felt that Scott McGrory should have been riding the points race in place of O'Grady. While O'Grady is a top quality track rider, his racing has been done mainly on the road this season, and this lack of fine tuning showed. Six day specialist, Scott McGrory has had more experience at racing these type of events, however he will pin his hopes on the madison tonight with Brett Aitken, and the Australian pair are considered good medal chances. Interestingly, McGrory will be the fifth Australian rider for the road race, as Nathan O'Neill will just concentrate on the time trial, and Brad McGee is unsure about his collarbone.
As for Llaneras, the 31 year old Spaniard is no stranger to points racing. Born on May 17, 1969 in Porreres, Spain, Llaneras came 6th in the 1996 Olympic points race, 1st in the World Championships points race (1996, 1998), and first in the World Championships madison (1997 and 1999). He is lightly built, at 1.80 metres and 65 kilos, but has an excellent turn of speed. The six day circuit last season was a mild disappointment for him, but he has made up for that now.
Bartko likely to join professional ranks
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German Olympic and World record breaker, Robert Bartko, helped make history during the Games when he was part of the first team pursuit squad to go under the four minute barrier. It should be pointed out that he was the strong man of the team, often doing full lap turns as opposed to the normal half laps. And then there was his Gold medal and Olympic record in the individual pursuit.
Good pursuit riders often have good qualities for road racing, but 24 year old Bartko has yet to sign a contract with a professional team. He has expressed the desire to, and sees himself as a classics rider and not a Tour rider. An earlier offer from top German team Telekom fell through just before the Games, however director Walter Godefroot has said that he will renew talks with him.
Bartko has good prospects with the German Coast team, who are seeking to buy their way into the first division next year. He has not yet signed the contract until he can sort out a few things with the team: cash, other riders, and his program.
German gears
The German team that broke the four minute barrier for the 4,000 metres did so using larger gearing than is conventional for track riders. They looked to be pedalling slower than the Ukranians, but were certainly travelling quicker. The four were using 180 mm cranks, with a monster 108" gear, although the exact chainring combinations are not known. A gear that size corresponds to 48x12, 52x13, or 56x14 and other variations on the 4:1 ratio.
Van Moorsel's wheels
Despite riding an Australian made frame to a new World Record and a gold medal, Dutchwoman Leontien Van Moorsel was using 'home' built wheels. These were made specially for her in the Netherlands in Emmeloord, costing approximately NLG 5,000 ($US 1,800) per wheel. Her whole bike was worth NLG 25,000 ($US 9,000).
Hruska positive
Czech Jan Hruska has tested positive to the banned drug nandrolone and will excluded from participating in Sydney should his "B" sample return the same result. The winner of two stages in the Giro d'Italia (prologue and last stage), was considered to be a favourite for the Olympic time trial on September 30.
The test was carried out during the Vuelta a Espaņa, where he finished 75th overall, with one second placing in the toughest stage to El Angliru. If his "B" sample is also positive, he will become the second Czech (after Zbynek Vacura) to test positive during these Games.
The Vitalicio rider has a contract with ONCE for 2001, however this could be placed in jeopardy now.
Tonight's action
The final night of track racing at the Olympics is set to be another filled with excitement. Three gold medals will be decided: the men's keirin, the women's points race and the men's madison. The keirin is held in three rounds. The first round has three heats (six riders per heat) with the top two from each automatically progressing to the second round. Those that miss out can try via one of the first round repechages (three in total), with six more riders selected from these. The second round of the keirin is run as two heats of six, with the best three in each qualifying for the final.
In tonight's keirin, Marty Nothstein will go in as favourite after his powerful gold medal performance last night. His main competition will be German Jens Fiedler, Frenchmen Florian Rousseau and Frederic Magne, Australian Gary Neiwand, Czech Pavel Buran, and New Zealander Anthony Peden although the latter was ill during his sprint qualification.
The women's points race is held over 25 kilometres, and is in the same format as the men's. Points sprints are every 10 laps for 5, 3, 2, 1 points, with double points on the final lap. If a rider laps the field, then she is the winner.
Favourites for this will be the pursuit specialists, Marion Clignet (Fra), Leontien Van Moorsel (Ned), Sarah Ulmer (NZl), Alayna Burns (Aus), Belem Guerro (Mex), and Dori Ruano (Spa).
The remaining event this evening will be the men's madison, with 14 two rider teams on the track. The scoring format in this race is similar to the points race, with sprints every 20 laps for 240 laps in total. If a team takes a lap, then they are considered the winners.
However, only one rider from each team takes his turn in the race at a given time, meaning that there is a change over between the pairs every lap. One rider grabs the other's hand or wrist, and imparts his momentum to his teammate and then pulls off the the top of the track, waiting for his partner to lap him again. The madison is probably one of the most dangerous, but most exciting to watch.
Favourites include the 1999 Spanish World Champions, Juan Llaneras and Isaac Galvez, the Swiss pair Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart, Italians Silvio Martinello and Marco Villa, Australians Scott McGrory and Brett Aitken, Belgians Etienne De Wilde and Matthew Gilmore and Brits Brad Wiggins and Rob Hayles.
It will be an exciting finale, and cyclingnews.com will once more be providing live updates throughout the evening.