World Track Cup

Jaded O'Grady loses final

August 16: Cyclist Stuart O'Grady last night paid the price for an unorthodox preparation to the upcoming world championships when he finished second in the final of the 4km individual pursuit at the World Cup track meeting in Adelaide last night.

O'Grady, who returned to Australia earlier this month after an impressive debut ride in the Tour de France, finished almost two seconds behind 21-year-old American Christian Vande Velde in the first medal event of the three-day meeting.

Vande Velde, whose father John represented the US at the 1968 and '72 Olympics, trailed the Australian by four hundredth of a second after the first kilometre but steadily built a lead from that point on to head the standings in the event after the World Cup's final round.

O'Grady conceded after the race at the Adelaide Superdrome that his preparation on the roads in France rather than on the track, coupled with lingering jet lag after his return from Europe, had counted against him.

He was originally supposed to drop out of the Tour after 10 days, but so impressive was his form he opted to stay on for the arduous mountain stages at the request of his French team and with the blessing of Australian cycling coach Charlie Walsh.

The 24-year-old remained virtually assured of contesting the individual pursuit at the world titles in Perth from August 27, taking the berth won by Brad McGee who is now sidelined through illness.

But O'Grady said after the race he will need all the time he can get between now and then to re-attune to track riding and fine tune his bike for the pursuit event.

"It's certainly a change coming on to race 4km on the track after what I've been through in the last couple of months, so it's going to take a little bit longer to get used to," he said.

With leading Australian riders Gary Neiwand, McGee, and Darryn Hill missing because of injury, illness and coaching advice, O'Grady has answered promoters' prayers by agreeing to ride in the points race, Madison and at least one round of the teams pursuit this morning.

Australian sprinter Graham Sharman secured the other gold medal of the evening in the 1km time trial, finishing around one-tenth of a second in front of Poland's Grzegorz Krejner.

Sharman, who lists his career ambition as winning a world championship title, has a chance of achieving that goal in his home town later this month.