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Los Angeles Track World Cup - CDM
ADT Velodrome, Carson, California, USA, December 10-12, 2004
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Session 4 - December 11 Evening
Tight evening peaks with nail-biting points race
By Eddie Monnier
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The evening session of the second day's racing at the Los Angeles World Cup saw a wealth of tight, hard-fought racing, with the evening's high point a men's points race that came down to the very last sprint.
Men's team pursuit
Relatively close qualifying times among the four medal round contenders suggested two real duels in the team pursuit finals. The Ukrainian team faced off against Australia in the ride for bronze / 4th. The Australians opened with a slightly faster first kilometer but the Ukrainians stomped to a 1:00.824 second kilometer and move to a 1.5 second advantage. In spite of dropping to three riders well before the Aussies did, the Ukrainians 4:11.799 gave them a margin of victory of almost two seconds over the Australians.
The Germans opened with a margin of 1.3 seconds over the Kiwis in the first kilometer. The Kiwis clawed back to within a third of a second by the end of the third kilometer and before losing their fourth rider. The Germans, still powered by all four riders, eked out another half-second advantage in the final kilometer to win the Gold in a time of 4:10.998.
Men's sprint
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The quarterfinal provided only one surprise with Kazuya Narita (Japan) beating Tim Veldt (Netherlands) to advance to the semi-finals. Jose Trinidad Villanueva (Spain) rode a 10.761 to dispatch Matthias John (Germany) and set the fastest time of the quarterfinal heats.
Villaneuva continued his display of strength in the semis by forcing Mickael Bourgain (France) to a three-ride win. This set the stage for Bourgain to face his teammate Arnaud Tournant in the gold / silver ride. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, his second warning of the evening in ride three meant he would have to cede the bronze medal to Narita.
Bourgain, who qualified only 0.05 seconds slower than Tournant, took the first ride with a time of 11.080. Tournant led the second ride and kept a very slow start but once the two speedsters got it rolling, he could not hold off Bourgain who claimed the gold in two rides with an 11.664 in the second ride when Tournant seemed to concede the drag race with about 30 meters remaining.
Although tired from two back-to-back days of hard racing, living kilometer legend turned keirin rider and sprinter Arnaud Tournant was more than happy to meet promising US sprinter Michael Blatchford (current Silver Medalist, Junior Worlds and reigning Junior and Elite US Sprint Champion). Eyeing the young American, the likeable Frenchman asked we take another photo of the two with his own camera. He clearly has an eye for talent.
Women's individual pursuit
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The expected close battle between Erin Mirabella (USA) and Elena Chalykh (Russia) never materialized as the Russian opened an immediate advantage of 3.5 seconds in the first kilometer over her faster qualifying competitor.
In the gold / silver ride, Katie Mactier (Australia) shrugged off post-Olympic malaise to catch Emma Davies (Great Britain) with a lap and a half remaining to close out her clear domination of the field.
"I always go out and give it my best but this meet was more a matter of getting back into it after Athens," said Mactier. "I spoke with Shane Kelly (four time Olympian) a lot about what to expect after Athens and there's no doubt it's been a mental challenge because every waking second was directed to the Olympic campaign and then it's over."
But Mactier says she also saw the Olympics as the starting point not the finishing line and says she is 'hungrier than ever' for victory.
"I've finished with silver three times now (2003 & 2004 World Championships and Athens) and I want to go one better," she said. "I was always aware that World Championships would come up very fast after the Olympics to bite us on the backside so I made sure I organised myself to race at Oceania to get back into the swing of it."
Mactier won gold in the Oceania Championships earlier this month and has firmly set her sights on gold at the World Championships being staged in Los Angeles in March. The World Championships were in May in 2004 and August in 2003 but a move by the international federation to change the scheduling of the World Cup Series and World Championships mean they now match up with the Australian summer.
"It's a huge incentive to have the worlds in March and I'd kick myself if I didn't take advantage of the Aussie summer and all the domestic racing available to be in the best possible form," said Mactier. "It's also good to have tried out the travel to LA and ridden on the track because now I can settle back in Melbourne and build my endurance base and focus on doing what I need to do to win gold."
The Los Angeles 250m track is a new one and Mactier is happy she has had the opportunity to test it out.
"It's different than what we're used to in that the straights seem longer and the bends are much sharper," she explained. "It means you get flipped out of the corners."
Nail biter of a men's points race
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Nineteen riders lined up for the men's points race. For those new to track racing, here is a very terse primer. Points are allotted 5-3-2-1 for the first through fourth finishers every 10 laps of the 120-lap race. Any rider taking a lap over the field earns 20 points for each lap taken. Any rider losing a lap to the field loses 20 points. The winner is the one with the most points at the end.
Only a few laps into the 120-lap race, Rafat Ratajcsyk (Poland) and Yauheni Sobal (Belarus) launched the first attack of the race. The field quickly went to single file under the pressure but eased at the catch. Marc Altmann (Germany) Darren Young (Australia), and Sobal attacked and remained off the front for the first of the twelve sprints, which was taken by Young.
Several accelerations prompted the dangerous duo of Sergi Escobar (Spain) and Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia) to attack in pursuit of the second sprint. Chris Newton (Great Britain) took note of the threat with Colby Pearce (USA) in tow. Newton won the sprint to move into first with six points.
The pack survived a flurry of accelerations before Kei Uchida (Japan) won the third sprint, which was quickly followed by a make-the-race seven-rider break. Present were rainmakers Pearce, Newton, Ignatiev, Escobar and World Scratch Race Champion Greg Henderson (New Zealand). Also making the move were Marco Arriagada (Chile) and Cancio Sebastian (Argentina). This group took a lap and most of the rainmakers went straight through and off the front again. The splintered field caused the leaders to become the field.
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After the 80-to-go sprint, it was a very tight race with Newton leading at 29 points, Escobar at 27 and home turf favorite Pearce in third at 25 points. Newton, Pearce, Henderson and Ignatiev took yet another lap, putting them in first (49 points), second (45 points), and tied for third (41 points), respectively.
Pearce put in a big attack just before the midway point. Ignatiev set off in hot pursuit and made the catch as the bell rang for the 60-to-go sprint, but Pearce still took the sprint to move within one point of race leader Newton. Pearce and Ignatiev hammered on to take another lap. The 20-point bonus gave Colby the lead with 70 points and a six-point advantage over the second-placed Russian. Neither scored in the next sprint that was won by Newton, so the six-point gap remained.
However, at the 40-to-go sprint, Ignatiev scored one point to move within striking distance of the American. The race became two mini-races, with Pearce and Ignatiev battling for the Gold and Newton trying to secure third place ahead of Henderson.
The Russian chipped away again at the American by taking third (2 points) versus Pearce's fourth (1 point) in the 30-to-go sprint, while Newton won the sprint just ahead of Henderson to further his advantage in the duel for the Bronze.
Escobar scooped up the 20-to-sprint ahead of Pearce who edged out the Russian's to move back to a five-point advantage. That brought on even more cheering by the vocal crowd that was clearly enjoying the World Cup event.
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Ignatiev put in a strong attack to take the 10-to-go sprint ahead of Jos Pronk (Netherlands) while the American was just clipped by Newton and Escobar and finished just out of the points. This set up a storybook ending for the home country hero as the score was now tied at 74 points with one just sprint remaining. Under current UCI rules, if the race is tied at the finish the winner is decided based on finishing order on the final lap among those tied for points.
The entire crowd was on its feet screaming and banging the boards as it tried to will Pearce extra speed to finish ahead of the hard fighting Russian. The two were side-by-side fighting through traffic as they surged for the finish line. Ignatiev just slipped past the American for fifth and so won the race based on finishing position of the last lap. It was an exciting end to a fantastic race.
Scratch race world champion Greg Henderson (New Zealand) who is trying to earn a berth in the points race for the world championships, was dearly tired after his first track race since the Olympics. "My coach and I thought Ignatiev, Pearce, and Newton would be the ones to watch. Having sort of a mixed field with some very fast guys and some struggling made it really hard. We'll keep an eye on the World Cup points as far as qualifying goes. You cannot be in top condition for each World Cup event if you want to win at Worlds."
After the awards ceremony, Pearce talked with several fans and signed a water bottle for an event volunteer. It was clear he enjoyed racing in a World Cup event on home country soil. And to put on a thrilling show and finish second was icing on the cake.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mike Gladu/www.velodrome.com
- Team Ukraine defend their WC series lead in Team Pursuit Finals, taking third with Dyudya, Kononenko, Polatayko and Zagorodniy
- Australia couldn't muster the speed to claim Bronze against UKR with Finning, Hutchinson, England and Sutton
- New Zealand (Allen, Gudsell, Latham and Ryan) qualified second to (Germany), but couldn't match their speed in the final.
- Robert Bartko leads Germany (Bartko, Bengsch, Bommel and Lampater) to the Team Pursuit win
- Elizabeth Williams (New Zealand) in 500m
- Kristine Bayley (Australia) in the 500m
- Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia) takes the 500m win
- Elisa Frisoni (Italy) takes bronze
- Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) takes silver
- Villanueva (Spain) gets in one last sprint ride before succumbing to the new UCI warning rule (two warnings and you are DQ'ed).
- The quiet before the storm - Katie Mactier (Australia) in the blocks before her pursuit start
- The pursuit
- The catch
- The celebration
- The French sliced and diced early on, but Tournant and Bourgain served up a packaged victory for Bourgain.
- The women's 500m podium - (Elisa Frisoni (Italy), Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia), Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands))
- Women's Pursuit podium - (Emma Davies (Great Britain), Katie Mactier (Australia), Elena Chalykh (Russia))
- Kazuya Narita (Japan) gets a double walkover win and third overall when Jose Villanueva is DQ'ed for two lane infractions
- Greg Henderson (New Zealand) in the points final
- Darren Young (Australia) in the points final
- Chris Newton (Great Britain) missed the lap Pierce and Ignatiev took
- Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia) goes into the final sprint tied with Pierce
- Colby Pearce (USA) tied with Ignatiev with only the final sprint remaining
- Rafat Ratajczyck (POland) and Henderson (New Zealand) finish fifth and sixth, just out of the points in the finals sprint, and by virtue of finishing seventh in the last sprint Ignatiev to Pierce's seventh comes out on top in the tie breaker
- Ignatiev celebrates when the tie break is announced
Images by Mitch Friedman Photography
- A cool paint job on a Team New Zealand bike
- The Aussie train
- The Ukraine train at speed
- The New Zealand team going for it in the pursuit final
- The German team going for it
- Japan's Narita leads out France' Tournant
- Kristine Bayley (Australia) in the 500m tt
- Elisa Frisoni of Italy starts out fast
- Erin Mirabella (USA) powers out of the blocks in the women's IP
- Erin Mirabella at speed
- Katie Mactier (Australia) was too fast for Emma Davies (Great Britain)
- Emma Davies (Great Britain) was 2nd fastest on the night
- The women's 500m podium - Elisa Frisoni (Italy, 2nd), Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia, 1st) and Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands, 3rd)
- Bella Italia! L-R Martina Faccin, Giorgia Bronzini, Elisa Frisoni and Eleonora Soldo
- Top 3 in the 3000m pursuit - Emma Davies (Great Britain, 2nd), Katie Mactier (Australiam 1st), Elena Chalykh (Russia, 3rd)
- Tony Cruz was on hand to see the World Cup
- The French riders go for the Gold - Tournant leads out Bourgain
- Colby Pearce (USA) had a terrific points race, eventually losing in the final sprint
- Colby Pearce (USA) and Chris Newton (Great Britain) contest a points race sprint - the two were tied on points at one time
- Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia) wins the 30K Points race
- The point srace podium - L-R Colby Pearce (USA, 2nd), Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia, 1st), Chris Newton (Great Britain, 3rd)
Images by Mike Novitch
- Arnaud Tournant leading in turn 4 in heat 2 but ultimately losing to his team mate Bourgain in 2 straight.
- Arnaud Tournant giving Bourgain the stink eye as they go head to head in the finals.
- Chris Newton moving forward to put more points on the board with a strong showing in the points race.
- Colby Pearce ultimately happy with his performance, placing second in the 30k points race.
- Colby Pearce and Mikhil Ignatiev were tied going into turn 4 of the final sprint. Colby came up short by inches
- The German team taking no prisoners and taking first in the Team Pursuit.
- Kiwi boys dressed in black looked good and hung on for second in the Team Pursuit.
- The other boys from down under ready to rip it up.
- Spanish rider Villanueva in an early sprint heat.
- Team Ukraine down to 3 riders late in the game but still able to place third
- Present best meets future best as Arnaud Tournant meets Michael Blatchford, USA's promising young sprinter.
Images by Dana Ross/www.danarossphoto.com
- A Corima bike - favored by the Dutch
- Sprinter Kazua Narita warms up before taking 3rd in sprints.
- A member of the Russian team gets a massage
- German pursuiters line up before taking off.
- The New Zealand pursuiters at speed
- The Spanish Team prefers Pinarellos
- Italy's Elisa Frisoni at speed heading for Silver in the Women's 500m TT
- The German pursuit team at speed on the way to Gold
- Netherlands Yvonne Hijgenaar goes for bronze in the women's 500
- The Spanish team making careful measurements and adjustments
- Natalia Tsylinskaya gets ready to start the Women's 500 meter
- Tsylinskaya at speed on the way to Gold
- The Japanese kept their tools the neatest
- Katie Mactier took the Gold in the Women's Ind. Pursuit
- The French got Gold and silver in the Men's sprint. Here comes Arnaud Tournant and Mickael Bourgain.
Results
Women 500m time trial 1 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia) 34.740 (51.813km/h) 2 Elisa Frisoni (Italy) 34.961 (51.486km/h) 3 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 35.196 (51.142km/h) 4 Tamilia Abassova (Russia) 35.318 (50.966km/h) 5 Lori-Ann Muenzer (Canada) 35.323 (50.958km/h) 6 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 35.813 (50.261km/h) 7 Clara Sanchez (France) 36.036 (49.950km/h) 8 Daniela Claussnitzer (Germany) 36.131 (49.819km/h) 9 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 36.182 (49.748km/h) 10 Kristine Bayley (Australia) 36.219 (49.698km/h) 11 Elizabeth Williams (New Zealand) 36.384 (49.472km/h) 12 Chrysoula Zacharioudaki (Greece) 38.484 (46.773km/h) DNS Angee Gonzalez (Venezuela) Women 3000m individual pursuit Final for 3rd & 4th 1 Elena Chalykh (Russia) 3.50.604 (46.834km/h) 2 Erin Mirabella (USA) 3.54.649 (46.026km/h) Final for 1st & 2nd 1 Katie Mactier (Australia) 3.46.745 (47.630km/h) 2 Emma Davies (Great Britain) Ovr Women 3000m individual pursuit overall classification 1 Katie Mactier (Australia) 2 Emma Davies (Great Britain) 3 Elena Chalykh (Russia) 4 Erin Mirabella (USA) 5 Lyudmyla Vypyraylo (Ukraine) 6 Adrie Visser (Netherlands) 7 Dale Tye (New Zealand) 8 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spain) 9 Pascale Schnider (Switzerland) 10 Charlotte Becker (Germany) Men's points race 3 laps ahead 1 Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia) 74 pts 35.44.458 (50.362km/h) 2 Colby Pearce (USA) 74 Two laps ahead 3 Christopher Newton (Great Britain) 63 4 Gregory Henderson (New Zealand) 46 One lap ahead 5 Sergi Escobar Roure (Spain) 41 6 Kei Uchida (Japan) 35 7 Jos Pronk (Netherlands) 27 8 Cancio Sebastian (Argentina) 24 Zero laps 9 Yauheni Sobal (Bielorussia) 16 10 Darren Young (Australia) 5 11 Rafat Ratajczyk (Poland) 4 12 Marco Antonio Arriagada (Chile) 13 Vasyl Yakovlev (Ukraine) One lap behind 14 Marc Altmann (Germany) -18 15 Martin Gilbert (Canada) -19 16 Damir Murzagaliyev (Kazakhstan) -20 17 Petr Lazar (Czech Republic) -20 DNF Michael Berling (Denmark) DNF King Wai Cheung (Hong-Kong) -20 Sprints 110 to go 1 Darren Young 5 pts 2 Yauheni Sobal 3 3 Marc Altmann 2 4 Christopher Newton 1 5 Rafat Ratajczyk 100 to go 1 Christopher Newton 5 pts 2 Colby Pierce 3 3 Sergi Escobar Roure 2 4 Cancio Sebastian 1 5 Mikhil Ignatiev 90 to go 1 Kei Uchida 5 pts 2 Jos Pronk 3 3 Yauheni Sobal 2 4 Mikhil Ignatiev 1 5 Rafat Ratajczyk 80 to go 1 Sergi Escobar Roure 5 pts 2 Christopher Newton 3 3 Colby Pierce 2 4 Gregory Henderson 1 5 Yauheni Sobal 70 to go 1 Sergi Escobar Roure 5 pts 2 Yauheni Sobal 3 3 Christopher Newton 2 4 Jos Pronk 1 5 Rafat Ratajczyk 60 to go 1 Colby Pierce 5 pts 2 Mikhil Ignatiev 3 3 Kei Uchida 2 4 Yauheni Sobal 1 5 Marco Antonio Arriagada 50 to go 1 Christopher Newton 5 pts 2 Rafat Ratajczyk 3 3 Yauheni Sobal 2 4 Martin Gilbert 1 5 Marc Altmann 40 to go 1 Kei Uchida 5 pts 2 Sergi Escobar Roure 3 3 Cancio Sebastian 2 4 Mikhil Ignatiev 1 5 Jos Pronk 30 to go 1 Christopher Newton 5 pts 2 Gregory Henderson 3 3 Mikhil Ignatiev 2 4 Colby Pierce 1 5 Cancio Sebastian 20 to go 1 Sergi Escobar Roure 5 pts 2 Colby Pierce 3 3 Mikhil Ignatiev 2 4 Cancio Sebastian 1 5 Gregory Henderson 10 to go 1 Mikhil Ignatiev 5 pts 2 Jos Pronk 3 3 Christopher Newton 2 4 Sergi Escobar Roure 1 5 Colby Pierce Final 1 Yauheni Sobal 5 pts 2 Kei Uchida 3 3 Gregory Henderson 2 4 Rafat Ratajczyk 1 5 Mikhil Ignatiev Men Team pursuit Final for 3rd & 4th 1 Ukraine 4.11.799 (57.188km/h) Roman Kononenko Volodymyr Dyudya Lyubomyr Polatayko Volodymyr Zagorodniy 2 Australia 4.13.683 (56.764km/h) Sean Finning Ashley Hutchinson Christopher Sutton Richard England Final for 1st & 2nd 1 Germany 4.10.998 (57.371km/h) Leif Lampater Robert Bartko Robert Bengsch Henning Bommel 2 New Zealand 4.11.832 (57.181km/h) Peter Latham Marc Ryan Timothy Gudsell Jason Allen Team pursuit final classification 1 Germany 2 New Zealand 3 Ukraine 4 Australia 5 Russia 6 Netherlands 7 Spain 8 Chile Men sprint Quarter-finals Heat 1 1 Arnaud Tournant (France) 11.193 (64.326km/h) 2 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) Heat 2 1 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 10.971 (65.628km/h) 2 Stefan Nimke (Germany) Heat 3 1 José A Villanueva Trinidad (Spain) 10.761 (66.908km/h) 2 Matthias John (Germany) Heat 4 1 Kazuya Narita (Japan) 11.179 (64.406km/h) 2 Tim Veldt (Netherlands) 5-8th Place 1 Matthias John (Germany) 11.109 (64.812km/h) 2 Stefan Nimke (Germany) 3 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) 4 Tim Veldt (Netherlands) Semi-final Heat 1 Race #1 1 Arnaud Tournant (France) 11.115 (64.777km/h) 2 Kazuya Narita (Japan) Heat 1 Race #2 1 Arnaud Tournant (France) 11.211 (64.223km/h) 2 Kazuya Narita (Japan) Heat 2 Race #1 1 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 10.875 (66.207km/h) 2 José A Villanueva Trinidad (Spain) Heat 2 Race #2 1 José A Villanueva Trinidad (Spain) 10.919 (65.940km/h) 2 Mickaël Bourgain (France) Heat 2 Race #3 1 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 11.197 (64.303km/h) 2 José A Villanueva Trinidad (Spain) Finals 3/4 Race #1 1 Kazuya Narita (Japan) 3/4 Race #2 1 Kazuya Narita (Japan) Final Race #1 1 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 11.080 (64.982km/h) 2 Arnaud Tournant (France) Final Race #2 1 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 11.664 (61.728km/h) 2 Arnaud Tournant (France) Men sprint final classification 1 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 2 Arnaud Tournant (France) 3 Kazuya Narita (Japan) 5 Matthias John (Germany) 6 Stefan Nimke (Germany) 7 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) 8 Tim Veldt (Netherlands) 9 Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland) 10 Andrei Vynokurov (Ukraine)
