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Los Angeles Track World Cup - CDM

ADT Velodrome, Carson, California, USA, December 10-12, 2004

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Session 5 - December 12 Afternoon

The German Madison team
Photo ©: Dana Ross
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First LA world cup wraps with Madison and keirin action

By Eddie Monnier

The final day of the Los Angeles World Cup event provided some spectacular racing and wrapped up the USA' first taste of World Cup talent on its newest and only indoor velodrome.

Women's keirin provides thrilling final

The women's keirin was packed with talent, including Natalia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) who had already taken out the Sprint and 500 meter gold medal for this World Cup (and Olympic bronze medalist in the 500 meter); double medalist Elisa Frisoni (silver, 500 meter and bronze, Sprints) of Italy; current world champion Clara Sanchez (France); current junior world champion Shuang Guo (China); Olympic double medalist Anna Meares (Australia, gold, 500 meter and bronze, sprint).

The start of the Women's Keirin final race.
Photo ©: Dana Ross
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Each of the heats was exciting but it was Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) who ultimately took out the title in a thrilling finale in a time of 12.167 (59.176 km/h). US rider Jeannie Reed - who won both her earlier heats with strong displays of power - tried to come over the top from dead last to the front with 1.5 laps to go. She was taken up the banking in turn one and couldn't quite get over Tsylinskaya who had led since the start. Pendleton powered to the line to take the win over Anna Meares (Australia) and leaving Tyslinskaya with the bronze.

Netherlands defeats Olympic champions in team sprint

The Netherlands posted a 45.258 (59.658 km/h) to qualify fastest and earn the right to face off against Olympic champions and current World Cup leader Germany for the gold / silver round. France and Japan would face each other in the bronze round. While the World Championships are admittedly a ways off, Australia's sprinters continued to struggle and qualified only fifth fastest. The Netherlands clawed its way back in the second half of its match against the Germans to take the win by 0.254 over Germany. France had a bit of an easier time with Japan who seemed to struggle to keep it together.

Women's scratch race

With 27 women entered for the scratch race, two qualifying heats were held with the top 10 in each advancing to the final. With so many qualifying, there was little incentive to drive the pace and both heats more or less waited for the field sprint. Rebecca Quinn (USA) won the first heat and Alexis Rhodes (Australia) took out the slightly faster second heat. The energy saved in the heats would be unleashed in the final which was completed at an average speed that was 5 km/hr faster. Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand) and Elana Chalykh (Russia) were active throughout the race. The attacks were numerous but nobody got more than a half lap advantage over the field. The group was compact with five to go when Alexis Rhodes (Australia) hit the front and set tempo until inside of two to go when Mandy Poitras (Canada) came stomping over the top with teammate Gina Grain in tow. The leadout stalled as Yulia Arustamova (Russia) surged on the outside and gunned it all the way to the line for a win by several meters. Eleonora Soldo (Italy) grabbed the Silver while Emma Davies took Bronze to round out the podium.

Germany dominates a smoking fast Madison

Great Britain crashed in the Madison.
Photo ©: Dana Ross
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Fifteen two-man teams lined up for the Madison, always a crowd favorite, though a bit confusing for many spectators. The US team took out the first sprint, which stirred the vocal crowd, even though many were still hoarse from cheering Colby Pearce during the prior evening's men's points race. Belarus attacked and gained about half a lap before Russia really cranked up the chase to complete the catch before the second points sprint which was taken out by the Czechs to move into first while the Germans and the US were tied at just two points behind. The field split under the pressure of the second sprint. Germany and Russia, sensing the opportunity, went on the attack. The Czech team caught on to the break and the trio eventually gained a lap on the US, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Chile which trailed the rest of the field. An important tactical difference between a regular Points Race and a Madison is in the Madison, laps take precedence over points (whereas laps are converted to points in a Points Race).

Germany continued its move and powered off the front alone to add a lap advantage over the front of the field as well. That's not surprising given the duo was driven by talented pursuit strongman Robert Bartko. The Germans would eventually take another lap over the back group.

Greg Henderson and Peter Latham of New Zealand tried valiantly to take back a lap, but the most they could do was take out the 40-to-go sprint as they were caught at about 25 laps to go. Germany had the race well under control with at least a lap lead over everyone as well as a four point advantage over the next best Czech team. But there was a fierce battle among the Czechs, Russia, Great Britain, New Zealand and Ukraine, who were all on the same lap and separated by six or fewer points from each other.

Robert Bartko and Leif Lampater
Photo ©: Dana Ross
Click for larger image

Unfortunately with about 9 laps to go both Great Britain riders hit the deck coming out of turn four. While clearly banged up, neither was badly hurt. Re-mounting their bikes to considerable crowd applause, the Brits re-entered the race. The Czechs took out the remaining sprint to end the day with 16 points (but down a lap on Germany which had 15 points) and claim the silver medal. The Russians edged New Zealand and Argentina by just two points for the bronze (New Zealand took fourth because of its better finish on the final sprint).

Bartko and his teammate Leif Lampater put on quite a display today. And if there were tired legs from the three days of racing, it didn't slow the race at all. The 40km event took just 44:15 (54.24 km/h) to complete. But I'm sure there are some tired legs now.

Closing thoughts

And so we close our coverage of this World Cup event. The event certainly provided an opportunity for organizers and athletes alike to test the facility and logistics. While many of the timed events were slower than some expected, Theo Bos' ripping fast kilometer of 1:01.768 shows it's not all attributable to the track. The fact is, for many of the riders, they've only begun their serious preparation following their post-Olympic Games break. Athletes at this level cannot rush back to peak fitness if they want to be at their best in March, when it matters the most. And we'll have a good idea of how fast the track is when everyone comes back in peak form for the world championships in March. But ultimately, it's the racers who make the races exciting, not the track surface. Don't miss it!

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Mike Gladu/www.velodrome.com

Images by Dana Ross/www.danarossphoto.com

Images by Mitch Friedman Photography

Images by Mike Novitch

Results

Team sprint qualifying
 
1 Netherlands                             45.258  (59.658km/h)
  Teun Mulder 
  Theo Bos 
  Tim Veldt 
2 Germany                                 45.741  (59.028km/h)
  Matthias John 
  Stefan Nimke 
  Carsten Bergmann 
3 France                                  46.297  (58.319km/h)
  Didier Henriette 
  Arnaud Tournant 
  Mickaël Bourgain 
4 Japan                                   46.582  (57.962km/h)
  Terufumi Sakakieda 
  Kazuya Narita 
  Yusho Oikawa 
5 Australia                               46.662  (57.863km/h)
  Sean Eadie 
  Ryan Bayley 
  Ben Kersten 
6 Poland                                  46.921  (57.544km/h)
  Lukasz Kwiatkowski 
  Damian Zielinski 
  Rafa Furman 
7 United States                           47.150  (57.264km/h)
  Ryan Nelman 
  Gideon Massie 
  Christian Stahl 
8 Ukraine                                 47.271  (57.117km/h)
  Maksym Lopatyuk 
  Yuriy Tsyupyk 
  Andrei Vynokurov 
9 Russia                                  47.876  (56.396km/h)
  Dmitry Leopold 
  Sergey Polynskiy 
  Vladimir Kiriltsev 
10 Canada                                 48.069  (56.169km/h)
  Yannick Morin 
  Cam Mackinnon 
  Travis Smith 
11 New Zealand                            48.222  (55.991km/h)
  Daniel Beatson 
  Andrew Williams 
  David Cresswell 
12 Greece                                 48.837  (55.286km/h)
  Panagiotis Voukelatos 
  Athanasios Mantzoyranis 
  Dimitrios Georgiou 
DNS Venezuela  
  Alexander Cornieles 
  Jhonny Hernandez 
  Frederick Segura 
 
Team sprint finals
 
Final for 3rd & 4th
 
1 France                                  46.401  (58.188km/h)
  Didier Henriette 
  Mickaël Bourgain 
  Arnaud Tournant 
2 Japan                                   47.554  (56.778km/h)
  Kazuya Narita 
  Terufumi Sakakieda 
  Yusho Oikawa 
 
Final for 1st & 2nd
 
1 Netherlands                             45.163  (59.783km/h)
  Teun Mulder 
  Theo Bos 
  Tim Veldt 
2 Germany                                 45.417  (59.449km/h)
  Matthias John 
  Stefan Nimke 
  Carsten Bergmann 
 
Team sprint final classification
 
1 Netherlands  
  Theo Bos 
  Teun Mulder 
  Tim Veldt 
2 Germany  
  Carsten Bergmann 
  Matthias John 
  Stefan Nimke 
3 France  
  Mickaël Bourgain 
  Didier Henriette 
  Arnaud Tournant 
4 Japan  
  Kazuya Narita 
  Yusho Oikawa 
  Terufumi Sakakieda 
5 Australia  
  Ryan Bayley 
  Sean Eadie 
  Ben Kersten 
6 Poland  
  Rafa Furman 
  Lukasz Kwiatkowski 
  Damian Zielinski 
7 United States  
  Gideon Massie 
  Christian Stahl 
  Ryan Nelman 
8 Ukraine  
  Maksym Lopatyuk 
  Yuriy Tsyupyk 
  Andrei Vynokurov 
9 Russia  
  Vladimir Kiriltsev 
  Dmitry Leopold 
  Sergey Polynskiy 
10 Canada  
  Cam Mackinnon 
  Travis Smith 
  Yannick Morin 
 
Madison
 
1 Germany                                15 pts  44.15 (53.523 km/h)
  Robert Bartko 
  Leif Lampater 
 
One lap behind
 
2 Czech Republic                         16
  Martin Blaha 
  Petr Lazar 
3 Russia                                 10
  Mikhail Ignatiev 
  Nikolai Troussov 
4 New Zealand                             8
  Gregory Henderson 
  Peter Latham 
5 Argentina                               8
  Sebastian Donadio 
  Cancio Sebastian 
6 Great Britain                           6
  Dean Downing 
  Tony Gibb 
7 Ukraine                                 5
  Lyubomyr Polatayko 
  Vasyl Yakovlev 
8 Netherlands                             4
  Wim Stroetinga 
  Niki Terpstra 
9 Spain                                   3
  Miguel Alzamora Riera 
  Asier Maeztu 
10 Belarus                                1
  Siarhei Daubniuk 
  Yauheni Sobal 
 
Two laps behind
 
11 Australia                              6
  Ashley Hutchinson 
  Darren Young 
12 United States                          5
  Martin Wayne Nothstein 
  Colby Pearce 
13 Denmark                                1
  Michael Berling 
  Alex Rasmussen 
14 Chile                                
  Enzo Cesario Farias 
  José Alfredo Medina Andrade 
DNF Canada                              
  Zach Bell 
  Martin Gilbert 
DNF Kazakhstan                          
  Andrey Bozhko 
  Damir Murzagaliyev 
 
Sprints
 
140 To Go
 
1 United States                           5 pts
2 Ukraine                                 3
3 Czech Republic                          2
4 Belarus                                 1
5 Chile                                 
 
120 To Go
 
1 Germany                                 5 pts
2 Australia                               3
3 Russia                                  2
4 Denmark                                 1
5 Ukraine                               
 
100 To Go
 
1 Czech Republic                          5 pts
2 Argentina                               3
3 Great Britain                           2
4 Spain                                   1
5 Germany                               
 
80 To Go
 
1 Germany                                 5 pts
2 Czech Republic                          3
3 Russia                                  2
4 Great Britain                           1
5 New Zealand                           
 
60 To Go
 
1 Germany                                 5 pts
2 Russia                                  3
3 Ukraine                                 2
4 Netherlands                             1
5 Australia                             
 
40 To Go
 
1 New Zealand                             5 pts
2 Netherlands                             3
3 Spain                                   2
4 Australia                               1
5 Russia                                
 
20 To Go
 
1 Argentina                               5 pts
2 Great Britain                           3
3 Russia                                  2
4 Czech Republic                          1
5 Ukraine                               
 
Final
 
1 Czech Republic                          5 pts
2 New Zealand                             3
3 Australia                               2
4 Russia                                  1
5 Argentina                             
 
Women's scratch race
 
1 Yulia Arustamova (Russia)             13.15.394  (45.261km/h)
2 Eleonora Soldo (Italy)
3 Emma Davies (Great Britain)
4 Mandy Poitras (Canada)
5 Anna Webb (USA)
6 Gina Grain (Canada)
7 Rebecca Quinn (USA)
8 Lyudmyla Vypyraylo (Ukraine)
9 Charlotte Becker (Germany)
10 Catherine Sell (New Zealand)
11 Szilvia Szabolcsi (Hungary)
12 Pascale Schnider (Switzerland)
13 Guerrero Mendez Belem (Mexico)
14 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)
15 Andrea Hannos (Hungary)
16 Alexis Rhodes (Australia)
17 Jacqueline Marshall (Great Britain)
18 Adrie Visser (Netherlands)
19 Elena Chalykh (Russia)
Rel Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand)
 
Women keirin first round
 
Heat 1
 
1 Jennie Reed (USA)                       12.208  (58.978km/h)
2 Anna Meares (Australia)
3 Tamilia Abassova (Russia)
4 Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
5 Chrysoula Zacharioudaki (Greece)
DNS Angee Gonzalez VEN
 
Heat 2
 
1 Shuang Guo (China)                      12.645  (56.940km/h)
2 Elisa Frisoni (Italy)
3 Oxana Grishina (Russia)
4 Daniela Claussnitzer (Germany)
5 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)
 
Heat 3
 
1 Clara Sanchez (France)                  11.807  (60.981km/h)
2 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
3 Kristine Bayley (Australia)
4 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)
5 Elizabeth Williams (New Zealand)
Rel Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia)
 
Women keirin first round repechage
 
Heat 1
 
1 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia)      12.448  (57.841km/h)
2 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)
3 Daniela Claussnitzer (Germany)
4 Tamilia Abassova (Russia)
5 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)
 
Heat 2
 
1 Kristine Bayley (Australia)             12.198  (59.026km/h)
2 Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
3 Oxana Grishina (Russia)
4 Elizabeth Williams (New Zealand)
5 Chrysoula Zacharioudaki (Greece)
 
Women keirin second round
 
Heat 1
 
1 Jennie Reed (USA)                       12.208  (58.978km/h)
2 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
3 Oxana Grishina (Russia)
4 Kristine Bayley (Australia)
5 Elisa Frisoni (Italy)
6 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)
 
Heat 2
 
1 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia)      11.887  (60.570km/h)
2 Anna Meares (Australia)
3 Clara Sanchez (France)
4 Shuang Guo (China)
5 Daniela Claussnitzer (Germany)
6 Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
 
Women keirin 7-12
 
7 Elisa Frisoni (Italy)                   12.388  (58.121km/h)
8 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)
9 Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
10 Daniela Claussnitzer (Germany)
11 Kristine Bayley (Australia)
12 Shuang Guo (China)
 
Women keirin 1-6
 
1 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)      12.167  (59.176km/h)
2 Anna Meares (Australia)
3 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia)
4 Clara Sanchez (France)
5 Oxana Grishina (Russia)
6 Jennie Reed (USA)