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Los Angeles Track World Cup - CDM
ADT Velodrome, Carson, California, USA, January 19-21, 2007
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Session 4 - Evening, Saturday January 20: Men: Sprint final; team pursuit final; points race final, Women: individual pursuit final; team sprint final;
Six titles decided on Day two
By Rob Jones in Los Angeles
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Day Two at the Los Angeles round of the Track World Cup saw six finals decided, with the highlight for the capacity crowd in the evening session world champion Sarah Hammer's U.S. record in the women's pursuit. The evening also providing some exciting sprinting and a gutsy re-ride by the Danish pursuit team after crash during qualifying.
Women's 500M Time Trial
Only nine women participated in the women's 500M, with Cuba's Lisandra Guerra beating Willy Kanis (Netherlands) by three-tenths of a second. China's Guo Shuang partially redeemed herself after being disqualified the day before in the sprints by taking the bronze.
Men's Sprint
Only 16 men of 43 starters made it through the qualifying 200M time trial to contest the men's sprint, with Canadian Commonwealth Games medalist Travis Smith just squeaking through in 16th place. Unfortunately, this put him up against Keirin winner Chris Hoy (Great Britain), who qualified fastest with a 10.287, followed by countryman Ross Edgar (Team SIS).
All the top qualifiers made it through the first round, and it looked like Hoy was going to try and use the tactics that served him well during the Keirin - go to the front and burn off the competition. However, sprinting is not always the straightout drag race that the Keirin is, and Hoy was up against the very experienced Roberto Chiappa (Italy), who negated Hoy's power by riding from the front, forcing him to try and come by on the outside. Chiappa took Hoy in two straight to move on to the semi's. Hoy won the ride-off for 5th.
Gregory Bauge (France), Edgar and Jason Kenny (Team SIS) also moved on to the final four. Chiappa disposed of Kenny in two straight, but Bauge had a tougher time, having to win the second and third rides after Edgar took the first ride. For the bronze, it was the more experienced and stronger Edgar beating his young team mate in two straight.
The gold medal final saw two experienced rivals put on a show of tactics and speed. Last year at the Worlds, Chiappa was victorious over Bauge, but Bauge was ready for revenge, and confident on this track - where he won last year. Bauge came from behind on both rides, muscling by Chiappa in the final metres to repeat as the gold medalist.
"I'm very happy to win here, after being eliminated last year at the Worlds by Chiappa. Now I have one more year's experience and it shows; I am more confident in my abilities. Now I know that I can go to (the Worlds) as a contester, to fight for a medal."
"Here, it is my second victory in a row; I prefer this track. The crowd seems to be very supportive; maybe it is because I am black?"
Men's Points Race
This 120 lap race came down to the final sprint, with the top two riders separated by one point only. 19 year old Cameron Meyer (Australia), riding in his first mass-start World Cup, took the victory by jumping onto key breaks that stayed away to take points.
David O'Loughlin (Ireland) tried to steal a lap multiple times, but the field was too aggressive, with riders immediately jumping on his wheel each time he got a gap. Brit Chris Newton took the lead after the first sprint, and he and Meyer swapped it throughout the race, with the Aussie scoring points in seven of the 12 sprints. Newton was fading towards the end, as he tried to police every break, and missed the final one with Meyer, Sergey Kolesnikov (Russia) and Joan Llaneras Rosello (Spain).
"I was really hurting, but Llaneras moved, so I went with the Russian (Kolesnikov). After that I just tried to stay with them to the end."
Meyer took maximum points in the final sprint, while Newton didn't take any, sealing the victory.
Team Pursuit
A record 14 teams participated in the Team Pursuit, wih the top four qualifying for the medal rounds. Belgium set the early fast time of 4:12.986, but Great Britain knocked nearly nine-tenths of a second off, and then the Ukraine took it to 4:10.908 . World Cup leaders russia squeaked in front of Great Britain at 4:11.592 . Denmark was on a gold medal round time until themiddle two riders crashed spectacularly with two laps to go. After a rest (and bike repairs) the team went back on the track last for a re-ride and, with the crowd cheering them on, qualified first at 4:09.884, to go up against the Ukraine for the gold medal. In the finals, Russia steadily pulled away from Great Britain for the bronze, while the gold medal ride was a seesaw battle between the Ukraine and Denmark.
Ukraine took an early lead, but the Danes came back and looked to be pulling away until the final two laps when the extra effort earlier in the day seemed to abruptly catch up with them, and the wheels came completely off their effort. First Caspar Jorgensen pulled off, then the other three completely strung out , with a good ten metres between each rider on the final backstretch. They lost a second in the final two laps.
Women's Team Sprint
This two rider / two lap event is new this year, and only five teams contested in Los Angeles. The Netherland's Yvonne Hijgenaar and Willy Kanis showed how it is done by besting Australia (Kaarle McCulloch and Anna Meares), in both the qualifier and the final. Cuba (Guerra and Yuman Gonzalez Valdinieso) beat the U.S. (Liz Carlson and Jennie Reed) for the bronze. the Americans had a last minute scramble for their start, after the 50 second warning buzzer went off while both were still sitting on the bench at trackside. Both were getting on their bikes and clipping in at the 30 second warning.
Women's Individual Pursuit
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The highlight of the evening was the victory of reigning world champion, and local girl Sarah Hammer. Hammer, who won the Points Race the evening before, scorched the rest of the field in qualifying with a U.S. record of 3:32.058 - seven seconds faster than second place Verena Joos of Germany. Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia) and Karin Thurig (Switzerland) qualified to contest the bronze medal.
Thurig did not start the final - her coach said that she was sick in the night before the qualifier, and then sick again after the race. So it was 'just' Hammer versus Joos. The race was no contest, with Hammer having Joos in her sights by the halfway point, but she was content to keep it there, and eased off in the final 100 metres to wave to the crowd as she crossed the line.
"Once I had her in my sights, I just put it on cruise control," said Hammer of her conservative second-half tactics.
"I didn't expect a new record today after my effort in the points race. I knew I could do it on fresh legs, but the points race was one of the events I really wanted to focus on. The goal here was really to win the points race and to show I'm going to be very competitive at the world championships."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mitch Friedman/www.mitchophoto.com
- Sarah Hammer gets ready to ride for Gold
- A Happy Sarah Hammer
- Gregory Bauge just gets Ross Edgar
- GB Team Pursuit ended up just out side the medals
- Russia gets bronze in the team pursuit
- The Danish team before they were blown apart
- Ukraine goes for the Gold and Takes it
- Verena Joos of Germany took silver in women Pursuit action
- Sarah Hammer took the win in the Pursuit
- Dutch team took the women team sprint win
- The Aussie girls took Silver in the Women Team sprint
Images by Mitch Clinton/www.clintonphoto.com
- Yvonne Hijgenaar & Willy Kanis (NED) on their way to the team sprint win
- Team Ukraine, Team Pursuit Gold Medal
- Job well done for team Ukraine
- Verena Joos (GER) in her silver medal ride for the womans indevidual pursuit
- Sarah Hammer (OPC) gold medal
- Sarah Hammer (OPC) gives the crowd a wave
- The third ride for the Mens Sprint gold medal was a close one between winner Gregory Bauge (FRA) & Roberto Chiappa (ITA)
Results
Men's Sprint Semifinals B Heat 1 1 Matthew Crampton (GBr) 11.276 2 René Wolff (Ger) Heat 2 1 Kiofumi Nagai (Jpn) 11.012 2 Lei Zhang (Chn) Men's Sprint Semifinals Heat 1 1 Roberto Chiappa (Ita) 11.374 11.320 2 Jason Kenny (GBr) Scienceinsport.Com Heat 2 1 Gregory Bauge (Fra) 10.649 11.016 2 Ross Edgar (GBr) Scienceinsport.Com Men's Sprint final Heat 2 1 Kiofumi Nagai (Jpn) 10.901 2 Matthew Crampton (GBr) Heat 1 1 Lei Zhang (Chn) 10.959 2 René Wolff (Ger) Men's Sprint final 1 Gregory Bauge (Fra) 10.960 11.014 2 Roberto Chiappa (Ita) 3 Ross Edgar (GBr) Scienceinsport.Com 4 Jason Kenny (GBr) Scienceinsport.Com 5 Chris Hoy (GBr) 6 Kévin Sireau (Fra) 7 Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Pol) 8 Ricardo Lynch (Jam) 9 Kiofumi Nagai (Jpn) 10 Matthew Crampton (GBr) 11 Lei Zhang (Chn) 12 René Wolff (Ger) 13 Shane Perkins (Aus) South Australia.Com 14 Yong Feng (Chn) 15 Adam Duvendeck (USA) 16 Travis Smith (Can) 17 Josiah Ng Onn Lam (Mas) 18 Kazuya Narita (Jpn) 19 Adam Ptacnik (Cze) 20 Robert Forstemann (Ger) 21 Pawel Kosciecha (Pol) 22 Alexis Sotolongo (Cub) 23 Salvador Melia Mangrinan (Spa) 24 Mohd Rizal Tisin (Mas) 25 Daniel Ellis (Aus) 26 Christopher Sellier (Tri) 27 Jason Niblett (Aus) 28 Gideon Massie (USA) 29 Jaroslav Jerabek (Svk) 30 Ahmed Lopez (Cub) 31 Cédric Stoller (Swi) 32 Cam Mackinnon (Can) 33 Marco Brossa (Ita) 34 Luis Toussaint (Mex) 35 Mikhail Shikhalev (Rus) 36 Itmar Esteban Herraiz (Spa) 37 Anton Rudoy (Rus) 38 Vasileios Reppas (Gre) 39 Kostantinos Troulinos (Gre) 40 Peter Bazalik (Svk) 41 Azikiwe Kellar (Tri) 42 Fabian Keiser (Swi) 43 Luis Arocho (PRc) Women's Individual Pursuit Qualifying Final 1 Sarah Hammer (USA) Ouch Pro Cycling 3.37.607 (49.630 km/h) 2 Verena Joos (Ger) 3.44.243 (48.162 km/h) 3 Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Col) 4 Karin Thürig (Swi) 5 Cathy Moncassin (Fra) 6 Elizaveta Bochkaryova (Ukr) 7 Christiane Soeder (Aut) 8 Neva Day (USA) 9 Marllijn Binnendijk (Ned) 10 Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) 11 Martina Ruzickova (Cze) 12 Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spa) Cespa - Eustrak.Com 13 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) 14 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spa) 15 Iona Wynter (Jam) 16 Julia Bradley (Can) Team R.A.C.E 17 Jianling Wang (Chn) 18 Belem Guerrero Mdez (Mex) Men's Team Pursuit Final 1 Ukraine 4.10.063 (57.585 km/h) Lyubomyr Polatayko (Ukr) Maksym Polischuk (Ukr) Vitaliy Popkov (Ukr) Vitaliy Shchedov (Ukr) 2 Denmark 4.11.005 (57.369 km/h) Casper Jorgensen (Den) Jens Erik Madsen (Den) Michael Morkov (Den) Alex Rasmussen (Den) 3 Russia 4.08.947 (57.843 km/h) Vasily Khatuntsev (Rus) Konstantin Ponomarev (Rus) Alexey Shmidt (Rus) Valeriy Valynin (Rus) 4 Great Britain 4.10.461 (57.493 km/h) Jonathan Bellis (GBr) Steven Burke (GBr) Ross Sander (GBr) Andrew Tennant (GBr) 5 New Zealand 6 Belgium 7 Spain 8 Netherlands 9 Germany 10 France 11 Italy 12 Lithuania 13 Poland 14 Symmetrics Men's Points Race Final 1 Cameron Meyer 24 pts 2 Christopher Newton 20 3 Sergey Kolesnikov 14 4 Joan Llaneras Rosello 13 5 Tim Mertens 10 6 O'David Loughlin 7 7 Martin Blaha 6 8 Michael Creed 3 9 Ignatas Konovalovas 2 10 Roman Kononenko 1 11 Oleksandr Klimenko 1 12 Oleksandr Polivoda 1 13 ELORRIAGA Unai Zubiaur -14 14 Bobby Lea -15 15 Juan Esteban Curuchet -15 16 Kazuhiro Mori -18 17 Pim Ligthart -18 18 Marcel Kalz -20 19 Bruno Menzi -20 20 François Lamiraud -20 21 Zach Bell -20 22 Angelo Ciccone -20 DNF Rafat Ratajczyk 0 DNF Ian Stannard 0 Women's Team Sprint Qualifying 1 Netherlands 34.394 (52.334 km/h) Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned) Willy Kanis (Ned) 2 Australia 34.551 (52.096 km/h) Kaarle Mcculloch (Aus) Anna Meares (Aus) 3 United States 35.686 (50.439 km/h) Liz Carlson (USA) Jennie Reed (USA) 4 Cuba 35.773 (50.317 km/h) Yumari Gonzalez Valdinieso (Cub) Lisandra Guerra (Cub) 5 Russia 36.086 (49.880 km/h) Tamilia Abassova (Rus) Oksana Grishina (Rus) 6 Poland 36.306 (49.578 km/h) Renata Dabrowska (Pol) Magdalena Sara (Pol) 7 Italy 37.183 (48.409 km/h) Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Monia Baccaille (Ita) 8 Mexico 37.550 (47.936 km/h) Nancy Contreras Reyes (Mex) Jessica Jurado (Mex) DNS Germany Jane Gerisch (Ger) Verena Joos (Ger) Women's Team Sprint Final 1 Netherlands 34.255 (52.547 km/h) Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned) Willy Kanis (Ned) 2 Australia 34.761 (51.782 km/h) Kaarle Mcculloch (Aus) Anna Meares (Aus) 3 Cuba 35.531 (50.659 km/h) Yumari Gonzalez Valdinieso (Cub) Lisandra Guerra (Cub) 4 United States 35.806 (50.270 km/h) Liz Carlson (USA) Jennie Reed (USA) 5 Russia 6 Poland 7 Italy 8 Mexico 9 Germany
