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Track World Cup Round 4 - CDM
Sydney, Australia, May 16-18, 2003
Preview Results Final country standings Final standings by event Start List
Daily summaries and event wrap-up
By Gerard Knapp
Day 3 and event wrap-up: Germany takes overall, Australia the round
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The host nation may have scored the most points and finished at the top of the medals table at the end of the fourth and final round of the UCI Track World Cup at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome, but Germany won the overall award for the nation with the most points in all four rounds of the UCI's Track World Cup. The major victory for the German team was built up over solid performances in each of the rounds, which were held in Moscow (Russia), Aguascalientes (Mexico), Capetown (South Africa) and capped off at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney.
Germany finished with 379 points, while Australia's performance in Sydney helped the country move from fourth to second overall on 336 points, while France dropped into third with 288 points. Points were awarded for all events at all four rounds of the UCI's Track World Cup, with individual point scores in each competition (see list below).
The final day of competition in Sydney saw Great Britain and Japan win their first gold medals of the round, in the women's 10km scratch race and men's team sprint, respectively. The other gold medals on offer were won by Australia in the women's team sprint and Germany in the men's 40km Madison.
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English sprinter Victoria Pendleton stole the show in the women's 10km scratch race, her first-ever scratch race in international competition. "This is a real surprise," said Pendleton, a 22 year-old from London who is currently training at the UCI's World Cycling Centre in Switzerland under French legend Frederic Magne. "It's my first international scratch race, and I've come first!"
Pendleton out-sprinted Australian's Rochelle Gilmore and New Zealand's Sarah Ulmer to take the gold, but Gilmore was back some ten minutes later to lead out Kerrie Meares and Rosealee Hubbard to snare gold in the women's team sprint. "I was really upset after losing the scratch race," said the Australian, "and I wanted to give them (Meares and Hubbard) a good lead-out as I knew they were capable of winning it."
The Japanese trio of Toshiaki Fushimi, Kiyofumi Nagai and Tomohiro Nagatsuka had a agonizing wait as judges compared hand-timing to determine the winner of the final in the men's team sprint after the automated timing system stalled just as the gold medal final started. Eventually, they were given the win over Australia by 17/100ths of a second, with a time of 45.43.
A missed hand-sling on the final lap may have cost Australia the gold medal in the thrilling final event of the round, the men's 40km Madison. Australia's Rodney McGee had put in a huge two-lap turn to set up his teammate Darren Young for the final sprint, but South Africa's JP Van Zyl came between the two riders as they were about to change over and he went on to take the final sprint. The Australians were left to rue the missed change, while Van Zyl's move had little impact on the final overall point score, but apparently was enough for South Africa to qualify for this event at the world championships to be held in Stuttgart later this year.
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Earlier in the race, the German duo of Guido Fulst and Andreas Muller had worked with Australia's McGee and Young, as well as the Netherlands' Gideon De Jong and Geert Jan Jonkman, to lap the field in the middle of the event, and that was how they ended up on the podium, with Germany first, Australia second and the Netherlands third.
The final medals tally saw the Australians come away with four gold, five silver and three bronze. The UCI has also introduced an overall point score system for each track event contested at the four round of the Track world Cup. The winners for 2003 are: men's individual pursuit - Haydn Godfrey (New Zealand); men's 1km time trial - Stefan Nimke (Germany); men's points race - Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia); men's sprint - Mark French (Australia); women's sprint - Daniela Larreal (Venezuela); men team pursuit - Germany; women's individual pursuit - Sarah Ulmer; men's keirin - Josiah Ng Oon (Malaysia); women's points race - Vera Carrara (Italy); women's 500m time trial - Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus); women's keirin - Celine Nivert (France); men's scratch - Roland Garber (Austria); women's scratch race - Gema Pasqual (Spain); men's team sprint - Japan; women's team sprint - Russia.
Day 2 wrap-up: New Zealand picks up the pace
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The new world order of track cycling continued to emerge on day two of the fourth and final round of the 2003 UCI Track World Cup being held at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney. In particular, Russian teenager Mikhail Ignatiev showed speed and maturity beyond his years to win a closely contested 30km points race, while the women's keirin featured an Australian double-act as Rosealee Hubbard and Kerrie Meares monstered the field to secure a 1-2 for the host nation.
Hubbard's gold put Australia back on top in the medal and points score for the meeting after New Zealand threatened to lead on day two after wins by the super-smooth pursuiter Sarah Ulmer in the women's 3km individual pursuit and also the Kiwi team in the men's 4km teams pursuit.
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In the men's sprint, the gold went to Germany's Rene Wolff in a convincing display over Australia's Mark French, but the it was the quarter finals which had the crowd on its feet as the Australian teenager took out German track racing legend Jens Fiedler in three closely contested heats.
The long day of sprinting took its toll on French, who lined up for his twelfth sprint for the day when racing for the gold against Wolff. "It was not easy," Wolff said afterwards. "He (French) had two heats more than me, but it was also hard for me. I am in good condition and it helped me through."
French said, "I put in 120 percent every time. In the last one (heat), I gave it everything I had."
Earlier in the day, Mexico's Nancy Contreras picked up another gold in the women's 500m time trial, with a time of 34.757, ahead Yonghua Jiang (Chn) and Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned).
Day 1 wrap-up: Kel's back, Jamieson's run doesn't end and Nancy's all too clean
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At then end of the first day of competition of round four of the UCI Track World Cup being held at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney, Australia, the home team topped the medals table with two gold and a bronze following some impressive performances from riders representing the old and new guard of the host country's track cycling specialists.
The highlight of the evening was one of the most exciting individual pursuit finals seen at Dunc Gray, with Mark Jamieson achieving a dramatic victory in the final of the men's 4km individual pursuit. The Tasmanian teenager was trailing New Zealand's Haydn Godfrey by up to 1.6 seconds with only a handful of laps remaining, yet urged on by the crowd and national endurance coach Ian MacKenzie, he dug deep to put in one of his fastest laps at the bell, securing victory by .304 of a second.
"I took it to him at the start," Godfrey told Cyclingnews. "I thought it could put him off a little."
For most of the race, it seemed that his ploy had worked as Jamieson trailed by a margin that to most riders, would be insurmountable. "He did a brilliant job," Godfrey said of his younger rival. "His preparation, his coaching, his ride, it was all very good."
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In other events, Germany's Jens Fiedler showed he's back to his best with a convincing win over a golden field in the keirin, Mexico's Nancy Contreras made easy work of winning gold in the women's sprint final, while Italy's Vera Carrara teamed up with comeback queen, France's Marion Clignet, to lap the field in the women's 20km points race.
The night also saw a tremendous return to form for Australia's Shane Kelly, who posted a sub-1.03 time to win the gold in the men's 1km time trial.
But Kel's win was not without its dramas. Earlier in the week, he had fallen heavily on his right shin during plyometric training, then yesterday, he nearly severed the top of his right index finger when pulling up too hard on his toe straps, always it seems, a somewhat troublesome area for this cyclist. Despite these setbacks and only settling on his bike with less than 30 seconds before the start, once the clock ticked over to start Kelly was out of the blocks and looked smoothed and fast.
"It's the first world cup race that I've won in the kilo," said the former world champion of this event, "and it's the first time I've had a win in the kilo since... 1997."
