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World Track Championships - CM
Melbourne, Australia, May 26-30, 2004
Day 1 Wrap
Morning session
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The hastily-scheduled morning session on the first day of the World Track Championships was devoted entirely to heats for the men's points race.With only three riders out of 27 to be eliminated, the biggest surprise of the morning was the DNF of a rider who has been riding strongly in the world cup, but whose form deserted him this morning.
Evening session
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On a rainy Thursday night, the Vodafone Arena looked like a pretty comfortable place to be for the crowd that filed in from the cold to catch all the action in the team sprint, the final of the points race and the qualifiers of the individual pursuit.
Both of the gold medals on offer this evening went to riders from the same nation, and there was lots of self-conciliatory talk among the runners up about preparing for the Olympic Games in Athens - but as one bronze medallist put it, "My expectations were higher."
But after a masterful display of points racing, and some thrilling action in the team sprint, with all three medal-winning teams cracking 60km/hr, the crowd's expectations seemed fulfilled.
Photography
Images by Mark Gunter
- Action from the first heat
- Colby Pearce (USA) - the Sydney world cup points race winner made it through qualifying
- Sven Teutenberg (Germany) just scraped in through the heats
- Mark Renshaw (Australia) leads the field in heat 2, and just made the finals
- The points race heats in a very moody Vodafone Arena
- Warm-up - riders get in some laps before the crowds arrive for the evening session
- Miquel Alzamora Riera (Spain)
- Enzo Cesario Farias (Chile)
- Belem Guerrero Mendez (Mexico)
- Team USA gives it everything in the team sprint
- Team France stormed to victory in the team sprint
- Riders down! Fortunately Mark Renshaw and another rider walked away.
- Hey it's a points race - not a Madison
- Franck Perque (France) was not upset about winning the points race
- Sergi Escobar Roure (Spain) was fastest in the individual pursuit qualifiers.
- Luke Roberts (Australia) qualified fourth in the individual pursuit.
- Team France goes hard
- Team France takes a lap of honour after the team sprint
- Franck Perque (France) took the first gold medal of the championships for the points race
- Team France celebrates - Mickaël Bourgain, Laurent Gane and Arnaud Tournant
