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Track World Cup Round 3 - CDM
Manchester Velodrome, UK, April 9-11, 2004
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Day 2 - April 10
Brits excel, despite Millar absence
By Gina Gershon in Manchester
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World Record holding team pursuiters Australia received a startling wake-up call when they were forced to settle for a bronze medal on day two of the World Cup track event in Manchester. Meanwhile, Great Britain put the late withdrawal of road time trial world champion and Cofidis rider David Millar behind them to emerge victorious from the ride-off for gold and silver with the Netherlands.
Millar was set to make his international track debut in the team pursuit in a bid to ride the time trial and individual pursuit at this year's Olympics. But the Scot stood by Cofidis' decision to pull their riders out of all competition while they clarify their position in a doping investigation by French authorities.
"Despite being incredibly disappointed, I have a great deal of respect for my sponsor and I am 100 percent behind the necessity of this decision," Millar said. "In the meantime, my objectives and motivation for this year remain the same."
In Millar's absence, the British team of Rob Hayles, Paul Manning, Christopher Newton and Bryan Steel took a comfortable victory in the final with a time of 4:03.138, more than two seconds ahead of the Netherlands' squad of Levi Heimans, Jens Mouris, Peter Schep and Jeroen Straathof (4:05.500).
Given that Millar's first team pursuit training session was just last week, the group was not too disrupted by his last minute exit. Manning said: "We've just become fairly flexible in recent years, we've tried to experiment at World Cups and move around.
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"It would have been good to see what he could have done though, that's the real disappointment, that he wasn't part of the team. It would have been good for Great Britain and our particular event as well."
Australia had a point to prove in the bronze medal contest and they bounced back from a disastrous heat to post a time just outside that of the winning British team, passing the Kiwis at the 3km mark on the way to 4:03.434.
In qualifying, two of Australia's world record holders, Peter Dawson and Graeme Brown, joined FDJeux.com rider Bradley McGee and Stephen Wooldridge. But, when Dawson got into difficulty in the middle of the group, the quartet split in two and had to battle hard for a disappointing time of 4:08.082.
Dawson and Brown made way for Ashley Hutchinson and another world record holder, Brett Lancaster, in the ride for bronze and the group gelled together much better.
McGee said the earlier race provided a valuable lesson for the Australians. "I think this morning's session might have been a God-send actually if you look in the long-term, a bit of a wake-up call, it gets everyone on their toes," he said. "The dominance that these boys have had for a few years now, it's good to be sat back on your backside a little bit. It just means everyone had to really sharpen up for tonight. There tonight I was jumping on the pedals twice as hard as what I was this morning and because everyone was on the ball, it just worked."
Yvonne Hijgenaar of the Netherlands took gold in the 500m time trial ahead of China's Yonghua Jiang and British sprint gold medallist Victoria Pendleton.
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Australia's Katherine Bates easily beat Emma Davies to take gold in the 3000m individual pursuit in a time of 3:35.352, compared to the British riders' 3:42.768. German Hanka Kupfernagel just edged out Erin Mirabella of the United States to take the bronze medal.
In the Madison, the Czech Republic team of Martin Blaha and Petr Lazar won gold ahead of Ukraine team Volodymyr Rybin and Vasyl Yakovlev, with Slovakia's Martin Liska and Jozef Zabka third.
Jennie Reed won the United States' first gold medal of the meet with victory in the women's keirin, beating Germany's Susan Panzer and Daniela Larreal of Venezuela.
Polish rider Damian Zielinski beat Frenchman Florian Rousseau in a keenly fought contest for the men's sprint title. The Pole won the first round before Rousseau held on for a narrow victory in the second, forcing the decider in which the Frenchman made his move early with a full lap to go before his opponent powered through on the final bend. Rousseau fought back and looked a chance of snatching the win but Zielinski just managed to edge over the line first.
Germany's Jan van Eijden won the bronze medal in straight heats over Kiyofumi Nagai of Japan.
Photography
Images by Nick Rosenthal/www.fatnick.com
- Brad McGee leads the Australian team to third place in the team pursuit at Manchester Velodrome.
- The Dutch team pursuit squad, who surprised and delighted everyone with their second place.
- The victorious British team pursuit squad, demonstrating their experience and power on their way to victory.
- France's Florian Rousseau used all his experience and courage to take the silver medal despite an injury. Here, he battles with Malaysia's Josiah Ng.
- Clara Sanchez of France on her way to eighth place in the 500m time trial.
- Katrin Meinke of Germany heading for seventh place in the 500m time trial.
- Yonghua Jiang of China heads towards a silver medal in the 500m time trial.
- Women? Riding a Keirin? It may be new, but it makes for exciting, hard-packed, tough racing.
- Britain's Victoria Pendleton heading for bronze in the 500m time trial.
- When the Derny pulls off, the gals get serious! Susan Panzer of Germany battles with US rider Jennie Reed, with three more riders close behind.
- Yvonne Higenaar of Holland demonstrates commitment in the 500m time trial. It worked - she won!
- Germany's Jan van Eijden powers ahead of Britain's Chris Hoy in the men's sprint.
- A very happy Yvonne Hijgenaar celebrates her victory in the 500m time trial. Bronze medallist Victoria Pendleton does the smiley thing too, and we think Yonghua Jiang is pleased with second place.
- Relative newcomer Josiah Ng makes experienced sprinter Florian Rousseau work hard.
- Poland's Damien Zielinski, overall winner of the men's sprint series, takes on Germany's Jan van Eijden.
- Mummy, I can see his ass hanging out... One of the Dutch pair had performed a close-quarters inspection of the Manchester woodwork; still, he probably had a spare skinsuit in his bag!
- Australia's Katherine Bates on her way to a win in the final of the 3000 metre pursuit.
- Britain's Emma Davies put up a valiant fight to take silver in the women's 3000 metres pursuit.
- Germany's Katrin Meinke battles with Jennie Reed of the USA, with three maids-in-waiting also eager to get in to the scrap.
- This time, America's Tanya Lindenmuth forms the centrepiece, flanked by Oxana Grishina or Russia and Daniela Larreal of Venezuela.
- In days of old, when men were men and sprinter's didn't cry foul, stuffing somebody right up against the rail was considered perfectly fair play, the ancient demonstrated by Jan van Eijden of Germany and Japan's Kiyofumi Nagai.
- Yes folks, final lap, 125 metres to go, and Mr Van Eijden still has Nagain sandwiched against that rail!
- Compare the smooth, young legs of Damien Zielinski with the, um, more experienced legs of Florian Rousseau.
- The Manchester round of the UCI World Cup track series was sponsored by Kelloggs, who sent Tony the Tiger along to watch the action.
- The Slovak team change during the Madison final.
- Roland Garber gives Franz Stocher a handsling during the Madison final.
- The Danish madison pairing do the sling thang.
- A madison change for the Ukrainian pair. One of them fell on the banking during the madison final, but he quickly remounted and the team went on to claim the silver medal.
- A handsling high on the Manchester banking for the Canadian madison team.
- A close-up shot of the Ukrainian pair doing a handsling on the Manchester banking.
- The Hungarian duo change during the Madison final.
- Juan Llaneras chucks Miguel Alzamora into the race. Llaneras is a former world madison champion.
- Alex Aeschbach gives partner Franco Marvulli a good hard sling into the race when the action gets going. Marvulli is the reigning world madison champion (with Bruno Risi).
- Aeschbach releases Marvulli's hand at the end of the change.
- Experienced six-day Frenchmen Jerome Neuville and Franck Percque do a handsling in the madison final.
- Of course, for all the handslings, the madison is just a bike race. Belgium's Matt Gilmore shows how to race a bike, with one of the Czechs and Franco Marvulli keeping a close eye on this former world madison champion.
- Budget crisis - The Italian madison team in non-matching skinsuits during the afternoon heats.
- The madison features sprints every 20 laps. Here, the guys go three-abreast in the sprint for points.
- Miguel Alzamora throws Juan Llaneras into the thick of things.
- The Czech pairing of Martin Liska and Jozef Zabka on their way to victory in the madison final.
- Franco Marvulli shows the sort of commitment that earned him two world track championships this year. The Swiss star has a phenomenal turn of speed.
- Jennie Reed (USA) cracks a smile on the podium, flanked by Susan Panzer of Germany (silver) and Daniela Larreal of Venezuela (bronze).
- New boy Damian Zielinski of Poland shows off his shiny gold medal. Bronze went to Jan "stick him in the fence" van Eijden of Germany, with Florian Rousseau of France taking silver.
Results
Women's 500m time trial 1 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned) 35.189 2 Yonghua Jiang (Chn) 35.310 3 Victoria Pendleton (GBr) 35.499 Men's 4000m team pursuit 1 Great Britain 4.03.138 (Robert Hayles Paul Manning, Christopher Newton, Bryan Steel) 2 Netherlands 4.05.500 (Levi Heimans, Jens Mouris, Peter Schep, Jeroen Straathof) 3 Australia 4.03.434 (Ashley Hutchinson, Brett Lancaster, Brad McGee, Stephen Wooldridge) 4 New Zealand. Women's 3000m individual pursuit 1 Katherine Bates (Aus) 3.35.352 2 Emma Davies (GBr) 3.42.768 3 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) 3.43.275 4 Erin Mirabella (USA) 3.44.979 Men's 40km Madison 1 Czech Republic (Martin Blaha/Petr Lazar) 12 pts 2 Ukraine (Volodymyr Rybin/Vasyl Yakovlev) 11 3 Slovakia (Martin Liska/Jozef Zabka) 10 Women's Keirin 1 Jennie Reed (USA) 2 Susan Panzer (Ger) 3 Daniela Larreal (Ven) Men's sprint 1 Damian Zielinski (Pol) 2 Florian Rousseau (Fra) 3 Jan Van Eijden (Ger) 4 Kiyofumi Nagai (Jpn)
