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2006 UCI Track Cycling World Championships - CM
France, April 13-16, 2006
Men's team sprint
Home nation success
By Mal Sawford in Bordeaux
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The French team of Bauge, Bourgain and Tournant set a blistering time in qualifying, courtesy of one of the fastest standing laps on record. Bauge’s 17.402 lead off had set the home team up for their 44.194, and in the final he backed up again with an offering of 17.477. On the other side of the track, however, Jamie Staff recorded his personal best effort of 17.420, putting the team from Great Britain marginally in front.
With the noise of the crowd already drowning out the commentator, the roar became even louder when the scoreboard showed Bourgain had put the French back in front; it was simply deafening when Tournant crossed the line to take the win in a sensational time of 43.969. The French superstar attributed part of the team’s success to the wonderful crowd support. “It was huge. I’d already lived it in ’98, but when we were on the start line and we had to wait for the Brit’s for a while, that lapse of time is enough to make you start thinking and doubting. The crowd realised it and really pushed us on. It was a huge factor and got us over the hump. It's very satisfying to win at home because this team is very young and no one expected much of us,” Tournant added. “This will boost the morale for the team for the rest of the weekend.”
Jamie Staff, Britain's new lead off rider, was delighted with the new look team’s efforts. “I was happy with the first ride; to come out and do a 17.6, but then to come out in the final and do a 14.42 I think it was...I was as amazed as anyone. I mean I really did grit my teeth, and put my back out too!” And Staff plans to go even faster, saying, “I still think a 17.0 is possible - that’s my goal, anyway.”
The preceding bronze medal match between Australia and the Netherlands was anticlimactic in comparison. The Dutch dipped under the 18 second barrier, but Tim Veldt, their number three rider never got on the wheel in front, and had to ride a virtual 750 metre time trial against the more polished Australians, with obvious results. Shane Perkins has slotted in well as the starter for the Aussies. “I’m pretty happy with my start times,” he said. “I did a 17.8 in Melbourne [at the Commonwealth Games], and I was hoping to go a bit faster than that tonight. I want to be the fastest Australian ever, but I guess Sean Eaddie’s still got that title.”
A 17.4 second lap might be a few years away for the youngster, though. “I don’t know, that’s pretty freaky. I’ve got plenty of time to do it, I’m still only 19, so hopefully next season I can go 17.7 and maybe we’ll be in the gold medal ride off soon.”
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mitch Friedman/www.mitchophoto.com
- The Russian men in the team sprint
- Japan's crew in the team sprint
- The Aussie train in the team sprint
- France on their way to the win
- A very happy Gregory Bauge after the win by France in the team sprint
Results
Qualifying 1 France 44.194 Grégory Bauge Mickaël Bourgain Arnaud Tournant 2 Great Britain 44.407 Chris Hoy Jason Queally Jamie Staff 3 Australia 44.591 Ryan Bayley Shane John Kelly Shane Perkins 4 Netherlands 44.747 Theo Bos Teun Mulder Tim Veldt 5 Germany 45.050 Robert Forstemann Maximilian Levy Stefan Nimke 6 Poland 45.269 Lukasz Kwiatkowski Tomasz Schmidt Damian Zielinski 7 Spain 45.692 Alvaro Alonso Rubio Ruben Donet Gregori Salvador Melia Mangriñan 8 China 45.708 Lin Feng Yong Feng Zhang Lei 9 Japan 45.773 Masaki Inoue Takashi Kaneko Kazunari Watanabe 10 USA 46.146 Benjamin Barczewski Giddeon Massie Christian Stahl 11 Russia 46.152 Denis Dmitriev Vladimir Kiriltsev Sergey Borisov 12 Canada 46.409 Cam Mackinnon Yannik Morin Travis Smith 13 Ukraine 46.557 Vitaliy Kulachkovskiy Yuriy Tsyupyk Andriy Vynokurov 14 Greece 46.742 Athanassios Mantzouranis Vasileros Reppas Panagiotis Voukelatos 15 Czech Republic 46.912 Alois Kankovsky Michal Prokop Adam Ptacnik DNS Venezuela Finals For gold and silver 1 France 43.969 Grégory Bauge Mickaël Bourgain Arnaud Tournant 2 Great Britain 44.194 Chris Hoy Jason Queally Jamie Staff For bronze 3 Australia 44.600 Ryan Bayley Shane John Kelly Shane Perkins 4 Netherlands 45.999 Theo Bos Teun Mulder Tim Veldt
