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Track World Cup 06-07 Round 1 - CDM
Sydney, Australia, November 17-19, 2006
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - November 17: Men: Keirin, Individual pursuit, Scratch race, Kilometre TT; Women: Sprint, Points race
Reporting by Cyclingnews staff in Sydney
Men's kilometre time trial: Scot on top
By Ben Abrahams
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Reigning world and Olympic kilometre champion, Chris Hoy from Scotland, lived up to his favourite's status taking victory from compatriot Jason Queally in a brisk time of 1.02.242. Hoy, who has reportedly been suffering from food poisoning since arriving in Australia, put to rest any doubts about his health, recording an opening lap of 18.357 in cool conditions and holding on to win with an average speed of 57.838km/h.
While warming down on the rollers, Hoy told Cyclingnews: "I haven't done any specific training for the kilo, it's all been for the team sprint, I went out pretty hard and just hung on, the last couple of laps seemed to take forever." Asked whether he was worried about Queally's 1.02.362, set on a bunch bike with no tri-bars, Hoy replied, "I don't really think about the times when I'm up there, but that was a really impressive ride from Jason considering he's been on a similar program to me".
Hoy will now focus on the team sprint but also mentioned a proposed trip to Bolivia for an attempt on Arnaud Tournant's world kilo record of 58.875, due to take place after next year's world track championships. "I wouldn't be going out there if I didn't think I could break the record. It's an amazing record but the track is virtually on the moon, so that makes a huge difference," he said.
Tim Veldt of the Netherlands, riding in the same heat as Hoy, took the bronze medal in 1.03.314 while home favourite Joel Leonard finished sixth after riding a fast opening lap but fading in the closing stages.
Men's keirin: Theo the Bos
By Ben Abrahams
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The final of the men's keirin was a showdown between world champion Theo Bos and arch rival Ryan Bayley riding for the South Australia.com/AIS continental team. Bos looked cool in the early stages, sitting in second last position with former junior world champion Mark French on his wheel. Showing the confidence that comes with a rainbow skinsuit, Bos hit out with two laps to go as French immediately switched up the track and took his wheel (a move which he was later relegated for). Coming into the final lap it appeared as though the Dutchman was tiring but a second kick 100 metres from the line give him victory by a wheel.
Bos explained his strategy to Cyclingnews, "There are 1001 different tactics for a keirin. It's been a long summer, everyone is watching each other at the first world cup of the season so I decided to go and I made it". The Dutch track team have been in Perth prior to the Sydney world cup and Bos revealed that his road training was a key part of this victory, "I did a lot of miles on the road in Perth, I knew I had a lot of endurance", he said.
After Mark French's relegation for entering the sprinter's lane, Olympic champion Ryan Bayley was promoted to the silver medal position, a decision he clearly wasn't too happy with, "I don't like going from third to second because of a relegation, I'd rather win the race outright. I came into this keirin wanting to win, the condition was really good, the head going into it was really good, unfortunately in the final I made a few too many mistakes and the legs can't pull you back."
Rene Wolff of Germany was promoted to the bronze medal position.
In the ride off for seventh place, Brit Ross Edgar made up for the disappointment of missing the final with a commanding display of keirin riding. Edgar led out with two laps remaining and comfortably held off Poland's Damian Zielinski.
Men's scratch race: Well-timed attack secures the scratch race
By Gerard Knapp
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A well-time moved with seven laps to go in the Men's 15km scratch race paid off for Belarus rider Vasili Kiryienka who won an uncontested sprint against fellow break-away, Swiss-Italian Guiseppe Atzeni while Dutchman Wim Stroetinga led home the chasing bunch to secure the bronze.
In a typically aggressive scratch race, the pace was on from the start with all eyes on former world scratch race champions, New Zealander Greg Henderson and Denmark's Alex Rasmussen.
"For some reason, he gets some rope," Henderson said of bunch's attitude towards the Bielorussian rider, who's a noted points race rider, "and he's very good, too."
Kiryienka was relatively quiet in the field for the majority of the race, but saved his legs for a strong attack that caught the bunch off-guard. He made his move after a series of attacks that had strung out the bunch and led to some confusion. Before the field could regroup, he'd gone clear by almost 100 metres on the field and continued to build as he fully committed himself to the runaway win.
However, he may have made the break but he wasn't alone as behind him, the Swiss rider tried to contribute to the attack but eventually sat on for the final six laps, and for that reason, he didn't contest the sprint.
"The Belarus... he make the work," Atzeni said in his broken English. "I can follow, but, how you say, I am a fair player and so I do not sprint. But I make second place and I am very happy."
Raced at an average speed of 49.14kmh in just over 18 minutes, the 15km scratch race featured many attacks, with Nic Sanderson (Aus), Sun Jae Jang (Korea), David McCook (USA) and Henderson testing their legs early on in the race, while an attack by the trio of Ioannis Tamouridis (Greece), Jang (Korea) and Serguei Klimov (Russia) did manage to build up a half-lap lead.
Australian rider, Travis Meyer, got the partisan crowd excited when he attacked for his Drapac-Porsche squad, and he was joined by the Danish rider, Rasmussen, and the crowd willed the duo on to build a strong lead. But the bunch worked together to chase it down and this led to the sequence of one-off attacks and confusion. This was the perfect moment for the Bielorussian to make his move, with the Swiss rider glued to his wheel, and he never faltered.
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He finished almost as strongly as he started as despite the bunch's best efforts, they couldn't reel in the duo and they crossed the line comfortably ahead of the chasing field.
Afterwards, pre-race favourite Henderson said, "with scratch races, you can either sit in and save your legs for the final sprint, or attack and have a good go at it. The Bielorussian, he knows how to put in those efforts as he's not that fast in the final sprint."
As for Henderson, the affable Kiwi is about to take a short break from the bike before beginning his road training block for an exciting season ahead with ProTour squad, T-Mobile.
"I'd just finished a six-day stage race so I wasn't feeling the best," he said of his race, "and I haven't got that top-end speed you need for a World Cup-standard."
Henderson said the recently-completed Tour of Southland in his home country was, "as you'd expect - cold, wet and miserable", he joked. "I am just doing this "(track World Cup) to keep fit in the off-season, really."
Henderson has raced with distinction for the USA professional squad, Health Net presented by Maxxis, over the past few seasons, but 2007 will see him lining up in the magenta of Germany's top professional squad.
His first race for T-Mobile will be the Tour of Qatar in January, and then heading back to the USA for the Tour of California.
Men's individual pursuit: Serov dominates
By Ben Abrahams
Russia's Alexander Serov was clearly a class above the rest in the men's individual pursuit, catching his opponent Robert Bengsch of Germany after two minutes, 45 seconds of the final. Serov had been fastest in the morning qualifying session by over five seconds, clocking 4.23.252, the only rider to average over 54km/h.
Drapac-Porsche rider Phillip Thuaux won the bronze medal ride off against Dutchman Jens Mouris with a time of 4.30.655.
Women's points race: Aussies work together to win
By Greg Johnson
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Teamwork among Australian team-mates Katherine Bates and Rochelle Gilmore claimed the hosting nation victory in the women's 20 kilometre points race from Giorgia Bronzini. Despite admitting to not having the legs on race day, Gilmore fought Bronzini to the line in the final sprint to claim the vital points the Italian required to usurp Bates' lead.
"I didn't have much of a night, sometimes that happens, I don't have any answers for that," explained a visibly disappointed Gilmore, who finished in sixth. "I had to beat Georgia in that last sprint in order for Kate to win the race and that worked well. It was lucky I had that in the end otherwise I would have been in the race for no point."
By contrast an ecstatic Bates thanked her teammate for helping in the unexpected victory.
"I'm pretty excited - pretty knackered, that would be one way to put it," puffed Bates, who claimed the event by a single point. "I certainly didn't go in with the expectation of winning, I wanted a podium - at the least, I wanted top six to qualify for the worlds."
"I've got some school friends here, all my family - it's a very rare opportunity. I've never actually ridden this event at Sydney World Cup before so to be able to come out and win is pretty cool."
While many expected the Australian women to dominate at the World Cup opener, Gilmore revealed there was no plan heading into the final. "We did discuss it but we didn't have any set plan - just to go out there and see how we felt," said Gilmore.
The low scoring race was largely attributed to a mid-race break by the Chinese duo of Yan Li and Jianling Wang. The pair broke free with 27-laps remaining, allowing Li to claim two sprint victories and third place overall.
Dutch rider Vera Koedooder failed to make an impact on the event - despite breaking from the field on multiple occasions. Another strong rider in the pack was the Ukraine's Elyzaveta Bochkaryeva who had a constant presence at the front of the field but made little headway - claiming just five points before being disqualified following the race.
After claiming full points in the fourth sprint, Russia's Yulia Arustamova ended her race on the duck boards - taking a violent fall on the race's final corner.
Women's Sprint: World champ takes tough victory
By Greg Johnson
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Both battles for the women's sprint medals were decided in the third race - such was the level of competition amongst the place getters.
After a dominate victory in the first race Victoria Pendleton opted to conserve her energy for the decider after rival Natallia Tsylinskaya took an unassailable lead. Pendleton had appeared the one to beat leading up to the decided but fell after a tactical move backfired - forcing the decider to be restarted. Despite the first lap tumble, Pendleton wasn't shaken prior to the restart.
"No, no, I mean it's part of the game," she explained. "It's a bit annoying when you do it to yourself, but it happens."
While still looking strong despite the fall, Pendleton was unable to overcome the reigning World Champion Tsylinskaya - who took the gold medal.
The opening two races for the bronze medal played out similar to that of the gold medal event - with both Clara Sanchez and Yvonne Hijgenaar taking a win apiece. The decider was a sprint to the finish line with Sanchez fighting back after an early lead out by Hijgenaar to take victory from the Netherlands rider by a wheel-length.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by John Veage
- Chris Hoy (Great Britain) rides to victory in the kilo.
- Men's Kilo Podium - Chris Hoy (GBr) won over Scottish rider Jason Queally and Dutch rider Tim Veldt.
- It's all about getting psyched.
- Tim Veldt (Ned) rides to third in the kilo.
- Women's points race field
- The women circle high on the track in the points race.
- Aussie Katherine Bates wins the women's points race; China's Yan Li takes third.
- Aussie Katherine Bates celebrates her win in the points race.
- Alexander Serov (Russia) dominated the men's pursuit.
- Alexander Serov (Russia) catches his opponent German Robert Bengsch in the individual pursuit.
- Men's Pursuit Podium: 1 - Alexander Serov (Rus), 2 - Robert Bengsch (Ger), 3 - Phil Thuaux (Aus)
- Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) leads Clara Sanchez (France)
- Victoria Pendleton takes a spill while Natallia Tsylinskaya (Blr) looks back.
- Reigning world champion Natallia Tsylinskaya sprints to victory over Victoria Pendleton (GBr) in the women's sprint competition.
- Women's sprint winner Natallia Tsylinskaya (Blr)
- World champion Theo Bos (Ned) wins the keirin.
- Theo Bos (Ned) celebrates his keirin victory.
- A solomn podium moment for Theo Bos(Men's keirin winner)
- Bielorussian rider Vasili Kiriyienka sprints to victory in the men's scratch race.
- Winner of the scratch race Vasili Kiriyienka (Bielorussian)
- The field in the scratch race.
Images by AFP Photo
- Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus (L) waves to spectators after winning the gold medal ride-off in the Women's Sprint. Tsylinskaya won gold with Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton taking silver.
- Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus (L) leads Victoria Pendleton of Great Britain (R) during the gold medal ride-off in the Women's Sprint.
- Vasili Kiryienka of Belarus competes in the Scratch race during the opening. Kiryienka won with Giuseppe Atzeni of Switzerland second.
- Vasili Kiryienka of Belarus raises his fist after winning the Men's Scratch race during the opening. Kiryienka won with Giuseppe Atzeni of Switzerland second.
- Alexander Serov of Russia pushes hard during the gold medal ride-off in the Men's Individual Pursuit during the opening. Serov defeated Robert Bengsch of Germany.
- Alexander Serov of Russia waves to spectators after winning the gold medal in the Men's Individual Pursuit during the opening. Serov defeated Robert Bengsch of Germany.
- Theo Bos of the Netherlands waves to spectators after winning the Men's Keirin during the opening. Bos won with Australia's Ryan Bailey second and Rene Wolff of Germany third.
- Katherine Bates of Australia (L) leads Giorgia Bronzini of Italy (R) in the Women's Points Race during the opening. Bates won by one point over Bronzini.
- Katherine Bates of Australia grimaces as she contests a sprint during the Women's Points Race during the opening. Bates won by one point over Giorgia Bronzini of Italy.
- Katherine Bates of Australia waves to fans after winning the Women's Points Race during the opening. Bates won by one point over Giorgia Bronzini of Italy.
- Chris Hoy of Great Britain strains as he starts during the final of the 1Km Time Trial during the opening. Hoy won in a time of 1:02.242.
Results
Evening session
Men's Kilometre TT 1 Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 1.02.242 2 Jason Queally (Great Britain) 1.02.362 3 Tim Veldt (Netherlands) 1.03.314 4 Dong Jin Kang (Korea) 1.03.808 5 Mickael D'Almeida (France) 1.04.136 6 Joel Leonard (Australia) 1.04.258 7 Carsten Bergmann (Germany) 1.04.293 8 Yong Feng (China) 1.04.522 9 Yevgen Bolibrukh (Ukraine) 1.04.819 10 Yusho Oikawa (Japan) 1.05.437 Women's Points race final, 20km/ 80 laps 1 Katherine Bates (Australia) 13 pts 26:48.430 (44.764 km/h) 2 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) 12 3 Yan Li (China) 10 4 Yulia Arustamova (Russia) 9 5 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 8 6 Rochelle Gilmore (Australia) 7 7 Catherine Cheatley (New Zealand) 6 8 Lada Kozikova (Czech Republic) 5 9 Alena Prudnikova (Russia) 4 10 Jianling Wang (China) 3 11 Leire Olaberrria Dorronsoro (Spain) 2 12 Karen Verbeek (Belgium) 1 13 Marlijn Binnedijk (Netherlands) 1 14 Tess Downing (Australia) 1 15 Pascale Jeuland (France) 0 16 Vera Koedooder (Netherlands) 0 17 Kelly Benjamin (USA) 0 18 Theresa Cliff-Ryan (USA) -19 19 Uracca Leow Hoay Sim (Malaysia) -20 DSQ Elyzveta Bochkaryeva (Ukraine) Men's Keirin final Final 1-6 1 Theo Bos (Netherlands) 2 Ryan Bayley (Australia) 3 Rene Wolff (Australia) 4 Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 5 Josiah Ng On Lam (Malaysia) Rel Mark French (Australia) Final 7-12 7 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) 8 Damian Zielinski (Poland) 9 Kazuya Narita (Japan) 10 Christos Volikakis (Greece) 11 Arnaud Tournant (France) 12 Serguei Borisov (Russia) Women's Sprint final 3-4 final 1 Clara Sanchez (France) 12.271 12.214 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 12.239 1-2 final 1 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia) 12.126 12.127 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 11.962 Men's Individual pursuit final 3-4 final 1 Phil Thuaux (Australia) 4.28.234 (53.684 km/h) Jens Mouris (Netherlands) 4.30.655 (53.204 km/h) 1-2 final 1 Alexander Serov (Russia) 2.45.056 Robert Bengsch (Germany) Men's Scratch race final 1 Vasili Kiriyienka (Bielorussia) 2 Giuseppe Atzeni (Switzerland) 3 Wim Stroetinga (Netherlands) 4 Sun Jae Jang (Korea) 5 Sebastian Donadio (Argentina) 6 Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) 7 Gregory Henderson (New Zealand) 8 Ioannis Tamouridis (Greece) 9 Noriyuki Iijima (Japan) 10 Aitor Alonso Granados (Spain) 11 Oleksandr Polivoda (Ukraine) 12 David McCook (USA) 13 Travis Meyer (Australia) 14 Serguei Klimov (Russia) 15 Vincent Dauga (France) 16 David Muntaner Juaneda (Spain) 17 Henning Bommel (Germany) 18 Lukasz Bujko (Poland) 19 Nicholas Sanderson (Australia) 20 Stephen Wooldridge (Australia)
Morning session
Men's Individual Pursuit - Qualifying 1 Alexander Serov (Russia) 4:23.252 (54.700 km/h) 2 Robert Bengsch (Germany) 4:28.950 (53.541 km/h) 3 Phillip Thuaux (Australia) 4:28.966 (53.538 km/h) 4 Jens Mouris (Netherlands) 4:29.750 (53.382 km/h) 5 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 4:30.374 (53.259 km/h) 6 Asier Maeztu (Spain) 4:30.572 (53.220 km/h) 7 Sun Jae Jang (Korea) 4:30.781 (53.179 km/h) 8 Vitaliy Shchedov (Ukraine) 4:31.067 (53.123 km/h) 9 Fabien Sanchez (France) 4:32.171 (52.907 km/h) 10 Giairo Ermeti (Italy) 4:32.875 (52.771 km/h) 11 Zach Bell (Canada) 4:35.476 (52.273 km/h) 12 Mark Jamieson (Australia) 4:36.391 (52.100 km/h) 13 Kei Uchida (Japan) 4:38.519 (51.702 km/h) 14 Tim Mertens (Belgium) 4:38.727 (51.663 km/h) 15 Michael Christensen (Denmark) 4:39.315 (51.554 km/h) 16 Alireza Haghi (Iran) 4:40.792 (51.283 km/h) 17 Jason Allen (New Zealand) 4:41.128 (51.222 km/h) 18 Hsin Hua Huang (Taiwan) 4:44.786 (50.564 km/h) 19 Weng Kin Thum (Malaysia) 4:53.865 (49.002 km/h) Men's Keirin 1st round heats Heat 1 1 Damian Zielinski (Poland) 2 Theo Bos (Netherlands) REL Serguei Borisov (Russia) DNF Mark French (Australia) DNF Mahmoud Parash (Iran) DNF Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic) Heat 2 1 Arnaud Tournant (France) 2 Christos Volikakis (Greece) 3 Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 4 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) 5 Yury Karzheneuski (Bielorussia) 6 Julio Cesar Herrera Cabrera (Cuba) Heat 3 1 René Wolff (Germany) 2 Josiah Ng On Lam (Malaysia) 3 Travis Smith (Canada) 4 Adam Duvendeck (USA) 5 Itmar Esteban Herraiz (Spain) 6 Dan Wu (China) Heat 4 1 Ryan Bayley (Australia) 2 Kazuya Narita (Japan) 3 Matthew Crampton (Australia) 4 Salvador Melia (Spain) 5 Andrei Vynokurov (Ukraine) 6 Kun Hung Lin (Taiwan) 1st round repecharge Heat 1 1 Serguei Borisov (Russia) 2 Salvador Melia (Spain) 3 Itmar Esteban Herraiz (Spain) Heat 2 1 Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 2 Yury Karzheneuski (Bielorussia) 3 Adam Duvendeck (USA) Heat 3 1 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) 2 Travis Smith (Canada) 3 Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic) 4 Kun Hung Lin (Taiwan) Heat 4 1 Mark French (Australia) 2 Matthew Crampton (Australia) 3 Andrei Vynokurov (Ukraine) 4 Dan Wu (China) Women's Sprint finals B Heat 1 1 Jane Gerisch (Germany) 12.316 (58.460 km/h) 2 Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) Heat 2 1 Dana Gloss (Germany) 12.602 (57.133 km/h) 2 Oksana Grishina (Russia) Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals Heat 1 1 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 12.143 (59.293 km/h) 2 Virginie Cueff (France) Heat 2 1 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 12.940 (55.641 km/h) 2 Kerrie Meares (Australia) Heat 3 1 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 12.035 (59.825 km/h) 2 Oksana Grishina (Russia) Heat 4 1 Anna Meares (Australia) 12.211 (58.963 km/h) 2 Jane Gerisch (Germany) Heat 5 1 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia) 12.086 (59.573 km/h) 2 Jinjie Gong (China) Heat 6 1 Shuang Guo (China) 12.078 (59.612 km/h) 2 Svetlana Grnkovskaya (Russia) Heat 7 1 Jennie Reed (USA) 12.357 (58.266 km/h) 2 Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) Heat 8 1 Clara Sanchez (France) 11.975 (60.125 km/h) 2 Dana Gloss (Germany) Women's Sprint 1/4 finals Heat 1 1 Clara Sanchez (France) 11.820 11.983 2 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 11.906 Heat 2 1 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 11.873 11.804 2 Jennie Reed (USA) 12.419 Heat 3 1 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 11.747 12.193 2 Shuang Guo (China) Heat 4 1 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia) 11.932 11.709 2 Anna Meares (Australia) 11.827 Women's Sprint 5-8 finals 5 Anna Meares (Australia) 12.222 58.910 6 Shuang Guo (China) 7 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) REL Jennie Reed (USA) Women's Points race qualifying Heat 1 1 Vera Koedooder (Netherlands) 21 pts 2 Rochelle Gilmore (Australia) 10 3 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 8 4 Alena Prudnikova (Russia) 6 5 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) 5 6 Kelly Benjamin (USA) 3 6 Tess Downing (Australia) 3 6 Catherine Cheatley (New Zealand) 3 6 Jianling Wang (China) 3 10 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 2 11 Iona Wynter (Jamaica) 0 11 Noor Azian Alias (Malaysia) 0 11 Katarina Uhlarikova (Slovakia) 0 11 Debora Galvez Lopez (Spain) 0 Heat 2 1 Marllijn Binnendijk (Netherlands) 25 pts 2 Elyzaveta Bochkaryeva (Ukraine) 20 3 Lei Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain) 8 4 Katherine Bates (Australia) 7 5 Yulia Arustamova (Russia) 6 6 Pascale Jeuland (France) 5 7 Yan Li (China) 5 8 Theresa Cliff-Ryan (USA) 4 9 Uracca Leow Hoay Sim (Malaysia) 2 10 Karen Verbeek (Belgium) 2 11 Alessandra D'Ettorre (Italy) 0 12 Gina Grain (Canada) 0 13 Wan Yiu Wong (Hong-Kong) 0 DNF I Fang Ju (Taiwan)
