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Track World Cup 08-09 Round 2 - CDM
Melbourne, Australia, November 20-22, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Session Next Session
Session 4 - November 21: Men: Kilometre, Keirin, Team pursuit, Scratch race; Women: Team Sprint, Points race,
Boilovers the order of the day
By Les Clarke in Melbourne
Sounds like silver for Sunderland
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It might not be a part of the Olympic track cycling schedule anymore, but the kilo remains one of the best spectacles in a velodrome. And the men's 1000m time trial in Melbourne didn't disappoint, with France's Mikaël D'Almeida taking the win with a solid 1.02.238.
Australian Scott Sunderland started ahead of D'Almeida in the ride-off order and set the toughest mark for the Frenchman. The talented West Australian blazed out of the blocks in his typical style and posted a time of 1.02.492, which looked good enough to win the event. It wasn't however, and D'Aimeida's performance was all that stood between Sunderland and a gold medal.
"I am very happy with second," said Sunderland, who has been knocking on the door at this level for some years now. "I went out there and rode a personal best, and I wasn't exactly feeling the best I have ever felt before - at the start I felt a bit crook in the guts."
And he had reason to be pleased, considering he broke his collarbone in August when in racing in the United States of America before damaging his hamstring in a strange training accident in the gym.
"I took a month off for my collarbone and two weeks off with my hamstring, so I haven't had the ideal preparation for the event," he said. "I'm rapt to do a personal best.
"It has been a pretty long slog for me, I am really tired after Oceanias last week," he said. "To do these times at the start of the season is very exciting and just coming out of injury shows I can still improve quite a lot in the lead up to worlds."
Favourites beaten in points race
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If one word was used to sum up the women's 20km points race, it would certainly be cagey. With the big name riders all watching for attacks, Evgeniya Romanyuta and Leire Olaberria took the initiative and scavenged points from most of the sprints on offer to finish the race in first and second place respectively.
After her success in the Manchester round, the pre-race favourite was undoubtedly Great Britain's Elizabeth Armistead. Following a crash in qualifying however, the winner of last night's scratch race found herself nursing a deep cut on the arm and following the progress of countrywoman Katie Conclough from the sidelines.
That left Conclough, Germany's Charlotte Becker plus Australians Belinda Goss and Rochelle Gilmore as the main threats in the final. Each of this quartet fell into the trap of looking for the definitive move whilst trying to pick up points in each sprint. That left Olaberria and Romanyuta free to fly under the radar, which they definitely did as they took maximum points from two and three intermediate sprints respectively.
Olaberria led for the second half of the race, although much like last night's men's race, the final sprint decided the outcome, as the Russian rider prevailed by a single point. Goss rounded out the podium, trailing her Spanish rival by four points in the final reckoning.
Dutch courage in team sprint
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After qualifying fastest in the afternoon session, the Dutch pairing of Yvonne Hijgenaar and Willy Kanis carried on their merry way with a 34.191 in the final and an appearance on the top step of the podium in the Hisense Arena.
Matched against the Australian duo of Kerrie Meares and Emily Rosemond, who posted a time of 34.621 and found the challenge a little too tough to overcome at this stage of the season, despite riding personal bests.
"I've done personal bests, so I'm not that disappointed," said Meares. "Knowing that I have a lot to improve on for the rest of the season I'm looking forward to seeing what I can bring out within myself, and to the best of my ability. Compared to the last few seasons I'm going a lot better now.
"I'm injury-free, and really looking after my body," she added. "I've worked a lot on style and technique - I've become a lot more efficient rider compared to what I used to be, and therefore the times I've got are a lot faster."
Meares continued by saying that, "I'm working a lot with my coach Peter Davison from Queensland Academy of Sport, and little sis has given me quite a few pointers which have helped me out a lot as well. I've been very lucky getting that help and support."
Aussie quartet harmonises
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Having qualified with a time of 4.03.483, the Australian quartet of Jack Bobridge, Mark Jamieson, Rohan Dennis and Luke Durbridge totally dominated the men's team pursuit final in what was only their second ride in that particular configuration.
Riding with poise, consistency and power to overcome the Spanish challenge of Unai Elorriaga, David Muntaner, Toni Tauler and Eloy Teruel, Jamieson and Bobridge pulled the strings on the front of the Aussie train. The foursome caught their Iberian opponents after three kilometres although didn't post a time - in passing the Spaniards the Australian team was derailed and couldn't continue onto the finish proper. It was a slight hiccup in what was a great performance overall, and had they finished it would most likely have been close to 4.01.
One of the notable stories to come from the event was the emergence of yet another Australian national team pursuit rider for the future - Luke Durbridge. "Today was my first senior TP," said Durbridge. "I've ridden one junior worlds one - in Capetown this year, which we won - although this was my first senior ride.
"I've definitely got some areas I've got to work on like the rest of the guys in the team, but we've got riders like Jack Bobridge and Jamo teaching us," he added. "I've still got one more year left in the juniors, so next year I can hopefully got to junior worlds again. The team's got some serious potential there and we've just got to work on it."
One of those 'older' riders, Bobridge - still only 19 himself - said he was happy with the efforts of Durbridge and Dennis. "To have the younger guys ride the time they did was awesome, so to come out and be on pace for a 4.01, was fantastic," he said.
As for the prospects for the future of this team, Durbridge was optimistic and realistic. "We're all so young and look at the Great Britain team, which is obviously the role model - they're all a bit older than us, and we're all riding around that 4.03-4.02 pace," he said. "We can really only go up from here and we're all young, so I'm looking forward to the future with this group."
King Awang reigns in Melbourne
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There were two riders the crowd kept a keen eye on in the men's keirin - François Pervis and Shane Perkins. As the pair made their respective ways to the final with commanding rides, they proved why they were the centre of attention.
While spectators eagerly anticipated the match up between Australian and Frenchman, it was a 66kg flier that caught the pair napping and stole the win. Azizulhasni Awang made his move with half a lap remaining, punching through the gap between Perkins and Pervis on the inside, and Greece's Christos Volikakis on the far side.
"I wanted to prove that size doesn't matter," said Awang. He then praised the efforts of his Australian coach, John Beasley, and credited him with helping develop the tactical nous necessary to make a move such as his race-winning one.
"When I've trained with John, he does very good training and has helped me improve with my racing," he said. "The two guys cut in front of me and I was stuck, so I couldn't wait any more and made a move."
Beasley himself knew Awang's size wasn't really an issue. "I know how fast he is, but I think he surprised a few of the others, although they should know who he is by now because he's been on the world scene for 12 months and he's been getting better and better," he said. "He likes to train hard."
The Victorian, who has helped the Malaysian team immensely, added: "We've pretty much got everything that we want and need - we've just done the budget for the next four years and we've got a lot of work in front of us. We've got great support from Malaysia and they're backing us 100 per cent - I've just got to come up with the goods."
Kwok cracks the win
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With a field including Garmin-Chipotle professional Chris Sutton, local boy Leigh Howard and Russian Alexei Markov, the men's scratch race was always going to be a fast and tight encounter. Over the relatively short distance of 15km this proved to be the case.
The race's first big move was initiated by Polish rider Rafal Ratajczyk, who countered Karl-Christian König's early attempt to breakaway, in the process dragging the German, plus Angel Dario Colla, Kazuhiro Mori, Ho Ting Kwok and Toni Tauler with him.
This group was successful in taking a lap from the field with 42 laps remaining, although Howard had managed to trail the break and retain parity with the leaders, thus setting up the prospect of a hectic finale.
Hong Kong rider Ho Ting Kwok had other ideas however, and when Sutton went off the front in a bid to take back a lap, Kwok followed. When the Australian and his fellow escapees made it back around to the field with 28 laps remaining, Kwok had become the leader and only needed to prevent anyone else from joining him on two laps' advantage to secure the win.
This he did, although Howard wasn't aware of it at the finish. He sprinted hard for what he thought was the win, and after taking prime position in the bunch kick celebrated as such. That gave way to a little disappointment. "One was leading out the faster one," said Howard of the Hong Kong riders' tactics and the general confusion surrounding them. "I was happy with my kick at the finish though. CJ did an awesome job at the end - he rode with a lot of control out there, which was fantastic."
Sutton's leadout was so good that the commissaires decided it amounted to collusion, and he was punished by being relegated, while Howard was fined and remained on the podium. "He [Howard] got second - on the podium - which was what we wanted. We actually thought he won it, so to say it was collusion was a bit of a joke, really," said Sutton after the decision was announced. "I mean, I didn't hand sling him or anything. I just got quicker and lead him out in the sprint."
Sutton rode superbly in the finale and said afterwards that, "I felt alright - it was a good hitout. I've got the Madison tomorrow so it's all pretty good. I rode Oceania's last week and I felt like I was coming up pretty well; I went for it over the last five laps on the front, and as you've just heard we got done for a bit of collusion.
"Leigh Howard and Glenn O'Shea have been over in Europe riding the three-day races for amateurs and Leigh's got some good leg speed at the moment.
Howard confirmed that he is indeed feeling up to the challenge of going head-to-head in tomorrow night's Madison against Sutton and Cameron Meyer. "I'm pretty confident for the Madison tomorrow," said Howard. "We've both [Howard and O'Shea] taken very good results the last two nights - him first and me second. That gives us confidence going into tomorrow. The six-day stuff has been fantastic - I love the small track but you've got to come back to reality with the big ones."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- The Korean team receive some encouragement from their coach during qualifying for the men's team pursuit
- Stepping up to the plate: The Australian team step onto the apron for their heat of the men's teams pursuit
- The Australian team power around Hisense Arena during their heat of the men's teams pursuit
- Three to go: The Australian team receive directions from the sidelines after releasing a rider with three laps remaining
- The New Zealand team in action during their heat of the men's teams pursuit held over four kilometres
- Shane Perkins from Australia is introduced to the crowd for the night session on day two of the Track World Cup in Melbourne
- Scott Sunderland from Australia gives his all during the men's one kilometre time trial
- Michael D'Almeida from France charges towards a gold medal in the men's one kilometre time trial
- One to go: Michael D'Almeida from France gets one lap to go from his coach in the men's one kilometre time trial
- Spaniard David Alonso Castillo in action during the men's one kilometre time trial
- Gold medallist Michael D'Almeida from France warms down on the rollers as patrons dine inside Hisense Arena
- Action from the women's final of the points race on day two of the Track World Cup in Melbourne
- Riders sprint to the line during the final of the women's points race
- Australian Belinda Goss heads towards a bronze medal in the women's points race
- Riders in the home straight during the final of the women's points race at Hisense Arena in Melbourne
- Emily Rosemond (left) and Kerrie Meares from Australia await the call-up for the gold medal ride-off in the women's team sprint
- Kerrie Meares from Australia takes a deep breath before the women's sprint final for the gold medal
- Heads were turning during a final of the men's keirin
- Mark Jamieson straps himself in as he awaits his Australian teammates to join him for their gold medal ride-off in the men's teams pursuit
- The Australian quartet head towards gold in the men's teams pursuit
- Almost caught: The Australian team are about to pounce on the Spaniards during the men's four kilometre teams pursuit final
- The catch: The Aussies swoop around the Spaniards and power towards gold in the men's four kilometre teams pursuit
- Francois Pervis from France leads the field in the men's keirin final into the final lap
- Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang salutes the crowd after brilliantly winning the men's keirin final
- A rider sneaks away from the rest in the men's scratch race final
- Hong Kong's Ho Ting Kwok takes a peek at the scoreboard on the front of the bunch during his gold medal ride in the men's scratch race
- Australian Chris Sutton in the bunch during the men's scratch race
- Leigh Howard from Australia takes the final sprint in the men's scratch race
- Ho Ting Kwok from Hong Kong can't believe he has just won a gold medal at the Track World Cup in Melbourne
- I still can't believe it: Ho Ting Kwok from Hong Kong on the podium after accepting his gold medal
- The men's one kilometre time trial medallists (L-R): Scott Sunderland from Australia (silver), Michael D'Almeida from France (gold) and Hao Li Wen from China (bronze)
- The podium from the women's points race (l-r): Dorronsoro Olaberria from Spain (silver), Evgeniya Romanyuta from Russia (gold), and Belinda Goss from Australia (bronze)
- The women's sprint podium (l-r): Kerrie Meares and Emily Rosemond (Aus, silver), Yvonne Hijgenaar and Willy Kanis (Neth, gold), and Jin Gu Hyon and Gyeong Kim Won (Korea, bronze)
- The golden Aussies from the men's four kilometre teams pursuit (l-r): Rohan Dennis, Mark Jamieson, Jack Bobridge and Luke Durbridge
- The men's keirin podium (l-r): Andriy Vynokurov (Ukraine, silver), Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia, gold), and Francois Pervis (France, bronze)
- The men's scratch race podium (l-r): Leigh Howard (Aus,silver), Ho Ting Kwok (Hong Kong,gold), and Jason Christie (New Zealand) bronze.
Results
Men Kilometre final 1 Michaël d'Almeida (Fra) France 1.02.238 (57.842 km/h) 2 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team Toshiba 1.02.492 3 Wen Hao Li (Chn) China 1.03.189 4 Yevhen Bolibrukh (Ukr) Ukraine 1.03.241 5 Michael Seidenbecher (Ger) Germany 1.03.389 6 Quentin Lafargue (Fra) Cofidis 1.03.451 7 Joel Leonard (Aus) Australia 1.03.457 8 Steven Sansonetti (Aus) Bike Technologies Australia 1.03.612 9 Edward Dawkins (NZl) New Zealand 1.03.835 10 Yudai Nitta (Jpn) Japan 1.03.972 11 Clemens Selzer (Aut) Austria 1.05.046 12 David Alonso Castillo (Spa) Spain 1.05.320 13 Seong Tae Kim (Kor) Korea 1.05.424 14 Christian Ranneries (Den) Denmark 1.07.948 Keirin finals For gold 1 Azizul Hasni Awang (Mas) Malaysia 2 Andriy Vynokurov (Ukr) Ukraine 3 François Pervis (Fra) Cofidis 4 Shane Perkins (Aus) Australia 5 Kazunari Watanabe (Jpn) Japan REL Christos Volikakis (Gre) Greece Place seven through twelve 7 Simon Van Velthooven (NZl) New Zealand 8 Thierry Jollet (Fra) France 9 Matthias John (Ger) Germany 10 Qi Tang (Chn) China 11 Won Gu Jun (Kor) Korea 12 Clemens Selzer (Aut) Austria Place 13 through 16 13 Hodei Mazquiaran Uria (Spa) Spain 13 Pavel Yakushevskiy (Rus) Russia 15 Adrian Sansonetti (Aus) Bike Technologies Australia 15 Daniel Ellis (Aus) Team Toshiba Scratch final 1 Ho Ting Kwok (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling One lap behind 2 Leigh Howard (Aus) Team Toshiba 3 Jason Christie (NZl) New Zealand 4 Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Poland 5 Alexei Markov (Rus) Russia 6 Angel Dario Colla (Arg) Argentina 7 Sun Jae Jang (Kor) Korea 8 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Japan 9 Karl Christian König (Ger) Germany 10 Sergiy Lagkuti (Ukr) Ukraine 11 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Tha) Thailand 12 Toni Tauler Llull (Spa) Spain Two laps behind 13 Andrea Pinos (Ita) Italy 14 Georg Tazreiter (Aut) Austria 15 Carlos Pulgarin Vergara (Col) Colombia 16 Christian Ranneries (Den) Denmark 17 Akmal Amrun (Mas) Malaysia 18 Iban Leanizbarrutia Cruz (Spa) Cespa Euskadi 19 Alexey Lyalko (Kaz) Kazakhstan 20 Loïc Perizzolo (Swi) Switzerland One lap behind REL Christopher Sutton (Aus) Australia Two laps behind DNF King Wai Cheung (HKg) Hong Kong Women Points race final 1 Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russian Federation) 16 pts 2 Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain) 15 3 Belinda Goss (Toshiba) 11 4 Rebecca Quinn (United States) 10 5 Annalisa Cucinotta (Italy) 7 6 Jolien D'hoore (Belgium) 7 7 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 6 8 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 5 9 Andrea Wolfer (Switzerland) 5 10 Ah Reum Na (Korea) 4 11 Katie Colclough (Great Britain) 1 12 Wan Yiu Wong (Hong Kong, China) 1 13 Shelley Olds (United States) 14 Rochelle Gilmore (Australia) 15 Debora Galvez Lopez (Spain) 16 Tess Downing (Australia) 17 Eleonora Soldo (Italy) 18 Chanpeng Nontasin (Thailand) 19 Kelly Druyts (Belgium) 20 Anastasiya Chulkova (Russian Federation) 21 Ashlee Ankudinoff (Australia) 22 Ju Mi Lee (Korea) 20 pts DNF Malindi Maclean (New Zealand) DNS Josephine Tomic (Australia) Team sprint final For gold 1 Netherlands 0.34.191 (52.645 km/h) Yvonne Hijgenaar Willy Kanis 2 Australia 0.34.621 Kerrie Meares Emily Rosemond For bronze 1 Korea 0.35.788 Jin Gu Hyon Won Gyeong Kim 2 Thailand 0.37.114 Watinee Luekajorn Jutatip Maneephan
