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2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships - CM
Pruszkow, Poland, March 25-29, 2009
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 7 - March 28: Men: Madison, Sprint (1/4 final, 5th-8th); Women: Sprint (Semifinal, Final), Omnium (Points race, 500m TT)
Danish put on perfect show to win the Madison
By Gerry McManus in Pruszkow, Poland
Team Saxo Bank professionals Michael Morkov and Alex Rasmussen won the men's Madison for Denmark on Saturday night in Pruszkow. The dyanamic Danish duo took control of the race by winning 22 points in the sprints and dramatically lapping the field to win their country's second gold medal of the championships.
Australia also ended on the same lap as Denmark and the young duo of Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard earned themselves the silver medal. The bronze went to the brave Czech team of Martin Blaha and Jiri Hochmann who surprised the field by taking a lap on their own before the race was even at half distance. The Czech's held onto third place despite not having won even one point in the sprints.
Still no medal for Mark Cavendish who partnered fellow Manxman Peter Kennaugh. Kennaugh was unfortunate to crash but remounted with cuts and bruises and Great Britain eventually finished sixth.
The race was explosive with teams constantly on the attack and Denmark scored maximum points on the first sprint with Spain in second and Belgium in third. As the bell went to announce the next sprint, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, GB and Italy were all jostling for position on the front but the Belgian came over the top to steal five points from GB and Italy.
With 144 laps to go, USA, Denmark, Germany and Australia gained a small lead with Denmark narrowly beating Germany to win five points. Then the Czech team launched a serious attack and they quickly gained half a lap and worked hard to make connection with the bunch around nine laps later. The other contenders had seen the danger and Spain, Denmark went clear with GB and Italy chasing. The bunch turned into one long line which started to split under the pressure but the Czech team bravely hung onto the tail.
Cavendish on the attack
Mark Cavendish launched himself off the front with an Italian in tow with Italy gaining the maxiumum five points for the sprint lap. Cavendish seemed more intent on gaining a lap.
105 laps to go and Argentina attacked and the bunched hesitated to allow them to add five points to their tally. Denmark got another five points and with 78 laps to go and all hell let loose. Denmark looked rocket fuelled as they attacked to taking the points and lapped the field to take the lead. Then the young Australian duo followed suit and jumped up the leader board into the silver medal position.
It was effectively game over with Michael Morkov attacking again and gaining nearly half a lap in a show of strength.
Cavendish and Kennaugh never gave up and were still attacking with eight laps to go but the rainbow jersey's were destined to go to Denmark. The Polish team gave the home crowd something to cheer about when they won the penultimate sprint with the USA getting the honours on the final lap.
Morkov finally gets the rainbow jersey
"That was awesome," said Morkov: "Yesterday I did the qualification in the team pursuit and in the evening I saw my friends win the final. It was really hard not to have a rainbow jersey like my friends but to win today and to be able to go to the airport in the same jersey as them is very important to me. This is the biggest highlight in my career."
"Alex [Rasmussen] and I have a really good relationship," continued Morkov. " We have been riding the Madison together for five years. When we rode our first Madison together I was sure that we would win the World title someday.
"I was worried when the Czech's took the lap early in the race because they took it really easily and they looked pretty comfortable sitting in the peloton. As the race stretched out I could see that they were having problems and I knew that when we put the hammer down that we would take a lap.
"We started competing in the sprints early on because we wanted to be sure on points and we had a lot of competition from the British and the Belgian guys but we held a little bit back when we realised we needed a lap. My legs were so good and I was so motivated for the race today that I had enough left to attack again near the end."
Pendleton is still Queen of the sprint
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Britain's Victoria Pendleton was crowned world champion for the women's sprint after she beat Dutch girl Wily Kanis in a thrilling final on Saturday night. Not the usual flag trailing behind on the lap of honour this time for the British girl. The emotion hit her as she crossed the finish line and she simply wept getting big hugs from British sprinter Jamie Staff.
Kanis had made it tough for Pendleton as she won the second heat to level the series and there was bumping and a thumping in the thrilling final round. Kanis squeezed Pendleton up on the rail first and then Pendleton banged into the Dutch girl as she came round her in the final 20m to win by inches to retain her world championship title.
Pendleton was still emotional and close to tears on the podium when she received her medal but managed to sing the British national anthem as it was played.
"This is the hardest world championship I have ever won," said Pendleton. "Coming out of the Olympics and going straight back into training really tough, especially with all the other commitments you have as an Olympic champion in your country. I just didn't think it was going to be possible and I am so relieved that I can't explain. I think this is one of the greatest achievements of my career so far. I am going to try my best in the Keirin on Sunday but I can't guarantee anything."
Tomic takes the Omnium title
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Aussie Josephine Tomic was crowned the first ever women's Omnium World Champion on Saturday night when she won the final 500m time trial event.
Tomic had already ridden a stormer in the points race earlier in the day to go into a joint lead with only the 500m time trial to go. Tomic found her sprinting legs quickly and won the race courtesy of gaining maximum points on the second and final sprint of the race.
Dalila Rodriguez Hernandez was aggressive throughout, scoring on three sprints to finish second but was still nine points off the overall lead. Elisa Frisoni (Italy) finished third and put herself into contention for the overall, lying in fourth place behind Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine). Tara Whitten (Canada) only placed 11th in points the race but still has the same points total as Tomic.
Tomic put everything into the last time trial event and finished seventh, just one place ahead of Whitten to secure victory by one solitary point. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) put in the fastest time of 35.242 sec to beat Britain's Anna Blyth and take herself into the bronze medal position.
Tomic was delighted with the victory. "That was a big surprise," said Tomic. "I had a disappointing scratch race and to come back and the win shows that anything can happen. I have asthma and it is pretty dusty in the Velodrome; I had a cough all week but I just got on with the job and it paid off. I won the world junior points race in 2007 and it used to be one of my strongest events but I have not done so well in it as a senior. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain so I put everything into the race.
"I just went into the 500m time trial aiming for a personal best time and to try to medal and I didn't really feel any pressure."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Gerry McManus/www.gerrymcmanus.co.uk
- Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) slings his partner Michael Morkov during the men's madison final. The duo from Denmark won the championship in front of Australia and the Czech Republic.
- Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) leans into Willy Kanis (Netherlands) during their duel for the women's sprint title.
- Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) battles Willy Kanis (Netherlands) for the women's sprint championship.
- Michael Morkov (Denmark) flies the flag after he and compatriot Alex Rasmussen won the men's madison.
- Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) celebrates after he and partner Michael Morkov won the men's madison championship.
- The women's sprint podium with Willy Kanis (Netherlands), Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) and Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania), l-r.
- Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) wears the rainbow jersey and gold medal earned through winning the women's sprint event.
- Josephine Tomic (Australia) hits the front in the points race
- Josephine Tomic (Australia) beaming with gold medal and rainbow jersey
- Josephine Tomic (Australia) tops Tara Whitten (Canada) and Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands), l & r, on the Omnium podium
- Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) is still Queen of the sprint
- Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) heads the field
- Michael Morkov (Denmark) on the charge
- Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) Congratulations from Franco Marvulli for
- British pair Mark Cavendish and Peter Kennaugh make a change
- Howard and Meyer make the hand sling
- Czech team make the change
Results
Men's Madison
Final
1 Denmark 22 pts
Michael Morkov
Alex Rasmussen
2 Australia 2 pts
Leigh Howard
Cameron Meyer
3 Czech Republic
Martin Blaha
Jiri Hochmann
One lap behind
4 Belgium 17 pts
Kenny De Ketele
Tim Mertens
5 Germany 15 pts
Roger Kluge
Olaf Pollack
6 Great Britain 13 pts
Mark Cavendish
Peter Kennaugh
7 Italy 10 pts
Angelo Ciccone
Elia Viviani
8 United States 7 pts
Daniel Holloway
Colby Pearce
9 Ukraine
Sergiy Lagkuti
Mykhaylo Radionov
10 Switzerland
Alexander Aeschbach
Franco Marvulli
11 Netherlands
Pim Ligthart
Wim Stroetinga
Two laps behind
12 Spain 7 pts
Unai Elorriaga Zubiaur
David Muntaner Juaneda
13 Poland 7 pts
Lukasz Bujko
Rafal Ratajczyk
14 Argentina 6 pts
Sebastian Donadio
Martin Garrido Mayorga
15 Russia 3 pts
Mikhail Ignatiev
Alexei Markov
16 France 1
Julien Duval
Morgan Kneisky
17 Austria
Andreas Graf
Andreas Mueller
18 Colombia
Juan Arango Carvajal
Carlos Alberto Uran Arroyabe
Men's Sprint
Quarterfinal Heat 1 1 Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 0.10.406 0.10.871 2 Ross Edgar (Great Britain) 0.10.995 Heat 2 1 Grégory Bauge (France) 0.10.353 0.10.664 2 Jason Kenny (Great Britain) Heat 3 1 Kévin Sireau (France) 0.10.487 0.10.506 2 Matthew Crampton (Great Britain) Heat 4 1 Shane Perkins (Australia) 0.10.513 0.10.487 2 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 5th-8th final 5 Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 0.11.013 6 Matthew Crampton (Great Britain) 7 Mickaël Bourgain (France) 8 Ross Edgar (Great Britain)
Women's Sprint
Semifinal Heat 1 1 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 0.11.813 0.11.942 2 Olga Panarina (Belarus) Heat 2 1 Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 0.12.305 0.11.594 2 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) Final 1 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 0.11.897 0.11.714 2 Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 0.11.665 3 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 0.11.277 0.11.524 4 Olga Panarina (Belarus)
Women's Omnium
Points Race 1 Josephine Tomic (Australia) 10 pts 2 Dalila Rodriguez Hernandez (Cuba) 6 3 Elisa Frisoni (Italy) 6 4 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 5 5 Xiao Juan Diao (Hong Kong, China) 4 6 Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 4 7 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spain) 3 8 Renata Dabrowska (Poland) 3 9 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 2 10 Olga Slyusareva (Russian Federation) 1 11 Tara Whitten (Canada) 12 Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 13 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 14 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 15 Andrea Botero Coy (Colombia) DNF Kaytee Boyd (New Zealand) 500m TT 1 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 0.35.242 (51.075 km/h) 2 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 0.35.377 3 Elisa Frisoni (Italy) 0.35.458 4 Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 0.35.660 5 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 0.35.981 6 Renata Dabrowska (Poland) 0.36.326 7 Josephine Tomic (Australia) 0.36.650 8 Tara Whitten (Canada) 0.37.451 9 Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 0.37.483 10 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 0.37.524 11 Dalila Rodriguez Hernandez (Cuba) 0.37.696 12 Kaytee Boyd (New Zealand) 0.37.907 13 Olga Slyusareva (Russian Federation) 0.37.992 14 Xiao Juan Diao (Hong Kong, China) 0.38.896 15 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spain) 0.38.924 16 Andrea Botero Coy (Colombia) 0.39.126 Final Standings 1 Josephine Tomic (Australia) 26 pts 2 Tara Whitten (Canada) 27 3 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 27 4 Elisa Frisoni (Italy) 28 5 Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 29 6 Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 34 7 Dalila Rodriguez Hernandez (Cuba) 39 8 Renata Dabrowska (Poland) 40 9 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 44 10 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 44 11 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 44 12 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spain) 52 13 Olga Slyusareva (Russian Federation) 56 14 Kaytee Boyd (New Zealand) 61 15 Xiao Juan Diao (Hong Kong, China) 61 16 Andrea Botero Coy (Colombia) 68
