Just five days after the end of the Glasgow World Cup, the teams are back in action in Apeldoorn for Round 2 of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup 2016-17. The opening day sees the Men’s Team Pursuit, Women’s Omnium, Men’s Scratch and Men’s and Women’s Team Sprint competitions decided.
Women’s Team Sprint
Qualifying
The Women’s Team Sprint competition saw Great Britain join the fray, having sat out the Glasgow round. Rachel James and Katy Marchant would end in fifth place with 34.193 – just six hundredths behind fourt-placed Natalya Anotonova and Tatiana Kiseleva of Russia.
The home team of Kyra Lamberink and Shanne Braspennincx set the third fastest time of 33.917 – 16 thousandths behing Jun Han and Lili Liu of China. Fastest, though, were the on-form Spaniads – Tania Calvo and Helena Casas who took pole position with a 33.698.
Results
1 Spain (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) ESP 33.698
2 China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) CHN 33.901
3 Netherlands (BRASPENNINCX Shanne, LAMBERINK Kyra) NED 33.917
4 Russia (ANTONOVA Natalya, KISELEVA Tatiana) RUS 34.131
5 Great Britain (JAMES Rachel, MARCHANT Katy) GBR 34.193
6 United States (GODBY Madalyn, MARQUARDT Mandy) USA 34.919
7 Australia (FIELD Courtney, TAKOS Holly) AUS 34.970
8 Japan (ISHII Takako, MAEDA Kayono) JPN 35.220
Men’s Team Sprint
Qualifying
The biggest cheer from the small crowd in the short afternoon session was for the Dutch Team Sprint trio of Hugo Haak, Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen who clocked 44.753 – four hundredths behind Spanish trio Alejandro Martinez, Jose Moreno and Juan Peralta.
The top three was familiar – in the sense of containing the top three Men’s Team Sprint nations of recent years – but the names, especially in two of the squads – weren’t exactly household names. Benajmin Edelin, Quentin Lafargue and Sebastien Vigier of France took third with a 44.241. Just eight thousandths behind Eric Engler, Robert Foestermann and Tobias Wachter on 44.233.
Fastest – again – were Great Britain. Jack Carlin, Ryan Owens and Joe Truman have been on fire since the European Under 23 Championships in Montichiari in July and went in to the first round a confidence-boosting two tenths of a second up on the rest of the field on 44.012.
Results
1 Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, OWENS Ryan, TRUMAN Joseph) GBR 44.012
2 Germany (ENGLER Eric, FORSTEMANN Robert, WACHTER Tobias) GER 44.233
3 France (EDELIN Benjamin, LAFARGUE Quentin, VIGIER Sebastien) FRA 44.241
4 Spain (MARTINEZ Alejandro, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose, PERALTA GASCON Juan) ESP 44.714
5 Netherlands (HAAK Hugo, HOOGLAND Jeffrey, LAVREYSEN Harrie) NED 44.753
6 Czech Republic (BABEK Tomas, SOJKA David, WAGNER Robin) CZE 44.799
7 Russia RUS (DUBCHENKO Aleksandr, SAMUSENKO Kirill, YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel) 44.925
8 Belarus (NOVIK Uladzislau, VERAMCHUK Yauhen, ZAITSAU Artsiom) BLR 45.013
Men’s Team Pursuit
Qualifying
European Champions France put out yet another quartet and ended up on top of the pile again with a 4:02.055. With Great Britain fielding a development squad, Benjamin Thomas, Morgan Kneisky, Adrien Garel and Louis Puorlet will be hoping to go one better than Glasgow.
Not that Matthew Bostock, Ethan Hayter, Joe Holt and Matthew Walls were miles off the pace – the Great Britain squad taking fifth with a 4:04.016. The remainder of the top 5 were within fractions of the French – Canada in fourth were two and a half tenths behind on 4:02.328, Belgium on 4:02.300 and the Netherlands on 4:02.277. The battle for the medal rides in the First Round promised to be extremely close.
Results
1 France (THOMAS Benjamin, KNEISKY Morgan, GAREL Adrien, PIJOURLET Louis) FRA 4:02.055
2 Netherlands (EEFTING Roy, BEUKEBOOM Dion, PIETERS Roy, STROETINGA Wim) NED 4:02.277
3 Belgium (DE PAUW Moreno, DE KETELE Kenny, GHYS Robbe, THIJSSEN Gerben) BEL 4:02.300
4 Canada (CAVES Aidan, JAMIESON Adam, LAMOUREUX Jay, SIMPSON Bayley) CAN 4:02.328
5 Great Britain (BOSTOCK Matthew, HAYTER Ethan, HOLT Joe, WALLS Matthew) GBR 4:04.016
6 Italy (CONSONNI Simone, BUTTAZZONI Alex, LAMON Francesco, PLEBANI Davide) ITA 4:04.079
7 Russia (ROSTOVTSEV Sergey, KOVALEV Evgeny, KULIKOV Vladislav, PISKUNOV Maksim) RUS 4:04.892
8 Poland (SAJNOK Szymon Wojciech, BANASZEK Alan, STANISZEWSKI Daniel, TEKLINSKI Adrian) POL 4:05.513
Women’s Omnium – I Scratch
Day 1
Although the opening stages did see Justyna Kaczkowska of Poland try to take a lap – and the closing stages saw a promising break containing Tatsiana Sharakova of Belarus and the star of the Omnium in Glasgow Yumi Kajihara – the bunch was all back together and it wasn’t just the home crowd that expected Kirsten Wild to take the bunch sprint.
In the end, she was pipped on the line by Laurie Berthon of France – with Rachele Barbieri of Italy third, Lotte Kopecky of Belgium fourth and Glasgow winner Emily Kay still very much in contention in fifth.
Results
1 BERTHON Laurie FRA
2 WILD Kirsten NED
3 BARBIERI Rachele ITA
4 KOPECKY Lotte BEL
5 KAY Emily GBR
6 KLIMCHENKO Tetyana UKR
7 LUO Xiaoling CHN
8 BOYLAN Lydia IRL
9 USABIAGA BALERDI Ana ESP
10 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR
Women’s Team Sprint
1st round
The evening session kicked off with the Women’s Team Sprint First Round and – after Kiseleva and Antonova had wn the opening heat against Great Britian’s Rachel James and Katy Marchant in a time of 34.152, the home crowd were treated to the sight of Lauine van Riessen and Shanne Braspennincx joingin them in the finals, ending Mandy Marquadt and Madlyn Godby of the USA’s competition with a time of 33.807.
With the Team Sprint competition much more straightforward than the Team Pursuit, it’s the four heat winners that progress – with the Gold medal contested by the two fastest heat winners. Jun Han and Lili Lui of China put Russia in to the Bronze medal ride with a 33.808 – just a thousandth of a second behind the Dutch – in their heat against Courtney Field and Holly Takos of Australia.
The Chinese duo must have known that their chances of making the Gold medal ride hung in the balance with just one heat remaining – between Calvo and Casas of Spain and Kayono Maeda and Takako Ishii of Japan. The winner was never really in doubt – the only question was the time they would do it in. They came home nearly a tenth of a second faster than the Dutch in 33.690, condemning the Chinese to the Bronze medal ride by the narrowest margin possible.
Results
Heat 1
1 Russia (ANTONOVA Natalya, KISELEVA Tatiana) RUS 34.152
2 Great Britain (JAMES Rachel, MARCHANT Katy) GBR 34.226
Heat 2
1 Netherlands (VAN RIESSEN Laurine, BRASPENNINCX Shanne) NED 33.807
2 United States (GODBY Madalyn, MARQUARDT Mandy) USA 34.898
Heat 3
1 China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) CHN 33.808
2 Australia (FIELD Courtney, TAKOS Holly) AUS 34.752
Heat 4
1 Spain (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) ESP 33.690
2 Japan (MAEDA Kayono, ISHII Takako) JPN 35.485
Men’s Team Pursuit
1st round
The big surprise in the Men’s Team Pursuit First Round came in the final heat – although Russia’s win against Italy in the opening heat was somewhat against the Italians’ recent run of form. Poland have been extremely competitive this year and edged out the young British squad in the second.
The third – a local derby between hosts the Netherlands and neighbours Belgium – was more difficult to read as Belgium broke the Netherlands inside 2km and, with a place in the Gold medal ride assured as Heat 3 winners, eased off.
The final heat – which also has a place in the final as its prize – so the impressive French against the underdog Canadians. Canada have been quick – here and in Glasgow – but they’ve looked, at times, as though they were digging deep.
Not this time. Ed Veal came in to replace Bayley Simpson and the fresher legs seemed to help. The quartet actually rode half a second slower than in qualifying, but from the 3km point they were always in the lead and the French were starting to crack. Whatever happens tomorrow, they’ll go at least one better than their Bronze from Glasgow
Results
1 Russia (ROSTOVTSEV Sergey, KOVALEV Evgeny, PISKUNOV Maksim, PROSTOKSHIN Andrey) RUS 4:05.970
2 Italy (CONSONNI Simone, BUTTAZZONI Alex, LAMON Francesco, PLEBANI Davide) ITA 4:09.035
Heat 2
1 Poland (SAJNOK Szymon Wojciech, BANASZEK Alan, STANISZEWSKI Daniel, TEKLINSKI Adrian) POL 4:04.573
2 Great Britain (BOSTOCK Matthew, HAYTER Ethan, HOLT Joe, WALLS Matthew) GBR 4:05.202
Heat 3
1 Belgium (DE KETELE Kenny, GHYS Robbe, RICKAERT Jonas, THIJSSEN Gerben) BEL 4:07.014
2 Netherlands (EEFTING Roy, BEUKEBOOM Dion, PIETERS Roy, STROETINGA Wim) NED 4:14.827
Heat 4
1 Canada (CAVES Aidan, JAMIESON Adam, LAMOUREUX Jay, VEAL Ed) CAN 4:02.706
2 France FRA (THOMAS Benjamin, KNEISKY Morgan, GAREL Adrien, PIJOURLET Louis) 4:03.415
Women’s Omnium – II Tempo Race
Tempo race number four – and, by some distance, the best so far. Early on, it even looked as though it might, at last, be that barnstorming sprint-fest we’d been promised. Sharakova took the opening sprint, followed by Berthon and Anita Stenberg of Norway – but already the field was beginning to stretch out. Kopecky took the next two and Boylan the sixth – before Kaczkowska made a break for it and picked up three in a row. Nine sprints out of 26 gone – and we were back to form.
A group got away containing Kay and Wild and between them, those two picked up 13 of the remaining 17 points – and two of those only went elsewhere (Stenberg again) because Wild and Kay finally took the lap and the lead went back to the chasing group.
The fact that Wild and Kay were the favourites for the overall – and the fact that they were genuinely racing for the points, not just sharing them out – did make for a (much) better race. But it was still a group of riders sitting off the back of the bunch, deciding when to stop harvesting the points and to take a lap.
Wild’s power was too much for Kay in the Battle at the Back of the Bunch and Wild took eight points to Kay’s five – both of them also taking the lap to finish two points clear of Kaczkowska who took three wins and the lap.
Results
1 WILD Kirsten NED 12
2 KAY Emily GBR 9
3 KACZKOWSKA Justyna POL 7
4 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN 6
5 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 5
6 LUO Xiaoling CHN 4
7 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU 4
8 BARBIERI Rachele ITA 4
9 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR 3
10 KOPECKY Lotte BEL 2
Men’s Team Sprint
1st round
If the home crowd were delighted when van Riessen and Brasspennincx progressed in the women’s event, they were deflated when the Spainish trio of Martinez, Peralta and Moreno ended Hoogland, van den Berg and Haak’s run, clocking 44.685 to book their place in the finals.
France joined them from the next heat Edelin, Vigier and Lafarge getting one hand on a Gold medal ride with a 44.189. That was confirmed in the next heat when Germany progressed, but their time of 44.383 meant that they would have to wait until the final heat to know which final they would ride.
Unsurprisingly, it would be the ride for Bronze – Carlin, Owens and Truman’s remarkable run continuing as they clocked 43.860 to set up another meeting with the French.
Results
Heat 1
1 Spain (MARTINEZ Alejandro, PERALTA GASCON Juan, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose) ESP 44.685
2 Netherlands (HOOGLAND Jeffrey, VAN DEN BERG Roy, HAAK Hugo) NED 44.803
Heat 2
1 France (EDELIN Benjamin, VIGIER Sebastien, LAFARGUE Quentin) FRA 44.189
2 Czech Republic (WAGNER Robin, BABEK Tomas, SOJKA David) CZE 44.890
Heat 3
1 Germany (FORSTEMANN Robert, ENGLER Eric, WACHTER Tobias) GER 44.383
2 Russia (YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel, SAMUSENKO Kirill, TKACHEV Aleksei) RUS 44.452
Heat 4
1 Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, OWENS Ryan, TRUMAN Joseph) GBR 43.778
2 Belarus (VERAMCHUK Yauhen, ZAITSAU Artsiom, NOVIK Uladzislau) BLR 44.699
Men’s Scratch Final
A thrilling Men’s Scratch race was dominated by laps taken with Raman Ramanau of Belarus part of an initial group that took a lap around the half distance – and then again in the closing stages, with a trio of riders who hadn’t previously taken a lap. That put him on his own, a lap ahead of 10 riders and two ahead of the rest of the field.
All that was left to decide was the minor places with Great Britain’s Chris Latham winning the sprint for Silver and Moreno de Pauw of Belgium taking the Bronze. The race also marked the World Cup debut for Singapore, with Elyas Yusoff showing plenty of speed in the early part of the race, but not quite enough endurance to make it to the end – but a very promising start from another Asian nation.
Results
GOLD RAMANAU Raman MCC
SILVER LATHAM Christopher GBR -1
BRONZE DE PAUW Moreno BEL -1
4 ENGLISH Felix IRL -1
5 PISKUNOV Maksim RUS -1
6 KARALIOK Yauheni BLR -1
7 HARRISON Samuel WAL -1
8 LEUNG Chun Wing HKG -1
9 PSZCZOLARSKI Wojciech POL -1
10 MATZNER Stefan AUT -1
Women’s Omnium – III Elimination
The ride of the night in the Elimination race was from Xialong Luo of China who took half a lap on the field at the mid-way point and held the gap until the final sprint, eventually losing out to Kopecky. Wild and Kay kept their place at the head of the overall battle, taking third and fourth places.
Results
1 KOPECKY Lotte BEL
2 LUO Xiaoling CHN
3 WILD Kirsten NED
4 KAY Emily GBR
5 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR
6 BERTHON Laurie FRA
7 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN
8 KACZKOWSKA Justyna POL
9 HOCHMANN Lucie CZE
10 USABIAGA BALERDI Ana ESP
Women’s Team Sprint
Finals
The Bronze medal ride was close – Russia just missed out on breaking the 34 second barrier – China broke it by a narrow margin. The Gold medal ride – despite the support from the home crowd – wasn’t. The Dutch switched back from van Riessen for Kyra Lamberink but they couldn’t quite match their qualifying performance, let alone their First Round time – clocking 34.025. The Spanish didn’t to improve again – but they did anyway. 33.698 in qualifying, 33.690 in the First Round and 33.442 in the Final.
Results
GOLD Spain ESP (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) 33.442
SILVER Netherlands (LAMBERINK Kyra, BRASPENNINCX Shanne) NED 34.025
BRONZE China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) CHN 33.989
4 Russia (ANTONOVA Natalya, KISELEVA Tatiana) RUS 34.093
Men’s Team Sprint
Finals
The Spanish men couldn’t quite clinch a medal in the Men’s competition – 44.758 in the ride against Germany was a couple of tenths shy of the Bronze. The Final wasn’t quite so close with Great Britain slightly off their First Round time at 43.860 – but well over a second clear of the French.
Results
GOLD Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, OWENS Ryan, TRUMAN Joseph) GBR 43.860
SILVER France (EDELIN Benjamin, VIGIER Sebastien, LAFARGUE Quentin) FRA 45.092
BRONZE Germany (FORSTEMANN Robert, ENGLER Eric, WACHTER Tobias) GER 44.571
4 Spain (MARTINEZ Alejandro, PERALTA GASCON Juan, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose) ESP 44.758
Women’s Omnium – IV Final Points race
We miss the Elimination Race as the culmination to the first day of competition in the Omnium – but the Points Race remains an exciting – if overly weighted – finale to the competition.
Wild went into the final race ten points clear of Kay – a very slender margin with 35 points available from the sprints, 20 fo a lap and ten for the final dash. But she’s a canny rider and she knew that all she really needed to do was to mark Kay and pick up a few points here and there to take home the Gold.
And so the race went elsewhere. Rachele Barbieri of Italy was the stand out-rider – taking a lap, a first place, two seconds (including the double points final sprint) and a third to move from 7th overall into the Bronze medal position, dropping Kopecky down to fourth on finishing order as she tied up the points tally in the final sprint. In the midfield, too, Boylan (12th to 9th) and Australia’s Alexandra Manly (15th to 11th) made the most of their lap gains.
At the front, though, Kay was only able to pick up a fourth and a third half way through the race – with Wild giving herself a little breathing room with a second early on, two thirds and a fourth. Just to be sure.
Results
GOLD WILD Kirsten NED 122
SILVER KAY Emily GBR 107
BRONZE BARBIERI Rachele ITA 106
4 KOPECKY Lotte BEL 106
5 LUO Xiaoling CHN 101
6 BERTHON Laurie FRA 96
7 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 96
8 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR 93
9 BOYLAN Lydia IRL 86
10 KACZKOWSKA Justyna POL 81
