The report and results from the opening session of the final round of the 2016-2017 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup from Los Angeles.
Women
Team Sprint
Qualifying
Hyejin Lee and Won Kyeong Kim of Korea won the opening heat against Alena Reji and Deborah of India to go top of the leaderboard with a 34.277. Neither the USA nor Italy in heat 2 could better that time but Kate O’Brien and Amelia Walsh could – clocking 34.093 in heat 3, but Jessica Salazar and Yuli Verdugo of Mexico pipped them to the lead with a 34.044.
Kristina Vogel and Emma Hinze of Germany went fifth – trailing Martha Bayona and Juliana Gavira of Colombia by just 46 thousandths in heat 4. Tianshi Zhing and Shuang Guo – riding for Giant-Max Success Sports Pro Cycling leapt ahead of Mexico in the penultimate heat with a 33.273 – before World Champions Dara Shmeleva and Anastasiia Voinova shaved five hundredths off that time to go into the First Round in pole position on 33.222.
Results
1 Gazprom-Rusvelo (SHMELEVA Daria, VOINOVA Anastasiia) 33.222
2 Giant-Max Success Sports Pro Cycling (GUO Shuang, ZHONG Tianshi) 33.273
3 Mexico (SALAZAR VALLES Jessica, VERDUGO OSUNA Yuli) 34.044
4 Canada (O’BRIEN Kate, WALSH Amelia) 34.093
5 China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) 34.164
6 Korea (KIM Won Gyeong, LEE Hyejin) 34.277
7 Colombia (BAYONA PINEDA Martha, GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana) 34.279
8 Germany (HINZE Emma, VOGEL Kristina) 34.325
9 Italy (FIDANZA Martina, VECE Miriam) 35.071
10 United States (GODBY Madalyn, MARQUARDT Mandy) 35.097
11 India (DEBORAH, REJI Alena) 36.051
12 Spain (ARAIZ AGUIRRE Gudane, ELBUSTO ARTEAGA Ainara) 38.699
Team Pursuit
Qualifying
With only nine teams staring the Women’s Team Pursuit Qualifying session – and eight progressing to the First Round – four riders were going to be unlucky. The Ukraine set the benchmark with a 4:39.288, riding alone in the opening heat – with Russia just pipping them by two and a half seconds in heat 2 against Japan. The Japanese time of 4:47.732 was already 11 seconds off the lead and they were looking vulnerable with three heats to go.
The World Champion United States were up next and Kelly Caitlin, Chloe Dygert, Kimberley Geist and Jennifer Valente lopped nearly 16 seconds off the best time – sitting proud at the top of the scoreboard after clocking 4:20.969. Their heat opponents France went second on 4:31.800.
The other North American squad in the competition – Laura Brown, Jasmin Duehring, Kirsti Lay and Steph Roorda – caught their opponents Poland en route to a 4:25.651 – with the Poles, nonetheless, going 4th on 4:35.103.
The final heat saw Rushlee Buchanan, Michaela Drummond, Jaime Nielsen and Racquel Sheath of New Zealand take on Maria Giulia Confalonieri, Simona Frapporti, Francesca Pattaro and Silvia Valsecchi of Italy – with the Kiwis leapfrogging Canada into second place with a 4:22.490 – while the Italians slotted in to fourth with a 4:29.63.
Results
1 United States (CATLIN Kelly, DYGERT Chloe, GEIST Kimberly, VALENTE Jennifer) 4:20.969
2 New Zealand (BUCHANAN Rushlee, DRUMMOND Michaela, NIELSEN Jaime, SHEATH Racquel) 4:22.490
3 Canada (BROWN Laura, DUEHRING Jasmin, LAY Kirsti, ROORDA Stephanie) 4:25.651
4 Italy (CONFALONIERI M., FRAPPORTI Simona, PATTARO Francesca, VALSECCHI Silvia) 4:29.653
5 France (BERTHON Laurie, BORRAS Marion, DELZENNE Elise, DEMAY Coralie) 4:31.800
6 Poland (KACZKOWSKA Justyna, PIETRZAK Lucja, PLOSAJ Nikol, RUTKOWSKA Natalia) 4:35.103
7 Russia (ABRAMOVA Maria, AVERINA Maria, ROMANYUTA Evgeniya, ZABELINSKAYA Olga) 4:36.625
8 Ukraine (KLIMCHENKO Tetyana, KLYACHINA Oksana, NAHIRNA Anna, SOLOVEI Ganna) 4:39.288
9 Japan (MAEDA Kayono, NAKAMURA Aika, NAKAMURA Kisato, SUZUKI Nao) 4:47.732
Men
Team Sprint
Qualifying
Canada’s trio of Hugo Barrette, Patrice Pivin and Stefan Ritter rode alone in the opening heat to set the standard with a 45.451 – but that only lasted until the following heat when Ruben Murillo, Fabian Puerta and Santiago Ramirez of Colombia went under 45 seconds – clocking 44.865.
A great ride from Uladzislau Novik, Evgeni Veremchuk and Artsion Zaitsau of Belarus saw them take over at the top on 44.618 in the next heat – a lead they were to hold until the penultimate heat when World Champions Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster broke the 44 second barrier to record a time of 43.588. Both the teams in the final heat would push Belarus down the order – but neither would challenge the Kiwis. Maciej Bielecki, Krzysztof Maksel and Mateusz Rudyk of Poland took third spot with a 44.275 and Erik Balzer, Eric Engler and Max Niederlag of Germany dropped into second on 43.983.
Results
1 New Zealand (DAWKINS Edward, MITCHELL Ethan, WEBSTER Sam) 43.588
2 Germany (BALZER Erik, ENGLER Eric, NIEDERLAG Max) 43.983
3 Poland (BIELECKI Maciej, MAKSEL Krzysztof, RUDYK Mateusz) 44.275
4 Belarus (NOVIK Uladzislau, VEREMCHUK Evgeni, ZAITSAU Artsiom) 44.618
5 France (CONOR Charlie, LANDERNEAU Melvin, VIGIER Sebastien) 44.642
6 Japan (NAGASAKO Yoshitaku, WAKIMOTO Yuta, WATANABE Kazunari) 44.854
7 Colombia (MURILLO MINOTA Ruben Dario, PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando, RAMIREZ MORALES Santiago) 44.865
8 Russia (DUBCHENKO Aleksandr, SAMUSENKO Kirill, YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel) 45.163
9 Dream Seeker (NITTA Yudai, PERKINS Shane, WADA Makuru) 45.324
10 Canada (BARRETTE Hugo, PIVIN Patrice, RITTER Stefan) 45.451
11 Spain (ESTEBAN HERRAIZ Itmar, MARTINEZ CHORRO Alejandro, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose) 46.684
12 Korea (IM Chaebin, NA Junggyu, SON Jeyong) 46.835
DSQ China
