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UCI Track Cycling World Cup 2017-18 III Milton – Day 1 – Report

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The first day of the third round of this winter’s UCI Track Cycling World Cup series opened in Milton, Ontario today with the qualifying rounds of the Team Sprint and Team Pursuit and the Finals of the Points Race.

Women

Team Pursuit

Day 1 – Friday

Just four teams were entered for the Team Pursuit – meaning that not only would all four qualify, but they would all enter the First Round with a chance of a ride for the Gold medal.

New Zealand took to the track first with Racquel Sheath, Bryony Botha, Rushlee Buchanan and Kirstie James setting the benchmark time of 4:25.19. Clara Copponi, Coralie Demay, Laurie Berthon and Valentine Fortin couldn’t get anywhere near that time, stopping the clock at 4:32.707.

The home crowd got their first sight of the Canadian squad in heat three with Allison Beveridge, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Kinley Gibson showing their intent with a 4:23.310. Japan had taken Bronze in the last round in Manchester, but were 13 seconds off that pace here, going fourth fastest on 4:41.329.

The First Round will see New Zealand take on France with Canada facing Japan, with the winners progressing to the Gold Medal ride and the other two riding for Bronze.

Qualifying
1 Canada (BEVERIDGE Allison, BONHOMME Ariane, FOREMAN-MACKEY Annie, GIBSON Kinley) 4:22.310
2 New Zealand (SHEATH Racquel, BOTHA Bryony, BUCHANAN Rushlee, JAMES Kirstie) 4:25.129
3 France (COPPONI Clara, DEMAY Coralie, BERTHON Laurie, FORTIN Valentine) 4:32.707
4 Japan (KAJIHARA Yumi, FURUYAMA Kie, HASHIMOTO Yuya, NAKAMURA Kisato) 4:41.329

Team Sprint

Day 1 – Friday

Emma Cumming and Natasha Hansen were first off in the Women’s Team Sprint as New Zealand were again first out of the gate. Anything under 34 seconds is likely to get you into the last eight, and the Kiwis were under – if not by much – on 33.917. Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant of Great Britain went next and shaved a couple of hundredths off to go into the lead on 33.889.

Poland were a little shy of the 34 second barrier – Julita Jagodzinska and Urszula Los clocking 34.401 to go third – and Madalyn Godby and Mandy Marquardt were a tenth further back on 34.510.

India were next to go with Deborah Deborah and Alena Reji fifth on 35.711 until Wongyeong Kim and Hyejin Lee of Korea went fastest of all with a 33.810. Miriam Vece and Elena Bissolati of Italy (34.131) and Yuli Verdugo and Luz Daniela Gaxiola of Mexico (34.275) slotted in between the Kiwis – now third – and the Poles before the Canadian duo of Amelia Walsh and Tegan Cochrane were pulled up for a false start. They got away on the second attempt but could only manage a 35.342 – behind their southern neighbours but ahead of India.

The Dutch sprinters have been on fire so far this season and Hetty van de Wouw and Laurine van Riessen clocked 33.977 to move into fourth behind Cumming and Hansen. Both dropped down a place immediately as Spain went third – Tania Calvo and Helena Casas nearly three hundredths faster than Capewell and Marchant but five hundredths behind the Koreans.

With just Germany to go, Shanju Bao and Yufang Guo of the Holy Brother Cycling Team slotted into 8th place – last of the qualifiers – with a 24.282 – just seven thousandths behind Mexico. But they must have known they were out – Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte, inevitably, ending the session on top – by a massive seven tenths of a second – on 33.118.

Great Britain and New Zealand will be the first of the First Round heats, followed by Spain and the Netherlands, Korea and Italy and, finally, Germany and Mexico. Unlike the Team Pursuit, the fastest two winning teams race for Gold and Silver, the other two heat winners ride for Bronze.

Qualifying
1 Germany (VOGEL Kristina, WELTE Miriam) 33.118
2 Republic of Korea (KIM Wongyeong, LEE Hyejin) 33.810
3 Spain (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) 33.861
4 Great Britain (CAPEWELL Sophie, MARCHANT Katy) 33.889
5 New Zealand (CUMMING Emma, HANSEN Natasha) 33.917
6 Netherlands (VAN DE WOUW Hetty, VAN RIESSEN Laurine) 33.977
7 Italy (BISSOLATI Elena, VECE Miriam 14.718) 34.131
8 Mexico (GAXIOLA GONZALEZ Luz Daniela, VERDUGO OSUNA Yuli) 34.275

9 Holy Brother Cycling Team (BAO Shanju, GUO Yufang) 34.282
10 Poland (JAGODZINSKA Julita, LOS Urszula) 34.401
11 United States (GODBY Madalyn, MARQUARDT Mandy) 34.510
12 Canada 35.342 (COCHRANE Tegan, WALSH Amelia)
13 India 35.711 (DEBORAH Deborah, REJI Alena)

Points Race

Day 1 – Friday

Katie Archibald of Great Britain dominated the Women’s Points Race taking the first four sprints, second in two others and a single point in another – as well as a lap on the field to win by nine points.

A late charge by Jasmin Duehring of Canada saw her take a couple of wins and a second in the second half of the race – plus a double-points third place at the end – and a lap – to clinch the Silver but, in truth, the nine point margin doesn’t tell the full story. Archibald had won the race by the halfway point and was simply shadowing her opponents after that to make sure nobody got too close.

Jarmila Machacova of the Czech Republic and Coralie Demay of France were the other two riders in contention of a medal having been a part of the quarter that took a lap but neither was a major factor in the intermediate sprints with Machacova taking two third places ahead of Demay as the four riders lapped the field and, with them, the Bronze medal.

GOLD ARCHIBALD Katie GBR 47
SILVER DUEHRING Jasmin CAN 38
BRONZE MACHACOVA Jarmila CZE 24

4 DEMAY Coralie FRA 22
5 ARREOLA NAVARRO Sofia MEX 12
6 FRAPPORTI Simona ITA 11
7 SEITZ Aline SUI 5
8 BALEISYTE Olivija LTU 5
9 IRIARTE LASA Ane ESP 5
10 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR 3

Men

Team Pursuit

Day 1 – Friday

Sanghoon Park, Jaeyeon Im, Okcheol Kim and Kyeongho Min of Korea were first off in the Men’s Team Pursuit and set a marker at 4:32.728. Canada were up next and Derek Gee, Adam Jamieson, Jay Lamoureux and Bayley Simpson took half a minute off the Koreans’ time with a 4:01.245. They would have to wait at least one more heat to be absolutely sure, but with only ten starters, that time looked good enough to get them into the First Round.

Eric Young, Adrian Hegyvary, Ashton Lambie and Daniel Summerhill of the United States put the Canadians in the next round with a 4:06.084 – but they, too, looked to be in with a very good chance of progressing.

The Ukrainian quartet of Roman Gladysh, Vitaliy Hryniv, Taras Shevchuk and Maksym Vasyliev then went third on 4:08.979 to guarantee the USA would progress. They dropped to fourth when Campbell Stewart, Thomas Sexton, Jared Gray and Nicholas Kergozou of New Zealand were the first – and ultimately only – team to break the four minute barrier with a 3:59.588.

Illart Zuazubiskar, Elot Teruel, Xavier Canellas and Vicente Garcia De Mateos went fifth, briefly, for Spain with a 4:10.667 – before Maximilain Beyer, Leif Lampater, Jasper Frahm and Henning Bommel dropped them to sixth. The German quartet’s time of 4:06.224 put them fourth for the time being.

Denmark have a long and proud history in the Team Pursuit but things don’t always go to plan and having gone down to three early on, the remaining trio drifted apart and never regained their shape. It was a horror show by their standards – but it was still good enough for seventh with two teams to go.

Morgan Kneisky, Florentin Lecamus, Lucas Meunier and Valentine Tabellion had similar problems for France in the final heat and finished over half a second behind the Danes, who qualified eighth with Nico Selenati, Lukas Ruegg, Gael Suter and Robin Froidevaux of Switzerland having slipped into fifth on 4:07.200.

Ukraine will face Spain in the opening heat of the First Round, followed by Switzerland and Denmark. The winners of the North American heat between Canada and the USA will face the winners of the final heat between New Zealand and Germany for Gold and Silver with the two fastest of the remaining teams riding for Bronze.

Qualifying
1 New Zealand (STEWART Campbell, SEXTON Thomas, GRAY Jared, KERGOZOU Nicholas) 3:59.588
2 Canada (GEE Derek, JAMIESON Adam, LAMOUREUX Jay, SIMPSON Bayley) 4:01.245
3 United States (YOUNG Eric, HEGYVARY Adrian, LAMBIE Ashton, SUMMERHILL Daniel) 4:06.084
4 Germany (BEYER Maximilian, BOMMEL Henning, FRAHM Jasper, LAMPATER Leif) 4:06.224
5 Switzerland (SUTER Gael, FROIDEVAUX Robin, RUEGG Lukas, SELENATI Nico) 4:07.200
6 Ukraine (GLADYSH Roman, HRYNIV Vitaliy, SHEVCHUK Taras, VASYLIEV Maksym) 4:08.979
7 Spain (ZUAZUBISKAR GALLASTEGI Illart, TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy, CANELLAS Xavier, GARCIA DE MATEOS RUBIO Vicente) 4:10.667
8 Denmark (LARSEN Niklas, ERIKSEN Kristian Kaimer, KRIGBAUM Mathias, MALMBERG Matias Gunnar) 4:14.861
9 France (KNEISKY Morgan, LECAMUS LAMBERT Florentin, MEUNIER Lucas, TABELLION Valentin) 4:15.465
10 Republic of Korea (PARK Sanghoon, IM Jaeyeon, KIM Okcheol, MIN Kyeongho) 4:32.728

Team Sprint

Day 1 – Friday

As with the Women’s Team Pursuit, all the participants in the Men’s Team Sprint were guaranteed a First Round place – although not a place in the medal rides. The opening heat saw Jeyong Son, Jeone Park and Chaebin Im of Korea record a time of 44.877 for Korea, with Shih Hsin Hsiao, Shih Feng Kang and Sheng Kai Yang of Chinese Taipei nine tenths behind them on 45.741. Mexico coulcn’t match either of those times, Saul Antonio Gutierrez, Roberto Serrano and Edgar Ismael Verdugo going third on 46.702.

Alejandro Martiniz, Juan Peralta and Jose Moreno of Spain slotted into second with a 45.354, before the Czech Republic knocked them down into third as Martin Chechman, Pavel Kelemen and David Sojka clocked 44.927.

Great Britain then jumped to the top of a leaderboard with a 44.174 from Jack Carlin, Philip Hindes and Joseph Truman – only to slip to second as France pipped them – Melvin Landernau, Rayan Helal and Francois Pervis just three thousandths of a second faster on 44.171.

New Zealand don’t do thousandths. Sam Webster, Ethan Mitchell and Edward Dawkins ended the heat with a blistering 43.874 to set up a First Round heat against Mexico. France will face Chinese Taipei, Great Britain will line up against Spain and Korea and the Czech Republic will open the round.

Qualifying
1 New Zealand (DAWKINS Edward, MITCHELL Ethan, WEBSTER Sam) 43.874
2 France (HELAL Rayan, LANDERNAU Melvin, PERVIS Francois) 44.171
3 Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, HINDES Philip, TRUMAN Joseph) 44.174
4 Korea (IM Chaebin, PARK Jeone, SON Jeyong) 44.877
5 Czech Republic (CECHMAN Martin, KELEMEN Pavel, SOJKA David) 44.927
6 Spain (MARTINEZ CHORRO Alejandro, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose, PERALTA GASCON Juan) 45.354
7 Chinese Taipei (HSIAO Shih Hsin, KANG Shih Feng, YANG Sheng Kai) 45.741
8 Mexico (GUTIERREZ LOPEZ Saul Antonio, SERRANO PLOWELLS Roberto, VERDUGO OSUNA Edgar Ismael) 46.702

Points Race

Day 1 – Friday

Christos Volikakis of Greece dominated the early stages of the Men’s Points Race, taking the opening two sprints and third place in the third. That would give him a lead that would last almost until half distance, when a three way battle developed between Mark Stewart of Great Britain, Kenny De Ketele of Great Britain and Niklas Larsen of Denmark.

Sprint five saw Stewart win from De Ketele. Larsen took sprint six ahead of the Scot and the Belgian. De Ketele took sprint seven from Larsen and Stewart – who took sprint eight ahead of De Ketele. Volikakis, meanwhile, was caught out as the race split in two and was stranded in a large grouo half a lap behind the leaders.

With Stewart ahead, Larsen slipped off the front and took sprint nine – en route to a lap gain. That was the race over, with De Ketele unable to close the gap to Stewart in second. Volikakis, whose early lead had been wiped out when the head of the race swallowed the tail, started the last lap on -8 points, but took the double points finale to finish 8th on 2 points, but De Ketele was the only one of the leaders to score – taking fourth and two points to take the Bronze, four points adrift of Stewart. And, in the end, the lap gain didn’t matter – a fourth place in the penultimate sprint meant that Larsen took the Gold, 21 points clear.

GOLD LARSEN Niklas DEN 40
SILVER STEWART Mark GBR 19
BRONZE DE KETELE Kenny BEL 15

4 PSZCZOLARSKI Wojciech POL 8
5 GRAF Andreas AUT 8
6 MOULD Jonathan GBR 7
7 HRYNIV Vitaliy UKR 7
8 VOLIKAKIS Christos GRE 2
9 DONEGA Matteo ITA -9
10 KNEISKY Morgan FRA -12

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