World Cup Manchester 2009 – Day 1

The first of the four rounds of the 2009-2010 Track Cycling World Cup series opened in Manchester on Friday with the 200m qualifying for the Women’s Sprint. Great Britain’s reigning World Champion Victoria Pendleton – riding for Team Sky+ HD – was last off and looked as if she would need a sub-11 second time to ensure top seeding with China’s Shuang Guo having set the benchmark at 11.098.

Photo album

Photo album

She was up to the challenge and raised the roof off the packed velodrome as she stopped the clock at 10.998.

Pendelton’s young team mates Rebecca James and Jess Varnish had been among the early leaders and both would make the cut for the match sprints, but it was Guo’s compatriot Jinjie Gong, Olga Panarina of Belarus and Wily Kanis of the Netherlands that rounded out the top 5. Pendleton’s closest rival over the last couple of years – Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania could only manage 6^th.

The first round of the sprints went pretty much to form with only the final match between Miriam Welte of Germany and Kaarle McCullough of Australia not going to the ride in the top half of the draw – Welte joining Pendleton, Guo, Gong, Panarina, Kanis, Krupeckaite and Anne Meares of Australia in the last 8.

With points awarded down to 10^th place in the World Cup series, the 8 losing riders entered B Quarter Finals, with both B Semi Finals turning out to be Great Britain vs Russia matches.  James faced Olga Streltsova and Varnish Victoria Baranova, with both British girls making it through to the 9^th-10^th place final and James, the younger of the two, coming out on top.

The Medal Quarter finals switch to a best of 3 match sprint format, but none required a decider. Pendleton despatched Welte with Guo beating Meares, who looked distinctly off form. Krupeckaite took the third semi-final place, beating Gong in two very fast heats while Panarina snatched the final place from Kanis.

Panarina won the first of her semi-final races against Pendelton, two, but the Briton turned on the heat to equalise the series and take the decider with Guo having the easier route through, taking her place in the final with a 2-0 win over Krupeckaite.

Guo made Pendleton work for the Gold medal, too, taking the series to a decider which an exhausted Pendleton looked relieved to have taken. Krupeckaite took the Bronze.

GOLD Victoria PENDLETON SKY
SILVER Shuang GUO CHN

BRONZE Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU
4 Olga PANARINA BLR

Women’s 200m Time Trial (Sprint Qualifying)

1 Victoria PENDLETON SKY 10.998
2 Shuang GUO CHN 11.098
3 Jinjie GONG CHN 11.149
4 Olga PANARINA BLR 11.193
5 Willy KANIS NED 11.289
6 Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU 11.337
7 Anna MEARES AUS
8 Kaarle MCCULLOCH AUS 11.447
9 Miriam WELTE GER 11.468
10 Victoria BARANOVA RUS 11.528
11 Jessica VARNISH GBR 11.536
12 Yvonne HIJGENAAR NED 11.548
13 Rebecca JAMES GBR 11.569
13 Wai Sze LEE HKG 11.569
15 Virginie CUEFF FRA 11.583
16 Olga STRELTSOVA RUS 11.626
17 Helena CASAS ROIGE CAT 11.709
18 Dana GLÖSS GER 11.758
19 Renata DABROWSKA POL 11.805
20 Zhao Juan MENG HKG 11.861
21 Olivia MONTAUBAN FRA 11.965
22 Sumaia RIBEIRO BRA 12.057
23 Fatehah MUSTAPA MAS 12.138
24 Eleni KLAPANARA GRE 12.266
25 Aleksandra DREJGIER POL 12.312
26 Angeliki KOUTSONIKOLI GRE 12.366
27 Ainhoa PAGOLA ALVAREZ FGN 12.385
28 Gintare GAIVENYTE LTU 12.522
29 Estefany Marisol TINAJERO COBOS MEX 13.290

Men’s Keirin

With two riders qualifying from the First Round, the heats went mostly to form. World Champion Maximilian Levy of Germany and Australia’s Jason Niblett – riding for the Jayco trade team – went through from the first heat. France’s François Pervis and Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia crossed the line first and second in the next heat, but Awang’s trademark wheelie across the line – slightly more wayward than usual – saw him relegated to the repechages with Francesco Ceci of Italy taking his place in the second round draw. Briton’s Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy – the latter riding for Sky+ HD – were drawn in the same heat and a poor start saw Kenny struggling to join the line before Hoy dropped back to let him in to  third slot behind the derny. Kenny made his move as the motorbike pulled off, but it was Hoy who stretched the field out, taking the win from a fast charging Qi Tang of China, with Kenny finishing third to take a place in the reps. Shane Perkins of Australia and Yondi Schmidt of the Netherlands took the last two automatic spots after and early charge by France’s Michaël D’Alemeida, riding for USC.

The first repechage was straightforward, with Christos Volikakis of Greece edging our D’Almeida and Awang. A crash on the final bend of the second rep saw Denis Spicka of the Czech Republic and Adrien Doucet of France come down hard – with David Askurava of Georgia miraculously keeping control of his bike as he hit the fence avoiding the accident. Adrian Teklinski of the Polish Alks Stal Grudziaduz team avoided all the drama to take a place in the second round. He was joined – in less dramatic fashion – by Kenny and Russia’s Andrii Vynokurov.

There was a minor upset in the second round with Perkins missing out on a Finals berth – Levy, Ceci and Volikakis taking the places from the first of the second round races. And another upset looked on the cards in the second with Hoy boxed in at the back with two to go. Kenny jumped off the front and built a gap

But started to fade as Hoy hauled himself up and around on the back straight to take a comfortable win from Niblett and Schmidt.

Kenny took the win in the 7^th-12^th minor final, but Hoy was now unstoppable and reverted to his tried and tested tactic of charging from the front, taking the Gold from Volikakis and World Champion Levy.

Gold Chris HOY SKY
Silver Christos VOLIKAKIS GRE
Bronze Maximilian LEVY GER
4 Jason NIBLETT JAY
5 Yondi SCHMIDT NED
6 Francesco CECI ITA

7 Jason KENNY GBR
8 François PERVIS COF
9 Shane PERKINS AUS
10 Andrii VYNOKUROV UKR
11 Qi TANG CHN
12 Adrian TEKLINSKI GDZ

Men’s Individual Pursuit

Olympic Team Pursuit Gold medallist Geraint Thomas recorded the second fastest time ever for the 4km individual pursuit with a barnstorming 4:15.015. The World Record was set by Chris Boardman using the now outlawed Superman position, so Thomas’ time was the fastest ever on a current specification bike.

A strong performance from Belgian’s Dominique Cornu – who was a mere 0.15 second per lap slower – set up a  thrilling final.

Vitaliy Shchedov of the Ukraine and David Muntaner of Spain rode first, though, with Shchedov taking the medal by a clear 3 seconds.

Any thoughts of a World Record ride in the final were short lived as Thomas stormed round to catch Cornu inside the final kilometre.

GOLD Geraint THOMAS GBR
SILVER Dominique CORNU BEL

BRONZE Vitaliy SHCHEDOV UKR 4:25.902
4 David MUNTANER JUANEDA ESP 4:28.609

Qualifying
1 Geraint THOMAS GBR 4:15.015
2 Dominique CORNU BEL 4:17.390
3 Vitaliy SHCHEDOV UKR 4:21.669
4 David MUNTANER JUANEDA ESP 4:24.689
5 Artur ERSHOV LOK 4:25.171
6 Arno VAN DER ZWET NED 4:25.779
7 Marco COLEDAN ITA 4:27.026
8 Michael Faerk CHRISTENSEN DEN 4:27.695
9 Stefan SCHÄFER GER 4:29.994
10 Gediminas BAGDONAS LTU 4:31.443
11 Jason ALLEN NZL 4:32.435
12 Konstantin KUPERASOV KTA 4:33.942
13 Claudio IMHOF SUI 4:35.554
14 David McCANN IRL 4:36.885
15 Piotr KASPERKIEWICZ POL 4:38.808
16 King Lok CHEUNG HKG 4:42.607
17 Thiago NARDIN BRA 4:42.940
18 Michael SINGER AUT 4:44.396

Women’s Scratch Race

Local favourite Lizzie Armitstead’s chances of a medal were finally ended when Belind Goss of Australia, Evgeniya Romanyuta of Russia, Shelley Olds of the US, Skye Lee Armstrong of Australia, Vera Koedooder of the Netherlands and Jarmila Machacova of the Czech Republic took a lap. Conscious of World Cup points she played an active part in the sprint for the finish, crossing the line sixth to take 10th overall and take the last of the points.

In truth, though, Goss dominated the race and deserved the win. The real question was who would get the other medals, with Romanyuta overhauled by Goss in the dash for the line and the hard working Olds coming up fast behind. Romanyuta hung on, though, and the American had to settle for Bronze.

Gold Belinda GOSS AUS
Silver Evgeniya ROMANYUTA RUS
Bronze Shelley OLDS PRO

4 Skye Lee ARMSTRONG RDN
5 Vera KOEDOODER NED
6 Jarmila MACHACOVA CZE
7 Lada KOZLIKOVA CZE -1 lap
8 Monia BACCAILLE FFA
9 Leire OLABERRIA DORRONSORO ESP
10 Elizabeth ARMITSTEAD GBR
11 Barbara GUARISCHI ITA
12 Wan Yiu Jamie WONG HKG
13 Coryn RIVERA USA
14 Ana USABIAGA BALERDI EUS
15 Alena PRUDNIKOVA RUS
16 Pascale JEULAND FRA
17 Alzbeta PAVLENDOVA SVK
18 Jolien D’HOORE BEL
19 Tatsiana SHARAKOVA BLR
20 Yumari GONZALEZ VALDIVIESO CUB
21 Tess DOWNING AUS
22 Cari HIGGINS PRO

REL Elke GEBHARDT GER
DNF Kelly DRUYTS BEL

Men’s Points Race

Chris Newton scored in seven of the twelve sprints – winning three – and took a lap to dominate the Men’s Points race. There were a couple of occasions where he looked slightly vulnerable – confusion among the officials when Newton was in a group of 13 riders who took a lap which was initially disallowed but later reinstated and, with two sprints remaining, when Roger Kluge of Germany looked as though he might just get the 10 points he needed to snatch the lead. A break by Ho Ting Kwok and Kam Po Wong of Hong Kong swept up the points on the last lap and denied Kluge not only Gold but Silver, with Kwok taking second place.

1 Chris NEWTON GBR 37
2 Ho Ting KWOK HKP 33
3 Roger KLUGE GER 33
4 Lukasz BUJKO POL 31
5 Peter SCHEP NED 29
6 Kazuhiro MORI JPN 27
7 Eloy TERUEL ROVIRA ESP 25
8 32 Kenny DE KETELE BEL23
9 Andreas MULLER AUT 23
10 Milan KADLEC CZE 22
11 Vasili KIRYIENKA BLR 21
12 Daniel HOLLOWAY USA 21
13 Angelo CICCONE FFA 20
14 Christophe RIBLON FRA 19
15 King Wai CHEUNG GPC 8
16 Kam Po WONG HKG 3
17 Michael MORKOV  DEN 2
18 Sergiy LAGKUTI UKR 18
19 David BOILY CAN 20
9 Ivan KOVALEV RUS DNF
15 Ignacio SARABIA DIAZ MEX DNF
16 Gediminas BAGDONAS LTU DNF
Thomas SCULLY NZL DNF
Javier AZKUE PRIETO FGN DNF

Men’s 1km Time Trial

Great Britain’s David Daniell looked to have done enough to take the Kilo Gold, setting an impressive time of 1:01.698 to top the leaderboard but World Champion Stefan Nimke of Germany, off last, took four tenths out of him and a well deserved first place.

Gold Stefan NIMKE GER 1:01.293
Silver David DANIELL GBR 1:01.698
Bronze Chongyang WANG CHN 1:02.228

4 Tomas BABEK CZE 1:02.485
5 Scott SUNDERLAND JAY 1:02.626
6 Adrian TEKLINSKI GDZ 1:02.974
7 Quentin LAFARGUE COF 1:03.046
8 Francesco CECI ITA 1:03.193
9 Yevhen BOLIBRUKH UKR 1:03.585
10 Yudai NITTA JPN 1:03.831
11 Anton LAPSHINAU BLR 1:04.091
12 Clemens SELZER AUT 1:04.374
13 Thomas BONAFOS FRA 1:04.443
14 Christian RANNERIES DEN 1:04.906
15 David ASKURAVA GEO 1:05.244
16 Hafiz SUFIAN MAS 1:05.797
17 Gregory HUGENTOBLER SUI 1:05.955
18 Konstantinos KARAGEORGOS GRE 1:07.324
19 Robson DIAS BRA 1:07.655
20 Sergio ALIAGA CHIVITE NAV 1:07.716
21 Javier AZKUE PRIETO FGN 1:07.922
22 Adria SABATE MASIP CAT 1:08.697