Day 2 of the European Track Championships in Guadeloupe, France(ish) would see the conclusion of the Men’s and Women’s Team Pursuit competitions, as well as both Team Sprint competitions, the Women’s Points Race and the Men’s Scratch.
Photos by Wim Hoste www.cyclephotos.be
In the Men’s Team Sprint Germany – who were visibly stunned by their loss to New Zealand in the World Championships in Cali -were back on top with a 59.991. Robert Foerstemann, Tobias Wachter and Joachim Eliers were a fraction ahead of France – who clocked 1:00.404 – a second ahead of Poland in third place. Russia took fourth with a 1:01.182, a tenth faster than the Netherlands with new Great Britain line-up – Lewis Oliva, Callum Skinner and Matthew Crampton – in sixth.
Qualifying
1 GERMANY (Robert FORSTEMANN Robert, Joachim EILERS, Tobias WACHTER) 59.991
2 FRANCE (Gregory BAUGE, Michael D’ALMEIDA, Kevin SIREAU) 1:00.404
3 POLAND (Rafal SARNECKI,Krzysztof MAKSEL, Mateusz LIPA) 1:01.129
4 RUSSIA (Pavel YAKUSHEVSKIY, Nikita SHURSHIN, Denis DMITRIEV) 1:01.182
The French trio managed to shave a couple of tenths off their time in the final to slip under the minute at 59.820, but unfortunately for them the Germans improved by slightly more to close out at 59.602 to clinch the Gold. And even though the Poles knocked almost a second off their time, the Russians nicked the Bronze with a 1:00.061.
GOLD GERMANY (Robert FORSTEMANN Robert, Joachim EILERS, Tobias WACHTER) 59.602
SILVER FRANCE (Gregory BAUGE, Michael D’ALMEIDA, Kevin SIREAU) 59.820
BRONZE POLAND (Rafal SARNECKI,Krzysztof MAKSEL, Mateusz LIPA) 1:00.061
4 RUSSIA (Pavel YAKUSHEVSKIY, Nikita SHURSHIN, Denis DMITRIEV) 1:00.535
In the Women’s Team Sprint it was Russia who took a shock lead in the heats – and by a healthy margins. Daria Shmeleva and Anastasia Voinova clocked 44.496 – with Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel – who have dominated the event recently – second for Germany on 44.996.
The Netherlands were third with France fourth and the young Great Britain pairing of Rosie Blount and Katy Marchant in seventh.
Qualifying
1 RUSSIA (Anastasiia VOINOVA , Daria SHMELEVA) 44.495
2 GERMANY (KristinaVOGEL, MiriamWELTE) 44.996
3 NETHERLANDS (Shanne BRASPENNINCX , Elis LIGTLEE) 45.562
4 FRANCE (Virginie CUEFF, Sandie CLAIR) 45.612
Welte and Vogel were expect to bounce back in the Final, but Shmeleva and Volnova improved by a tenth to take Gold with a 44.341 – depsite the Germans shaving off two tenths more to clock 44.623. The Netherlands edged out France to take the Bronze.
GOLD RUSSIA (Anastasiia VOINOVA , Daria SHMELEVA) 44.341
SILVER GERMANY (Kristina VOGEL, Miriam WELTE) 44.996
BRONZE NETHERLANDS (Shanne BRASPENNINCX , Elis LIGTLEE) 45.562
4 FRANCE (Virginie CUEFF, Sandie CLAIR) 45.612
In the Men’s Team Pursuit Final, the Great Britain quartet of Ed Clancy, Jon Dibben, Owain Doull and Andy Tennant got off to a steady start – with Germany’s Henning Bommel, Theo Reinhardt, Nils Schomber and Kersten Thiele nearly three quarters of a second up after a kilometre. By the halfway stage the gap was two seconds.
With a kilometre to go, the Brits had clawed back half the deficit and over the next two laps they wiped it out altogether – and then pulled away to to take Gold by eight tenths of a second – finishing on 4:11.545 to Germany’s 4:12.342. Russia took the Bronze by three and half seconds from France.
GOLD GREAT BRITAIN (Edward CLANCY, Andrew TENNANT, Owain DOULL, Jonathan DIBBEN) 4:11.545
SILVER GERMANY (Henning BOMMEL, Kersten THIELE, Nils SCHOMBER, Theo REINHARDT) 4:12.342
BRONZE RUSSIA (Alexey KURBATOV, Alexander SEROV, Ivan KOVALEV , Evgeny KOVALEV) 4:13.318
4 FRANCE (Fabien LE COGUIC, Benjamin THOMAS, Louis PIJOURLET, Julien MORICE) 4:16.940
The Women’s Final also saw the Brits – Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ciara Horne and Laura Trott – off to a slower start than their opponents. Russian quartet Tamara Balabolina, Irina Molicheva, Aleksandra Goncharova and Evgenia Romanyuta were almost a second a head after four laps. But it didn’t last – the GB girls rode a strong second kilometre to take a one second lead which was up to four with a kilometre to go. As the finish, Great Britain clocked 4:38.391 to take the Gold – with the Russians on 4:45.364. Italy had more of a fight on its hands in the Bronze medal ride off but managed to pull out a second on the Polish quartet to take the last medal.
GOLD GREAT BRITAIN (Katie ARCHIBALD, Laura TROTT, Ciara HORNE, Elinor BARKER) 4:38.391
SILVER RUSSIA (Tamara BALABOLINA , Evgenia ROMANYUTA, Aleksandra GONCHAROVA, Irina MOLICHEVA) 4:45.364
BRONZE ITALY (Simona FRAPPORTI, Silvia VALSECCHI,
Tatiana GUDERZO, Beatrice BARTELLONI) 4:42.018
4 POLAND (Eugenia BUJAK, Malgorzata WOJTYRA, Natalia RUTKOWSKA, Lucja PIETRZAK) 4:43.857
In the Men’s Scratch race, Otto Vergaerde of Belgium and Eloy Teruel of Spain took a lap with Vergaerde winning the sprint for Gold. Behind them, Great Britain’s Ed Clancy took Bronze from Alex Buttazzoni of Italy and Tristan Marguet of Switzerland.
GOLD Otto VERGAERDE BELGIUM
SILVER Eloy TERUELROVIRA SPAIN
BRONZE Edward CLANCY GREAT BRITAIN @ 1 Lap
4 Alex BUTTAZZONI ITALY
5 Tristan MARGUET SWITZERLAND
6 Andreas MULLER AUSTRIA
7 Adrian TEKLINSKI POLAND
8 Morgan KNEISKY FRANCE
9 Frantisek SISR CZECH REPUBLIC
10 Maksym VASYLIEV UKRAINE
The Women’s Points Race saw Poland’s Eugenia Bujak take a comfortable win after winning three sprints – the first, the penultimate and one just after half way – and taking second in two others. Kelly Druyts of Belgium took Silver with a win in a tense final sprint that lifted her above Elene Cecchini on last lap finishing position – the Italian taking second in the sprint to leave the pair tied on 14 points.
1 Eugenia BUJAK POL 21 points
2 Kelly DRUYTS BEL 14
3 Elena CECCHINI ITA 14
4 Anastasia CHULKOVA RUS 12
5 Kirsten WILD NED 10
6 Stephanie POHL GER 10
7 Aleksandra CHEKINA RUS 10
8 Ina SAVENKA BLR 9
9 Charlotte BECKER GER 5
10 Jarmila MACHACOVA CZE 4
