A packed programme for Day 2 of the World Cup in Guadalajara saw a monster opening session with the first two events of both Omniums – the Scratch Races and Individual Pursuits – the start of the Women’s Sprint and Men’s Omnium Competitions and the first round of the Team Pursuits.
Women’s Omnium
The women’s omnium kicked off the second day of racing at Guadalajara, and many were surprised to see the omission of Laura Trott on the startlist for the first event, the scratch race. Most had been expected Trott to ride the omnium, despite the packed programme of events. However, the assumption turned out to be just that: Archibald’s participation had been planned from the outset, with the pair taking it in turns to ride the omnium event at the different World Cup matches. The heavy demands in the team pursuit meant it was unviable for Trott to compete in both events.
With Trott not riding, Sarah Hammer (USA) immediately became the favourite in the event, although strong competition from the likes of Jolien D’Hoore who finished second to Trott at the European championships last month and Spanish rider Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro would undoubtedly be doing all they could to challenge the reigning world champion.
In the scratch race, it was Malgorzata Wojtyra (POL) and Minami Uwano (JPN) who gained the first lap of the competition, with the duo holding on right through to the line. Readers may remember Wojtyra’s sprint to claim the scratch race crown in the World Cup in Manchester in 2013, and her sprint prowess was once again on show today as beat breakaway partner Uwano in the sprint for the line. In the sprint for the minor place, D’Hoore exhibited why she is a medal contender to pip Laurie Berthon (FRA) at the line for third place, with Hammer having to settle for fifth.
Women’s Omnium I – Scratch Race
1 Malgorzata WOJTYRA POLAND
2 Minami UWANO JAPAN
3 Jolien D’HOORE BELGIUM -1
4 Laurie BERTHON FRANCE -1
5 Sarah HAMMER USA -1
6 Amalie DIDERIKSEN DENMARK -1
The second event of the women’s omnium competition was the individual pursuit. The newly crowned European individual pursuit champion Katie Archibald (GBR) was first to test herself over the 12 lap distance, and would undoubtedly be disappointed with her benchmark time of 3:44.841 – some four seconds slower than she clocked to take the European championship. A number of 3:36 rides soon followed, and it was clear the event would be won in a fast time. Buoyed by having to settle for fourth in the scratch race, it was Hammer who eventually put in the fastest pursuit time of the evening: an impressive 3:31.132. Kirsten Wild, who has graced the Dutch national podium in the individual pursuit for the past seven years, clocked a 3:32.628 for second place whilst Marlies Mejias Garcia took third with 3:34.033. D’Hoore demonstrated her consistency as both a sprinter and endurance rider to take fourth place to back up her third in the scratch.
Women’s Omnium II – Individual Pursuit
1 Sarah HAMMER USA 3:31.132
2 Kirsten WILD NETHERLANDS 3:32.628
3 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA CUBA 3:34.033
4 Jolien D’HOORE BELGIUM 3:34.048
5 Amalie DIDERIKSEN DENMARK 3:34.168
6 Caroline RYAN IRELAND 3:34.885
Men’s Omnium
The first event of the men’s omnium competition was the scratch race. A fast and determined pace was assumed from the start making it near to impossible for riders to break away from the bunch. The first successful break by King Lok Cheung (HKG), Eiya Hashimoto (JPN) and Hao Liu (CHN) with 25 laps remaining was soon chased down by the bunch and, by this point, it was clear the race would finish in a sprint. With three laps to go, Elia Viviani crashed to the ground forcing a number of riders, including 2013 scratch race world champion Martin Irvine, to go down with him. The race continued, with 18-year old Casper Pedersen showing he is a future force to be reckoned with, crossing the line just ahead of Glenn O’Shea of Australia. Kiwi Cameron Karwowski took third place. Shortly after the race, it was sadly confirmed that Martin Irvine had broken his collarbone in the crash and was therefore unable to continue in the competition.
Men’s Omnium I – Scratch Race
1 Casper Phillip PEDERSEN DENMARK
2 Glen O’SHEA AUSTRALIA
3 Cameron KARWOWSKI NEW ZEALAND
4 Lucas LISS GERMANY
5 Gideoni MONTEIRO BRAZIL
6 Jonathan DIBBEN GREAT BRITAIN
The individual pursuit was next in the competition, and it became clear that more riders than previously thought had succumbed to their injuries following the crash in the scratch race. Belgium’s Jasper de Buyst, who had won the omnium at the Manchester round of the Track World Cup in 2013, failed to report to the line for his race with Russia’s Artur Ershov also confirmed as a non-starter. Viviani, unphased by his earlier crash, opened the proceedings and, riding from a steady start, set the mark for the event with a time of 4:24.500. Raman Tshishkou (BLR) was the first rider to make a catch, taking his Japanese opponent Hashimoto as the bell was sounding. Despite the catch, Tshichkou was unable to topple Viviani from first place, clocking 4:25.572. A stunning ride by USA individual pursuit champion, Bobby Lea, in the eighth heat saw him steal the lead by some nine seco
nds with a stunning time of 4:16.715 which we believe is a personal best by over 10 seconds for the American. The only other rider able to come within the same stratosphere as Lea was New Zealand’s Karwowski who finished in 4:22.863. With Lea and Karwowski taking first and second place, Viviani’s 4:24.500 was good enough for third.
Men’s Omnium II – Individual Pursuit
1 Bobby LEA UNITED STATES 4:16.715
2 Lucas LISS GERMANY 4:22.863
3 Elia VIVANI ITALY 4:24.500
4 Juan Esteban ARANGO CARVAJAL COLOMBIA 4:25.268
5 Raman TSHISHKOU BELARUS 4:25.572
6 Olivier BEER SWITZERLAND 4:25.932
Women’s Sprint
37 riders contested the women’s sprint qualifying competition with the first rider, Jinjie Gong, setting a strong benchmark of 10.900. Gong’s time was good enough to hold the lead for a further nine riders, until her counterpart in her world record team sprint at London 2012, Shuang Guo, bettered her time with a fast 10.683. Great Britain’s Victoria Williamson, who won a bronze in the team sprint in the 2013 world championships, was the next rider to trouble the top of the leaderboard with a clocking of 10.833. Sadly for Williamson, Azerbaijan’s Olga Ismayilova, bettered her time by over a tenth of a second in the following heat (10.717). 21 year old Russian, Anastasiia Voinova, was the first rider to challenge Guo’s time. Voinova, who claimed three sprint golds at the European championships in Guadeloupe, cemented her dominance in the event, posting a time of 10.571. In the closing heats, it was only U23 European keirin champion, Elis Ligtlee who was able to better Voinova’s time with a time of 10.560 seconds. Great Britain’s Jessica Varnish rode a time of 10.853, two-tenths of a second slower than her British counterpart Williamson, with Tianshi Zhong (CHI) and Anna Meares (AUS) unable to challenge for the fastest time clocking times of 10.600 and 10.623 respectively. The top 24 riders progressed to the 1/16 finals.
Qualifying
1 Elis LIGTLEE NETHERLANDS 10.560
2 Anastasia VOINOVA RUSSIA 10.571
3 Tianshi ZHONG CHINA 361o CYCLING TEAM 10.600
4 Anna MEARES JAYCO 10.623
5 Shuang GUO MAX SUCCESS PRO CYCLING 10.683
6 Olga ISMAYILOVA AZERBAIJAN 10.717
7 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUBA 10.802
8 Victoria WILLIAMSON GREAT BRITAIN 10.833
9 Wai See LEE HONG KONG 10.837
10 Jessica VARNISH GREAT BRITAIN 10.853
11 Lin JUNHONG CHINA 10.895
12 Jinjie GONG CHINA 10.900
13 Stephanie MORTON AUSTRALIA 10.921
14 Virginie CUFF FRANCE 10.931
15 Tania CALVO BARBERO SPAIN 10.936
16 Simona KRUPECKAITE LITHUANIA 10.973
17 Monique SULLIVAN CANADA 10.978
18 Juliana GAVIRIA COLOMBIA 10.989
19 Stephanie MACKENZIE NEW ZEALAND 10.992
20 Miriam WELTE GERMANY 11.011
21 Fatehah MUSTAPA YSD TRACK TEAM 11.169
22 Olga HUDENKO RUSSIA 11.196
23 Sandie CLAIR FRANCE 11.203
24 Mandy MARQUARDT UNITED STATES 11.215
The 1/16 finals largely went with form with the biggest upset being the defeat of Great Britain’s Jess Varnish. Varnish, who had ridden nearly a tenth of a second faster than her Spanish competition, Tania Barbero Calvo, in the qualifying heats, could not overcome her in their 1/16 final heat and was relegated out of the competition.
1/16 Final – Heat winners who qualify for 1/8 finals
1 Elis LIGTLEE NETHERLANDS
2 Anastasia VOINOVA RUSSIA
3 Tianshi ZHONG CHINA 361o CYCLING TEAM
4 Anna MEARES JAYCO
5 Shuang GUO MAX SUCCESS PRO CYCLING
6 Olga ISMAYILOVA AZERBAIJAN
7 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUBA
8 Victoria WILLIAMSON GREAT BRITAIN
9 Wai See LEE HONG KONG
10 Tania CALVO BARBERO SPAIN
11 Lin JUNHONG CHINA
12 Stephanie MORTON AUSTRALIA
With 12 riders left for the 1/8 finals, the fastest six would progress to the quarter finals whilst the remaining would be left to contest the repechages. Ligtlee made light work of Morton in the first heat t
o progress to the quarter finals whilst the second heat saw Junhong sent to the repechages after an impressive sprint in the final sprint saw Voinova take victory by just a tyre’s breadth. The biggest upset was in the fourth heat where Meares had an inexplicable fall on the back straight. Although the heat was rerun, Meares was clearly shaken by the incident and finished a whole tenth of a second behind Wai Sze Lee of China meaning a trip to the miserable territory of the repechages for Meares. Great Britain’s Williamson was unable to continue her easy march through the rounds after Guo edged past on the line to take victory by six-hundredths of a second. In the final heat, Guerra Rodriguez held off the threat posed by the talented Ismayilova to confirm her place in the quarter finals.
1/8 Final – Heat winners who qualify for quarter finals
1 Elis LIGTLEE NETHERLANDS
2 Anastasia VOINOVA RUSSIA
3 Tianshi ZHONG CHINA 361o CYCLING TEAM
4 Wai See LEE HONG KONG
5 Shuang GUO MAX SUCCESS PRO CYCLING
6 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUBA
In the 1/8 repechages, Meares and Calvo Barbero convincingly won their two heats and progressed to the quarter finals.
1/8 Final Repecharges – Heat winners who qualify for quarter finals
1 Anna MEARES JAYCO
2 Tania CALVO BARBERO SPAIN
In the quarter finals, Ligtlee continued her excellent run of form throughout the competition to win both her matches against Calvo Barbero to pass through to the semi-finals. Meares may have breezed through the repechages, but she was unable to overcome the might of Voinova who took victory in both the first and second matches to take her place in the semi-final. Guerra Rodriguez and Guo continued the whitewash theme to both go through to the semifinals in just two matches.
Quarter Final – Heat winners who qualify for semi final
1 Elis LIGTLEE NETHERLANDS
2 Anastasia VOINOVA RUSSIA
3 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUBA
4 Shuang GUO MAX SUCCESS PRO CYCLING
Men’s Keirin
The 34 riders starting the Keirin were divided into six heats; the first two containing five riders and the remaining containing six. With just one rider from each heat qualifying for the second round and the rest facing the repechages, the atmosphere was tense.
Therefore, when the first Keirin heat was abandoned after the derny driver failed to pull off after the correct number of laps, the anger amongst the riders was palpable. Matthijs Buchli of the Netherlands channelled his aggression to perfection to take the win in the first heat, with a well-timed move by Fabian Hernando Puerta Zapata earning victory in the second heat. Matthew Glaetzer of Australia took a decisive victory in the third heat, but poorly timed move by Eoin Mullen of Ireland in the fourth heat sending Quentin Lafargue (FRA) crashing to the ground meant Brazilian Flavio Cipriano’s victory was rather bittersweet. Mullen was relegated after the heat for causing the crash. Britain’s Jason Kenny put in one of his most convincing Keirin performances of the year to take the win from a long way out in the fifth heat, with Joachim Eilers (GER) taking an easy victory in the final heat.
First Round – Heat winners who qualify for second round
1 Buchli MATTHIJS NETHERLANDS
2 Fabian Hernando PUERTA ZAPATA COLOMBIA
3 Matthew GLAEZER AUSTRALIA
4 Flavio CIPRIANO BRAZIL
5 Jason KENNY GREAT BRITAIN
6 Joachim EILERS GERMANY
With only six riders through automatically from the first round of the Keirin, 28 riders were left to contest the first repechage over six heats. The winner of each heat would go through to the second round.
Denis Dmitriev (RVL) took the first heat, just pipping Peter Lewis (JAY) on the line. Nikita Shurshin (RUS) and Kamil Kuczynski (POL) took the second and third heats respectively, both winning with a margin of just five hundredths of a second. With Hugo Barrette of Canada taking the fourth heat, the curse of the overstaying derny visiting once more for the fifth heat, with the driver failing to withdraw with three laps to go and forcing a restart. Pavel Keleman (CZE) took the victory in the restarted heat, with Sergiy Omelchenko (AZE) taking the final place in the second round with victory in the final heat.
First Round Repechage – Heat winners who qualify for second round
1 Denis DMITRIEV RUSVELO
2 Nikita SHURSHIN RUSSIA
3 Kamil KUCZYNSKI POLAND
4 Hugo BARRETTE CANADA
5 Pavel KELEMAN CZECH REPUBLIC
6 Sergiy OMELCHENKO AZEBAIJAN
Women’s Team Pursuit
After qualification the previous evening, six teams were on the startsheet up for the first round of the women’s team pursuit. The gold medal ride would be contested by the fastest teams in the third and fourth heats, with the remaining teams ranked by time to compete for 3rd and 4th place, 5th and 6th place and 7th and 8th place.
Australia managed to better their time the previous evening by four seconds to take victory in the first heat in a time of 4:26.064 which included an exceptionally fast 61s
second kilometre and a painfully slow fade in the final kilometre – yet still produced a time which would have been good enough for second fastest in the qualifying heats.
The second heat saw two much more measured performance by Cuba and Italy, with the Cubans reaping the rewards of finishing with a full time to cross the line half a second quicker than their European competition in 4:26.478.
The third heat pitted Canada against New Zealand, with the winner of the heat going through to the gold medal ride off. New Zealand had triumphed over Canada in the heats, but the tables were turned for the first round competition: a fast start by the Canadians had them with a near three second advantage after three kilometres and, despite fading in the final kilometre, were able to hold their form to the end to finish in 4:23.558 against the Kiwis’ 4:25.503.
The Great Britain squad were seeded against China in the final heat and, with Archibald busy in the Omnium competition, Amy Roberts was given the chance to take her place in the squad. Despite Roberts not completing the full distance, the British team were able to stamp their authority in the event with a time of 4:20.166 – exactly a tenth of a second slower than their time in the first heat. Their Chinese competition finished in 4:24.934 which was good enough for fourth fastest – and a place in the bronze medal ride-off against New Zealand.
First Round
Heat 3
1 Canada (Allison BEVERIDGE, Jasmin GLAESSER, Kirsti LAY, Stephanie ROORDA) 4:23.558 (Qualify for gold medal final)
2 New Zealand (Rushlee BUCHANAN, Lauren ELLIS, Jaime NIELSEN, Georgia WILLIAMS) 4:25.503 (Qualify for bronze medal final due to finishing fourth fastest)
Heat 4
1 Great Britain (Laura TROTT, Elinor BARKER, Ciara HORNE, Amy ROBERTS) 4:20.166 (Qualify for gold medal final)
2 China (Dong Yan HUANG, Yali JING, Jiang WENWEN, Baofang ZHAO) 4:24.934 (Qualify for bronze medal final due to finishing third fastest)
5 Australia 4:26.064
6 Cuba 4:26.478
7 Italy 4:27.164
8 Germany 4:31.939
Men’s Team Pursuit
Like the women’s event, there were plenty questioning the reasoning for a first round event with most believing riders should qualify straight from the qualifying events to the finals. Like the women’s event, the winners of the third and fourth heats – the two fastest teams from qualifying – were the only two who could contest the gold medal final. The first two heats saw Germany pitted against Denmark and New Zealand against Spain. Germany took the first heat, their steady start allowing them to finish with a 57.783 second final kilometre and clock the fastest time of the round (3:57.507). Spain started slowly in the second heat and, unable to increase their speed, were caught by the Kiwis with a kilometre still remaining. The catch cost the Spanish dearly, however, and were only able to clock a 3:58.689 – 1.3 seconds from the bronze medal ride-off time.
The Netherlands started the first heat and did not appear to be taking the event entirely seriously. A 1:08.948 first kilometre was the slowest of the round and some five seconds slower than the time ridden in qualification. The slow start enabled the British quartet to ride a relaxed 4:10.867 to seal a place in the gold medal final. The fourth heat was a more competitive affair, with Switzerland in the lead after the first kilometre. However, the fast start cost the team dearly and they faded to cross the line in 3:57.043 against Australia’s 3:55.375.
Australia and Great Britain were confirmed as qualifying for the gold medal final, with Switzerland up against Germany as the two fastest teams amongst the rest of the field who would ride for bronze.
First Round
Heat 3
1 Great Britain (Jonathan DIBBEN, Steven BURKE, Andrew TENNANT, Mark CHRISTIAN) 4:10.867 (Qualify for gold medal final)
2 Netherlands (Dion BEUKEBOOM, Roy EEFTING, Wim STROETINGA, Jan-Willem VAN SCHIP) 4:18.337
Heat 4
1 Australia (Daniel FITTER, Alexander PORTER, Miles SCOTSON, Samuel WELFORD) 3:55.375 (Qualify for gold medal final)
2 Switzerland (Silvan DILLIER, Stefan KUENG, Frank PASCHE, Thery SCHIR) 3:57.043 (Qualify for bronze medal final due to finishing third fastest)
5 Germany 3:57.507 (Qualify for bronze medal final due to finishing third fastest)
6 New Zealand 3:58.689
7 Denmark 4:00.353
8 Spain 4:10.319
