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2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships; Day 5 Session 2 – 22 February 2015

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Men’s Sprint

Semifinals

With the two Frenchmen, Bauge and Lafargue, in the second heat, the buoyant French crowd could be assured that one of their countrymen would win at least a silver medal.

Denis Dmitriev of Russia was up against Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands in the first heat. Dmitriev took the first heat with relative ease, although, after another roof-drip-delay, the Dutchman got the better of the Russian on the line in the second race. With Dmitriev taking the deciding heat, his place in the gold medal final was decided.

In the battle of the Frenchman, Bauge needed just two races to qualify for his ticket to the final. The fallible Frenchman was a popular choice with the crowd for the gold medal final, whilst Hoogland and Lafargue would be contesting for the bronze.

Semifinals – winners who qualify for gold medal final

1 Denis DMITRIEV (Russia): Through to final in three races
2 Gregory BAUGE (France): Through to final in two races

Finals

In the bronze medal finals, Hoogland took the first race but was relegated for straying from his line. He fought back in the second race, but Lafargue proved too strong for the Dutchman in the final race to see another medal go to the home nation.

Bauge got the better of Dmitriev in the first race, although the second race became a far more tactical affair with the riders delaying their charge almost until the bell sounded for the final lap. Bauge had the outside line for the entire lap, but proved too strong for Dmitriev and he took the win by four-hundredths of a second.

The crowd were ecstatic with the win: despite Bauge clearly not having the form of previous years, he used his confidence and mental strength to outwit his competition, losing just one race in his path to the gold medal. The gold medal is the fourth to add to his world titles of 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Finals Results

GOLD Gregory BAUGE (France)
SILVER Denis DMITRIEV (Russia)

BRONZE Quentin LAFARGUE (France)
4 Jeffrey HOOGLAND (Netherlands)

Men’s Madison

The Madison formed the “fun” end to the world championships with 14 national pairs participating. The British pair of Mark Christian and Owain Doull took a lap early on and, despite being unable to take any points until the seventh sprint lap, remained in the lead purely on the virtue of this lap.

The French pair of Bryan Coquard and Morgan Kneisky took maximum points in three of the first six points laps to put them in the lead – behind the British who gained a lap – as the race was two-thirds of the way though. However, with the British team tiring at about this point, the writing was on the wall for other teams to start taking laps out of them – and they did. The Italian duo of Liam Bertazzo and Elia Viviani were particularly strong in the final laps, taking maximum points in two out of the three final sprints, although it was the French pair’s performance in the opening laps which meant they took the win by a single point. The win represented Coquard’s first ever world title: the Europcar sprinter had won a silver medal in the omnium at the Olympic games, but was ecstatic with his first rainbow bands. It was Kneisky’s second medal after being crowned world scratch champion in 2009.

Women’s Omnium VI – Points Race

The deciding race of the women’s omnium was, as has now become custom, the points race. Australia’s Annette Edmondson had a comfortable lead of 14 points going into the race, but with so many additional points up for grabs, the win was far from certain. Laura Trott (Great Britain) was in second place going into the race, although the gap between herself and fourth placed Kristen Wild (Netherlands) was just eight points, whilst third placed Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium) was just four points behind Trott.

Although D’Hoore grabbed a point in the first sprint, it was the second which became a crucial lap, featuring all four of the leading riders. Wild took maximum points, leapfrogging her over Trott, whilst Edmondson’s three points for second place helped increase her lead further. Trott started her comeback in the sprint at the halfway point, where her five points edged her within 11 of Edmondson whilst Wild’s three points put her in bronze medal position. However, with the seventh and eighth sprints going Edmondson’s way, victory for anyone else was now looking a distinct uncertainty. Even a lap taken by Meijas Garcia, Hammer, Sheath and Frapporti did nothing to trouble the top four riders.

Wild took the final sprint, with Trott in second place which cemented her silver medal. Had she finished in fourth place, Trott would only have been going home with the bronze medal.

Edmondson finished the race with 192 points to claim her second world title of the championship, some 16 ahead of Trott with silver for a very decisive win. It is the first time Edmondson has been victorious against Trott, having to settle for a minor position behind the British rider on four occasions.

Women’s Omnium – Final Results

GOLD Annette EDMONDSON (Australia) 192
SILVER Laura TROTT (Great Britain) 176
BRONZE Kirsten WILD (Netherlands) 175
4 Jolien D’HOORE (Belgium) 166
5 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA (Cuba) 149
6 Tatsiana SHARAKOVA (Belarus) 131
7 Leire OLABERRIA DORRONSORO (Spain) 129
8 Sarah HAMMER (United States) 126
9 Tamara BALABOLINA (Russia) 120
10 Racquel Olivia SHEATH (New Zealand) 117
11 Anna KNAUER (Germany) 112
12 Amalie DIDERIKSEN (Denmark) 108
13 Simona FRAPPORTI (Italy) 98
14 Laurie BERTHON (France) 87
15 Caroline RYAN (Ireland) 84
16 Ausrine TREBAITE (Lithuania) 75
17 Yuanyuan TIAN (China) 68
18 Lucie ZALESKA (Czech Republic) 64
19 Malgorzata WOJTYRA (Poland) 58
20 Xiao Juan DIAO (Hong Kong) 55

Women’s Keirin

Second Round

The first heat of the second round was won by Junhong Lin from China with a third of a second margin – the largest margin noted in the competition so far. The other two qualifiers from the first heat were Monique Sullivan of Canada and Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands.

The second heat was won by Australia’s Anna Meares by less than the width of her tyre rubber to her country teammate, Stephanie Morton. Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) took the last qualifying place, with Elena Brejniva of Russia relegated for taking the wrong line.

Second Round Results

Heat 1

1 Junhong LIN (China) Q
2 Monique SULLIVAN (Canada) +0.318 Q
3 Shanne BRASPENNINCX (Netherlands) +0.393 Q
4 Wai Sze LEE (Hong Kong) +0.543
5 Fatehah MUSTAPA (Malaysia) +0.623
6 Hyejin LEE (Korea) +0.633

Heat 2

1 Anna MEARES (Australia) Q
2 Stephanie MORTON (Australia) +0.001 Q
3 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) +0.069 Q
4 Tianshi ZHONG (China) +0.086
5 Shuang GUO (China) +0.111
6 Elena BREJNIVA (Russia) REL

Final

Meares may have missed getting her record eleventh world title in her favourite event, the 500m time trial, but she now had a new opportunity staring her in the face.

Shortly after the race started, Meares’ teammate, Stephanie Morton, suffered a puncture. Whilst a rider can rejoin the race if they suffer a mechanical within the first half lap, Morton’s puncture came 40 metres too late – and she heartbreakingly disqualified as a result.

Whether fuelled with determination after her teammate’s misfortune, Meares took to the front at the start of the final lap – a sensible move given the difficulty overtaking on corners other riders have reported – and held it until the line to clench her historic eleventh world title. Braspennincx took the silver and Guerra the bronze.

Meares had apparently dream
t of winning her eleventh title in the run up to the championships – albeit in the 500m time trial rather than the keirin – but after only claiming a silver in the TT, she was prepared to take the world title “however it comes.”

One of the first people to congratulate Meares was the lady who had formerly shared the record of ten world titles with Meares: Frenchwoman Felicia Ballanger. Ballanger showed no sadness at losing her record, embracing Meares in the centre of the track.

Meares has now surpassed Chris Hoy’s record of the most number of world track medals with 26 now to her name.

The minor final was won by Wai Sze Lee.

Final Results

GOLD Anna MEARES (Australia)
SILVER Shanne BRASPENNINCX (Netherlands) +0.064
BRONZE Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) +0.219
4 Monique SULLIVAN (Canada) +0.371
5 Junhong LIN (China) +0.623
6 Stephanie MORTON (Australia) DQ

7 Wai Sze LEE (Hong Kong)
8 Elena BREJNIVA (Russia) +0.132
9 Hyejin LEE (Korea) +0.190
10 Tianshi ZHONG (China) +0.279
11 Shuang GUO (China) +0.382
12 Fatehah MUSTAPA (Malaysia) +1.109

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