The final day of the opening round of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup 2016-17 in Glasgow saw the Men’s Individual Pursuit, Men’s and Women’s Team Sprints, Womens Scratch, Women’s Omnium and Men’s Madison.
Men’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying
Rohan Wright of Australia rode alone in the opening heat of the Men’s Individual Pursuit to set the target time of 4:27.099. Paralympic Gold Medalist Jozef Metelka of Slovakia went second with a 4:30.439 until current Junior World Champion and World Record holder Stefan Bissegger of Switzerland pipped both with a 4:25.650.
Eighteen year old Bisegger’s time was eclipsed by 37 year old Sylvain Chavanel of France in the very next heat – the newly crowned European Team Pursuit Champion posted a time of 4:20.437 that would keep him in the hot seat until the penultimate heat.
Six Day legend Leif Lampater (33) of Germany went second with a 4:20.713 before 19 year old Daniel Staniszewski of Poland stormed round in 4:18.217. The final heat saw Dion Beukeboom of the Netherlands and Andy Tennant of Great Britain take to the track. Tennant could only manage 7th with a 4:22.80 but Beukeboom earned himself a place in the Bronze medal ride with a 4:20.544.
Results
1 STANISZEWSKI Daniel POL 4:18.217
2 CHAVANEL Sylvain FRA 4:20.427
3 BEUKEBOOM Dion NED 4:20.544
4 LAMPATER Leif GER 4:20.713
5 ZAKHAROV Artyom KAZ 4:21.198
6 LAMOUREUX Jay CAN 4:21.923
7 TENNANT Andrew GBR 4:22.805
8 TSISHKOU Raman BLR 4:25.374
9 BISSEGGER Stefan SUI 4:25.650
10 WIGHT Rohan AUS 4:27.099
Women’s Team Sprint Qualifying
Just ten teams lined up to compete for the eight places in the First Round of the Women’s Team Sprint. Italy won the opening heat against Ireland – Gloria Manzoni and Miriam Vece clocking 35.771 – just four tenths faster than Eimear Moran and Robyn Stewart.
The USA and the Taichung Cycling Team from Taiwan then suffered the first of what would be countless false starts in both the Women’s and Men’s Team Sprint and were rescheduled to follow Japan and Ukraine in Heat 3. Kayono Maeda and Takako Ishii went fastest with a 35.282 until Mandy Marquadt and Madalyn Godby got back on track to top the leaderboard with a 35.189.
The penultimate heat saw Russia and Australia go 1-2 – Natalia Antonova and Tatiana Kiseleva fastest on 33.906, nearly three quarters of a second ahead of Courtney Field and Holly Takos on 34.656.
That left just China and Spain to go. Jun Hand and Lili Liu just failed to break 34 seconds with a 34.004 – which moved them into third behind Tania Calvo and Helena Casas on 33.988.
Results
1 Russia (ANTONOVA Natalia, KISELEVA Tatiana) RUS 33.906
2 Spain (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) ESP 33.988
3 China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) CHN 34.004
4 Australia (FIELD Courtney, TAKOS Holly) AUS 34.656
5 United States (GODBY Madalyn, MARQUARDT Mandy) USA 35.189
6 Japan (ISHII Takako, MAEDA Kayono) JPN 35.282
7 Italy (MANZONI Gloria, VECE Miriam) ITA 35.771
8 Ireland (MORAN Eimear, STEWART Robyn) IRL 36.146
9 Taichung Cycling Team (HSIAO Mei Yu, WANG Tzu Chun) TCT 36.888
10 Ukraine (METALNYKOVA Inna, STARIKOVA Olena) UKR 37.728
Men’s Team Sprint Qualifying
Spain set the benchmark in the Men’s Team Sprint – Alejandro Martinez, Jose Moreno and Juan Peralta clocking 44.917 in the opening heat. Kai Hu, Wenjun Bi and Juncheng Liu of China beat that in Heat two – recording a time of 44.881 – but so did their opponents – Tomas Babek, David Sojka and Robin Wagner of the Czech Republic, who went fastest with a 44.829.
That time wasn’t troubled until Great Britain and France – long term rivals for Team Sprint honours – lined up for Heat 5. It was Great Britain who came out on top – European Under 23 Champions Jack Carlin, Ryan Owens and Joe Truman moving to the head of affairs with a 44.161. A 44.249 from Benjamin Edelin, Quentin Lafarge and Sebastien Vigier was enough to put France second.
The stayed there after the penultimate heat – Pavel Yakushevskiy, Kirill Samusenko and Aleksei Tkachev putting Russia third on 44.320. The final heat saw Germany take on new European Champions Poland – and Macej Bielecki, Patryk Rajkowski and Maetusz had enough to move past Great Britain – recording a 44.107 – but not enough to hold off Eric Engler, Robert Foerstemann and Tobias Wachter who ended the session fastest on 44.068.
Results
1 Germany (ENGLER Eric, FORSTEMANN, WACHTER Tobias) GER 44.068
2 Poland (BIELECKI Maciej, RAJKOWSKI Patryk, RUDYK Mateusz) POL 44.107
3 Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, OWENS Ryan, TRUMAN Joe) GBR 44.161
4 France (EDELIN Benjamin, LAFARGUE Quentin, VIGIER Sebastien) FRA 44.249
5 Russia (SAMUSENKO Kirill, TKACHEV Aleksei, YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel) RUS 44.320
6 Czech Republic (BABEK Tomas, SOJKA David, WAGNER Robin) CZE 44.829
7 China (BI Wenjun, HU Kai, LIU Juncheng) CHN 44.881
8 Spain (MARTINEZ Alejandro, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose, PERALTA GASCON Juan) ESP 44.917
9 Belarus (NOVIK Uladzislau, VERAMCHUK Yauhen, ZAITSAU Artsiom) BLR 44.967
10 New Zealand (KNIPE Bradly, VAN VELTHOOVEN Simon, WILLIAMS Zac) NZL 45.047
Women’s Omnium I Scratch
The new format Omnium saw a lot of new names, with Lotte Kopecky of Belgium possibly the favourite as the most experienced and most successful 2016 Omnium format competitor – having picked up Bronze behind Katie Archibald of Great Britain and Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands – neither of whom was riding the event in Glasgow.
Few, however, would have predicted that she would finish the opening Scratch Race behind Yumi Kajihara of Japan. Roxane Fournier of France took third with Emily Kay of Great Britain fourth.
Results
1 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN
2 KOPECKY Lotte BEL
3 FOURNIER Roxane FRA
4 KAY Emily GBR
5 FRAPPORTI Simona ITA
6 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR
7 MANLY Alexandra AUS
8 PALLER Tatjana GER
9 PIKULIK Daria POL
10 HSIAO Mei Yu TCT
Women’s Team Sprint 1st round
The First Round saw Spain top the timing sheets with a 33.556 – fractionally ahead of China with a 33.569. That meant that fastest qualifiers Russia – who clocked a 33.649 this time – would face Australia in the Bronze medal qualifier.
Results
Heat 1
1 Australia (FIELD Courtney, TAKOS Holly) AUS 34.385
2 United States (MARQUARDT Mandy, GODBY Madalyn) USA 34.914
Heat 2
1 China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) CHN 33.569
2 Japan (MAEDA Kayono, ISHII Takako) JPN 35.226
Heat 3
1 Spain (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) ESP 33.556
2 Italy (VECE Miriam, MANZONI Gloria) ITA 35.702
Heat 4
1 Russia (ANTONOVA Natalia, KISELEVA Tatiana) RUS 33.649
2 Ireland (STEWART Robyn, MORAN Eimear) IRL 35.884
Men’s Team Sprint 1st round
As in the Women’s event, the First Round saw a change in the order from Qualifying. Germany and Poland – who had topped the time sheets earlier – could only managed the third and fourth best times – 44.144 and 44.288 respectively – leaving France and Great Britain to contest the Final. Both rode considerably faster than they had in qualifying – GB improving from 44.161 and third to 43.651 and first – France from 44.249 and fourth to 43.960 and second.
Results
Heat 1
1 France (VIGIER Sebastien, EDELIN Benjamin, LAFARGUE Quentin) FRA 43.960
2 Russia (YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel, SAMUSENKO Kirill, TKACHEV Aleksei) RUS 44.622
Heat 2
1 Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, OWENS Ryan, TRUMAN Joe) GBR 43.651
2 Czech Republic (WAGNER Robin, BABEK Tomas, SOJKA David) CZE 44.744
Heat 3
1 Poland (BIELECKI Maciej, RUDYK Mateusz, KUCZYNSKI Kamil) POL 44.228
2 China (HU Kai, BI Wenjun, LIU Juncheng) CHN 45.565
Heat 4
1 Germany (FORSTEMANN Robert, ENGLER Eric, WACHTER Tobias) GER 44.144
2 Spain (MARTINEZ Alejandro, PERALTA GASCON Juan, MORENO SANCHEZ Jose) ESP 44.680
Women’s Omnium II Tempo Race
This was the third Tempo Race in Senior Omnium competition and we still await the ‘bunch sprint every lap’ we were promised. The first half a dozen sprints were taken by the lead rider of a string – Ausrine Trebaite of Lithuania the first, Daria Pikulik of Poland the second, Tetyana Klimchenko of Ukraine the third – before Simona Frapporti of Italy took two in a row and Kopecky took the sixth. None of those riders would score again.
Then Kajihara showed that her Scratch Race win was no flash in the pan – breaking away and taking two on her own – before being joined by Kay and Tatsiana Sharakova of Belarus – who she then beat to the sprint to take a third. The three of them then adopted the tactics we’ve seen in the previous examples of the race – hanging just off the back of the bunch and sharing the points between them.
When they finally decided it was time to take the lap – with just three to go – Xiaoling Luo of China was in the process of bridging the gap to them, so she became the head of the race and took the final three.
While they’d been out there together, they’d shared the points evenly between them – five each – plus four points for the lap gain – with the two Kajihara had earned on her own meaning that the Japanese rider took her second win of the Omnium with Kay second and Sharakova third.
Results
1 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN 12
2 KAY Emily GBR 9
3 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 9
4 LUO Xiaoling CHN 3
5 FRAPPORTI Simona ITA 2
6 KOPECKY Lotte BEL 1
7 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU 1
8 KLIMCHENKO Tetyana UKR 1
9 PIKULIK Daria POL 1
10 MANLY Alexandra AUS
Men’s Individual Pursuit Finals
We were expecting two relatively close Finals in the Individual Pursuit, but we didn’t really get them. Beukeboom took seven seconds out of Lampater to claim the Bronze, while Chavanel was behind Staniszewksi at the end of the opening lap – but never again, opening out a two second lead by the finish. The Pole looks and exciting prospect, though – and Beukeboom’s time in the Bronze medal ride was just two tenths behind the winner.
Results
GOLD CHAVANEL Sylvain FRA 4:20.567
SILVER STANISZEWSKI Daniel POL 4:22.875
BRONZE BEUKEBOOM Dion NED 4:20.742
4 LAMPATER Leif GER 4:27.446
Women’s Omnium III Elimination
Kajihara finally dropped points in the Omnium – although her third place in the Elimination kept her in the lead ahead of the Points Race. Her exit left Kay and Kopecky to sprint for the win and the Belgian was just too quick for British rider.
Kajihara would go in to the final race with 116 points – a six point lead over Kay and an eight point advantage over Kopecky with Sharakova a lap gain and more behind on 92.
Results
1 KOPECKY Lotte BEL
2 KAY Emily GBR
3 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN
4 MANLY Alexandra AUS
5 PIKULIK Daria POL
6 KLIMCHENKO Tetyana UKR
7 FOURNIER Roxane FRA
8 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR
9 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR
10 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU
Women’s Team Sprint Final
The top three in the Finals were as close as they had been in the previous rounds. Casas and Calvo took the Gold for Spain with a 33.351 – a quarter of a second faster than Lio and Han of China. Antonova and Kiseleva took the Bronze by almost a second – but their time as seven hundredths of a second quicker than China’s.
Results
GOLD Spain (CALVO BARBERO Tania, CASAS ROIGE Helena) ESP 33.351
SILVER China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) CHN 33.705
BRONZE Russia (ANTONOVA Natalia, KISELEVA Tatiana) RUS 33.630
4 Australia (FIELD Courtney, TAKOS Holly) AUS 34.546
Women’s Scratch Race Final
The strength of Japan’s women’s endurance programme was reinforced as Minami Uwano was one of five riders who took a lap in the Women’s Scratch Race Final. Evgeniya Romanyuta of Russia went from the gun and took the lap solo, with the other four – Lydia Gurley of Ireland, Uwano, Marina Shmayankova and Elise Delzenne of France – joining her half way through the race – and it was Delzenne who was best placed in the bunch sprint with Uwano taking second and Romanyuta third.
Results
1 DELZENNE Elise FRA
2 UWANO Minami JPN
3 ROMANYUTA Evgeniya RUS
4 GURLEY Lydia IRL
5 SHMAYANKOVA Marina BLR
6 WILD Kirsten NED -1
7 CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia ITA -1
8 KACZKOWSKA Justyna POL -1
9 KULLMER Lisa GER -1
10 NELSON Emily GBR -1
Women’s Omnium IV Final Points
Anita Stenberg of Norway took the initial sprint in the Omnium finale but Kay moved within a point of Kahihara by winning the second. The Japanese rider moved two clear with a fourth in the next Sprint, while Kay took returned the deficit to a single point by doing the same ten laps later.
Kajihara wouldn’t score again and would see her medal prospects slip away as the battle moved elsewhere. Kopecky was closing the gap on Kay and while neither one another sprint, the two of them placed consistently – passing Kajihara and going in to the final sprint – now with double points – points apart. Sharakova, meanwhile, had gained the lap she need and now split the two – two points behind Kay and three ahead of Kopecky.
A breakaway group saved Kay as Fournier took the 10 points to move herself from seventh to sixth and Kilmchenko took second. That second place would have given Kopecky the Gold and she did all she could to get it – but finished third. Sharakova could have held on to the Silver if she’d followed Kopecky over the line, but she’d blown and rolled home 17th to take the Bronze.
Results
1 KAY Emily GBR 121
2 KOPECKY Lotte BEL 120
3 SHARAKOVA Tatsiana BLR 119
4 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN 117
5 FRAPPORTI Simona ITA 113
6 FOURNIER Roxane FRA 94
7 MANLY Alexandra AUS 85
8 PIKULIK Daria POL 83
9 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR 81
10 TREBAITE Ausrine LTU 80
Men’s Team Sprint Final
When it was announced that the Team Sprint would now include a First Round – meaning that teams would race three times in a day – many people said that the performances would suffer. Three races in one day was too much.
Great Britain recorded the fastest time of the day – 43.479 – to take the Gold medal with France seven tenths behind them. Poland drafted in this weekend’s Sprint Gold medallist Kamil Kuczynski for their Bronze medal ride and it worked – the fresh legs propelling them to a 43.962.
Results
GOLD Great Britain (CARLIN Jack, OWENS Ryan, TRUMAN Joe) GBR 43.479
SILVER France (VIGIER Sebastien, EDELIN Benjamin, LAFARGUE Quentin) FRA 44.414
BRONZE Poland (BIELECKI Maciej, RUDYK Mateusz, KUCZYNSKI Kamil) POL 43.962
4 Germany (FORSTEMANN Robert, ENGLER Eric, WACHTER Tobias) GER 44.177
Men’s Madison Final
Despite a warning earlier in the race for causing a crash, a late lap gain saw Albert Torres and Sebastian Mora leapfrog Australia in the last few laps of the Men’s Madison to snatch victory from Callum Scotson and Cameron Meyer by a single point. With Kenny De Ketele and Moreno De Pauw of Belgium taking third, it meant that the podium was exclusively for teams that had raced at 6 Day London the previous week.
Results
GOLD Spain (MORA VEDRI Sebastian, TORRES BARCELO Albert) ESP 45
SILVER Australia (MEYER Cameron, SCOTSON Callum) AUS 44
BRONZE Belgium (DE KETELE Kenny, DE PAUW Moreno) BEL 41
4 Italy (LAMON Francesco, CONSONNI Simone) ITA 38
5 France (KNEISKY Morgan, ERMENAULT Corentin) FRA 34
6 Poland POL 12 (STANISZEWSKI Daniel, BANASZEK Alan)
7 Switzerland SUI 8 (MARGUET Tristan, IMHOF Claudio)
8 Great Britain (STEWART Mark, WOOD Oliver) GBR 3
9 Russia (ROSTOVTSEV Sergey, PISKUNOV Maksim) RUS -7
10 Kazakhstan (MIRALIYEV Sultanmurat, SHATOVKIN Sergey) KAZ -18