Report from the first full day of competition at the final round of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup 2016-17 in Los Angeles. More photos to follow.
Men
Sprint
Day 1
Qualifying 200m
Max Dornbach of Germany was the second of the 32 starters in the Men’s Sprint qualifiers and his time of 10.080 – just outside the track record – set the tone for the rest of the session. It was Ethan Mitchell of New Zealand, though, in heat 7, that set the competition a light – the Team Sprint Man 1 clocking 9.850 to take a commanding lead.
Shane Perkins – riding for the Japanese Dream Seeker team – was the first to get close with a 10.015 until Max Niederlag of Germany became the second rider to break 10 seconds with a 9.956 with just under half the field left to ride.
Lewis Oliva of Team USN – who had only left the UK on Thursday afternoon after sitting a medical school examination that morning – missed the magical 10 second barrier by just two thousandths of a second – a feat that Mitchell’s compatriot Sam Webster was able to achieve a couple of heats later with a 9.894.
So, too, did the next rider up – Fabian Puerta of Colombia, who went fourth with a 9.972 with just four riders to go. The next of those – Andrii Vynokourov of Ukraine – slotted in to 6th – one place and one thousandth of a second behind Oliva.
A gap of a thousandth of a second is remarkably close, of course, but you can get closer – and Russia’s Denis Dmitriev did – matching Mitchell’s time exactly to take over at the top of the leaderboard and, with Kamil Kuczynski of Poland ‘only’ able to record a time of 10.080 – the same time as Dornbach, to the thousandth – in the final heat, that left Dmitriev, Mitcell, Webster and Niederlag as the four riders who would receive a bye to the 1/8 Finals.
Results
1 DMITRIEV Denis GAZ 9.850
2 MITCHELL Ethan NZL 9.850
3 WEBSTER Sam NZL 9.894
4 NIEDERLAG Max GER 9.956
5 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL 9.972
6 OLIVA Lewis WAL 10.002
7 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR 10.003
8 PERKINS Shane DRS 10.015
9 YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel RUS 10.021
10 KELEMEN Pavel CZE 10.022
11 BARRETTE Hugo CAN 10.053
12 ENGLER Eric GER 10.061
13 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU 10.062
14 LAFARGUE Quentin FRA 10.075
15 DORNBACH Maximilian ERD 10.080
16 KUCZYNSKI Kamil POL 10.080
17 TJON EN FA Jair SUR 10.154
18 IM Chaebin KOR 10.195
19 SAMUSENKO Kirill RUS 10.199
20 CLARKE Thomas AUS 10.242
21 SOJKA David CZE 10.284
22 LANDERNEAU Melvin FRA 10.302
23 WAKIMOTO Yuta JPN 10.308
24 MULLEN Eoin IRL 10.310
25 SARNECKI Rafal POL 10.317
26 SZALONTAY Sandor HUN 10.327
27 MORENO SANCHEZ Jose ESP 10.360
28 ZHANG Lei CHN 10.462
1/16 Final
With one very notable exception, the sixteenth finals went pretty much in line with qualifying form. Puerta, Vynokourov, Perkins, Pavels Yakushevskiy of Russia and Kelemen of the Czech Republic, Hugo Barette of Canada, Eric Engler of Germany, Vasilijus Lendel of Lithuania, Quentin Lafargue of France and Kuczynski all went through against lower seeded riders. The two exceptions were Oliva, who narrowly lost out to Chaebin Im of Korea who had qualified almost two tenths and 12 places lower, and Dornbach who was taken completely by surprise by Jose Moreno of Spain – who had qualified 27th of 28 – three tenths and 12 places behind the German.
Results
Heat 1
1 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL *
2 TJON EN FA Jair SUR
Heat 2
1 IM Chaebin KOR *
2 OLIVA Lewis WAL
Heat 3
1 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR *
2 SAMUSENKO Kirill RUS
Heat 4
1 PERKINS Shane DRS *
2 CLARKE Thomas AUS
Heat 5
1 YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel RUS *
2 SOJKA David CZE
Heat 6
1 KELEMEN Pavel CZE *
2 LANDERNEAU Melvin FRA
Heat 7
1 BARRETTE Hugo CAN *
2 WAKIMOTO Yuta JPN
Heat 8
1 ENGLER Eric GER *
2 MULLEN Eoin IRL
Heat 9
1 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU *
2 SARNECKI Rafal POL
Heat 10
1 LAFARGUE Quentin FRA *
2 SZALONTAY Sandor HUN
Heat 11
1 MORENO SANCHEZ Jose ESP *
2 DORNBACH Maximilian ERD
Heat 12
1 KUCZYNSKI Kamil POL *
2 44 ZHANG Lei CHN
1/8 Final
Moreno couldn’t pull off the same trick twice and lost out to Vynokourov in the 1/8 Finals. Three of the four riders entering the competition for the first time at this stage – Dmitriev, Webster and Niederlag – progressed, but Mitchell lost out to Keleman and the other ‘giant killer’ from the first round – Im – also departed the competition, at the hands of Lafargue.
Results
Heat 1
1 DMITRIEV Denis GAZ *
2 YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel RUS
Heat 2
1 KELEMEN Pavel CZE *
2 MITCHELL Ethan NZL
Heat 3
1 WEBSTER Sam NZL *
2 BARRETTE Hugo CAN
Heat 4
1 NIEDERLAG Max GER *
2 ENGLER Eric GER
Heat 5
1 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL*
2 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU
Heat 6
1 LAFARGUE Quentin FRA *
2 IM Chaebin KOR
Heat 7
1 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR *
2 MORENO SANCHEZ Jose ESP
Heat 8
1 KUCZYNSKI Kamil POL *
2 PERKINS Shane DRS
Quarter Finals
Three of the Quarter Finals were routine, entirely to form and done it two riders with Dmitriev, Webster and Niederlag continuing on to the Semi Finals. The other race was rather more feisty with Lafargue and Kelemen hard at it. Lafargue took the first race, but the second got very physical and the French rider was relegated for moving erratically around the track and preventing Kelemen form getting past. In the decider, Kelemen did get past, but clipped Lafargue and was adjudged to have entered the sprinter’s lane when Lafargue was already there. Lafargue, meanwhile, came off the track, hit a TV cameraman and crashed heavily. He would win the heat, but take no further part in the competition.
Results
Heat 1
1 DMITRIEV Denis GAZ **
2 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL
Heat 2
1 LAFARGUE Quentin FRA * REL *
2 KELEMEN Pavel CZE * REL
Heat 3
1 WEBSTER Sam NZL **
2 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR
Heat 4
1 NIEDERLAG Max GER **
2 KUCZYNSKI Kamil POL
Semi Finals
With only one heat in the Semi Finals – Niederlag progressing to the Gold medal ride when Lafargue failed to take the start – you might have expected things to be straightforward, but the riders were determined to make sure the crowd got their money’s worth. Webster won the opening race by half a wheel but Dmitriev got the drop on him in the second and he pulled up, saving his energy for the decider. The third race was close, but Webster didn’t quite have the speed to come round the Russian, who joined Niederlag in the Final.
Results
Heat 1
1 DMITRIEV Denis GAZ **
2 WEBSTER Sam NZL *
Heat 2
1 NIEDERLAG Max GER *
DNS LAFARGUE Quentin FRA
Finals
The Kiwi duly made his way to trackside to show willing and take the Bronze without taking to the track. In the Gold medal ride, Niederlag, with the benefit of fresher legs, perhaps, got the jump on Dmitriev, who backed off to rethink the second heat. The Russian took that comfortably – and although the German ought back in the third, it was Dmitriev who prevailed and took the Gold.
Results
GOLD DMITRIEV Denis GAZ **
SILVER NIEDERLAG Max GER *
BRONZE WEBSTER Sam NZL *
DNS LAFARGUE Quentin FRA
Omnium
I Scratch
A tense Omnium Scratch was decided in the closing stages when Kelland O’Brien of Australia, who had attacked with 7 laps to go and looked at one point as though he might take a lap – and then might at least stay away and take the win – was joined and passed by Sanghoon Park of Korea, who just kept going and took an excellent solo win.
O’Brien managed to hold off the field and take second, with Casper Pedersen of Denmark leading the bunch home.
Results
1 PARK Sanghoon KOR
2 O’BRIEN Kelland AUS
3 PEDERSEN Casper DEN
4 ROSTOVTSEV Sergei RUS
5 LATHAM Christopher GBR
6 KNEISKY Morgan FRA
7 MIRALIYEV Sultanmurat KAZ
8 MALDONADO RAYAS Edibaldo MEX
9 STEWART Campbell NZL
10 SAJNOK Szymon POL
II Tempo Race
Sajmon Sajnok of Poland took the first four sprints of the Tempo races, with Raman Tshishkou of Belarus joining him and sharing the spoils – the two riders taking the next 18 laps between them, before finally taking the lap – with Sajnok just ahead on 32 points to Tsishkou’s 30. Pedersden, Morgan Kneisky of France, Park, Christopher Latham of Great Britain, Sergei Rostovstev of Russia and Gael Suter of Switzerland were all able to bridge over and join the leading duo on the lead lap, but only Pedersen was able to rack up more than a single point, taking five en route to his lap gain to secure third behind Sajnok and Tsishkou.
Results
1 SAJNOK Szymon POL 32
2 TSISHKOU Raman BLR 30
3 PEDERSEN Casper DEN 25
4 KNEISKY Morgan FRA 21
5 PARK Sanghoon KOR 21
6 LATHAM Christopher GBR 21
7 ROSTOVTSEV Sergei RUS 20
8 SUTER Gael SUI 20
9 IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN 4
10 STEWART Campbell NZL 1
III Elimination
The Elimination race can significantly affect the Omnium standings going into the final Points race, but in this instance most of the major contenders hung in until the latter stages. Pedersen was probably worst affected, going out in eighth place, with Campbell Stewart of New Zealand probably doing himself the most favours in fourth. Sajnok took the win, though, from Rostovtsev and Tsishkou.
Results
1 SAJNOK Szymon POL
2 ROSTOVTSEV Sergei RUS
3 TSISHKOU Raman BLR
4 STEWART Campbell NZL
5 LATHAM Christopher GBR
6 KNEISKY Morgan FRA
7 SUTER Gael SUI
8 PEDERSEN Casper DEN
9 IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN
10 GLADYSH Roman UKR
IV Final Points race
Sajnok did what he had to do in the Points race – defending a slender two point lead over Rostovtsev at the start. The Pole took one sprint, one third and three seconds including, crucially, the double points final gallop. That proved crucial as, by then, Stewart and Park had lapped the field and the Kiwi took the final sprint to moved on to 115 points. Had Sajnok failed to score, the Kiwi would have won – tied on points but ahead on the final sprint – but the Polish rider knew just what he had to do and followed Stewart over the line. Kneisky was up there in the final sprint, taking third on the line, but it wasn’t enough to catch Pedersen in fourth, let alone Park in third.
Results
GOLD SAJNOK Szymon POL 121
SILVER STEWART Campbell NZL 115
BRONZE PARK Sanghoon KOR 115
4 PEDERSEN Casper DEN 113
5 KNEISKY Morgan FRA 112
6 ROSTOVTSEV Sergei RUS 106
7 LATHAM Christopher GBR 103
8 TSISHKOU Raman BLR 95
9 O’BRIEN Kelland AUS 95
10 MIRALIYEV Sultanmurat KAZ 74
Scratch Final
A captivating Scratch race final saw seven riders take a lap on the field with Francesco Castegnaro of Italy and Tristan Marguet of Switzerland joining an initial group of Jon Mould of Team USN, Felix English of Ireland, Thomas Sexton of New Zealand, Thomas Denis of France and Yauheni of Karaliok of Belarus on the lead lap.
You could have thrown a blanket over Denis, Sexton and English at the finish but, unfortunately for them, Karaliok had already taking the Gold.
Results
GOLD KARALIOK Yauheni BLR
SILVER DENIS Thomas FRA
BRONZE SEXTON Thomas NZL
4 ENGLISH Felix IRL
5 MOULD Jonathan WAL
6 MARGUET Tristan SUI
7 CASTEGNARO Francesco ITA
8 LOVASSY Krisztian HUN -1
9 TEKLINSKI Adrian POL -1
10 TARAGEL Filip SVK -1
Women
Team Pursuit
1st round
The First Round of the Women’s Team Pursuit always looked to have the favourites in the final two heats – and so it proved to be. Poland beat Russia in the first in a time of 4:35.132 with France catching and passing Ukraine to record a time of 4:28.970 in the second.
In heat three Rushlee Buchanan, Michaela Drummond, Jaime Nielsen and Racquel Sheath of New Zealand reorded a 4:22.717 to beat Laura Brown, Jasmin Duehring, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Steph Roorda of Canada, but the Canadians time of 4:25.354 was three seconds quicker than the French and booked them a place in the Bronze medal ride.
In the Final heat the crowd were on their feet as Kelly Catling, Chloe Dygert, Kimberley Geist and Jennifer Valente put the USA in the Gold medal final with a 4:20.109 – but, again, the performance of the Italian quartet of Martina Alzini, Simona Frapport, Francesca Pattaro and Silvia Valsecchi was enough to put them into the Bronze medal ride, a second clear of the French on 4:27.417.
Results
Heat 1
1 Poland 4:35.132 (KACZKOWSKA Justyna, PIETRZAK Lucja, PLOSAJ Nikol, RUTKOWSKA Natalia)
2 Russia 4:35.412 (ABRAMOVA Maria, AVERINA Maria, ROMANYUTA Evgeniya, ZABELINSKAYA Olga)
Heat 2
1 France 4:28.970 (BERTHON Laurie, BORRAS Marion, DELZENNE Elise, DEMAY Coralie)
2 Ukraine 4:38.653 (KLIMCHENKO Tetyana, KLYACHINA Oksana, NAHIRNA Anna, SOLOVEI Ganna)
Heat 3
1 New Zealand (BUCHANAN Rushlee, DRUMMOND Michaela, NIELSEN Jaime, SHEATH Racquel) 4:22.717 Qualified for Gold Medal ride
2 Canada (BROWN Laura, DUEHRING Jasmin, FOREMAN-MACKEY Annie, ROORDA Stephanie) 4:25.354 Qualified for Bronze Medal ride
Heat 4
1 United States (CATLIN Kelly, DYGERT Chloe, GEIST Kimberly, VALENTE Jennifer) 4:20.109 Qualified for Gold Medal ride
2 Italy (ALZINI Martina, FRAPPORTI Simona, PATTARO Francesca, VALSECCHI Silvia) 4:27.417 Qualified for Bronze Medal ride
Finals
The Final went exactly the way the qualifying and first round had suggested it would. The New Zealand quartet hung on the early stages, but the US team – with three World Champions – was too strong and took the Gld by almost five seconds with a 4:19.990. Canada swapped in Kirsti Lay for Steph Roorda and took Bronze with a time just a tenth off their First Round performance.
Results
GOLD United States (CATLIN Kelly, DYGERT Chloe, GEIST Kimberly, VALENTE Jennifer) 4:19.990
SILVER New Zealand (BUCHANAN Rushlee, DRUMMOND Michaela, NIELSEN Jaime, SHEATH Racquel) 4:24.619
BRONZE Canada (BROWN Laura, DUEHRING Jasmin, FOREMAN-MACKEY Annie, LAY Kirsti) 4:25.487
4 Italy (ALZINI Martina, FRAPPORTI Simona, PATTARO Francesca, VALSECCHI Silvia) 4:29.616
Keirin
1st round
There were no upsets in the opening round of the Keirin with European Champion Luibov Basova of Ukraine and Mathidle Gros of France progressing from the first heat, World Champion Kristina Vogel of Germany and former World Champion Shuang Guo of Giant-Max Success from the second and Hyejin Lee of Korea and former World Champion Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania from the third.
Results
Heat 1
1 BASOVA Liubov UKR
2 GROS Mathilde FRA
3 HANSEN Natasha NZL
4 LIU Lili CHN
5 KISELEVA Tatiana RUS
6 FEISS Dana USA
7 ARAIZ AGUIRRE Gudane ESP
Heat 2
1 VOGEL Kristina GER
2 GUO Shuang MSP
3 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL
4 SHMELEVA Daria GAZ
5 DEBORAH IND
6 JAMES Rachel WAL
7 O’BRIEN Kate CAN
Heat 3
1 140 LEE Hyejin KOR
2 142 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
3 148 GAXIOLA GONZALEZ Luz Daniela MEX
4 195 WANG Tzu Chun TCT
5 130 MAEDA Kayono JPN
6 125 VECE Miriam ITA
Repechages
The two repechages saw three riders progress from each with Natasha Hansen of New Zealand heading home Tatiana Kiseleva of Russia and Kate O’Brien of Canada in the first and Martha Bayona of Colombia, Rachel James of Team USN and Kayona Maeda of Japan going through from the second.
Results
Heat 1
1 HANSEN Natasha NZL
2 KISELEVA Tatiana RUS
3 O’BRIEN Kate CAN
4 SHMELEVA Daria GAZ
5 WANG Tzu Chun TCT
6 DEBORAH IND
7 VECE Miriam ITA
Heat 2
1 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL
2 JAMES Rachel WAL
3 MAEDA Kayono JPN
4 LIU Lili CHN
5 GAXIOLA GONZALEZ Luz Daniela MEX
6 ARAIZ AGUIRRE Gudane ESP
7 FEISS Dana USA REL
2nd round
All the big names made it through the second round with Guo, Basova and Bayona qualifying for the Final from Heat 1 and Vogel, Hansen and Krueckaite from the second.
Results
Heat 1
1 GUO Shuang MSP
2 BASOVA Liubov UKR
3 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL
4 LEE Hyejin KOR
5 KISELEVA Tatiana RUS
6 O’BRIEN Kate CAN
Heat 2
1 VOGEL Kristina GER
2 HANSEN Natasha NZL
3 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
4 JAMES Rachel WAL
5 MAEDA Kayono JPN
6 GROS Mathilde FRA
Finals
Vogel’s form at the moment is incredible and she took the Gold medal relatively comfortably. It was a different story behind here, with virtually nothing in it between Bayona in Silver and Hansen in Bronze. Kiseleva won the minor final.
Results
GOLD VOGEL Kristina GER
SILVER BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL
BRONZE HANSEN Natasha NZL
4 BASOVA Liubov UKR
5 GUO Shuang MSP
6 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU
7 KISELEVA Tatiana RUS
8 GROS Mathilde FRA
9 LEE Hyejin KOR
10 JAMES Rachel WAL
11 O’BRIEN Kate CAN
12 MAEDA Kayono JPN
Team Sprint
1st round
The Team Sprint First Round takes a different format to the Team Pursuit, with the two fastest heat winners progressing to the Gold medal final and the other two winners to the Bronze medal ride. Amelia Walsh and Kate O’Brien of Canada beat China in the opening heat with a 33.942 – with Hyejin Lee and Won Gyeong Kim of Korea taking the second on 34.114.
When Juliana Gaviria and Martha Bayona of Colombia won Heat 3 in 34.372 – with Giant-Max Success relegated – it put Canada in the Gold ride and ensured that Colombia would ride for Bronze. Korea’s hopes of a ride against the Canadians, in reality, rested on the Russian World Champions being relegated or having an absolute disaster on track – and Kristina Vogel and Emma Hinze of Germany going slower than 34.114.
The second part of the equation fell into place – the Germans clocking 34.145 – but, predictably, Daria Shmeleva and Anastasiia Voinova stormed round without incident to take the other place in the final with a 32.954.
Results
Heat 1
1 Canada (WALSH Amelia, O’BRIEN Kate) 33.942 Qualified for Gold Medal ride
2 China (HAN Jun, LIU Lili) 33.944
Heat 2
1 Korea (LEE Hyejin, KIM Won Gyeong) 34.114 Qualified for Bronze Medal ride
2 Mexico (SALAZAR VALLES Jessica, VERDUGO OSUNA Yuli) 34.139
Heat 3
1 Colombia (GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana, BAYONA PINEDA Martha) 34.372 Qualified for Bronze Medal ride
2 Giant-Max Success Sports Pro Cycling Team (GUO Shuang, ZHONG Tianshi) REL
Heat 4
1 Gazprom-Rusvelo (SHMELEVA Daria, VOINOVA Anastasiia) 32.954 Qualified for Gold Medal ride
2 Germany (VOGEL Kristina, HINZE Emma) 34.145
Team Sprint Finals
There were no surprises in the Finals. Canada were a couple of tenths off their First Round pace, but the Gazprom-Rusvelo duo were a tenth quicker than in the earlier session, clocking 32.835 to take the Gold. Korea took the Bronze on 33.929.
Results
GOLD Gazprom-Rusvelo (SHMELEVA Daria, VOINOVA Anastasiia) 32.835
SILVER Canada (WALSH Amelia, O’BRIEN Kate) 34.146
BRONZE Korea (LEE Hyejin, KIM Won Gyeong) 33.929
4 Colombia (GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana, BAYONA PINEDA Martha) 34.283
