The third and final day of the fourth and penultimate round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Series in Santiago saw the Men’s Team Pursuit concluded, as well as the Women’s Team Sprint, Keirin and Madison and the Men’s Sprint and Omnium.
Women
Team Sprint
Qualifying
With just seven teams entered, on paper all of them would qualify for the First Round – although it didn’t quite work out the way. Liubov Basova and Olena Starikova of Ukraine rode alone in the opening heat and set and impressive time of 33.123.
Heat two saw Emma Cumming and Natasha Hansen of New Zealand take to the track to face Simona Krupeckaite and Migle Marozaite of Lithuania. After two false starts from the Lithuanians, though, the Kiwi girls lined up for the third time and they too rode alone, setting a time of 33.981.
The third heat saw Chaorui Song and Mengqi Tang of China go second fastest with a 33.491 while Wongyeong Kim and Hyejin Lee of Korea went third with a 33.524. With just over three quarters of a second separating Ukraine in first and New Zealand in fourth, the final heat saw Tatiana Kiseleva and Daria Shmeleva of Russia face Shanju Bao and Yufang Guo of Holy Brother Cycling team in the final heat.
World Champion Shmeleva dropped her less experienced team mate and Russia would end up sixth on 34.526, while the Chinese trade team would go fourth with 33.597.
1 Ukraine (BASOVA Liubov, STARIKOVA Olena) 33.123
2 China (SONG Chaorui, TANG Mengqi) 33.491
3 Republic of Korea (KIM Wongyeong, LEE Hyejin) 33.524
4 Holy Brother Cycling Team (BAO Shanju, GUO Yufang) 33.597
5 New Zealand (CUMMING Emma, HANSEN Natasha) 33.981
6 Russian Federation (KISELEVA Tatiana, SHMELEVA Daria) 34.526
DSQ Lithuania (KRUPECKAITE Simona, MAROZAITE Migle)
First Round
The heats for the first round were a little odd after the disqualification of Lithuania. Basova and Starikova again rode alone in the first heat and set a benchmark time of 32.866 – a quarter of a second up on their qualifying time. Song and Tang also rode alone and also improved – although only by two hundredths. They would go through as heat winners, but the results of the remaining heats would decide which medals they would contest.
Heat three saw a slight improvement from the Russian duo – but it was less than a tenth of second and Korea knocked a quarter of a second to go through on 33.251. That time meant that Ukraine – unsurprisingly, would ride for Gold, with their opponents either Korea or the winners of the final heat.
Cumming and Hansen improved by three tenths to 33.657, but it was enough as Bao and Guo matched their improvement and joined Ukraine in the final with a 33.209.
Heat 1
1 Ukraine (BASOVA Liubov, STARIKOVA Olena) 32.866 QG
Heat 2
1 China (SONG Chaorui, TANG Mengqi) 33.471 QB
Heat 3
1 Republic of Korea (KIM Wongyeong, LEE Hyejin) 33.251 QB
2 Russian Federation (KISELEVA Tatiana, SHMELEVA Daria) 34.449
Heat 4
1 Holy Brother Cycling Team (BAO Shanju, GUO Yufang) 33.209 QG
2 New Zealand (CUMMING Emma, HANSEN Natasha) 33.657
Finals
Korea and China had been neck and neck in the opening two rounds – separated by less than three hundredths in qualifying – with China ahead – and by a tenth and a half in the First Round – with Korea now taking the advantage.
And it was an advantage they held, taking bronze with a time of 33.337 – slightly down on their first round time, but a tenth quicker than China’s 33.441.
The final was a little more one-sided with Ukraine carrying through their form from the morning session to win with a time of 32.512, three quarters of a second faster than Holy Brother Cycling Team.
GOLD Ukraine (BASOVA Liubov, STARIKOVA Olena) 32.512
SILVER Holy Brother Cycling Team (BAO Shanju, GUO Yufang) 33.274
BRONZE Republic of Korea (KIM Wongyeong, LEE Hyejin) 33.337
4 China (SONG Chaorui, TANG Mengqi) 33.441
Keirin
First Round
With only fourteen riders entered, the Women’s Keirin competition was streamlined with no Second Round or Repechages and two seven-up heats with the first three in each to the Gold medal final and 4th to 6th through to the 7th to 12th final.
Impressively, Madlyn Godby of the USA – whose match sprinting has been rather better than her qualifying at the last few World Cups, held off Daria Shmeleva of Russia and Liubov Basova of Ukraine to take Heat 1. Farina Shawati Mohd Adnan of Sime Darby Foundation, Kayonoa Maeda of Japan Professional Cyclist Association and Amelia Walsh of Canada went through to the minor final, with Mengqi Tang of China exiting the competition.
The second heat saw Natasha Hansen of New Zealand, Sarah Kankovska of the Czech Republic and Yuka Kobayashi of Japan qualify for the main final with Hyejin Lee of Korea, Tzu Chun Wang of the Taichung Cycling Team and Shanju Bao of Holy Brother Cycling Team going to the minor final and Shannon McCurley of Ireland going out.
Heat 1
1 GODBY Madalyn USA
2 SHMELEVA Daria RUS +0.058
3 BASOVA Liubov UKR +0.084
4 MOHD ADNAN Farina Shawati SDF +0.119
5 MAEDA Kayono JPC +0.263
6 WALSH Amelia CAN +0.465
7 TANG Mengqi CHN +1.318
Heat 2
1 HANSEN Natasha NZL
2 KANKOVSKA Sara CZE +0.041
3 KOBAYASHI Yuka JPN +0.058
4 LEE Hyejin KOR +0.101
5 WANG Tzu Chun TCT +0.583
6 BAO Shanju HBT +0.618
7 MCCURLEY Shannon IRL +0.648
Finals
Lee took the win in the Minor Final ahead of Bao and Mohd Adnan but in the main Final there was mass sprint for the line with Godby, Basova, Kobayashi and Shmeleva on the inside and Hansen coming round them. As they hit the line it was Godby that took the Gold with Hansen powering through to take the Silver – pipping Basova by a hundredth of a second.
GOLD GODBY Madalyn USA
SILVER HANSEN Natasha NZL +0.044
BRONZE BASOVA Liubov UKR +0.059
4 KOBAYASHI Yuka JPN +0.085
5 SHMELEVA Daria RUS +0.125
6 KANKOVSKA Sara CZE +0.295
7 LEE Hyejin KOR +0.000
8 BAO Shanju HBT +0.160
9 MOHD ADNAN Farina Shawati SDF +0.268
10 MAEDA Kayono JPC +0.337
11 WANG Tzu Chun TCT +0.443
12 WALSH Amelia CAN +0.748
Madison
In an eventful Madison that saw four major crashes that took two teams out of the race altogether and a medal contender out of the picture in the last third of the race, one duo looked serene and in control at the front of affairs.
With three sprints remaining Michaela Drummond and Racquel Sheath led for New Zealand. They had scored in every sprint – and would score in all the remaining sprints – but theire lead was still fairly precarious. They had 15 points while Anna Nahrina and Ganna Solovei of Ukraine hand 10 and Trine Schmidt and Julie Leth of Denmark had nine.
Elisa Balsamo and Marta Cavalli of Italy won sprint six to move on to 8 points but the Kiwis followed them home to extend their lead over Ukraine to 8. Kimberley Geist and Kimberley Ann Zubris of the USA took the penultimate sprint to hit double figures and Diane Klimova and Marila Averina of Russia moved to 8 with second place. But Drummond and Sheath took third and moved on to 20 points.
With Denmark taking the final point, there were now two teams on 10 and with a double-points final sprint, either of them could take the Gold if they won and New Zealand failed to score.
Ukraine were taken out of the equation when they crashed during a change – using up their allowed laps to get back in the race – and another two – before rejoining. At -30, they were out of it. But the Danes could still snatch the Gold if they won…
They didn’t. Yuya Hashimoto and Yumi Kajihara of Japan broke away and took the pressure of New Zealand – and 10 points that moved them to 11 – momentarily a point ahead of Italy in the Bronze medal position. Denmark had taken up the chase and did get second to move them to 16 points – and Italy followed them home to take four points and move back into the Bronze medal slot. And, of course, Drummond and Sheath kept up their 100% record and took the final two points to finish six clear on 22.
GOLD New Zealand (DRUMMOND Michaela, SHEATH Racquel) 22
SILVER Denmark (SCHMIDT Trine, LETH Julie) 16
BRONZE Italy (BALSAMO Elisa, CAVALLI Marta) 13
4 Japan (HASHIMOTO Yuya, KAJIHARA Yumi) 11
5 United States (GEIST Kimberly, ZUBRIS Kimberly Ann) 10
6 Russian Federation (KLIMOVA Diana, AVERINA Mariia) 8
7 Mexico (SALAZAR VAZQUEZ Lizbeth Yareli, ARREOLA NAVARRO Sofia) 5
8 Hong Kong, China (PANG Yao, YANG Qianyu)
9 Ukraine (NAHIRNA Anna, SOLOVEI Ganna) -30
DNF Germany (KULLMER Lisa, BRAUSSE Franziska)
DNF Gipuzkoa-Ogi Berri (LARRARTE ARTEAGA Eukene, OLABERRIA DORRONSORO Leire)
Men
Sprint
Qualifying
Melvin Landernau of France opened the Men’s Sprint qualifying with a sub-10 second time – 9.937. In fact, only two of the 20 starters would fail to set a 9 second time.
Landernau stayed on top of the leaderboard for three more heats until Jan May of Germany took a tenth off his time to set a new benchmark of 9.898. Sadly for May, the next rider up was Francois Pervis of France who took another tenth off and went top with a 9.782.
That time would stay top while the next five riders took their turn on the track – although Martin Cechman of the Czech Republic (9.794) went close. It was his countryman, who followed him up onto the boards, who knocked Pervis off the top – David Sojka clocking 9.749.
Yesterday’s Keirin Gold medallist Yuta Wakimoto went under 10 seconds with a 9.824 but it was his compatriot Tomoyuki Kawabata who was next to raise the marker with a 9.725. Lewis Oliva of Wales went fifth with a 9.806 before Suriname’s Jair Tjon En Fa knocked him down to sixth with a time of 9.800.
Then it was time for another new leader – Vasilijus Lendel of Lithuania taking a big chunk out of Kawabata’s time with a 9.606. Pavel Yakusheskiy of Russia went second with a 9.723 and after Hugo Barrette of Canada (9.737) had slotted into fourth and Andrri Vynokurov of Ukraine (9.823) into 10th, it was down to the final rider – reigning World Champion Denis Dmitriev of Russia to end the session with a sensational 9.567.
1 DMITRIEV Denis RUS 9.567
2 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU 9.606
3 YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel RUS 9.723
4 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPC 9.725
5 BARRETTE Hugo CAN 9.737
6 SOJKA David CZE 9.749
7 PERVIS Francois FRA 9.782
8 CECHMAN Martin CZE 9.794
9 TJON EN FA Jair SUR 9.800
10 OLIVA Lewis WAL 9.806
11 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR 9.823
12 WAKIMOTO Yuta JPN 9.824
13 MAY Jan GER 9.898
14 DORNBACH Maximilian GER 9.908
15 LANDERNEAU Melvin FRA 9.937
16 PERALTA GASCON Juan ESP 9.958
17 MORENO SANCHEZ Jose ESP 9.958
18 PARK Jeone KOR 9.985
19 CECI Francesco ITA 10.436
20 RASOL Muhamad Khairil Nizam SDF 10.437
1/16 Finals
Just right riders had to contest the extra round with the top 12 progressing straight to the 1/8 finals – and it was the fastest four – May, Dornbach, Landernau and Juan Peralta of Spain – who prevailed in the first round of matches.
Heat 1
1 MAY Jan GER *
2 RASOL Muhamad Khairil Nizam SDF +0.124
Heat 2
1 DORNBACH Maximilian GER *
2 CECI Francesco ITA +0.390
Heat 3
1 LANDERNEAU Melvin FRA *
2 PARK Jeone KOR +0.024
Heat 4
1 PERALTA GASCON Juan ESP *
2 MORENO SANCHEZ Jose ESP +0.029
1/8 Finals
The first five of the 1/8 Finals also went to form with Dmitriev, Lendel, Yakushevskiy, Kawabata and Barrette all seeing off higher seeded opponents. Vynokurov overcame his 11th place qualification to eliminate sixth fastest Sojka. Oliva almost did the same thing in his heat with Pervis – the gap between the two riders timed at 0.000 seconds – but the Frenchman given the verdict from the photo. And in the final heat – with two riders separated by just six thousandths of a second – with was the marginally slower rider – Tjon En Fa – who prevailed over the faster – Cechman.
Heat 1
1 DMITRIEV Denis RUS *
2 PERALTA GASCON Juan ESP +0.105
Heat 2
1 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU *
2 LANDERNEAU Melvin FRA +0.083
Heat 3
1 YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel RUS *
2 DORNBACH Maximilian GER +0.009
Heat 4
1 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPC *
2 MAY Jan GER +0.350
Heat 5
1 BARRETTE Hugo CAN *
2 WAKIMOTO Yuta JPN +0.057
Heat 6
1 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR *
2 SOJKA David CZE +0.050
Heat 7
1 PERVIS Francois FRA *
2 OLIVA Lewis WAL +0.000
Heat 8
1 TJON EN FA Jair SUR *
2 CECHMAN Martin CZE +0.366
Quarter Finals
All three quarter finals were concluded without the need for a decider – and three of the four in the favour of the higher ranked rider, with Dmitriev, Lendel and Kawabata progressing to the Semi Finals. But it wasn’t third fastest qualifier Yakushevskiy that joined them; it was 11th fastest Vynokurov.
Heat 1
1 DMITRIEV Denis RUS * *
2 TJON EN FA Jair SUR +0.339 +0.204
Heat 2
1 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU * *
2 PERVIS Francois FRA +0.064 +0.086
Heat 3
1 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR * *
2 YAKUSHEVSKIY Pavel RUS +0.021 +0.029
Heat 4
1 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPC * *
2 BARRETTE Hugo CAN +0.068 +0.015
Semi Finals
The Semi Finals were the end of the road for Vynokurov – losing out to Lendel after Dmitriev had seen off Kawabata. Again, both matches were decided in two races.
Heat 1
1 DMITRIEV Denis RUS * *
2 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPC +0.092 +0.166
Heat 2
1 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU * *
2 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR +0.021 +0.123
Finals
The Bronze medal match saw the Ukrainian punching above his qualifying wait again, despatching Kawabata in two – the first of them close, the second, not so much.
The Final, though, went to three. Dmitriev was the hot favourite and took the first – albeit only by four hundredths of a second. The second was closer still and it was the Lithuanian who took it – byt 24 thousandths to set up a thrilling decider. Dmitriev gave it everything – he struggled to climb on to the (oddly rather high) podium step during the medal ceremony – but it was the Silver medal step he was clambering on to – Lendel taking the decider and the Gold medal.
GOLD LENDEL Vasilijus LTU +0.040 * *
SILVER DMITRIEV Denis RUS * +0.024 +0.117
BRONZE VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR * *
4 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPC +0.036 +0.494
Team Pursuit
First Round
Sanghoon Park, Jaeyeon Im, Okcheol Kim and Kyeongho of Korea jus failed to break the four minute barrier in the opening heat of the Men’s Team Pursuit First Round – clocking 4:00.773 as they finished eight seconds clear of Kirstian Kaimer Eriksen, Mathias Krigbaum, Mathias Alexander E. Larsen and Matias Gunnar Malmberg of Denmark.
The Italian quarter of Francesco Lamon, Michele Scartezzini, Davide Plebani and Davide Vigano took Heat 2 with a time of 4:05.071 – ahead of Kai Guo, Ya Ke Hou, Zhi Hui Jiang and Pingan Shen’s 4:07.362 for China.
The penultimate heat was won by Japan – Shunsuke Imamura, Ryo Chikatani, Shogo Ichimaru and Keitaro Sawada breaking the four minute barrier with a 3:359.071. The United States had set a new National record in qualifying and Gavin Hoover, Ashton Lambie, Colby Lange and Eric Young were a second or so shy of beaking it again, but their time of 4:03.634 was quicker than both the teams in Heat 2 and Denmark from the opening heat, provisionally putting the USA in the Bronze medal ride against Korea.
In the final heat, Campbell Stewart, Jared Gray, Nicholas Kergozou and Harry Waine of New Zealand set the fastest time by fair, confirming their place in the final with a 3:55.776 – which included catching their opponents Germany.
The Germans had more problems than just the catch and a time that would confirm the USA and Korea for the Bronze medal ride. During the catch the last rider touch wheels with the rider in front of him and went down heavily. It wouldn’t be the last crash in the competition – or the most spectacular.
Heat 1
1 Republic of Korea (PARK Sanghoon, IM Jaeyeon, KIM Okcheol, MIN Kyeongho) 4:00.773 QB
2 Denmark (KAIMER ERIKSEN Kristian, KRIGBAUM Mathias, LARSEN Mathias Alexander E., MALMBERG Matias Gunnar) 4:08.187
Heat 2
1 Italy (LAMON Francesco, SCARTEZZINI Michele, PLEBANI Davide, VIGANO Davide) 4:05.071
2 China (GUO Kai, HOU Ya Ke, JIANG Zhi Hui, SHEN Pingan) 4:07.362
Heat 3
1 Japan (IMAMURA Shunsuke, CHIKATANI Ryo, ICHIMARU Shogo, SAWADA Keitaro) 3:59.071 QG
2 United States (HOOVER Gavin, LAMBIE Ashton, LANGE Colby, YOUNG Eric) 4:03.634 QB
Heat 4
1 New Zealand (STEWART Campbell, GRAY Jared, KERGOZOU Nicholas, WAINE Harry) 3:55.776 QG
2 Germany (BEYER Maximilian, FRAHM Jasper, BOMMEL Henning, ROHDE Leon) 4:09.216
Finals
The drama came on the Bronze medal final where another overlapping wheel brought a spectacular end to Korea’s challenge as bikes and riders were catapulted into the air. The US had been on course for a time around four minutes – and a possible new national record – at that point, but backed off after the crash to record a time of 4:04.163.
And without an opponent to pass, New Zealand were able to shave another second or so off their First Round time, winning the Gold medal with a 3:54.618. Japan couldn’t match their 3:59 from the earlier session, but it didn’t matter – 4:02.170 was plenty fast enough to claim the Silver.
GOLD New Zealand (STEWART Campbell, GRAY Jared, KERGOZOU Nicholas, WAINE Harry) 3:54.618
SILVER Japan (IMAMURA Shunsuke, CHIKATANI Ryo, ICHIMARU Shogo, SAWADA Keitaro) 4:02.740
BRONZE United States (HOOVER Gavin, LAMBIE Ashton, HEGYVARY Adrian, YOUNG Eric) 4:04.163
DNF Republic of Korea (PARK Sanghoon, IM Jaeyeon, KIM Okcheol, MIN Kyeongho)
Omnium I – Scratch Race
Ignacio Prado of Mexico was competitive throughout last weekend’s Omnium in Milton and started where he left off in the Scratch race. He took a lap in company with Aidan Caves of Canada, Daniel Holloway of the USA, Eiya Has Elias Daniel Tello of Chile and Eiya Hashimoto of Japan – and then put himself far enough up the road to take the win ahead of Hashimoto and Holloway.
1 PRADO Ignacio MEX
2 HASHIMOTO Eiya JPN
3 HOLLOWAY Daniel USA
4 TELLO BOLVARAN Elias Daniel CHI
5 CAVES Aidan CAN
6 BEYER Maximilian GER -1
Omnium II – Tempo Race
It was Holloway who controlled the Tempo Race, finding himself in a group with Hashimoto, Guo Liang of China and Max Beyer of Germany. Sensibly, they split the work and the points between them and as the race entered its closing stages and with Hashimoto and Holloway on eight points, Beyer on seven and Guo on five, he made his move, distancing the rest of the breakaway and sitting just off the back of the bunch taking another four points before Hashimoto finally reacted and forced the American to take the lap.
The Japanese rider took another point as he closed the gap and also took the 20 point lap gain bonus, putting him four behind Holloway – but by then there were only three laps to go and Guo took those to move himself into third. Prado finished down in ninth.
1 HOLLOWAY Daniel USA 32
2 HASHIMOTO Eiya JPN 28
3 GUO Liang CHN 8
4 BEYER Maximilian GER 7
5 CONTTE Tomas ARG 1
6 GLADYSH Roman UKR
Omnium III – Elimination Race
If Guo had livened up the tail end of the Tempo race, he certainly made his mark in the Elimination – failing to notice the flashing lights on his transponder or the shouts, flags, noticeboards of the commisaire’s, or his increasingly agitated coach, or the calls from the crowd – or the nudges and pointing from his fellow riders as he hung on in the – by then neutralised race – for half a dozen laps after his elimination. When he did eventually leave the track it was also his exit from the competition, having been disqualified.
By the end of the race everyone was looking a little tired as the last few riders excused themselves from the next sprint rather than actually being eliminated. Holloway and Hasimoto made the final three but it was Roman Gladysh of Ukraine who took the final sprint.
1 GLADYSH Roman UKR
2 HASHIMOTO Eiya JPN
3 HOLLOWAY Daniel USA
4 LAMON Francesco ITA
5 BEYER Maximilian GER
6 SEXTON Thomas NZL
Omnium IV – Points Race
He started the race 52 points adrift in 12th place, but Andreas Graf of Austria is a Six Day veteran and Points Race expert and took a couple of sprint wins, a second and a third – but, more importantly, two laps on the field – to win the Points Race and move himself up to 5th just 11 points shy of a medal.
Holloway started the race second, just two points behind Hashimoto and the two were very evenly matched – the American racking up 34 points via a lap gain, four seconds and a third – while Hashimoto notched 29 from a lap, a sprint win and two thirds. On the final lap they were just three points apart but Holloway stuck to him like glue and when Graf, Chun Wing Leung of Hong Kong, Caves and Tomas Contte of Argentina went on the attack – none of them threats to the overall – Holloway simply made sure that Hashimoto was unable to follow.
Contte won the final sprint ahead of Caves, Leung and Graf but it didn’t matter – Holloway had taken the Gold, Hashimoto the Silver. Gladysh – who’d started in third but scored two points fewer than Beyer who started fourth two points behind, took the Bronze by finishing one place higher than the German on the final lap.
1 GRAF Andreas AUT 57
2 HOLLOWAY Daniel USA 34
3 BEYER Maximilian GER 32
4 GLADYSH Roman UKR 30
5 HASHIMOTO Eiya JPN 29
6 LEUNG Chun Wing HKG 25
Omnium – Final Classification
1 HOLLOWAY Daniel USA 146
2 HASHIMOTO Eiya JPN 143
3 GLADYSH Roman UKR 128
4 BEYER Maximilian GER 128
5 GRAF Andreas AUT 117
6 PRADO Ignacio MEX 106
7 LAMON Francesco ITA 92
8 CONTTE Tomas ARG 91
9 CAVES Aidan CAN 87
10 LEUNG Chun Wing HKG 87
