Men
Team Pursuit
There was drama in the first full day of the UCI Elite World Track Cycling Championships at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome in Glasgow, which would see one of the hot medal favourites leave the competition at the Qualifying stage.
Early on, though, it was Switzerland who set the pace with a sub-four minute time – Alex Vogel, Valere Thiebaud, Simon Vitzthum and Claudio Imhof six seconds faster than the Spanish in the opening heat with a 3:57.103. The young US squad of Anders Johnson, Grant Koontz, Gavin Hoover and Colby Lange couldn’t match that, but did – just – dip inside the historic benchmark time.
Bettering four minutes these days doesn’t even guarantee you a top 10 finish, of course and the Chinese quartet of Haijiao Sun, Wentao Sun, Yang Yang and Haiao Zhang took the time to beat down by another two seconds. Belgium has a renewed focus on the track – and a new velodrome under construction at Zolder – and Gianluca Pollefliet, Thibaut Bernard, Tuur Dens and Noah Vandenbranden took almost two and a half seconds out of the Chinese time and where the first under 3:55 – clocking 3:53.578.
The officials had done a good job with the seeding, with every squad bar the US having topped the time sheets in turn and Japan continued that trens with Eiya Hashimoto, Kazushige Kuboki, Naoki Kojima and Shoi Matsuda easing ahead of the Belgians by just three tenths of a second – and that gap would prove crucial later in the session.
Canada were up next and Dylan Bibic, Mathias Guillemette, Michael Foley and Derek Gee improved the mark by another two seconds to continue the run of new leaders. Germany became only the second squad to fail to do so, but did slot into second place. Thomas Denis, Corentin Ermenault, Valentin Tabellion and Benjamin Thomas put France on top – the first of three squads to narrowly miss out on breaking the 3:50 barrier with a 3:50.913.
Denmark were up next and are always medal contenders at major tournaments. Without wishing to give away the ending, they’d be the last team to take over at the top – Niklas Larsen, Carl-Fredrik Bevort, Frederik Madsen and Lasse Leth clocking an incredible 3:46.816. New Zealand slotted in behind them – Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart, Tom Sexton and Nick Kergozou also dipping under 3:50 with a 3:49.113.
Their rivals from across The Ditch were up next but Kelland O’Brien, Joshua Duffy, Conor Leahy and Sam Welsford couldn’t quite match the Kiwis time and went third with a 3:50.408. With just Italy and Great Britain to come, Denmark and New Zealand were now guaranteed a chance to ride for the Gold medal – but who would they ride against?
Italy had a strong squad of Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan – and were clearly experimenting with new skinsuits ahead of next Summer’s Olympics with what appeared to be four different designs – but they pace wasn’t quite there. They slotted in between New Zealand and Australia with a 3:50.408.
And then came Great Britain. Another strong squad of Dan Bigham, Ollie Wood, Ethan Vernon and Charlie Tanfield got off to a (relatively) slow start – fifth after the opening kilometre and fourth at the halfway point – but the pace was growing and by the closing kilometre they were ranked second. On the final lap though, Tanfield was gapped by Bigham and Vernon and on the final lap he dipped on to the cote d’azur and crashed. With Wood having already pulled up, only two riders crossed the line and Great Britain were out. Tanfield was taken to hospital for further treatment but had left the track unassisted.
GB’s exit was good news for Japan, who qualified in 8th place and will face France in the First Round, with Canada and Germany the other two teams with a chance of riding for Bronze. New Zealand will have to see off Italy for a place in the Gold medal ride – the two teams separated by just 1.3 seconds here – while Denmark will be hot favourites given their 3.6 second pace advantage over Australia.
Qualifying
1 Denmark DEN (LARSEN Niklas, BEVORT Carl-Frederik, LETH Lasse, MADSEN Frederik) 3:46.816
2 New Zealand NZL (GATE Aaron, STEWART Campbell, SEXTON Thomas, KERGOZOU de la BOESSIERE Nicholas) 3:49.113
3 Italy ITA (CONSONNI Simone, GANNA Filippo, LAMON Francesco, MILAN Jonathan) 3:50.408
4 Australia AUS (O’BRIEN Kelland, DUFFY Joshua, LEAHY Conor, WELSFORD Samuel) 3:50.488
5 France FRA (THOMAS Benjamin, DENIS Thomas, ERMENAULT Corentin, TABELLION Valentin) 3:50.913
6 Canada CAN (BIBIC Dylan, GUILLEMETTE Mathias, FOLEY Michael, GEE Derek) 3:51.180
7 Germany GER (REINHARDT Theo, BOOS Benjamin, BUCK-GRAMCKO Tobias, GROSS Felix) 3:52.896
8 Japan JPN 3:53.244 (HASHIMOTO Eiya, KUBOKI Kazushige, KOJIMA Naoki, MATSUDA Shoi)
9 Belgium BEL (POLLEFLIET Gianluca, BERNARD Thibaut, DENS Tuur, VANDENBRANDEN Noah) 3:53.578
10 China CHN (SUN Haijiao, SUN Wentao, YANG Yang, ZHANG Haiao) 3:55.976
11 Switzerland SUI (THIEBAUD Valere, VITZTHUM Simon, IMHOF Claudio, VOGEL Alex) 3:57.103
12 United States USA (HOOVER Gavin, LANGE Colby, JOHNSON Anders, KOONTZ Grant) 3:59.295
13 Spain ESP (BENNASSAR ROSSELLO Francesco, BENNASSAR ROSSELLO Joan Marti, GARAIAR PIKABEA Benat, NAVAS MARCHAL Alvaro) 4:03.379
DNF Great Britain GBR (WOOD Oliver, VERNON Ethan, BIGHAM Daniel, TANFIELD Charlie)
Team Sprint
There were no real upsets in the Men’s Team Sprint – which saw an Egyptian squad among the 18 starters. The first notable time came in heat six when Yoshitaku Nagasako, Kaiya Ota and Yuta Obara clocked a 42.961 for Japan. Italy went second with a 43.749 for Daniele Napolitano, Matteo Bianchi and Mattia Predomo but the 43 second barrier wouldn’t be broken again until Maciej Bielecki, Mateusz Rudyk and Patryk Rajkowski of Poland went top with a 42.916.
Germany slotted into third with Luca Spiegel, Nik Schroter and Max Dornback clocking 43.106 but the once dominant nation’s young squad still looks some way off the pace. France – another country with a rich Team Sprint history – slotted into third place – Florian Grengbo, Sebastien Vigier and Rayan Helal clocking 42.965.
Great Britain were next and Alistair Fielding, Hamish Turnbull and Joseph Truman went under 43 seconds – slotting into fourth place with a 42.973. That would be enough to see them through to the First Round with just three heats to go.
China, surprisingly, could only manage 6th – Shuai Guo, Yu Zhou and Chenxi Xue clocking 43.658 to go sixth – ahead of Canada and Italy, the two teams on the cusp of missing out on the latter stages of the competition. And, as expected, the steamroller that is the Netherlands now stormed to the top of the leaderboard – Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland almost a second clear on 42.046. Australia were half a second off that pace – Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Glaetzer and Tom Cornish finishing second on 42.531, with Tyler Rorke, Nick Wammes and James Hedgcock’s long wait to see if Canada would progress to the First Round ending in disappointment – the Canadians missing out by three thousandths of a second to China.
Qualifying
1 Netherlands NED (van den BERG Roy, LAVREYSEN Harrie, HOOGLAND Jeffrey) 42.046
2 Australia AUS (HOFFMAN Leigh, GLAETZER Matthew, CORNISH Thomas) 42.531
3 Poland POL (BIELECKI Maciej, RUDYK Mateusz, RAJKOWSKI Patryk) 42.916
4 Japan JPN (NAGASAKO Yoshitaku, OTA Kaiya, OBARA Yuta) 42.961
5 France FRA (GRENGBO Florian, VIGIER Sebastien, HELAL Rayan) 42.965
6 Great Britain GBR (FIELDING Alistair, TURNBULL Hamish, TRUMAN Joseph) 42.973
7 Germany GER (SPIEGEL Luca, SCHROTER Nik, DORNBACH Maximilian) 43.106
8 China CHN (GUO Shuai, ZHOU Yu, XUE Chenxi) 43.658
9 Canada CAN (RORKE Tyler, WAMMES Nick, HEDGCOCK James) 43.661
10 Italy ITA (NAPOLITANO Daniele, BIANCHI Matteo, PREDOMO Mattia) 43.749
11 Czechia CZE (BOHUSLAVEK Matěj, TOPINKA Dominik, ČECHMAN Martin) 43.893
12 Colombia COL (ECHEVERRI CARDONA Carlos Daniel, QUINTERO CHAVARRO Kevin Santiago, RAMIREZ MORALES Santiago) 43.999
13 Mexico MEX (LOPEZ GONZALEZ Jafet Emmanuel, VERDUGO OSUNA Edgar, RUIZ TERAN Juan) 44.411
14 Malaysia MAS (HASBULLAH Umar, SAHROM Muhammad Ridwan, MOHD ZONIS Muhammad Fadhil) 44.583
15 Spain ESP (MORENO SANCHEZ Jose, MARTINEZ CHORRO Alejandro, JIMENEZ ELIZONDO Ekain) 44.640
16 Lithuania LTU (VINSKAS Laurynas, BENIUŠIS Justas, LENDEL Vasilijus) 45.069
17 India IND (ESOW Esow, LAITONJAM Ronaldo, ELKATHCHOONGO David) 45.692
18 Egypt EGY (SAAD Ahmed, ABOUELHASSAN Youssef, HASSAN Hussein) 48.828
Scratch Race
Men’s Scratch Races tend to fall into two types – lively affairs with lots of attacks and short-lived breakaways and blisteringly fast races where nothing much happens until the end. This year’s Scratch Race World Championship was in the second category – but what an end!
Nothing much happened in the first 35 laps – which are run at a whisker under the overall 54.5km/h average speed of the race. Grant Koontz was the first to attempt to get away, but nobody would work with him and he was back within four laps (and, subsequently, the first DNF – there’s a reason why nobody goes early!). The same fate befell Tim Torn Tuetenberg of Germany a few laps later – another four lap escape. Tobias Hansen of Denmark and Artyom Zakharov of Kazakhstan went together and got a gap, but four laps was their limit, too.
With six to go Albert Torres of Spain and Alex Vogel of Switzerland got away and within a couple of laps the Swiss rider was clear on his own. With two to go it looked like he might get away but Roy Eefting of the Netherlands finally animated the bunch, which swept past Torres and reeled Vogel in. With two corners to go, Great Britain’s Will Tidball came round Eeefting, followed by Kazushige Kuboki of Japan and Tuur Dens of Belgium. Those three would take the medals – with Eefting fourth.
GOLD TIDBALL William GBR
SILVER KUBOKI Kazushige JPN
BRONZE DENS Tuur BEL
4 EEFTING-BLOEM Roy NED
5 GRONDIN Donavan FRA
6 BIBIC Dylan CAN
7 HANSEN Tobias DEN
8 TEUTENBERG Tim Torn GER
9 DUFFY Joshua AUS
10 VOGEL Alex SUI
11 JACKSON George NZL
12 KOKAS Raphael AUT
13 VONEŠ Jan CZE
14 SCARTEZZINI Michele ITA
15 TORRES BARCELO Albert ESP
16 ZAKHAROV Artyom KAZ
17 KUSUMA Terry Yudha INA
DNF CAMPBELL Akil TTO
DNF ALMANSOORI Ahmed UAE
DNF CHALEL Yacine ALG
DNF LOGINOV Vladyslav ISR
DNF PROKOPYSZYN Filip POL
DNF CHREN Martin SVK
DNF KOONTZ Grant USA
Women
Team Sprint
Qualifying for the Women’s Team Sprint saw the young New Zealand squad of Rebecca Petch, Shaane Hazel Fulton and Ellesse Andrews set the early pace from the opening heat – clocking 47.158 to see remain on top until the last five of the 14 heats. Mexico came close in heat 4 with a 47.328 for Jessica Salazar, Yuli Verdugo and Luz Daniella Gaxiola – while the first squad that might have been expected to be in real contention – France – could only manage 47.628 – good enough for third at the time but disappointing given the presence of two World Champions – Taky Marie Divine Kouame and Mathilde Gros either side of Julie Michaux. To make matters worse, every one of the remaining six squads would better their time.
The Netherlands finally deposed New Zealand – Kyra Lamberink, Hetty van der Wouw and Steffie van der Peet clocking 47.049. Poland slotted into fourth briefly with a 47.346, before Canada – another top class squad with Sarah Orban joining Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest – moved into that spot with a 47.348.
Now for the big hitters. Great Britain took over at the top with a 46.072 from Lauren Bell, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane. China then went second with a 46.679 for Yufang Guo, Shanju Bao and Liying Yuan. Pre-tournament favourites Germany – with three World Champions in Pauline Sophie Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich – were four tenths off Great Britain’s pace in second place.
The First Round went to form with the Netherlands knocking out the Kiwis, China despatching Mexico and Germany and Great Britain booking their places in the Gold medal race by beating Canada and Poland respectively. Great Britain’s time was just six thousandths slower than in Qualifying, but – ominously – the Germans rode under 46 seconds (albeit only just with a 45.988).
The Bronze medal saw China start faster and maintained their lead. The Dutch had changed the squad with Shanne Braspennincx taking over from Lamberink out of the gate, with Lamberink and van der Wouw moving back a lap. They were quicker over the second and third laps, but it wasn’t enough.
The final saw Great Britain under the existing German World Record of 45.967 – by a decent margin, clocking 45.923. Germany, however, took it down to 45.848 as they claimed another World Championship title.
Finals
GOLD Germany GER (GRABOSCH Pauline Sophie, HINZE Emma, FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie) 45.848
SILVER Great Britain GBR (BELL Lauren, CAPEWELL Sophie, FINUCANE Emma) 45.923
BRONZE China CHN (BAO Shanju, GUO Yufang, YUAN Liyin) 46.543
4 Netherlands NED (BRASPENNINCX Shanne, LAMBERINK Kyra, van der WOUW Hetty) 46.788
Qualifying
1 Great Britain GBR (BELL Lauren, CAPEWELL Sophie, FINUCANE Emma) 46.072
2 Germany GER (GRABOSCH Pauline Sophie, HINZE Emma, FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie) 46.467
3 China CHN (GUO Yufang, BAO Shanju, YUAN Liying) 46.679
4 Netherlands NED (LAMBERINK Kyra, van der WOUW Hetty, van der PEET Steffie) 47.049
5 New Zealand NZL (PETCH Rebecca, FULTON Shaane Hazel, ANDREWS Ellesse) 47.158
6 Mexico MEX (SALAZAR VALLES Jessica, VERDUGO OSUNA Yuli, GAXIOLA GONZALEZ Luz Daniela) 47.328
7 Canada CAN (ORBAN Sarah, MITCHELL Kelsey, GENEST Lauriane) 47.348
8 Poland POL (KARWACKA Marlena, LOS Urszula, SIBIAK Nikola) 47.436
9 France FRA (KOUAME Taky Marie Divine, MICHAUX Julie, GROS Mathilde) 47.628
10 Japan JPN (SAKAI Aki, SATO Mina, UMEKAWA Fuko) 48.148
11 United States USA (AINSLIE Keely, HANKINS Kayla, MARQUARDT Mandy) 48.617
12 Belgium BEL (NICOLAES Julie, JENAER Valerie, DEGRENDELE Nicky) 48.930
13 Malaysia MAS (AZIZAN Nurul Aliana Syafika, MOHD ASRI Nurul Izzah Izzati, ROSIDI Anis Amira) 50.544
14 Nigeria NGR (AYUBA Grace, GRIKPA Tombrapa Gladys, UKPESERAYE Ese) 56.368
Individual Pursuit
It’s rare in any top class track event that you can look at a start list and be completely confident that – barring disaster – you know who’s going to win. That is the case with the Women’s Individual Pursuit, however, provided Chloe Dygert’s name is on the sheet.
Lisa Klein of Germany set the early pace in the opening heat with a 3:25.728 – which would see her on top of the standings for the next 10 minutes or so. She was deposed by Neah Evans of Great Britain who shaved four seconds off with a 3:32.811. Nothing much changed for another 10 minutes until Maeve Plouffe of Australia slotted into second with a 3:21.940.
Two heats later Dygert was up and was in a class of her own. She caught Vittoria Guazzini of Italy in the closing stages – en route to a 3:17.713. Bryony Botha of New Zealand nudged Evans down to third with a 3:20.327. The final slot in the medal rides went to Franziska Brausse of Germany with s 3:20.201 – setting her up for a ride against Dygert, with Botha and Evans riding for Bronze.
Evans took control of the opening stages of the Bronze medal ride and led for the opening 2km, before the Kiwi reeled her in – taking the medal with a one second lead by the end. There was no such comeback in the final with Dygert catching Brausse on the final lap – a rare event in a World Championship final, but not a great surprise.
Finals
GOLD DYGERT Chloe USA 3:17.962
SILVER BRAUSSE Franziska GER OVL
BRONZE BOTHA Bryony NZL 3:22.210
4 EVANS Neah GBR 3:23.264
Qualifying
1 DYGERT Chloe USA 3:17.713
2 BRAUSSE Franziska GER 3:20.101
3 BOTHA Bryony NZL 3:20.327
4 EVANS Neah GBR 3:21.811
5 PLOUFFE Maeve AUS 3:21.940
6 KLEIN Lisa GER 3:25.728
7 COLES-LYSTER Maggie CAN 3:27.241
8 BORRAS Marion FRA 3:27.601
9 DONNELLY Samantha NZL 3:27.616
10 ROBERTS Jessica GBR 3:27.979
11 MURPHY Kelly IRL 3:29.967
12 BONHOMME Ariane CAN 3:30.015
13 van DAM Sarah CAN 3:30.831
14 SUSSEMILCH Laura GER 3:31.278
15 ALZINI Martina ITA 3:32.101
16 WEI Suwan CHN 3:36.898
17 WANG Xiaoyue CHN 3:37.107
18 WANKIEWICZ Olga POL 3:37.277
19 LIECHTI JasminSUI 3:38.286
20 ESCALERA Isabella Maria ESP 3:38.567
21 HUANG Zhilin CHN 3:42.678
22 FURUYAMA KieJPN 3:44.511
23 YANG Qianyu HKG 3:49.099
DNS GUAZZINI Vittoria ITA
