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UCI Track Cycling World Cup - Manchester
Report: Luke Webber Photos: Larry Hickmott
We've got live commentary from the afternoon session of the first Track World Cup of the 2009/10 season. The Manchester Velodrome is filling with a capacity crowd expected and we've the first results, reports and photography from the first session, with more to follow from 1830 this evening.
Day 1: Afternoon Session
Welcome to the opening session of the UCI Track World Cup Classics, bought to you live from Manchester Velodrome. Throughout the day we'll be posting live commentary, results and photos (below, through the Flickr stream).
Right now the scene is set, we've got riders in their boxes, Hugh Porter on the mic, the first riders qualifying for the women's sprint and Larry Hickmott patrolling the apron. Basically everything is set for a thrilling afternoon of racing!
Photostream from the afternoon session
Men's Points Race Qualifying
Heat One | Results
Chris Newton GBR qualified comfortably in a hectic opening Points race where attacks and laps taken were the order of the day. Almost from the gun it looked like Newton and four others would secure the twenty points.
However following a maximum five points taken from the opening ten laps, Newton and his escapees would be swallowed back into the bunch. With forty to go a different group got away and without the dangermen represented were allowed to take the liberty. Thankfully the big names of Newton and Kiryienka BLR managed to break again with 15 to go and captured their qualification-securing 20 points.
Heat Two | Results
Gaining five points and a healthy half a lap in the opening ten was Kwok HKP, but by 39 to go it was all back together with Kluge GER attacking with Teruel ESP and gaining a lap. Kadlec CZE, Muller AUT, and Scully NZL would reach the halfway point and make it five riders with a lap and for the next twenty laps riders were happy to keep a low profile and recover from the early race exertions. With 18 to go there is a desperate effort from Krasnov RUS and De Ketele BEL. De Ketele makes the most of his move while Kwok wraps up the five points - still trying to establish a lap of his own. And with three to go Kwok - the man who attacked from lap one has got his lap! Place your bets now as to which lap he'll get shelled out in tonight's final.
Women's Sprint Finals (B)
Heat One (9/10)
James GBR 1-0 Varnish GBR
Two academy riders, double junior World Champion Becky James and Jess Varnish with James getting the better of Varnish in a photo finish after leading it out.
Heat Two (11/12)
Streltsova RUS 1-0 Baranova RUS
Women's Scratch Race Qualifying
Heat One | Results
30 laps on the board and with 20 to go there is the first raise of pace, followed by the first significant attack by Koedooder (NED). Within three laps she's on the same straight as the peloton and the reaction is late and disorganised. The stringing out of the pack only helps Koedooder get back into the bunch. With eleven to go there's certainly no time remaining for any meaningful attacks and it seems Koedooder is the only rider who will benefit from the lap in this heat.
With five to go still nobody has taken control of the race. With three to go Goss gets to the front and the power goes down by Machacova of CZE who holds it to the line.
After the race had finished, a crash sees the Belgium rider (29) hitting the deck and sliding down the banking.
Heat Two | Results
Eight laps in and still no significant moves have been made. With eleven to go there is a move by Sharakova BLR. As the peloton is one by one and all chasing a group of five go off the front, but this only comes back to the group. Sharakova now has a half lap with 15 to go and the bunch has sat up. And with 11 to go it's there, the lap has been taken!
Following a couple more inconsequential moves it all comes down to the finish which is wrapped by Jeuland, Higgins and Armitstead.
Lizzy Armitstead (left) does enough to get through to the final in the Women's Scratch race.
Women's Sprint - 1/4 Finals (A) Heat Two
Guo dives underneath Anna Meares, the Olympic silver medallist, and the Aussie was unable to get past the Chinese girl.
Pendleton GBR 2-0 Welte GER
Guo CHN 2-0 Meares AUS
Krupreckaite LTU 2-0 Gong HKG
Panarina BLR 1-0 Kanis NED
Womens Sprint - Semi Finals (B) Heat One
James GBR 1-0 Strelsova RUS
Varnish GBR 1-0 Baranova RUS
Women's Sprint - 1/4 Finals (A) Heat One
The headline from part one of the A Finals came from Victoria Pendleton. Leaving it late to come around Welte was a great crowd pleaser but surely something the Olympic champion won't want to repeat.
Pendleton GBR 1-0 Welte GER
Guo CHN 1-0 Meares AUS
Krupreckaite LTU 1-0 Gong HKG
Panarina BLR 2-0 Kanis NED
Women's Sprint - 1/4 Finals (B)
McColloch AUS 0-1 Streltsova
Baranova RUS 1-0 Cueff FRA
Varnish GBR 1-0 Lee HKG
James GBR 1-0 Hijgenaar NED
Men's Keirin Repechage
Round One
Sato leads out with Awang in the wheel. Awang attacks then Almieda, but coming late to the finish was Volikakis who will progress to the main finals.
1. VOLIKAKIS Christos GRE
2. D'ALMEIDA Michaël USC
3. AWANG Azizulhasni BTA
4. SATO Tomokazu JPN
Round Two
Marred by a crash on the final banking as Spicka rode into the wheel of Askurava, it was a tactical misjudgement that was the story of this final. Doucet went immediately to the front leaving Spricke to chase and drag everyone else back to the status quo at the bell. But it was that crash which would decide the result and the progression of Teklinski to the finals.
1. TEKLINSKI Adrian GDZ
2. ASKURAVA David GEO
3. SPICKA Denis CZE
4. DOUCET Adrien FRA
Round Three
Jason Kenny used the same gap tactic as Chris Hoy to successfully progress through to the next round. Flying down the back straight it was a close fought win, but a great show of potential speed
1. KENNY Jason GBR
2. BORISOV Sergey MTT
3. LAPSHINAU Anton BLR
4. SUFIAN Hafiz MAS
5. SANTIAGO Velasquez Morales COL
Round Four
With 1.5 laps to go the race was on as Vynokurov got on the front and held it to the line.
1. VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR
2. OKUNEV Ilya RUS
3. PERALTA GASCON Juan NAV
4. ESTEBAN HERRAIZ Itmar CAT
DNS EZKER MARTIN Oscar FGN
Men's Individual Pursuit Qualifiers
Geriant Thomas has taken the fastest time at the IP Qualifiers, even with a further few riders to come it is a time that looks to come under little opposition. And with only the top four to go through, Thomas looks favourite for the overall.
Only Dominique Cornu could get close to the scintillating time set by Welshman Geraint Thomas in the qualification for the individual pursuit. In a ride defined as world-class, Thomas will have to reproduce a similar effort to overhaul towering Belgian Cornu.
Geraint Thomas on his way to a stunning 4.15 in the Pursuit. Hard and not floating was how he described it afterwoods saying that it really hit him two laps from the end.
1 G. Thomas GBR 4.15.015
2 D. Cornu BEL 4.17.39
3 V. Shchedov UKR 4.21.669
4 D. Muntaner Juaneda SPA 4.24.689
5 A. Ershov LOK 4.25.171
6 A. Van Der Zwet NED 4.25.779
7 M. Coledan ITA 4.27.026
8 M.F. Chritensen DEN 4.27.695
9 S. Schafer GER 4.29.994
10 G. Bagdonas LTU 4.31.443
11 J. Allen NZL 4.32.435
12 K. Kuperasov RUS 4.33.942
13 C. Imhof SUI 4.35.554
14 D. McCann IRL 4.36.885
15 P. Kasperkiewicz POL 4.38.808
16 K. Cheung HKG 4.42.607
17 T. Nardin BRA 4.42.940
18 M. Singer AUT 4.44.396
Women's Sprint - 1/8 Finals Heat One
In heat one of the 1/8 finals all of the high-seeding riders lived up to their billing, progressing to the 1/4 finals.
Pendleton GBR 1-0 Steltsova RUS
Guo CHN 1-0 Cueff FRA
Gong CHN 1-0 Lee HK
Panarina BLR 1-0 James GBR
Kanis NED 1-0 Hijgenaar NED
Krupreckaite LTU 1-0 Varnish GBR
Meares AUS 1-0 Baranova RUS
Mccolloch AUS 0-1 Welte GER
Men's Keirin Qualifiers
Yes, it's that time when a man in lycra on a moped paces a string of six riders with a bunch gallop. We have several rounds of being intoxicated by two-stroke and will enjoy every secnd of it.
Round One
Levy was on the front throughout but with two to go Sato took it on himself to have a go. Unfortunately this was no match for the power of Niblett and Levy who took heat convincingly.
Round Two
Attacking out of the back Lapshinau gives it a nice try but really it was all about the counter from Pervis, and then the head to head for third, which Awang won in style over Ceci with his classic wheelie finish. However Awang has been relegated from the second position for some reason and it is Ceci who progresses to the finals.
1. PERVIS François COF
2.
3. CECI Francesco ITA
4. SPICKA Denis CZE
5. LAPSHINAU Anton BLR
6. ASKURAVA David GEO
R. AWANG Azizulhasni BTA
Round Three
Brits Hoy and Kenny line up in this one and Hoy leaves a big gap to jump between second and third and that's a good tactic as just as the derny moves out Hoy leads from the front and has clear air. Kenny gets blocked in and Tang is on the wheel of the greatest sprinter in the world. With one to go Tang tries to come around but in spectacular fashion Hoy leads from two to win like a true champion.
Hoy, leading the way from the front.
1, HOY Chris SKY
2. TANG Qi CHN
3. KENNY Jason GBR
4. DOUCET Adrien FRA
5. VOLIKAKIS Christos GRE
6. OKUNEV Ilya RUS
7. SANTIAGO Velasquez Morales COL
Round Four
A packed heat with eight riders makes this all the more hectic to call as it is Almieda on the front taking the pace. No funny business in this heat. Almieda is tense with this big lead and nobody wants to take it up. Even with one to go it's Almieda and with half a lap to go it is Perkins and Schmidt who attack and come around Almieda. He was unlucky there to go out.
Women's Sprint Qualification - Pendleton Fastest
First rider up is Koutsonik of Greece who sets a benchmark of 12.366
Next on the track is Welsh-woman Becky James from Abergavenny. She's getting great support from the crowd and following a successful National Championships will be hoping for more results here.
And the seventeen year old stops the clock at 11.569.
Anna Meares is on track - the Australian favourite. With an 11.338 she takes the lead following five riders.
And Gong goes fastest! Here's the top twenty - with 18 riders to go through and nine still to ride.
It's the big guns now and immediately Shuang Guo from China sets the fastest time.
With the final rider on track Victoria Pendleton gets a standing ovation and the expectation builds. And the crowd goes wild! With a sub eleven 10.998 it's pole position for Pendleton and the honour, a full hundredth of a second on Guo of China.
Victoria Pendleton, the only rider to go under 11 seconds.
Result:
Women's Sprint Qualification (Top 18 progress to finals)
1 V. Pendleton GBR 10.998
2 S. Guo CHN 11.098
3 J. Gong CHN 11.149
4 O. Panarina BLR 11.193
5 W. Kanis NED 11.289
6 S. Krupreckaite LTU 11.337
7 A. Meares AUS 11.338
8 K. McColloch AUS 11.447
9 M. Welte GER 11.468
10 V. Baranova RUS 11.528
11 J. Varnish GBR 11.536
12 Y. Hijgenaar NED 11.548
13 W. S. Lee HK 11.569
14 B. James GBR 11.569
15 V. Cueff FRA 11.583
16 O. Streltsova RUS 11.626
17 H. Roige Casas CAT 11.709
18 D. Gloss GER 11.758
19 R. Debrowska POL 11.805
20 J. Z. Meng HK 11.861
21 O.Montouban FRA 11.965
22 S. Ribiero BRA 12.057
23 F. Mustapa MAS 12.138
24 E. Klapanara GRE 12.266
25 A. Drejgier POL 12.312
26 A. Koutsonicoli GRE 12.366
27 A. Alvarez Pagola FGN 12.385
28 G.Gaivanyte LTU 12.522
29 E. M. Cobos Tinajero MEX 13.29
Reports
