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Report: 2010 UCI Track World Championships - Day 4
27th March 2010, Copenhagen, Denmark
Report: Phil Ingham | Images: Larry Hickmott
Full Day 4 Results | Worlds Homepage
AFTERNOON SESSION
Above: One of two slideshows from day 4 at the Track Cycling World Championships
Women's Sprint: The Women's Sprint concluded with a fine series of races encompassing the semi-finals and medal finals.
The first semi saw Simona Krupeckaite take a surprise first heat win against Guo of China, riding to the front in muscular fashion and holding off her opponent with deceptive ease. Guo came back in the second heat, confirming the impression that she's in great form and keeping closer tabs on Krupeckaite and coming round her in the final bend. The decider was the closest of the three heats, with Guo leaving her final surge very late, but just succeeding in coming round her rival to win and progress to the final
Anna Meares, right, had no answer to Victoria Pendleton in the sprint semi-final
The second semi brought Victoria Pendleton up against Anna Meares for the latest chapter in one of the longest running sagas in world sprinting. Pendleton has long put behind her the days when Meares was able to boss her around the track at will. But Meares came into the race in great form, whilst Pendleton's was less obvious after a lackluster qualification ride the previous day.
In the end, this clash showed just how little you can read into qualification times these rider record. Pendleton came over her opponent to win the first heat at a canter. Meares tried to throw her weight around a bit more second time out and event got a bit of a lead as she went for the line with a lap to go, but Pendleton tracked her down and turned a length deficit into a half bike length win inside the last hundred metres, to put all doubts about her form to one side. It was impressive sprinting, with Victoria's trademark acceleration looking as potent as ever.
The bronze medal final saw Simona Krupeckaite dispose of an understandably tired Anna Meares with few problems. Meares almost came round her in the final heat, but then just seemed to run out of gas in the final bend. It was just a race too far for the outstanding Aussie.
That left us with the much anticipated match-up between the ever improving Chinese rider Guo and Victoria Pendleton, seeking her fifth title in six years. The first heat looked very close, with Guo leading out from a lap to go. Victoria came round her with a typically surging acceleration down the back straight. Guo held her round the final bend and for a moment it looked like the defending champion might have stalled, but then she eased past her on the line. It certainly looked close, but the replay revealed that Victoria actually had a bit more to spare than had been apparent and was perhaps even easing up as she crossed the line.
The second heat produced a bizarre crash for Victoria as she appeared to hit a small blemish or lose piece of track filler and lost her front wheel, before cart-wheeling backwards down the bank. Luckily she wasn't obviously hurt and was back for the re-run within a couple of minutes.
Pendleton took the initiative in the second heat, going to the front after two laps. Guo sensed she had an opportunity as Pendleton is usually more comfortable chasing. Indeed Guo got up alongside her and was half a wheel in front going into the final banking. However, Pendleton was in no mood to let it go to a final heat and re-gathered herself and shrugged off her opponent down the final straight to the line. Guo almost fell as she lost her balance as she tried to stay on terms. But it was Pendleton's day and, that crash apart, she had ridden the whole competition flawlessly. It was a fine re-affirmation of her dominance, which had seemed in doubt in her troubled 2009 world championship campaign. Full Day 4 Results
Victoria Pendleton atop the podium again - Shuang Guo on her right and Simona Krupeckaite on her left
After the event, Victoria Pendleton was still full of the adrenaline of winning and of her crash: "When you're used to riding a track like Manchester with less sharp bends you forget those kind of risks with a track like this. I just turned a little bit sharp and lost my grip."
Did the crash affect her and was she keen to avoid a third heat? "The adrenaline rush can be good as long as you don't have too many injuries.After last year I really didn't want to have to go through that experience again, so I was like ‘be nice to yourself Vic' don't bottle up too much emotion and just try to get through it!"
And, finally, on winning her final heat from the front: "It's not my preferred tactic on a track like this with such long straights and with finish line so far away it makes it hard to judge quite right so it was something I was avoiding!"
Above: second of the two slideshows from day 4 at the Track Cycling World Championships
Men's Sprint: With three British riders in the quarter finals of the men's sprint, hopes were high of progression.
On paper, Jason Kenny had probably the hardest draw, facing the extremely rapid Kevin Sireau. And so it proved as Sireau simply outpaced Kenny in both heats. His win in the second heat was particularly impressive as he effectively dropped his rival and recorded an astonishing 10.113s for the final 200m.
GB's second rider in the Quarter finals was Matt Crampton. He went one up against Robert Forstemann, who had recorded that second round win over Hoy earlier in the day. However, from then on it was one-way traffic as the stocky German played to his strength - namely a tyre-spinning acceleration from low speed: in the second heat he led it out, but left his final effort until well into the final lap, leaving Crampton nowhere to go as he unloaded that great sprint. The decider saw Crampton try to lead it out, but the German wouldn't let him round and he held off his rival with a strong last half lap. Tactically, Forstemann rode smartly throughout, always tactically on top.
The final GB rider Chris Hoy faced up to the defending champion, Gregory Bauge. The first heat was very tactical. Bauge finally led it out, saving his final effort until well into the last lap and Hoy kept close and came round the Frenchman in the final few yards to go one up.
The second heat again began very cagily, with a lengthy trackstand in the first lap, before Hoy went to the front and led it out, again, well into the last lap. Bauge marked him and came round him to claim the win, in a mirror of the first heat.
Going into the decider, the tension was palpable and in keeping with the way these two riders are so closely matched, they both started their final effort at the same split second. Hoy went up the inside with Bauge accelerating alongside him. Hoy briefly hesitated as the Frenchman squeezed him down the track, though Baugh too looked to be struggling to find the space to fully unload.
Bauge began to move clear going down the back straight, only for Hoy to come back at him as he used the slingshot of the final bend to drive under his opponent. They entered the final run down to the line inches apart and level and both lunged for the line in desperation. It took several seconds for the result come through. Many Though Hoy had claimed it, but the photo of the finish revealed that Bauge had taken it by a matter a inches. It had been a titanic clash, the equal of any seen in recent years and capped a tremendous day of sprinting. Sadly, it also spelled the end of British interest in the competition, which continues on the final day. Full Day 4 Results
After his elimination, Chris Hoy was philosophical about his defeat. When asked about his second round defeat and being forced to go through the repechage and subsequently meeting Bauge in the Quarters, he said: "It's my own fault. I made a mistake in the second round, I wasn't paying attention on the start line and the German went for a long one! I take full responsibility - it was always going to be a hard way to come back through, but at the same time, if you want to be world champion you've got to beat everybody. I missed out against Gregory Bauge. It was a good race but I didn't quite get it. It's disappointing, but that's life!"
“Gregory Bauge won the Worlds last year and he’d got back through the repechages and he ended up beating the same guy who’d knocked him out in the first place so it was possible to win but it was the nature of the three lap full gas effort … For a split second, I did think about letting it go and coming back through the reps like I did against Theo Bos in 2008 but, I can make excuses but ultimately I was beaten by the better rider in the quarter final today. Bauge is going very well and some days you’re not quite at your best and today is one of those days.”
“There were some minor tactical errors in the second and third rides and you can do that against some riders but not against the standard of guys like Bauge.”
He then expanded on the relative lack of success by the GB Team compared to the Olympics: "This isn't easy. It's not a formality. I think some of the general public watched track cycling for the first time in Beijing, turned on and thought ‘we're pretty good at this'. But that was the culmination of years of preparation and peaking and making sure it went right on the day - so, two years to go to London: yes we're disappointed, but there's more to come and we'll be at our very, very best when it counts."
Matt Crampton was not downhearted after his exit, preferring instead to look ahead at his development as a rider: “It was up and down at this year's worlds. When I got in the Keirin, I thought ‘I have good legs here, I can do something’. It wasn’t to be in the keirin and I had the consolation in winning the minor finals and this morning I had a PB too. I want that ‘9’ though, and I was three hundredths out. I feel disappointed being so close to it. I have got to do a bit more racing now. I’m going to Japan and get some racing there and start again.”
“I am qualifying well now and it’s my racing that is lacking and I have got to go back and work on that. I’d like to ride more World Cups, all if I could, and try and make some targets because we have got to push on because its going to be tough to make it to London.”
Lizzie Armitstead guns it down the track in the 200m Time Trial
Women's Omnium: GB's Lizzie Armitstead got her Women's Omnium campaign underway with a couple of solid performances, almost dipping under 12 seconds in recording the sixth fastest time in the 200m Time Trial. She backed that up with second place in the Scratch Race, which was always going to be one of her banker events. She was probably less happy with only ninth in the Individual Pursuit, but she went into the afternoon's two events, the Points Race and 500m Time Trial knowing she was still in the hunt for the medals.
The afternoon's racing began with the Points Race and after an early maximum, Armitstead kept herself in contention throughout, eventually finishing third and taking herself into the joint lead.
The final event was the 500m Time Trial in which Lizzie Armitstead's lack of experience showed as she slipped to ninth place. However, once the dust had settled there was confirmation that she had done enough to claim the silver medal, which left the young Yorkshire woman tired but pleased after the "longest day of my life!" Canada's Tara Whitten took the gold after a blistering final ride.
With this event suddenly having vastly increased significance, as a full Olympic discipline in 2012, it was fascinating to see the top teams roll out some of their best riders for the first time. For Lizzie Armitstead it was an impressive first stab at a tough challenge. The Olympic version is expected to feature longer versions of the endurance races, plus and additional event, based on that track league staple, the "devil take the hindmost". This and the extra length should both suit Armitstead, who will probably look back on this as an excellent day at the office. Full Day 4 Results
Lizzie Armitstead was clearly very happy with her performance in the Omnium: “I am chuffed to pieces with that. It was good and I’m surprised. I did enjoy it. It was a bit of a mental game really and I enjoy that from the road. It’s like a mini stage race in one day and I have had a lot of practice of not letting my rivals get to me and that.”
“I think there is some work that could be done on the sprint type stuff, the 200 and 500, but I couldn’t expect that much here because I have never done a flying 200 in a competition, or a 500, so I just did what I could on the day.”
“I was quite surprised by my endurance. In the Points race, my legs came round and I felt best there and I think it might have been because I was on my upright bike and enjoying it a bit more, being in the wheels and ducking and diving.”
On the Omnium's recent promotion to Olympic staus, she said this: “Next year it will change a lot and this year was a bit of an experiment and it is good that I have a medal and people will think Omnium and think Lizzie.”
On whether it will be a target for her for London 2012, Lizzie was hedging her bets: “I don’t know yet because as it stands now I don’t think a Team Pursuiter will be able to be a Omnium rider as well. So I’ll have to make the call nearer the time – I’m not ready to do that yet. There are plenty of people gunning for a Team Pursuit place. There is me, Anna (Blyth), Katie Colclough, Wendy, Joanna, Becs (Rebecca Romero), and Nicole Cooke. All sorts of people.”
Men's Madison: The Men's Madison saw yet another outstanding ride byt the Aussies, who are having a stand-out World Championships. Cameron Mayer picked up his third gold of the week in the company of Leigh Howard as they, the French and the Belgians lapped the field. Two early sprint wins for the Aussies gave them a points cushion and when they went for the lap later in the race, they were suddenly in command, much to the disappointment of the Danes who watched their team work their way into it with a heavy bout of scoring mid race. But they couldn't go with the race winning move and in the end it was a convincing win for the Australians, with the French nicking silver from the Belgians with a couple of point in the final sprint. Full Day 4 Results
MORNING SESSION
Chris Hoy (left) had a tough first morning in the Men's Sprint
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Jason Kenny, in contrast to Hoy, cruised through his morning's work, disposing of the dangerous "wheelie man", Awang of Malaysia, to go through to the quarters finals.
Jason Kenny cruises round his first round victim, Daniel Ellis of Australia
Matt Crampton looked good in qualifying, but ran into Francois Pervis of France in the Second round and joined Hoy in the repeachage.
Hoy duly came through the repechage, though once again he was made to work for it as another German, Bergman, again made him chase, whilst Awang hung onto his wheel looking for any slip-up. Hoy's reward was a quarter-final draw against Bauge, the toughest possible challenge at this stage in the competition.
Crampton also turned his competition round with a fine win over the Aussie, Scott Sunderland. He'll face Robert Forstemann, whilst Kenny must overcome Kevin Sireau of France. The other quarter final sees Francois Pervis up against Shane Perkins
