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UCI Track Cycling World Cup - Cali - Day 1

December 16, 2010 | Cali (Columbia)

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Victoria Pendleton, left, and Jess Varnish - gold in the Team Sprint

WOMEN'S TEAM SPRINT

A gold medal in the women's Team Sprint was the highlight of a steady if not spectacular opening day for the GB Cycling Team at the Cali World Cup. Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton are becoming a well-grooved pairing and they turned in two technically smooth rides.

In qualifying they knew there would be little margin for error, with the French and German teams also fielding strong pairings. GB were paired with France in the penultimate heat and with the Germans and the Chinese off in the final heat, Varnish and Pendleton knew they effectively had to beat the French to claim a spot in the final for gold.

At the end of the opening lap the French had a small advantage of three tenths of a second, thanks to a blistering start from Sandie Clair, but Victoria Pendleton pulled that back and more in the second lap with a very clean ride, recording 14.340s, to win the heat by over two tenths in a time of 33.560. The Germans could not quite match this in their heat, but did enough to pip the French for a place in the final.

The final saw Varnish find another couple of tenths in her opening circuit, giving GB a slender lead of just over a tenth of a second and from that position Pendleton was always going to be favourite against the German anchor-woman Kristina Vogel. Pendleton duly turned in a 14.255 lap, which was more than enough to claim the gold. The French beat Spain in the final for bronze.

MEN'S TEAM SPRINT

GB also faced tough opposition in the Men's Team Sprint, with the French fielding pretty much their "A" Team in Bauge, Sireau and D'Almedia. It all began very well for the Brits, with Kenny Hoy and Crampton. They were off in the final heat against a far from full-strength German team. The French recorded 44.047 in the previous heat, to go fastest, with New Zealand second fastest in 44.138, the mark GB would have to beat to make the final.

They were never really in any danger of missing that mark, as Kenny scorched to a 17.415 opening lap, almost two tenths inside the time of his French opposite number, Bauge. From then on it was a clean run through to a time of 43.897 and a place in the gold medal final.

The final was always going to be tough, with the French likely to raise their game. It began encouragingly for GB, with Kenny showing once again how at home he is in the opening lap slot and the team led by five hundredths at the end of the opening circuit.

However, Matt Crampton couldn't hold off Kevin Sireau, who turned that deficit round to such goo effect that the French led by over four tenths at the end of lap two. Even a big dig by Chris Hoy on the final lap could not turn that round and GB had to settle for silver with a time of 43.830, compared to the French time of 43.539.
New Zealand won the final for bronze from Poland.

WOMEN'S TEAM PURSUIT

GB will probably also think they missed out in the Women's Team Pursuit. They knew that they faced a tough task with the New Zealand trio of Buchannan, Ellis and Shanks improving all the time and with the Ouch Pro Cycling Team fielding pretty much the USA "A" team of Hammer, Bausch and Tamayo. Going off before both these teams, GB knew they had to put in a solid effort and probably get close to going under 3 minutes 24 seconds to guarantee a place in the final for gold. In the event, they produced a time of 3:24.323, which just wasn't quite enough as both the New Zealanders and Ouch slipped under it in subsequent heats.

GB duly won their final for bronze in an improved time of 3:23.789, which was faster than Ouch went in either qualifying or in the final, where they were steam-rollered by the impressive New Zealand trio, who won in 3:23.132. That will have been little consolation to the GB riders, Trott, Colclough and Houvenaghel.

This is an event that GB dominated when it first appeared on the World Cup and World Championship schedules, but several other teams are right up there with them and, if anything, the competition for medals is closer and more unpredictable than in the men's version.

MEN'S OMNIUM

The first day of the men's Omnium saw Ed Clancy putting himself in a position to challenge for medals on day two. He began his campaign with a strong ride in the flying lap, finishing second to Columbia's Arango Carvajal.
A less convincing showing in the Points Race - one of his weaker events - nonetheless resulted in tenth place, which kept him in contention. Arango Carvajal showed well again, claiming second place behind Teruel Rovira of Spain and putting himself in a commanding lead.

The final event of the day was the Elimination Race. Clancy showed that he's continuing to improve as an Omnium rider by finishing fourth in another event, which on paper doesn't really suit his style. With Arango Carvajal only able to finish tenth, Clancy's opening day suddenly began to look very satisfactory.

The standings at the end of day one have Arango Carvajal in the lead on 13 points, Clancy in second on 16, Erik Mohb of Germany third on 23, alongside Zac Bell of Canada on the same points. With the Pursuit, Scratch and Time Trial to come on day 2, Clancy looks well place to pick up a medal.

Clancy's advantage in this event is that he is strong in the events which don't really involve luck and tactics. He knows that, as long as he's in good physical shape, he will perform very well in the races against the clock. His opponents who favour the longer, more tactical races know that they have to also fight off their rivals to gain maximum points in their "bankers", and that a bit of bad luck or ill-judgement can dump them out of contention. Clancy, on the other hand, can view success these races, the points, scratch and elimination, as bonuses.

MEN'S SCRATCH RACE

France's Morgan Kneisky won the Men's Scratch Race at the head of a six-rider group who lapped the rest of the field. Van Hoecke of Belgium was second and Blaha of the Czech Republic third. GB didn't enter a rider in the event.