Track World Cup 2012: Day 4 - Dissapointment for Mears and Pendleton

There was disappointment for Anna Mears and Victoria Pendleton in the Kerin, but there was success for Chris Hoy and Laura Trott.

Australia kicked off the gold rush, as they dominantly beat the current Olympic and World Record holders Great Britain. The Brits had a good start and lead for the first four laps, but Australia was quick to pull it back. It wasn’t long before the first cracks began to show and Steven Burke dropped out. Burke was sitting in man three position, forcing his teammates to quickly rearrange themselves. Things just fell apart from team GB after that and they lost a further second, before the finish line.

New Zealand didn’t look like they were being pushed too hard by the Belgians, in the bronze medal ride off. There was one moment of worry when the Kiwi’s lost their last man, but they were quick to realign themselves to put a lot of time into the Belgians. All the riders in this event had to wait since Thursday, when they set their qualifying times.

Track Cycling World Cup 2012: Day 3 - Surprise in the Sprints

World Record times were replaced by surprises, as the order of the day, with the Women’s Sprint throwing up some big ones.

The first medal of the evening was in the Kerin where there was no surprise, but it was no less exciting. Once the derny had done its job, Simon Van Velthooven launched a huge attack and left the rest of the pack reeling. Initially the only man who could keep up with the Kiwi was the powerhouse German Rene Enders.

Soon the split was brought back together, mainly by the effort of Mickael Bourgain and it was a very tight finish. Chris Hoy kept his cool and rode around the outside, to take his 51^st medal and 35^th gold. He showed the selectors that he is still well in contention for the Olympics, with Matt Crampton finishing a lowly 11^th.

Track Cycling World Cup 2012: Day 2 - The World Records Tumble

With the Olympics only five months away, the Olympic Velodrome was set alight with World Records.

All the riders were eager to show their form, at the test event, and it was Australia and Great Britain leading the way. Australia were the first team to win gold, when Melissa Hoskins went with 2km to go in the women’s scratch race. Hoskins managed to leave the rest of the field behind and take a great solo victory.

Women’s Team Sprint

Great Britain were next up and have changed their Women’s Team Sprint line-up, since the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but they are no less a force to be reckoned with. Jess Varnish has been solely focused on training for the opening lap and it showed when she set a British record in the heats. All the pressure was put on the five time Individual Sprint champion, Victoria Pendleton, to fight back.

Track World Championships - Day 4

Anna Meares finally broke her duck, in the women’s individual sprint, and dethroned Victoria Pendleton in Apeldoorn.

Women’s Individual Pursuit

Meares has been the bridesmaid, in this event, on several occasions, despite winning six other rainbow jerseys. The Aussie met Pendleton in the semi-final, who forced it to a decider, after capitalising on Meares’ hesitancy, in the second heat. After dispatching the five-time World and Olympic Champion, she went on to meet Simona Krupeckaite, in the final. The Lithuanian was a much easier target and she was beaten in only two races. Her success, in this event, has had to come at a price; the Aussie gave up the 500m sprint, to allow her to focus the pursuit. Pendleton went on to claim the bronze, in emphatic style, after toppling Olga Panarina, in two heats.

Track World Championships - Day 3

Gregory Bauge didn’t even look like he was breaking a sweat, as he eased passed Jason Kenny, to take his third consecutive Individual Sprint World Championship.

Men’s Individual Sprint

Bauge went fourth in qualifying and was drawn against fellow Frenchman Mickael Bourgain, who had set the fastest time. Bourgain put up a solid fight in the first heat, but was eventually overpowered by Bauge, on the final straight. The second heat was more of a foregone conclusion, as the elder rider ramped up the speed. In the other semi-final, Jason Kenny continued in his ascendency, as he confidently beat Sir Chris Hoy in two. Bauge went on to face Kenny in the final and despite the Brit’s best efforts the Frenchman toppled him in two. Hoy managed to salvage some pride, by taking the bronze medal, but he was forced to go to the decider.

Track World Championships - Day 1

Olga Panarina became the first gold medallist of the 2011 World Championships, as she took victory in the women’s 500 metre time trial.

Women’s 500 t.t.

The Belarusian just managed to pip Sandie Clair, to the win, by two tenths of a second, with a time of 14.649 seconds. Clair took gold in this event at the European Championships, but didn’t have enough in the tank. The event has fallen out of favour since it was axed from the Olympics, but that didn’t stop a top class field taking part. Just behind the leading pair, were Miriam Welte and Willy Kanis.  

Men’s Team Pursuit

Australia was the surprise winners in the team pursuit, as current Olympic Champions Great Britain, only managed a bronze medal. The Aussies put out a formidable team of; Jack Bobridge, Rohan Denis, Michael Hepburn and, Commonwealth time-trial bronze medallist Luke Durbridge. Russia had no answer to Australia and crossed the line almost five seconds down. Great Britain’s performance was almost as good, despite not having their normal big hitters, as they took three seconds out of New Zealand.

Awang is out of hospital after surgery

Don't watch this if you are a little squeamish, but here is the video of the crash during the Kerin final where Awang got a splinter through his leg.



The Malaysian rider has been discharged from hospital, after having the splinter surgically removed, and has been ordered to rest for two weeks.

Standings after the final round in the Track World Cup

After the fourth and final round of the Track World Cup in Manchester, here is a run down of all the standings and a link to the PDF.

Men's Sprint

1. Kevin Sireau (Fra) 42pts
2. Tsubasa Kitatsuru (JPN) 24pts
3. Jason Kenny (GBP) 20pts

Men's Individual Sprint
1. Rohan Dennis (AUS) 12pts
2. Geraint Thomas (GBR) 10pts
3. Marc Ryan (NZL) 8pts

Men's Team Pursuit
1. Spain 32pts
2. New Zealand 29pts
3. Great Britain 28pts

Men's Team Sprint
1. France 36pts
2. Great Britain 27pts
3. New Zealand 22pts

Track Cycling World Cup - Round Up Day 3

All was still to play for on the final day in Manchester with Great Britain putting on a stunning performance to take gold in the men’s team pursuit.

Opening up the evening session was the men’s team sprint where France edged out Germany to claim their second gold of the weekend. Kevin Sireau joined Gregory Bauge and Michael D’Almeida who qualified quickest, before taking the final by two tenths. Record Holders Great Britain took third place just ahead of Team Jayco.

Track Cycling World Cup - Round Up Day 2

Chris Hoy made up for his disappointment in the men’s sprint by winning the men’s kerin, while Victoria Pendleton had to settle for third in the women’s sprint.

In the Omnium Shane Archbold moved New Zealand from bridesmaid to bride, with a resounding victory ahead of Ho-Sung Cho. The Kiwi won his fourth omnium, since taking the sport up in November, with 15 points; under half of Cho’s. Taking no less than three victories, a third, fourth and fifth; it was plain sailing to New Zealand’s first gold of the event.

Anastasiya Chulkova made it the first gold medal for Russia in the women’s scratch race ahead of ,2008 Kerin champion, Jennie Reed. Chulkova looked like she might make a lap on the group; after staying away for most of the race and, despite being pulled back towards the end, won by a convincing margin.

Track Cycling World Cup - Round Up Day 1

Manchester played host to the final World Cup event of the track season and with the World Championships in Apeldoorn only a month away, this one meant business.

The opening day of the World Cup was an all out battle between Great Britain and Australia, with Kevin Sireau of France the only one from neither nation to take gold. Australia claimed both the men’s pursuit and women’s team sprint. Anna Meares continued her great season by taking gold with Kaarle McCoulloch, by three tenths over China. Star of the European Championships Sandie Clair had to settle for bronze, when she and Clara Sanchez beat Great Britain.

In the men’s individual pursuit Rohan Dennis beat British Road Champion by nearly half a second to take gold. Dennis won Gold in last year’s team pursuit at the World Championship, but this year he will be looking for the individual. Great Britain took their first gold in the women’s team pursuit and almost smashed the record in the process.

Maxgear beat Sky to the team prize at Revolution 32

The sold out crowd at the Manchester Velodrome were treated to a double bill of the National Madison Championships and Revolution 32, but only if you arrived early.

Former junior champion Peter Kennaugh took the title with his partner Luke Rowe; ahead of Jon Mould and Tom Moses. Once the Madison riders got the crowd going, it was time for more of the home-grown talent to hit the boards. Back after being sidelined with flu was, crowd favourite, Craig McLean.

European Track Championships - Sprint Queen Sandie Clair takes Gold

France added another two medals to their haul so far, but will be disappointed that it wasn’t two golds after Kevin Sireau missed out in the men’s sprint on Saturday 6^th November in Pruszkow.

Sireau had been on sparkling form since the championships opened on Friday and became immediate favourite for the title after Chris Hoy suffered a shock defeat in the second round. The world number two was given the surprise of his life when the Russian Dennis Dmitriev, who is ranked 25^th beat him in two straight races. He only got the chance to race in the final after his opponent in the semis was disqualified.

Controversy in the Semis

Damian Zielinski won his first two heats against Dmitriev, but the Russian argued that the Polish rider had moved in to the sprinters line on the inner track and blocked him. The judges agreed and due to it being his second code violation he was removed not only from the race but the whole event. This left Britain Jason Kenny to take the bronze medal without even having to put a wheel on the track.

European Track Championships - Chris Hoy Suffers Shock Defeat in Sprint

Multiple world and Olympic champion Chris Hoy had a day to forget in the Saturday morning session at the European Cycling Championships in Pruszkow on November 5th.

Hoy made it through qualifying with the only sub-10 second time in the men’s individual sprint and you would have bet your house he would take the top spot eventually. However, it all went wrong in the second round when he was pitted against the man with the slowest time from qualification 18-year-old Felix English from Ireland.

French Dominate the Sprint
The Scot was forced to change disciplines when his event was removed from the Olympic programme and since then he has dominated sprinting and won gold in Beijing two years ago. Small errors have been the bane of Hoy’s challenge in the inaugural European Championships. France’s Kevin Sireau was the man on form making it through each round with ease and beat, Great Britain’s other big hope in the sprint, Jason Kenny.

European track Championships - Jason Queally wins Gold at 40

Great Britain were the big winners in the opening day of the inaugural European track cycling championships winning two of the first blue jerseys awarded on Friday 5^th November in Pruszkow.

Jason Queally became a gold medallist at the age of 40 in an event he’s never competed in at international level. Great Britain showed their intentions before London 2012 as they beat Russia in the men’s 4km pursuit by over four seconds with Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Andrew Tennant and Queally.

Russia got off to the better start but was soon overhauled by the Olympic champions by the end of the first lap. The Russians held on for the first eleven laps with the time split hovering around 0.3 seconds, but the Brits put their foot on the gas and dropped their opponents with ease. The Netherlands took the bronze ahead of Spain who just weren’t able to hold on to the pace of the Dutch.

European Track Championships - Britain dominate Friday morning sesson

Britain got the first European Championships off to the best possible start putting in the fastest times in three of the four morning qualifying sessions on Friday 5th November in Pruszkow, Poland.

Obviously a little too early for some the seats wear nearly empty for the morning session which started at 10am, but that didn’t dampen the excitement for the events that lay ahead.

Setting the Standard
It was the Olympic champions who set the standard in the team pursuit to open the three day event with a time of 4min 01.953 secs. Ed Clancy was the only member of the 2008 team who won the gold in Beijing. Bradley Wiggins chose not to race in this event, after it was taken from the schedule for London 2012, to focus on his own Olympic events.