World Champs: Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas interviews

World Champs: Mark Cavendish takes the Rainbow Jersey Ahead of Matt Goss

Mark Cavendish becomes the first male British Road Cycling World Champion, since Tom Simpson did it in 1965, after a tense sprint to the line.

Cavendish already has two Madison World Championship titles and came in to this year’s event as one of the clear favourites. There were some tense moments as his lead out men Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard looked frantically around for the Manxman. Thomas has to drop down the field, as they were heading around the final corner, to find him, but the Welshman delivered him to the front on time.

The Manx express then had to do the work for himself, with none of his teammates around; he clung to the back wheels of his rivals. He finally launched his attack with around 200 metres to go and beat his, soon to be former, trade team teammate Matt Goss, by half a bike length. With the demise of HTC Goss will be moving to Green Edge and is looking to make his mark on the sprinting world. The Aussie got a good lead out from, his German-born, teammate Heinrich Haussler, but he couldn’t quite manage to stay ahead of Cav.

World Champs: Top-Three Elite Men Interviews

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 2

Great Britain destroyed their rivals, to take a dominant gold medal in the women’s team pursuit in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

Women’s Team Pursuit

The team of Wendy Houvenaghel, Laura Trott and Danielle King demolished the United States, by almost two seconds. The result is proved all the better, considering Trott and King were making their Elite debuts at World level. New Zealand took their first medal of the championships, by beating Australia in to third. The slow track at Apeldoorn has caught a few people out, but the British team made sure they were perfectly honed for it and it showed.

European Track Championships - Jason Kenny wins Kerin ahead of Matt Crampton

Jason Kenny made it through a crash filled Kerin event to win gold ahead of compatriot Matt Crampton on Sunday 7^th November in Pruszkow.

It was a British one-two in the men’s Kerin as Kenny lead muscle-man Crampton over the line. Crampton has the lead going in to the final lap and used his power to get around and looked like gold would be his, but Kenny slipped around just before the line to steal it from his clutches.

Crashes Down the Germans

In Kenny’s second round race German riders Maximilian Levy and Michael Seidenbecher collided resulting in Levy being carried from the velodrome on a spinal board. It was later revealed that he had suffered from a broken collarbone and unsurprisingly Levy was unable to compete in the minor final with Seidenbecher coming last. Initially the man who had come second in the heat Adam Ptacnik from the Czech Republic was blamed for the incident and disqualified from the event. After some reconsideration he was reinstated and allowed to compete in the final and took bronze.

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.