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 5

Anna Meares became the second woman to win three rainbow jerseys, in one world championship, as she won a dramatic Kerin.

Women’s Kerin

The big surprise of this event was Victoria Pendleton’s failure to reach the major final, after she was squeezed out in the final sprint. Pendleton was the first woman to win three golds in one championship, but she has failed to take any home with her this time. Mears went in to the final as the big favourite, however she had to contend with Frenchwoman Clara Sanchez. Shuang Gou led the group around on to the final lap, but it nearly came a cropper when Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez crashed. The Cuban caught her elbow on Gou’s leg, which sent her flying down the track, but fortunately she hit no one else. Sanchez took the chance to jump the group, as Gou slowed down, with Meares right on her wheel. The Aussie showed to power, we all know she has, to obliterate the rest of the group. Olga Panarina put in a stunning sprint to go over the top of two riders, to take silver, and Sanchez took bronze.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.