Cyclingnews

February 18, Day 3: Men: Keirin, Omnium IV-VI; - Women: Individual Pursuit, Omnium qualifying/I-III, Sprint

Hoy, Trott and Guo light up London Olympic velodrome

By:

Richard Moore

Published:

February 18, 18:36,

Updated:

February 20, 19:45

Meares and Pendleton to clash

Photos

Sir Chris Hoy was the star of the second full day of the UCI track cycling World Cup in the new London Olympic velodrome, managing a 100 percent record in a thrilling keirin series en route to winning his 35th gold medal.

Another three gold medals were won, with Guo Shuang (China) of China an impressive winner of the women's sprint, Joanna Rowsell (GB) claiming her second gold medal of the meeting in the women's pursuit, and Juan Arango (Colombia) winning the men's omnium.

Guo was third in the qualifying flying 200m, behind Anna Meares (Australia) and Lee Wai Sze (Hong Kong), but she didn't lose a single head-to-head match, finally beating Meares in two straight rides in a re-run of their famous meeting in the semi-final at the Beijing Olympics. On that occasion, Guo crashed in their third and deciding heat, and then won the re-run, only to be disqualified for deviating from her line and forcing Meares off the track.

Here, it wasn't so close, with Guo a convincing winner, to confirm herself as one of the favourites for London. But 24-year-old Lee, who beat Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) in the bronze medal ride, was also tipped by Meares, among others, as a rising star.

Meares, who won a silver medal in the previous evening's team sprint, could perhaps blame fatigue for her defeat in the final, having won a hard-fought semi-final against her old rival Pendleton.

That was the race of the series, pitting the Olympic champion (Pendleton) against the world champion (Meares), with Pendleton having drawn first blood with victory -- and a world record -- in the team sprint on Friday.

In their first heat Meares seized the initiative, leading it out, attacking first, and forcing Pendleton to chase. Pendleton came back at her but ran out of track: 1-0 Meares.

Round two saw Pendleton leading it out, trying to force Meares to the front, then riding her up the banking. High on the bend, just before the bell, Meares attacked hard, cutting across -- and very close to -- Pendleton. But she had gone a little too early. Pendleton recovered, hunted her down and passed her on the home straight to win: 1-1. In the deciding heat she seemed to run out of steam, with Meares winning through to the final.

Pendleton promised to improve by the world championships. "I haven't really done a lot of tactical training yet. That's the next phase between now and the worlds and the Olympics especially.

"With the amount of training I've done in the sprint I'm really pleased with how it's gone today," Pendleton continued, "but I know there's a lot more to come."

Lee, meanwhile, was pleased to beat Pendleton. "This is my best result against a big rider like this. We had the same speed, but I was a little fresher.

"I was surprised to do so well today. I still need to learn more about the sprint. I've only been racing the sprint for one year, but next I go to the world championships and it will be like school for me."

The men's keirin saw Hoy adopt a new tactic, or tactics. When he won gold in the keirin at the Beijing Olympics, and indeed at the world championships in 2007, 2008 and 2010, he did so using the same strategy each time: going from the front. So much power was he able to generate that nobody could get round him.

Now, however, a new rule makes this tactic less successful. Cycling's governing body, the UCI, has declared that the rider in first place has to tuck in close behind the pace-setting motorbike, as opposed to being able to drift back. Potentially this gives the other five riders the advantage of being able to sit back and then gain a jump on the lead rider when the motorbike swings off with two-and-a-half laps to go.

As Hoy said, "In every race I tried to do something different so you can learn if it works or not." He should have learned a lot from his day's work here, with a close call in the first round, which Hoy won narrowly after leaving his effort dangerously late, and then a more convincing win in the semi-final. He had found himself boxed in for that one, but manoeuvred his way skilfully out of the melee.

"I had a couple of game plans for the final and the one I used was plan B," Hoy said. "I knew that [France's Mickael] Bourgain was going to be a threat, because he looked so strong in the semi, so I let him do the chasing [after Rene Enders of Germany]. I had to choose the moment to go and when you go, you give it everything. The sports scientists have told me that I hit 78.1kph in that race, which is the highest I've ever gone in a keirin before. You can't ask for more than that.

"There's always a possibility you can lose, you never go into a keirin and expect to win," said Hoy. "You try and narrow the odds down a bit, but there's so much going on around you, and so much danger. All you can do is race to your strengths. I could have tried to go from the front, as I used to do, but I'm trying to race with other tactics. It's nice to win from all positions."

As for the rule change, Hoy said, "It makes it harder for the guy who is behind the bike, and gives the other five riders an advantage, which is a bit unfair I think. There was no consultation over the change -- there's never any consultation."

Full Results

Women's individual pursuit final

 

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