Cyclingnews

February 19, Day 4: Men: Sprint, Team Pursuit final; - Women: Keirin, Omnium IV-VI

Hoy wraps up final day with sprint victory

By:

Richard Moore

Published:

February 19, 17:54,

Updated:

February 20, 03:53

Krupeckaite wins women's keirin while Hammer earns omnium title

Photos

Australia's track cyclists hit back on day four of the UCI World Cup in London, beating Britain with the third fastest team pursuit in history, though it was Sir Chris Hoy who once again inspired the louded applause in the new London Velodrome as he followed keirin gold on Saturday with victory in the sprint on Sunday.

The key test for Hoy, who had been the only rider to go under 10 seconds in qualifying, with 9.93, seemed to come in the quarter-finals, where he met Grégory Baugé, the Frenchman recently stripped of his world title for drugs test irregularities.

Baugé took the first round when he claimed the inside line and Hoy could not come past. But in the second and third heats it was Hoy who was in charge, knocking out Baugé to earn a semi-final against Robert Förstemann, the German who famously caught him unawares at the Copenhagen world championships in 2010, when he sprinted off at the start, leaving Hoy with a forlorn and fruitless pursuit.

In fact, Förstemann deployed exactly the same tactic here, but not against Hoy. Kévin Sireau was the unwitting victim in their bronze medal ride-off, after Hoy had deposed of Förstemann in two straight rides. In the final, the Scotsman was impervious, also needing only two heats to beat Förstemann's countryman, Maximilian Levy, the second a nerve-shredding battle of wills on the final lap as Hoy held the inside line, and Levy attacked on the outside, nudging ahead.

"In the final I could see [Levy] was attacking it hard and I thought, Right, I've got to go -- no hanging around, no bluffing. I've got to put my foot down," said Hoy afterwards.

"He was coming pretty quickly, he got over the top of me and I knew I couldn't let fresh air open up between his back wheel and my front wheel, because it would've been all over. So I dug deep and I knew with the inside line I could take him."

And take him he did, for his 36th World Cup gold medal.

But the 35-year-old Hoy was arguably challenged in the popularity stakes by a member of the team who is at the other end of the age scale. Laura Trott was one of the revelations of the weekend, following her decisive performance in the team pursuit on Friday with a bronze medal in the omnium, which included victories in the elimination race and Sunday's 500m time trial, both of which had the 6,000-strong crowd on its feet.

Ahead of 19-year-old Trott in the final omnium standings was another revelation, Australia's Annette Edmondson, 20, who claimed silver behind the more experienced Sarah Hammer of the USA. For Kevin Tabotta, Australia's performance director, Edmondson's performance was one of many positives to take from the Olympic test event.

"We've identified an omnium rider," said Tabotta. "We knew she had ability but we had to expose her to world class competition. She had an important part to play in the team pursuit as well, so she's done well.

"Three or four months ago we weren't sure what we were going to do with the omnium. But with the young talent, you don't know when it's going to come through. Look at Laura Trott. Six months ago she was a junior, and now she's looking at being in the Olympic medal mix. Youth always brings surprises."

Tabotta might also have been speaking of Alex Edmondson, the youngest in a youthful team pursuit quartet whose 3:54.615 in the final has been bettered only by Britain on their way to Olympic gold in Beijing four years ago.

The British team of Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Peter Kennaugh went out fast, roaring through the first few laps to build a two-tenths lead, though their advantage was cut to a shade over a tenth of a second after a kilometre.

From then on, the Australians -- Edmondson, Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis and Michael Hepburn -- drove it home, their lead widening as their opponents experienced an alarming wobble in the closing stages. "I had to slow down," said Thomas, "Burkey was slowing down, Pete ran into him, I hit the wheel and ended up nearly crashing."

The Australians, in contrast, managed a ride that looked technically perfect. "It's a second quicker than any other Australian team," said Dennis, "so we're pretty happy."

Bobridge said, "The whole team assessed our ride from qualifying and we went out there and, first of all, accomplished what we came here to do, which was to win. But we'll also take away a lot of information from the track to bring back to the London Olympics."

Edmondson downplayed his contribution. "I just stepped up from the juniors last year, so it was a big ask, but I managed to get throught it and do what turns I could. To be honest, I gave 110% and I couldn't see straight at end: I was seeing stars. But to look up to the board and see a ‘54, I'm over the moon with that."

Tabotta said he wasn't surprised by the performance, "But the challenge is to stay on top. Competing from the front, you've got to keep the wolves at bay and the challenge for the Olympics in August will be to go another two or three seconds faster."

The British squad has in the past mentioned 3:50 as a target. Tabotta said, "I don't know about 3:50 but it won't be 3:54 that wins it at the Olympics. I think we're looking sub-54 for sure."

The women's keirin, meanwhile, was won by Simona Krupeckaite, Lithuania's 2010 world champion, ahead of another of the weekend's stars, Wae Sze Lee, the 24-year-old from Hong Kong who is a recent convert to track cycling, and who said, after winning her silver medal, that she was keen to speak to her hero, Hoy, to ask for some tips. "I don't want to give her too much advice if she's racing Vicky [Pendleton]," said Hoy, "but maybe after the Olympics."

Pendleton was bundled out of the medals, as was her great rival Anna Meares (Australia). They finished fifth and sixth with the sprint gold medallist Shuang Guo (China) taking bronze.

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