Bauge takes number three in front of "home" crowd

It wasn't Bordeaux, but for one moment the Apeldoorn velodrome seemed to exist 1000km further south, as the crowd erupted into vigorous applause as Frenchman Grégory Baugé claimed his third straight men's sprint world title over Great Britain's Jason Kenny. During the podium ceremony, the velodrome rang with the exuberant singing of "La Marseillaise" from Baugé's fans.

Baugé equalled the feat of his coach Florian Rousseau, who topped the sprint podiums in 1996, 97 and 98, and said, "I'm extremely happy to equal that, even if it wasn't the goal. It's something I can add to my happiness today to be world champion."

France and Great Britain proved once more that they are the dominant nations when it comes to sprinting, with two riders from each country destined to make the final rounds.

In the semifinal round, it was British riders Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy who faced off, while Frenchmen Mickaël Bourgain and Gregory Bauge went head to head for the chance for gold.

Kenny stunned the crowd by overtaking Hoy, who had attacked early but then hesitated, to win the round by a wheel. He then repeated the performance in the second race, sending the Olympic champion to the bronze final.

Bauge fought off the challenge from his compatriot Bourgain and then set his sights on his third rainbow jersey.

In the gold medal final, he rode with superior strength and tactical nuance, getting his position at the front leading into the final lap and then holding off the charge of Kenny, who tried to repeat the run which won him the semifinal round.

It didn't work for the young Briton, and Bauge enjoyed a long celebratory lap, greeting the many French fans in the crowd including his proud family.

Baugé said that after finishing only fourth in the 200m qualifying, people might have been betting against him, "But I had confidence because I knew I was good. Sprinting is not the same as the 200 - as soon as you start with the matches it's not the same."

That he went up against Kenny instead of the Olympic champion Hoy, or his countryman Kevin Sireau, who dominated the World Cups, Baugé said, "No - it wasn't a surprise because Kenny was good in Manchester, so he was amongst the favourites for the race to me."

Kenny seemed pleased to get the silver medal - it was a confirmation that he has made great strides in the individual sprint, and is his first medal in the event at the world championships.

He was able to out-smart both his teammate Matthew Crampton in the 1/8 final and twice outwit Hoy in the semi's to enter the gold medal final. That he missed out on gold to Baugé came down to pure power on a speed-sapping track.

"I think a lot of the races went the same way - they were all quite pacey and high up on the track. Everyone's trying to get as much height and as much speed as economically as possible before it comes down to the final sprint in the last lap and a half.

"With Baugé, you have to be aware of the fact that he's the fastest man one (in the team sprint) in the world - he's got some real horsepower. You have to try and peg it and keep a lid on him."

Kenny tried to lay back and get a running jump on the Frenchman, but Baugé kept control of the front of the race, and was able to hold off the charge to claim the win.

In the bronze medal final, Hoy redeemed himself in a hard-fought race against Bourgain, losing the first round but then battling back and demonstrating his class by winning the next two races.

"It was a silver lining to the cloud today," Hoy said of the race. "It wasn't the result I was looking for, but it was nice to bounce back after being beaten in the semifinal.

"Every medal you win is a medal hard fought. You don't just turn up and get given the medals. I had to psychologically work to come back from the first round, being beaten by Mickaël. It meant a lot that I managed to show the strength of character and come back to win the bronze medal."

Qualifying

Bourgain was the fastest in qualifying for the men's sprint on Thursday evening, setting a time of 10.043 in the flying 200m. Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy was forced to settle for second with his time of 10.111, while Kenny was next best with 10.120.

The other French big guns, Baugé and Michaël D'Almeida were fourth and fifth having ridden to gold in the team sprint on day one of competition.

All of the top names breezed through the first round of sprint heats, but the next round, the 1/8 finals, contained a few surprises. First, D'Almeida fell victim to a sneak attack from Australian Scott Sunderland, and then fellow Aussie Shane Perkins overpowered Kévin Sireau, sending the Frenchman to his first repechage round of the year.

The French coach later explained that Sireau may have peaked too early in the season, having won the individual sprint in Cali against Hoy and claiming the win in Beijing and Manchester as well. He was also suffering from an allergic reaction, which combined with fatigue from the team sprint could have hampered his performance.

Sireau was then ousted in the repechage heat, while D'Almeida redeemed himself to move onto the quarterfinal round.

However, D'Almeida faced his countryman Bourgain in the next round, and lost out in two races. Hoy and Bauge also went two for two to move onto the semifinals, while Kenny needed a third sprint to finally top Perkins.

Men's sprint final

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Men's sprint - gold medal final race 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.224
2Jason Kenny (Great Britain)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - gold medal final race 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.220
2Jason Kenny (Great Britain)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - bronze medal final race 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mickaël Bourgain (France)0:00:10.616
2Chris Hoy (Great Britain)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - bronze medal final race 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Chris Hoy (Great Britain)Row 0 - Cell 2
2Mickaël Bourgain (France)0:00:10.442
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Men's sprint - bronze medal final race 3
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Chris Hoy (Great Britain)Row 0 - Cell 2
2Mickaël Bourgain (France)0:00:10.652

Men's sprint 5th-8th final

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
5Michaël D'Almeida (France)0:00:10.967
6Shane Perkins (Australia)Row 1 - Cell 2
7Scott Sunderland (Australia)Row 2 - Cell 2
RELRobert Forstemann (Germany)Row 3 - Cell 2

Men's sprint semifinal

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Men's sprint semifinal - heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.510
2Mickaël Bourgain (France)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint semifinal - heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.378
2Chris Hoy (Great Britain)Row 1 - Cell 2

Men's sprint 1/8 final

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Men's sprint - 1/8 final - heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mickaël Bourgain (France)0:00:10.649
2Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - 1/8 final - heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Chris Hoy (Great Britain)0:00:10.660
2Matthew Glaetzer (Australia)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - 1/8 final - heat 3
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.652
2Matthew Crampton (Great Britain)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - 1/8 final - heat 4
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.908
2Robert Forstemann (Germany)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - 1/8 final - heat 5
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Scott Sunderland (Australia)0:00:10.977
2Michaël D'Almeida (France)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint - 1/8 final - heat 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Shane Perkins (Australia)0:00:10.458
2Kévin Sireau (France)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's 1/8 final repechage - heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Robert Forstemann (Germany)0:00:10.998
2Kévin Sireau (France)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)Row 2 - Cell 2
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Men's 1/8 final repechage - heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Michaël D'Almeida (France)0:00:10.817
2Matthew Glaetzer (Australia)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Matthew Crampton (Great Britain)Row 2 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 5th-8th final
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
5Michaël D'Almeida (France)0:00:10.967
6Shane Perkins (Australia)Row 1 - Cell 2
7Scott Sunderland (Australia)Row 2 - Cell 2
RELRobert Forstemann (Germany)Row 3 - Cell 2

Men's sprint 1/16 final

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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mickaël Bourgain (France)0:00:10.574
2Lei Zhang (People'S Republic of China)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Chris Hoy (Great Britain)0:00:10.713
2Bernard Esterhuizen (South Africa)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 3
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.763
2Andrey Kubeev (Russian Federation)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 4
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.839
2Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 5
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Michaël D'Almeida (France)0:00:10.742
2Roy Van Den Berg (Netherlands)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Shane Perkins (Australia)0:00:10.541
2Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 7
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Kévin Sireau (France)0:00:11.136
2Miao Zhang (People'S Republic of China)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 8
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Scott Sunderland (Australia)0:00:10.666
2Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 9
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Robert Forstemann (Germany)0:00:11.426
2Sebastian Doehrer (Germany)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 10
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Matthew Crampton (Great Britain)0:00:10.667
2Damian Zielinski (Poland)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 11
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Matthew Glaetzer (Australia)0:00:10.973
2Stefan Bötticher (Germany)Row 1 - Cell 2
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Men's sprint 1/16 final - heat 12
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)0:00:10.964
2Sam Webster (New Zealand)Row 1 - Cell 2

Qualifying - Flying 200m

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mickaël Bourgain (France)0:00:10.043
2Chris Hoy (Great Britain)0:00:10.111
3Jason Kenny (Great Britain)0:00:10.120
4Gregory Bauge (France)0:00:10.142
5Michaël D'Almeida (France)0:00:10.148
6Shane Perkins (Australia)0:00:10.172
7Kévin Sireau (France)0:00:10.219
8Scott Sunderland (Australia)0:00:10.262
9Robert Forstemann (Germany)0:00:10.267
10Matthew Crampton (Great Britain)0:00:10.274
11Matthew Glaetzer (Australia)0:00:10.295
12Sam Webster (New Zealand)0:00:10.344
13Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)0:00:10.353
14Stefan Bötticher (Germany)0:00:10.357
15Damian Zielinski (Poland)0:00:10.360
16Sebastian Doehrer (Germany)0:00:10.370
17Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)0:00:10.391
18Miao Zhang (People's Republic of China)0:00:10.417
19Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)0:00:10.441
20Roy Van Den Berg (Netherlands)0:00:10.462
21Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation)0:00:10.489
22Andrey Kubeev (Russian Federation)0:00:10.534
23Bernard Esterhuizen (South Africa)0:00:10.538
24Lei Zhang (People's Republic of China)0:00:10.552
25Juan Peralta Gascon (Spain)0:00:10.564
26Denis Spicka (Czech Republic)0:00:10.569
27Giddeon Massie (United States Of America)0:00:10.576
28Kazuki Amagai (Japan)0:00:10.580
29Christian Leandro Tamayo Saavedra (Colombia)0:00:10.591
30Hersony Gadiel Canelon Vera (Venezuela)0:00:10.593
31Pavel Yakushevskiy (Russian Federation)0:00:10.606
32Sergey Borisov (Russian Federation)0:00:10.638
33Tomas Babek (Czech Republic)0:00:10.650
34Zafeirios Volikakis (Greece)0:00:10.691
35Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic)0:00:10.698
36Scott Mulder (Canada)0:00:10.708
37Yudai Nitta (Japan)0:00:10.710
38Konstantinos Christodoulou (Greece)0:00:10.719
39Adrian Teklinski (Poland)0:00:10.725
40Saifei Bao (People's Republic of China)0:00:10.750
41Matthijs Buchli (Netherlands)0:00:10.779
42Hodei Mazquiaran Uria (Spain)0:00:10.786
43Francesco Ceci (Italy)0:00:10.805
44Maciej Bielecki (Poland)0:00:10.809
45Christos Volikakis (Greece)0:00:10.810
46Itmar Esteban Herraiz (Spain)0:00:10.819
47Muhammad Edrus Md Yunos (Malaysia)0:00:10.942
48Muhd Arfy Qhairant Amran (Malaysia)0:00:11.062
49Kristjan Gregoric (Slovenia)0:00:11.446
50Omar Bertazzo (Italy)0:00:11.610

 

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Laura Weislo
Managing Editor

Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura's specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.

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