Great Britain men make Team Pursuit final with Denmark; Germany and Netherlands take Team Sprint gold
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Netherland's Kirsten Wild celebrates after her victory in the women's scratch race at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's Miriam Welte (L) and Kristina Vogel compete in the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Francois Pervis (L) leads teammates Sebastien Vigier (C) and Quentin Lafargue (R) during the men's team sprint bronze final race against Russia(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
silver medallists Netherlands, gold medallists Germany and bronze medallists Russia pose on the podium after the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Francois Pervis (L) celebrates with teammate Quentin Lafargue after their victory in the men's team sprint bronze final race against Russia(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's Miriam Welte (L) and Kristina Vogel celebrate after their victory in the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Netherlands gold medallists Nils van Thoenderdaal, Harrie Lavreysen, Matthijs Buchli and Jeffrey Hoogland pose on the podium after the men's team sprint final race(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Netherland's Harrie Lavreysen celebrates after victory in the men's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's gold medallists Miriam Welte, Kristina Vogel and Pauline Sophie Grabosch celebrate on the podium after victory in the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's Miriam Welte celebrates after victory in the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Gold medallist Netherland's Kirsten Wild celebrates on the podium after her victory in the women's scratch race at The UCI World Cycling Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Silver medallist Belgium's Jolien D'Hoore, gold medallist Netherland's Kirsten Wild and bronze medallist Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen celebrate on the podium(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Francois Pervis prepares to take part in the men's Team Sprint first round at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Francois Pervis prepares to take part in the men's Team Sprint first round at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Sebastien Vigier prepares to take part in the men's Team Sprint first round at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's Miriam Welte celebrates after victory in the women's team sprint final race at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Netherland's Kirsten Wild rides during the women's scratch race at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's team competes in the Women's Team Pursuit qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's Robert Fostemann gets ready to take part in the men's Team Sprint qualifying round at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Netherland's Kirsten Wild celebrates after her victory in the women's scratch race at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Netherland's Kirsten Wild celebrates after her victory in the women's scratch race at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Quentin Lafargue, Sebastien Vigier and Francois Pervis take part in the men's Team Sprint qualifying round at The UCI World Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Simone Consonni,Liam Bertazzo,Filippo Ganna,Francesco Lamon (ITA) of Men`s team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Edward Clancy,Kian Emadi,Ethan Hayter,Charlie Tanfield (GBR) of Men`s team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Campbell Stewart,Regan Gough,Dylan Kennett,Nicholas Kergozou (NZL) of Men`s team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Lindsay de Vylder,Kenny de Ketele,Moreno de Pauw,Robbe Ghys (BEL) of Men`s team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Campbell Stewart,Regan Gough,Dylan Kennett,Nicholas Kergozou (NZL) of Men`s team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Poland's Marlena Karwacka gets ready to take part in the Women's Team Sprint qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Poland's Marlena Karwacka gets ready to take part in the Women's Team Sprint qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
New Zealand's Natasha Hansen gets ready to take part in the Women's Team Sprint qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Simone Consonni,Liam Bertazzo,Filippo Ganna,Francesco Lamon (ITA) of Men`s team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
New Zealand's team competes in the Women's Team Pursuit qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's Marie Le Net (C) falls during the Women's Team Pursuit qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
New Zealand's team competes in the Women's Team Pursuit qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's team competes in the Women's Team Pursuit qualifying round during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Germany's men's Team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's men's Team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's men's Team Pursuit squad take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn (Image credit: Michael Aisner)
France's men's Team Pursuit squad prepare to take part in the qualifying round of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) took the first rainbow jersey of the 2018 UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn on Wednesday, attacking the field with six laps remaining in the Scratch Race and holding off a hard chase from Katie Archibald (Great Britain) and eventual runner-up Jolien D'Hoore (Belgium). Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark) took the bronze.
"It's really, really nice to win before my own people, on my own track. It's amazing," Wild said in a TV interview before the podium ceremony. "It's the best riders in the world to compete, and actually I can't believe that I won with a solo. It's really cool."
Wild, who is known for her powerful sprint on the road, said the solo attack was not part of her original plan.
"My plan was to stay really calm and wait for the sprint, but it didn't go according to my plan," she said. "But, yeah, this worked out really well."
Wild won gold in the discipline at the 2015 World Championships, but she said Wednesday's win was even more special.
"Yeah, this is amazing to win here in Apeldoorn," she said. "I have no words."
Germany and Netherlands take Team Sprint gold
In the team sprints, which opened the evening session with qualifying rounds for the men and women, the German women took gold ahead of Netherlands and Russia, while Netherlands claimed gold in the men's event over Great Britain and France.
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The German women, Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel, qualified with the fastest time of 32.640 and then knocked Poland off with a time of 32.652 in the first round. Paired against Netherlands in the final, the German women won gold with a time of 32.605 to the Dutch time of 33.124. In the race for bronze, Russia rode to 32.990 to China's 33.282.
In the men's contest, the Netherlands team of Nils van Thoenderdaal, Harrie Lavreysen and Matthijs Buchli set the fastest qualifying mark at 42.869, then took out the Czech Republic in the first round with a time of 43.234.
In the final, the Dutch team rode a 42.727 to beat Great Britain's 43.231. In the race for bronze, France beat the Russian Federation with a time of 43.373.
Team Pursuit squads set the pecking order
In other opening-day racing, Great Britain set itself up for a gold medal test against Denmark, while Germany will race Italy for the bronze.
The British team of Ed Clancy, Kian Emadi, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield set the quickest qualifying time at 3:55.714, followed by Italy, Denmark and Germany. Britain then beat Germany 3:56.335 to 3:58.047 to make the final. Denmark squeaked past Italy 3:54.496 to 3:54.884 to set up Thursday's gold-medal match.
In the women's Team Pursuit qualifying round, the United States set the fastest time at 4:18.836, followed by Great Britain at 4:19.177, Italy at 4:21.543 and New Zealand at 4:23.530.