Meares back on top in 500m TT

Meares tops Pendleton in 500m TT

Australia's Anna Meares conquered a truly world class field to win the Women's 500 metre time trial on Saturday night in Manchester. A two-time World Champion and Olympic gold medallist in the event, Meares started in the final pairing and stopped the clock in 33.632, to snatch victory from Victoria Pendleton (Sky+ HD) and Willy Kanis (Netherlands).

"I’m really happy. It’s nice to get a good ride as it’s been a while since I’ve raced internationally, since Beijing actually," said Meares, who was knocked out of the women's sprint final on Friday by China's Shuang Guo. "The sprint wasn’t the result I was looking for, but as it’s been so long I was quite nervous and very rusty so I was content to get in the top five."

Tension had built as times dropped steadily throughout the ten heats. Hong Kong's Wal Sze Lee was a popular early leader. She was the first to drop below 35 seconds, with 34.844. However, Lee's time wasn’t to stand for long, as China's Jinjie Gong (34.302) and Belorussian Olga Panarina (34.280) bumped one another down the timesheet.

But as expected it was the final two pairings that would decide the medals. Dutchwoman Willy Kanis was the only one of the final four riders who had missed out on a medal at the World Championships in March. Drawn against a heavily backed Pendleton, she led the Briton through the first lap, but slipped behind in the final 250 metres to record 33.984. Pendleton finished in 33.838 and had a short, but anxious wait to see whether her personal best time would be enough to keep her in the gold medal position.

Moments after Pendleton had completed her lap, Meares strode out on to the Manchester track. On the opposite side of the track would be Simona Krupeckaite, giving the Australian the opportunity to avenge her loss to the Lithuanian at this the World Championships.

Meares got off to a rapid start and quickly dismissed any international competition cobwebs to claim the fastest intermediate time checks of the evening. While Meares rode to a time two tenths faster than Pendleton's mark, Krupeckaite flattered to deceive and was only able to secure fourth place, with 34.066, almost a full second outside her own World record.

For Meares however, victory was a welcome return to winning form ahead of her team sprint final. "The more this tournament has moved on the more comfortable I’ve been getting. I love riding the team sprint and I’m looking forward to that later on this evening."

Pendleton, too, was satisfied with her silver medal performance. "That’s a personal best for me so I’m pleased. I did it on drops and that was a little less aerodynamic, but I thought that was best in practice."

Houvenaghel claims women's pursuit gold

Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) won the women’s individual pursuit in Manchester, beating former junior world champion Josephine Tomic (Australia) into second. Vera Koedoorer (Netherlands) took the bronze, relegating Liere Olaberria (Spain) to fourth.

Houvenaghel set a blistering pace in the qualifying round of 3:30.800 and looked set to match that time over the opening laps as she set about catching her less experienced opponent.

“The ride was something that I hadn’t realty targeted for this World Cup bearing in mind the changes to the Olympic programme, so my main focus is tomorrow and the team pursuit. But today went well and it’s something that I’ve picked up from last year’s World Cup series. Our coaching programme is being revised and it will reflect the Olympic programme that will take place in London,” said Houvenaghel.

With a partisan crowd urging her on Houvenaghel gained time on each lap and caught a despairing Tomic within the final few laps. Despite pushing all the way to the finish Houvenaghel was unable to beat her qualifying time, finishing in 3:31.929.

“Wendy is much faster than me in qualifying and has a lot more experience than me. It’s only my second year doing this event. I was trying to do a personal best, but it didn’t happen. She was just too good for me tonight,” Tomic told Cyclingnews.

The race for the bronze should have been a much closer affair but Olaberria set off at a blistering pace but faded in the final laps just Koedoorer started to apply the pressure.

Belgium nabs gold in Men's Madison

The Belgian combination of Kenny De Ketele and Tim Mertens put on a demonstration of tactical Madison riding to take victory in front of an appreciative Manchester crowd. With no laps taken throughout the race, consistency was the key to the Belgian's victory as they finished one point clear of German pair of Roger Kluge and Robert Bartko. Russia's Sergey and Alexey Shmidt claimed bronze.

Australia's Leigh Howard and Glenn O'Shea were the most enthusiastic duo in the opening laps of the race and were rewarded with victory at the first sprint. Belgium was attentive and took second. The European teams appeared happy to allow the race to settle as the Australians traded blows with the Lokomotiv Russia (Kirill Yatsevich and Alexander Petrovskiy).

At the second sprint Russia (Sergey and Shmidt) chalked up their first points with the maximum available. They scored again at the next sprint, too, as Belgium nestled into second overall.

Germany came to the fore and collected points at each of the next three sprints, a tally that moved them into a joint lead with the Belgians. Despite determined efforts by the Spanish and Dutch teams to snatch a lap, it was the USA's Daniel Holloway and Colby Pearce who looked the most likely to succeed. The two Americans stretched out to a half a lap lead, but couldn't press hard enough before the sixth sprint.

The USA claimed the sprint, but the pressure exerted by the teams behind for the minor placings nullified the attack shortly thereafter. The Dutch and Spanish once again tried to move away, but by the time the race reached the penultimate opportunity for points, De Ketele had closed the gap and swung past to push his team into the outright lead.

With ten laps to go and Germany and Russia locked in a battle for silver and bronze, the impetus to take a lap fell out of the bunch. Germany took the final sprint, but fourth place for the Belgians gave them the point that they needed to seal their win.

Hoy claims another gold in men's sprint

Sir Chris (Sky) Hoy reigned supreme in the sprint final, providing the home crowd with a virtuoso display in sprinting as he took the gold medal ahead of Matthew Crampton (GBR). Hoy won both contests in their match up while Jason Kenny rounded out the podium for the home nation by beating Australia’s Shane Perkins in the bronze medal contest by two rounds to zero.

“I was trying to build on my performance at nationals but to do a 9:86 today was really pleasing. Other than in Beijing it was my fastest ever time and I think that Beijing is a faster track than Manchester for 200s.

"The team performance throughout the weekend has been brilliant and we have more events to come. I’ve said it before but we’re looking forward now and not looking back to the success we had in Beijing,” Hoy said, before praising his two young podium compatriots.

“Sometimes Matt and Jason are faster than me in training and if they weren’t around I wouldn’t be performing. They inspire me,” Hoy said.

In Race 1 of the final Hoy beat Crampton by a bike length, and repeated the feat in the second and decisive contest.

“There were a few big guns missing from this event but it was good,” Crampton said. “I’ll keep chipping away and if I can nip some time off it’ll be good. Chris is still the man to beat though."

Kenny won his first sprint against Shane Perkins (Australia). In the second heat the pair went shoulder to shoulder in the final lap with Kenny narrowly edging out Perkins, guaranteeing Great Britain a clean sweep of the medals.

Earlier in the evening Chris Hoy (Sky) powered through to the final beating Shane Perkins (AUS) in a one sided contest. In the first race Hoy left a large gap develop as he let Perkins dangle on the front before the manoeuvre of the World Cup so far as he dived down from the top of the banking with Perkins caught napping and unable to respond. In their second match up Hoy flipped tactics, dictating the action from the front and setting to out pace Perkins to the line.

The second semi final was a much tougher affair with Matthew Crampton eventually edging out compatriot and training partner Jason Kenny by two rounds to one. Crampton won Race 1, coming over the top of Kenny in the final meters. But Kenny fought back to take Race 2 before Crampton saw off Kenny with a powerful burst of speed that left him trailing home.

Meares doubles gold tally in women's team sprint

World Champion pairing Anna Meares and Kaarle Mcculloch won gold in the Women’s Team Sprint, beating the Dutch team of Yvonne Hijgenaar and Willy Kanis into silver. Germany rounded out the medals to take bronze ahead of the British team of Jessica Varnish and Rebecca James.

Australia had qualified fastest and as World Champions went into the final as favourites before producing a time of 33:653 to take gold.

“My preparation was hampered by sickness but I’m pleased to take gold,” said McCulloch.

It was Meares’s second gold of the evening after winning the 500 meter time trial. “It’s been great but I’ve done a lot of work to get here. I wanted to get the season off to good note,” she said.

Women's Points race

Lizzie Armitstead closed the second night of competition at the Manchester World Cup with a stellar performance in the women's points race. In a comprehensive victory, Armitstead took the final two sprints, including the finale at the line, to win by a clear margin from Yumari Gonzalez (Cuba) and Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russia).

After a nervous start to the race Gonzalez opened the first of the eight sprints with a win. Russia's Romanyuta levelled with her Cuban colleague at the next opportunity, as Armitstead grabbed her first points with second in the sprint.

With nerves settled by the opening pair of sprints, Switzerland's Andrea Wolfer, France's Pascale Jeuland and World road race Champion Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) took their leave from the main pack. Wolfer and Guderzo stayed out in front long enough to secure a sprint each. However, their forays were brought to naught and Czech Jarmila Machacova scored in the fifth sprint to move into a narrow outright lead with seven points. Boxed in, Armitstead managed to nab third place, but was left in a gaggle of girls level on five points.

A concerted attack by Belorussian Tatsiana Sharakova pulled her into a share of the lead with Gonzalez, while Armitstead gained another point. With two sprints to race, the Briton played her cards. She chose to ride high on the banking to avoid the squeeze on the inside of the track, but needn't have worried as she moved into the lead for the first time.

With the partisan crowd brought to their feet by the penultimate sprint, Armitstead positioned herself once more for the final dash to the line. The order at the finish reflected the final podium as Armitstead left Gonzalez and Romanyuta mopped up the minor points.

With a clear points margin and a comfortable win in the final sprint, Armitstead had appeared to complete the race on her own terms. However a tired, though elated Armitstead admitted that the victory hadn't come easily. "I was talking to my coach and he was saying I was in second. I won [that second last] sprint and went into the lead," she said afterwards.

"Coming into this I wasn’t sure about my form though. It was one of the hardest points races I’ve ever done. They’re hard enough when you’ve got form but when you’re slightly off they’re just painful from beginning to end."
 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Women's 500m TT Final
1Anna Meares (Aus) Australia0.33.632
2Victoria Pendleton (GBr) Team Sky + HD0.33.838
3Willy Kanis (Ned) Netherlands0.33.984
4Simona Krupeckaite (Ltu) Lithuania0.34.066
5Olga Panarina (Blr) Belarus0.34.280
6Jinjie Gong (Chn) People's Republic of China0.34.302
7Miriam Welte (Ger) Germany0.34.359
8Wai Sze Lee (HKg) Hong Kong0.34.844
9Virginie Cueff (Fra) France0.35.191
10Elisa Frisoni (Ita) Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre0.35.506
11Renata Dabrowska (Pol) Poland0.35.660
12Helena Casas Roige (Spa) Catalunya0.35.770
13Victoria Baranova (Rus) Russian Federation0.35.827
14Angeliki Koutsonikoli (Gre) Greece0.36.865
15Fatehah Mustapa (Mas) Malaysia0.36.942
16Sumaia Ribeiro (Bra) Brazil0.37.381
17Ainhoa Pagola Alvarez (Spa) Fullgasnutrition.net0.37.434
18Pelin Cizgin (Aut) Austria0.37.854
19Estefany Marisol Tinajero Cobos (Mex) Mexico0.39.012
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Women's Individual Pursuit Final
1Wendy Houvenaghel (GBr) Great Britain0:03:31.929
2Josephine Tomic (Aus) AustraliaLapped
3Vera Koedooder (Ned) Netherlands0:03:41.522
4Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spa) Spain0:03:42.255
5Lada Kozlikova (Cze) Czech RepublicRow 4 - Cell 2
6Verena Joos (Ger) GermanyRow 5 - Cell 2
7Ausrine Trebaite (Ltu) LithuaniaRow 6 - Cell 2
8Elissavet Chantzi (Gre) GreeceRow 7 - Cell 2
9Victoria Kondel (Rus) Russian FederationRow 8 - Cell 2
10Edyta Jasinska (Pol) PolandRow 9 - Cell 2
11Kimberly Geist (USA) United States of AmericaRow 10 - Cell 2
12Fiona Dutriaux (Fra) FranceRow 11 - Cell 2
13Jessie Daams (Bel) BelgiumRow 12 - Cell 2
14Lotte Van  Hoek (Ned) RodinRow 13 - Cell 2
15Olatz Ferran Zubilaga (Spa) Fullgasnutrition.netRow 14 - Cell 2
16Ana Usabiaga  Balerdi (Spa) Cespa-EuskadiRow 15 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Men's Sprint Semifinal Heat 1
1Chris Hoy (GBr) Team Sky + HD0.10.3130.10.523
2Shane Perkins (Aus) AustraliaRow 1 - Cell 2 Row 1 - Cell 3
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Men's Sprint Semifinal Heat 2
1Matthew Crampton (GBr) Great Britain0.10.5450.10.822
2Jason Kenny (GBr) Great Britain0.10.539Row 1 - Cell 3
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Men's Sprint Final
1Chris Hoy (GBr) Team Sky + HD0.10.3400.10.259
2Matthew Crampton (GBr) Great BritainRow 1 - Cell 2 Row 1 - Cell 3
3Jason Kenny (GBr) Great Britain0.10.6110.10.700
4Shane Perkins (Aus) AustraliaRow 3 - Cell 2 Row 3 - Cell 3
5Ross Edgar (GBr) Team Sky + HDRow 4 - Cell 2 Row 4 - Cell 3
6Damian Zielinski (Pol) PolandRow 5 - Cell 2 Row 5 - Cell 3
7Daniel Ellis (Aus) Team JaycoRow 6 - Cell 2 Row 6 - Cell 3
8Michaël D'Almeida (Fra) US CreteiRow 7 - Cell 2 Row 7 - Cell 3
9Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Pol) Alks Stal GrudziaduzRow 8 - Cell 2 Row 8 - Cell 3
10Lei Zhang (Chn) People's Republic of ChinaRow 9 - Cell 2 Row 9 - Cell 3
11Tobias Wachter (Ger) GermanyRow 10 - Cell 2 Row 10 - Cell 3
12Maximilian Levy (Ger) GermanyRow 11 - Cell 2 Row 11 - Cell 3
13Kazunari Watanabe (Jpn) JapanRow 12 - Cell 2 Row 12 - Cell 3
14Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team JaycoRow 13 - Cell 2 Row 13 - Cell 3
15François Pervis (Fra) CofidisRow 14 - Cell 2 Row 14 - Cell 3
16Andrii Vynokurov (Ukr) UkraineRow 15 - Cell 2 Row 15 - Cell 3
17Azizulhasni Awang (Mas) Bike Technologies AustraliaRow 16 - Cell 2 Row 16 - Cell 3
18Adrian Teklinski (Pol) Alks Stal GrudziaduzRow 17 - Cell 2 Row 17 - Cell 3
19Qi Tang (Chn) People's Republic of ChinaRow 18 - Cell 2 Row 18 - Cell 3
20Teun Mulder (Ned) CofidisRow 19 - Cell 2 Row 19 - Cell 3
21Tomas Babek (Cze) Czech RepublicRow 20 - Cell 2 Row 20 - Cell 3
22Denis Dmitriev (Rus) Moscow Track TeamRow 21 - Cell 2 Row 21 - Cell 3
23Anton Lapshinau (Blr) BelarusRow 22 - Cell 2 Row 22 - Cell 3
24Adrien Doucet (Fra) FranceRow 23 - Cell 2 Row 23 - Cell 3
25Charlie Conord (Fra) US CreteiRow 24 - Cell 2 Row 24 - Cell 3
26Ilya Okunev (Rus) Russian FederationRow 25 - Cell 2 Row 25 - Cell 3
27Maciej Bielecki (Pol) PolandRow 26 - Cell 2 Row 26 - Cell 3
28Roy Van Den Berg (Ned) NetherlandsRow 27 - Cell 2 Row 27 - Cell 3
29Filip Ditzel (Cze) Czech RepublicRow 28 - Cell 2 Row 28 - Cell 3
30Zafeirios Volikakis (Gre) GreeceRow 29 - Cell 2 Row 29 - Cell 3
31Vasileios Reppas (Gre) GreeceRow 30 - Cell 2 Row 30 - Cell 3
32Sergey Kucherov (Rus) Moscow Track TeamRow 31 - Cell 2 Row 31 - Cell 3
33Francesco Ceci (Ita) ItalyRow 32 - Cell 2 Row 32 - Cell 3
34Edrus Md Yunos (Mas) MalaysiaRow 33 - Cell 2 Row 33 - Cell 3
35Thomas Bonafos (Fra) FranceRow 34 - Cell 2 Row 34 - Cell 3
36Pavel Yakushevskiy (Rus) Russian FederationRow 35 - Cell 2 Row 35 - Cell 3
37Clemens Selzer (Aut) AustriaRow 36 - Cell 2 Row 36 - Cell 3
38Tomokazu Sato (Jpn) JapanRow 37 - Cell 2 Row 37 - Cell 3
39Alfredo Moreno Cano (Spa) CatalunyaRow 38 - Cell 2 Row 38 - Cell 3
40Yorrick Bos (Ned) NetherlandsRow 39 - Cell 2 Row 39 - Cell 3
41Artem Frolov (Ukr) UkraineRow 40 - Cell 2 Row 40 - Cell 3
42Sergio Aliaga Chivite (Spa) Calapie-Reyno de NavarraRow 41 - Cell 2 Row 41 - Cell 3
43Itmar Esteban Herraiz (Spa) CatalunyaRow 42 - Cell 2 Row 42 - Cell 3
44Hariff Saleh (Mas) MalaysiaRow 43 - Cell 2 Row 43 - Cell 3
45David Askurava (Geo) GeorgiaRow 44 - Cell 2 Row 44 - Cell 3
46Juan Peralta Gascon (Spa) Calapie-Reyno de NavarraRow 45 - Cell 2 Row 45 - Cell 3
47Oscar Ezker Martin (Spa) Fullgasnutrition.netRow 46 - Cell 2 Row 46 - Cell 3
48Velasquez Morales Santiago (Col) ColombiaRow 47 - Cell 2 Row 47 - Cell 3
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Women's Team Sprint Final
1Kaarle McCulloch / Anna Meares (Aus) Australia0.33.653
2Yvonne Hijgenaar / Willy Kanis (Ned) Netherlands0.34.014
3Dana Glöss / Miriam Welte (Ger) Germany0.34.390
4Rebecca James / Jessica Varnish (GBr) Great Britain0.34.414
5RussiaRow 4 - Cell 2
6LithuaniaRow 5 - Cell 2
7FranceRow 6 - Cell 2
8PolandRow 7 - Cell 2
9Hong KongRow 8 - Cell 2
10GreeceRow 9 - Cell 2
11CatalunyaRow 10 - Cell 2
12MexicoRow 11 - Cell 2
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Men's Madison Final
1Kenny De Ketele / Tim Mertens (Bel) Belgium17pts
2Roger Kluge / Robert Bartko (Ger) Germany16Row 1 - Cell 3
3Sergey Kolesnikov / Alexey Shmidt (Rus) Russia11Row 2 - Cell 3
4Philip Nielsen / Michael Morkov (Den) Denmark9Row 3 - Cell 3
5Christophe Riblon / Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) France8Row 4 - Cell 3
6Antonio Tauler Llull / Unai Elorriaga Zubiaur (Spa) Spain6Row 5 - Cell 3
7Colby Pearce / Daniel Holloway (USA) United States5Row 6 - Cell 3
8Leigh Howard / Glenn O'shea (Aus) Australia5Row 7 - Cell 3
9Peter Schep / Danny Stam (Ned) Netherlands3Row 8 - Cell 3
10Andreas Graf / Andreas Muller (Aut) Austria2Row 9 - Cell 3
11Elia Viviani / Fabrizio Braggion (Ita) Italy1Row 10 - Cell 3
12Angelo Ciccone / Alex Buttazzoni (Ita) Gruppo Sportivo FiammeRow 11 - Cell 2 Row 11 - Cell 3
13Ho Ting Kwok / Ki Ho Choi (HKG) Hong Kong Pro CyclingRow 12 - Cell 2 Row 12 - Cell 3
14Shane Archbold / Thomas Scully (NZl) New ZealandRow 13 - Cell 2 -1 lap
DNFSilvan Dillier / Claudio Imhof (Swi) SwitzerlandRow 14 - Cell 2 Row 14 - Cell 3
DNFKirill Yatsevich / Alexander Petrovskiy (Rus) KatyushaRow 15 - Cell 2 Row 15 - Cell 3
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Women's Points Race Final
1Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) Great Britain16pts
2Yumari Gonzalez Valdivieso (Cub) Cuba11Row 1 - Cell 3
3Evgeniya Romanyuta (Rus) Russian Federation10Row 2 - Cell 3
4Tatsiana Sharakova (Blr) Belarus8Row 3 - Cell 3
5Belinda Goss (Aus) Australia7Row 4 - Cell 3
6Jarmila Machacova (Cze) Czech Republic7Row 5 - Cell 3
7Elke Gebhardt (Ger) Germany5Row 6 - Cell 3
8Andrea Wolfer (Swi) Switzerland5Row 7 - Cell 3
9Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spa) Spain5Row 8 - Cell 3
10Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) FFA5Row 9 - Cell 3
11Pascale Jeuland (Fra) France4Row 10 - Cell 3
12Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Italy2Row 11 - Cell 3
13Jolien d'Hoore (Bel) Belgium1Row 12 - Cell 3
14Heather Wilson (Irl) Ireland1Row 13 - Cell 3
15Vera Koedooder (Ned) Netherlands1Row 14 - Cell 3
16Wan Yiu Jamie Wong (HKg) Hong Kong, ChinaRow 15 - Cell 2 Row 15 - Cell 3
17Monia Baccaille (Ita) FFARow 16 - Cell 2 Row 16 - Cell 3
18Malgorzata Wojtyra (Pol) PolandRow 17 - Cell 2 Row 17 - Cell 3
19Valentina Scandolara (Ita) ItalyRow 18 - Cell 2 Row 18 - Cell 3
20Penny Day (NZl) PHNRow 19 - Cell 2 Row 19 - Cell 3
21Ausrine Trebaite (Ltu) LithuaniaRow 20 - Cell 2 Row 20 - Cell 3
22Kelly Druyts (Bel) BelgiumRow 21 - Cell 2 Row 21 - Cell 3
DNFSkye Lee Armstrong (Aus) RodinRow 22 - Cell 2 Row 22 - Cell 3
DNFElissavet Chantzi (Gre) GreeceRow 23 - Cell 2 Row 23 - Cell 3

 

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