Meyer and Howard steal the show

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Reigning world madison champions Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer showed their solid form in the lead up to this month's 2011 UCI Track World Championships, taking out the Bendigo International Madison on Sunday night.

There were some nervous moments in the afternoon with a rain shower with last year's event cancelled due to heavy rain, however the weather Gods smiled on Bendigo and the race went ahead.

The pair didn't have it all their own way with strong opposition from Glenn O'Shea and Tim Decker, Kiwi pairing Shane Archbold and Tom Scully, along Germany's Leif Lampater and Dutch partner Leon van Bon.

Howard and Meyer stole three laps on the field, the first on the 98th of the 200-lap duel, followed again by attacks at 27 to go and then three from the finish.

"After 40-50 laps they [O'Shea and Dekker] were well in front of us on sprints," Howard explained to the Bendigo Advertiser.

"They gained a half-lap on us, so it was important to catch them."

With his victory last night, Howard has now won the title three times, the first two coming with O'Shea in 2008 and 2009.

"Every win here is equally special. The first two with Glenn, the hometown hero, were fantastic," he said, joining Keith Oliver and Bob Whetters as winners of three consecutive Bendigo Madison.

"To win with Cameron and to win so well is an incredible feeling."

Meyer said he and Howard were confident of securing the win.

"Everything went much to plan," he explained. "The plan was to back our ability to take laps.

"We never thought we could get three, but we went in with good form after a week-long training camp leading into the world titles."

Archbold and Scully finished in second place on 65 sprint points, they too will now finialise their preparations for the world championships. Dekker and O'Shea rounded out the podium with 51 points while Lampater and Van Bon scored 47 points to be fourth.

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