New Zealand win men's Madison on final day of Cambridge Track World Cup

The New Zealand pairing of Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart brought the curtain down on a successful Cambridge Track World Cup for the host nation by winning the men’s Madison on Sunday. Gate and Stewart scored a comprehensive victory of the Australian duo of Kelland O’Brien and Cameron Meyer.

The New Zealanders gained a lap early on, and though the Australian pair fought back, Gate and Stewart ultimately lapped the field on four occasions in total to score 129 points, finishing some 42 points clear of Australia. Italy’s Michele Scartezzini and Francesco Lamon took third.

“After we got ahead, we were able to follow and cover them and make sure we were picking up enough points to open the gap and then we were able to pick up another lap at the end which gave us the buffer,” Stewart said of the tussle with the Australian pairing.

In the men’s scratch race, Roman Gladysh (Ukraine) soloed to victory after breaking clear with 12 laps to go and holding off the chasers. Roy Eefting (Netherlands) took silver ahead of Christos Volikakis (Greece). “This is my first gold medal at a World Cup. I’m very happy with my day,” said Gladysh.

Mateusz Rudyk (Poland) was a dominant winner in the men’s sprint. He was the quickest rider in qualifying when he set a track record, and he then remained unbeaten through all of his head-to-head races. He beat Tomohiro Fukaya (Japan) 2-0 in the final to take gold, while Yudai Nitta (Japan) beat Nathan Hart (Australia) to the bronze medal.

Kajihara beats Valente to women's omnium

Yumi Kajihara (Japan) claimed her second successive World Cup win in the women’s omnium with a very complete display across the four events. She began by winning the scratch race and maintained her lead by placing second in both the temp and elimination races. Kajihara defended her advantage by placing 5th in the final points race.

Jennifer Valente (USA) placed second in the women’s omnium, 11 points behind Kajihara, while Allison Beveridge (Canada) completed the podium, a further 7 points adrift.

“I’m very, very happy,” Kajihara said. “I will try very hard to compete at the Tokyo Olympics and I’ll be very prepared.”

Hyejin Lee (South Korea) won the women’s keirin by beating Lauriane Genest (Canada) and Stephanie Morton (Australia) to gold in the final. It was the Korean’s second successive World Cup win. Morton, meanwhile, will take heart from this display following her knee surgery and she will look to the Brisbane World Cup with confidence.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming into this week,” Morton said. “First real big race back since the op and I’m really happy with where I’ve landed, really happy with the progression and looking forward to Brisbane.”

Men's Sprint

Men's Madison

Men's Scratch Race

Women's Keirin

Women's Omnium