France continues team sprint tradition

The men's team sprint went the way one might have expected, with France continuing its season-long domination of the three-man, three-lap discipline. For Germany the gold medal final was frought with mistakes, while for the French it was another picture perfect performance at warp speed.

It was team sprint gold number five and the sixth rainbow jersey for 26-year-old Grégory Baugé, while for Kévin Sireau, it was the third rainbow jersey in the discipline. It was a special victory which Sireau dedicated to his young son, who was born while the 23-year-old was racing the World Cup in Cali, Colombia.

Michaël d'Almeida, also 23, gained his first career rainbow jersey and became part of a continuing tradition of French sprint champions - the country has now claimed 6 of the last 10 team sprint titles.

The French set a 43.867 en route to gold, a solid wallop to the German's 44.483.

The win was especially sweet for d'Almeida after being part of the team that fell to Germany in the gold medal final last year. "Last year I had the fastest last lap, but our team still took second, and the other years when France won I was not on the team, so this is very satisfying," d'Almeida.

Germany's Max Levy was annoyed that he and his teammates Stefan Nimke and Rene Enders didn't live up to their potential to defend last year's world title. "We didn't show what our main strength is today - to ride as a team - everyone was riding alone so we're not so happy.

"The first lap was great, but I couldn't follow the way I should, and same as our guy in third position. Everyone did a single race, and it's a team sprint - not a single sprint.

"We have to ride as a team again - like we did last year. It's necessary to train together more, more, more. We need some more power training so we can go as a team and everyone can have the slipstream of the rider in front of him."

Sir Chris Hoy led the British squad with Jason Kenny and Matthew Crampton to its second world bronze medal in a row, but rather than show disappointment, the Scot saw the result as a progression and focused on the team's time (44.235 to Australia's 45.241), and looked toward defending the team's 2008 Olympic medal instead.

"I think it's encouraging. The gap [to the other teams] is coming down. Pre-Beijing we didn't win the world title - we haven't won a world title since 2005. I'd happily trade in any gold medals between now and London for the important one in the Olympics.

"I think Jason was a fraction down on the French and Germans at the start, but I think it's our best performance as a team since Beijing. We may have won the odd World Cup, but not been against the strongest opposition, so it's good to get a proper marker of where we are.

"There's a lot of work to be done, we're not unrealistic in that respect, but I think it's encouraging and we'll be looking for areas to improve."

France fastest in qualifying

France has been the fastest group of sprinters throughout the season, and they showed they're still on form by setting the quickest qualifying time in the team sprint, a 43.951.

The big surprise came from Germany, who pipped Great Britain by 27 thousandths of a second to enter the gold medal final. It is the second consecutive year the Olympic champions have failed to contend for the rainbow bands.

It was also Britain's second disappointment of the night after its men's pursuit team was knocked to the bronze medal final. They set a 44.128 to Germany's 44.101, while Australian was at a fairly distant 44.501 to nudge out Russia for the last spot in the final round.

Qualifying Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1France0:00:43.951
Row 1 - Cell 0 Michaël D'AlmeidaRow 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Gregory BaugeRow 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Kévin SireauRow 3 - Cell 2
2Germany0:00:44.101
Row 5 - Cell 0 Rene EndersRow 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Maximilian LevyRow 6 - Cell 2
Row 7 - Cell 0 Stefan NimkeRow 7 - Cell 2
3Great Britain0:00:44.128
Row 9 - Cell 0 Matthew CramptonRow 9 - Cell 2
Row 10 - Cell 0 Chris HoyRow 10 - Cell 2
Row 11 - Cell 0 Jason KennyRow 11 - Cell 2
4Australia0:00:44.501
Row 13 - Cell 0 Jason NiblettRow 13 - Cell 2
Row 14 - Cell 0 Scott SunderlandRow 14 - Cell 2
Row 15 - Cell 0 Daniel EllisRow 15 - Cell 2
5Russian Federation0:00:44.805
Row 17 - Cell 0 Sergey KucherovRow 17 - Cell 2
Row 18 - Cell 0 Denis DmitrievRow 18 - Cell 2
Row 19 - Cell 0 Pavel YakushevskiyRow 19 - Cell 2
6New Zealand0:00:45.032
Row 21 - Cell 0 Sam WebsterRow 21 - Cell 2
Row 22 - Cell 0 Edward DawkinsRow 22 - Cell 2
Row 23 - Cell 0 Ethan MitchellRow 23 - Cell 2
7Netherlands0:00:45.047
Row 25 - Cell 0 Hugo HaakRow 25 - Cell 2
Row 26 - Cell 0 Roy Van Den BergRow 26 - Cell 2
Row 27 - Cell 0 Teun MulderRow 27 - Cell 2
8People's Republic of China0:00:45.112
Row 29 - Cell 0 Miao ZhangRow 29 - Cell 2
Row 30 - Cell 0 Lei ZhangRow 30 - Cell 2
Row 31 - Cell 0 Changsong ChengRow 31 - Cell 2
9Poland0:00:45.217
Row 33 - Cell 0 Kamil KuczynskiRow 33 - Cell 2
Row 34 - Cell 0 Damian ZielinskiRow 34 - Cell 2
Row 35 - Cell 0 Maciej BieleckiRow 35 - Cell 2
10Japan0:00:45.462
Row 37 - Cell 0 Kazuki AmagaiRow 37 - Cell 2
Row 38 - Cell 0 Yudai NittaRow 38 - Cell 2
Row 39 - Cell 0 Kazunari WatanabeRow 39 - Cell 2
11Czech Republic0:00:45.913
Row 41 - Cell 0 Denis SpickaRow 41 - Cell 2
Row 42 - Cell 0 Tomas BabekRow 42 - Cell 2
Row 43 - Cell 0 Adam PtacnikRow 43 - Cell 2
12United States Of America0:00:46.190
Row 45 - Cell 0 Dean TracyRow 45 - Cell 2
Row 46 - Cell 0 Michael BlatchfordRow 46 - Cell 2
Row 47 - Cell 0 Giddeon MassieRow 47 - Cell 2
13Spain0:00:46.294
Row 49 - Cell 0 Juan Peralta GasconRow 49 - Cell 2
Row 50 - Cell 0 Ruben Donet GregoriRow 50 - Cell 2
Row 51 - Cell 0 Itmar Esteban HerraizRow 51 - Cell 2
14Venezuela0:00:46.309
Row 53 - Cell 0 Angel Ramiro Pulgar AraujoRow 53 - Cell 2
Row 54 - Cell 0 Cesar Mervin Marcano SanchezRow 54 - Cell 2
Row 55 - Cell 0 Hersony Gadiel Canelon VeraRow 55 - Cell 2
15Malaysia0:00:46.470
Row 57 - Cell 0 Josiah Ng Onn LamRow 57 - Cell 2
Row 58 - Cell 0 Muhammad Edrus Md YunosRow 58 - Cell 2
Row 59 - Cell 0 Mohd Rizal TisinRow 59 - Cell 2
16Colombia0:00:46.589
Row 61 - Cell 0 Christian Leandro Tamayo SaavedraRow 61 - Cell 2
Row 62 - Cell 0 Ruben Dario Murillo MinotaRow 62 - Cell 2
Row 63 - Cell 0 Puerta Zapata Fabian HernandoRow 63 - Cell 2
17GreeceRow 64 - Cell 2
Row 65 - Cell 0 Konstantinos ChristodoulouRow 65 - Cell 2
Row 66 - Cell 0 Zafeirios VolikakisRow 66 - Cell 2
Row 67 - Cell 0 Christos VolikakisRow 67 - Cell 2
18CanadaRow 68 - Cell 2
Row 69 - Cell 0 Scott MulderRow 69 - Cell 2
Row 70 - Cell 0 Hugo BarretteRow 70 - Cell 2
Row 71 - Cell 0 Thomas HumsRow 71 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Team sprint finals - Gold medal round
1France0:00:43.867
Row 1 - Cell 0 Michaël D'AlmeidaRow 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Gregory BaugeRow 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Kévin SireauRow 3 - Cell 2
2Germany0:00:44.483
Row 5 - Cell 0 Rene EndersRow 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Maximilian LevyRow 6 - Cell 2
Row 7 - Cell 0 Stefan NimkeRow 7 - Cell 2
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Team sprint finals - Bronze medal round
3Great Britain0:00:44.235
Row 1 - Cell 0 Matthew CramptonRow 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Chris HoyRow 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Jason KennyRow 3 - Cell 2
4Australia0:00:45.241
Row 5 - Cell 0 Daniel EllisRow 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Matthew GlaetzerRow 6 - Cell 2
Row 7 - Cell 0 Jason NiblettRow 7 - Cell 2

 

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1