France continues team sprint tradition
Germany comes apart, British pull together in finale
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
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | France | 0:00:43.951 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Michaël D'Almeida | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Gregory Bauge | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Kévin Sireau | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
2 | Germany | 0:00:44.101 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Rene Enders | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
Row 6 - Cell 0 | Maximilian Levy | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Stefan Nimke | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
3 | Great Britain | 0:00:44.128 |
Row 9 - Cell 0 | Matthew Crampton | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
Row 10 - Cell 0 | Chris Hoy | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
Row 11 - Cell 0 | Jason Kenny | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
4 | Australia | 0:00:44.501 |
Row 13 - Cell 0 | Jason Niblett | Row 13 - Cell 2 |
Row 14 - Cell 0 | Scott Sunderland | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
Row 15 - Cell 0 | Daniel Ellis | Row 15 - Cell 2 |
5 | Russian Federation | 0:00:44.805 |
Row 17 - Cell 0 | Sergey Kucherov | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
Row 18 - Cell 0 | Denis Dmitriev | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
Row 19 - Cell 0 | Pavel Yakushevskiy | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
6 | New Zealand | 0:00:45.032 |
Row 21 - Cell 0 | Sam Webster | Row 21 - Cell 2 |
Row 22 - Cell 0 | Edward Dawkins | Row 22 - Cell 2 |
Row 23 - Cell 0 | Ethan Mitchell | Row 23 - Cell 2 |
7 | Netherlands | 0:00:45.047 |
Row 25 - Cell 0 | Hugo Haak | Row 25 - Cell 2 |
Row 26 - Cell 0 | Roy Van Den Berg | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
Row 27 - Cell 0 | Teun Mulder | Row 27 - Cell 2 |
8 | People's Republic of China | 0:00:45.112 |
Row 29 - Cell 0 | Miao Zhang | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
Row 30 - Cell 0 | Lei Zhang | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
Row 31 - Cell 0 | Changsong Cheng | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
9 | Poland | 0:00:45.217 |
Row 33 - Cell 0 | Kamil Kuczynski | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
Row 34 - Cell 0 | Damian Zielinski | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
Row 35 - Cell 0 | Maciej Bielecki | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
10 | Japan | 0:00:45.462 |
Row 37 - Cell 0 | Kazuki Amagai | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
Row 38 - Cell 0 | Yudai Nitta | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
Row 39 - Cell 0 | Kazunari Watanabe | Row 39 - Cell 2 |
11 | Czech Republic | 0:00:45.913 |
Row 41 - Cell 0 | Denis Spicka | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
Row 42 - Cell 0 | Tomas Babek | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
Row 43 - Cell 0 | Adam Ptacnik | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
12 | United States Of America | 0:00:46.190 |
Row 45 - Cell 0 | Dean Tracy | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
Row 46 - Cell 0 | Michael Blatchford | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
Row 47 - Cell 0 | Giddeon Massie | Row 47 - Cell 2 |
13 | Spain | 0:00:46.294 |
Row 49 - Cell 0 | Juan Peralta Gascon | Row 49 - Cell 2 |
Row 50 - Cell 0 | Ruben Donet Gregori | Row 50 - Cell 2 |
Row 51 - Cell 0 | Itmar Esteban Herraiz | Row 51 - Cell 2 |
14 | Venezuela | 0:00:46.309 |
Row 53 - Cell 0 | Angel Ramiro Pulgar Araujo | Row 53 - Cell 2 |
Row 54 - Cell 0 | Cesar Mervin Marcano Sanchez | Row 54 - Cell 2 |
Row 55 - Cell 0 | Hersony Gadiel Canelon Vera | Row 55 - Cell 2 |
15 | Malaysia | 0:00:46.470 |
Row 57 - Cell 0 | Josiah Ng Onn Lam | Row 57 - Cell 2 |
Row 58 - Cell 0 | Muhammad Edrus Md Yunos | Row 58 - Cell 2 |
Row 59 - Cell 0 | Mohd Rizal Tisin | Row 59 - Cell 2 |
16 | Colombia | 0:00:46.589 |
Row 61 - Cell 0 | Christian Leandro Tamayo Saavedra | Row 61 - Cell 2 |
Row 62 - Cell 0 | Ruben Dario Murillo Minota | Row 62 - Cell 2 |
Row 63 - Cell 0 | Puerta Zapata Fabian Hernando | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
17 | Greece | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
Row 65 - Cell 0 | Konstantinos Christodoulou | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
Row 66 - Cell 0 | Zafeirios Volikakis | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
Row 67 - Cell 0 | Christos Volikakis | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
18 | Canada | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
Row 69 - Cell 0 | Scott Mulder | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
Row 70 - Cell 0 | Hugo Barrette | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
Row 71 - Cell 0 | Thomas Hums | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
1 | France | 0:00:43.867 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Michaël D'Almeida | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Gregory Bauge | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Kévin Sireau | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
2 | Germany | 0:00:44.483 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Rene Enders | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
Row 6 - Cell 0 | Maximilian Levy | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Stefan Nimke | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
3 | Great Britain | 0:00:44.235 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Matthew Crampton | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Chris Hoy | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Jason Kenny | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
4 | Australia | 0:00:45.241 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Daniel Ellis | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
Row 6 - Cell 0 | Matthew Glaetzer | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Jason Niblett | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
Most Popular
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Katy Marchant fractures arm in high-speed crash into crowd at Track Champions League
No other serious injuries reported from Marchant and Alessa-Catriona Pröpster flying over barrier - video -
Cabras Cyclocross World Cup cancelled due to extreme winds
Weather wreak havoc on course in Sardinia -
‘I will never really drop the Spring Classics for a GC’ - Lotte Kopecky
World champion has shown that both can be combined successfully in a season -
Eric Brunner running, literally, towards third elite men's US cyclocross title and better grid position at European races
'The LA games are 100% on my mind' says multi-discipline rider as he begins long-term path to 2028 Olympic Games