The second day of the Glasgow round of the UCI Track World Cup was to prove to be no less dramatic than the first, with mixed fortunes for numerous Olympic champions, big crashes in the Men’s Keirin, and two very close Omnium competitions.
Men’s Individual Pursuit goes to the fastest qualifier
Denmark’s Olympic Omnium champion Lasse Norman Hansen was the fastest qualifier in the Men’s Individual Pursuit, which set him up for a final race against Ireland’s Martine Irvine. Once again the Danish specialist was faster than the Irishman, who is to turn professional on the road next season; Hansen took the lead after less than two laps and handed Irvine a second silver medal of the event.
The ride off for bronze also went with qualification, as Spain’s David Muntaner beat New Zealand’s Dylan Kennett. The New Zealander led for most of the first kilometre, but Muntaner soon moved ahead, and took the contest by three and a half seconds.
Result Men’s Individual Pursuit
1. Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark)
2. Martin Irvine (Ireland)
3. David Muntaner (Spain)
4. Dylan Kennett (New Zealand)
Kristina Vogel breaks home hearts in Women’s Sprint
World and Olympic Team Sprint champion Kristina Vogel of Germany proved too much for Great Britain’s Jess Varnish in the Women’s Sprint, as she took just two of the three available legs to beat the younger rider.
The early rounds went largely with the seedings, with Vogel, James, Varnish and Lee having been the fourth fastest qualifiers, which pitted the two British riders against one another in one semi-final, and Vogel and Lee in the other. These also went with qualification, pitting Vogel against Varnish for gold, with the German coming out on top.
James took the silver medal, despite Lee taking it to a third, deciding, leg, while Russian Elena Brezhniva of Petroholding Leningrad won the race for fifth place.
Result Women’s Sprint
1. Kristina Vogel (Germany)
2. Jessica Varnish (Great Britain)
3. Rebecca James (Great Britain)
4. Wai Sze Lee (Hong Kong)
5. Elena Brezhniva (Rus) Petroholding Leningrad
Stefan Boetticher takes a crash-strewn Men’s Keirin
A crash in the Men’s Keirin final saw Germany’s Stefan Boetticher ride clear to take victory, ahead of Australian Peter Lewis of Jayco-AIS and Japan’s Takashi Sakamoto. Great Britain’s Olympic sprint champion Jason Kenny was alongside the German as they took the first bend of the final lap, but the two riders came together, bringing the British rider crashing down.
France’s Quentin Lafarge could do nothing to avoid Kenny as he crashed and came down himself; Kenny was able to get up and slowly complete the race, to take fourth place, but Lafarge stayed down on the infield as he received treatment.
The earlier rounds had also seen crashes, as the second British rider, Lewis Oliva of Team USN, and RusVelo’s Denis Dmitriev were brought down by Australia’s Andrew Taylor in his semi-final, with Oliva having to be stretchered off.
Result Men’s Keirin
1. Stefan Boetticher (Germany)
2. Peter Lewis (Aus) Jayco-AIS
3. Takashi Sakamoto (Japan)
4. Jason Kenny (Great Britain)
5. Quentin Lafarge (France) DNF
The Men’s Omnium goes down to a dramatic final Kilometre
18-year-old British rider Jonathan Dibben gave the home crowd something to cheer with victory in the Individual Pursuit, the first event of the day. Belgian Six-Day star Kenny De Ketele finished second, almost two seconds slower, with World champion Glenn O’Shea of Australian in third.
Fourth place for overnight leader Unai Elorriaga of Spain though, strengthened his lead in the rankings.
A disastrous Scratch Race for the Spanish rider though - where he could only manage 13th as a group of six managed to lap the field - saw hi lead cut to just two points over O’Shea and Germany’s Flying Lap winner Lucas Liss. With three riders within two points of one another, the event was to come down to the final Kilometre time trial.
Riding in the second to last heat - across the track from Switzerland’s Olivier Beer - Liss posted the fastest time to date, with 1:02.768, knocking Dibben off the top spot. Neither Elorriaga nor O’Shea, in the final heat, could match the German - although O’Shea took second place - meaning that Liss took the gold medal by one point over the World champion, with Elorriaga slipping to third.
Result Men’s Omnium Individual Pursuit
1. Jonathan Dibben (Great Britain)
2. Kenny De Ketele (Belgium)
3. Glenn O’Shea (Australia)
4. Unai Elorriaga (Spain)
5. Olivier Beer (Switzerland)
Result Men’s Omnium Scratch Race
1. Mathias Krigbaum (Denmark)
2. Alexey Lyalko (Kazakhstan)
3. Eiya Hashimoto (Japan)
4. Volodymyr Kogut (Ukraine)
5. Kwok Ho Ting (Hong Kong)
Result Men’s Omnium Kilometre
1. Lucas Liss (Germany)
2. Glenn O’Shea (Australia)
3. Jonathan Dibben (Great Britain)
4. Tim Veldt (Netherlands)
5. Kenny De Ketele (Belgium)
Men’s Omnium final overall standings
1. Lucas Liss (Germany) 30pts
2. Glenn O’Shea (Australia) 31
3. Unai Elorriaga (Spain) 35
4. Olivier Beer (Switzerland) 39
5. Jonathan Dibben (Great Britain) 40
Tight at the top of the Women’s Omnium after day one
Australia’s Ashlee Ankudinoff took an early lead in the Women’s Omnium, after posting the fastest time in the Flying Lap, ahead of Spanish rider Leire Olaberria of Fullgas.OrgGipuzkoa, and Poland’s Katarzyna Pawlowska.
Belarusian Tatsiana Sharakova closed the gap to the top in the Points Race, with Lithuanian Ausrine Trebaite in second and Mexico’s Sofia Arreola in third, after the three of them managed to lap the field twice. Ankudinoff could only manage seventh, but held on to her lead by a single point.
Great Britain’s World and Olympic champion Laura Trott warmed up the Glasgow crowd in her specialist Elimination Race however, as she stuck close to the front for most of the race - instead of playing her usual cat and mouse game at the rear - before outsprinting Poland’s Katazyna Pawlowska to take the win. Russia’s Tamara Balabolina took third, keeping the front runners out of the top positions.
After three of the six events Ankudinoff, Pawlowska and Sharakova were tied together on 13 points, with Trott one behind on 14 points, and Trebaite with 15 in fifth.
Result Women’s Omnium Flying Lap
1. Ashlee Ankudinoff (Australia)
2. Leire Olaberria (Spa) Fullgas.OrgGipuzkoa
3. Katarzyna Pawlowska (Poland)
4. Laura Trott (Great Britain)
5. Tamara Balabolina (Russia)
Result Women’s Omnium Points Race
1. Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)
2. Ausrine Trebaite (Lithuania)
3. Sofia Arreola (Mexico)
4. Jennifer Cesar (Venezuela)
5. Mieke Kroeger (Germany)
Result Women’s Omnium Elimination Race
1. Laura Trott (Great Britain)
2. Katazyna Pawlowska (Poland)
3. Tamara Balabolina (Russia)
4. Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)
5. Ashlee Ankudinoff (Australia)
Women’s Omnium standings after three of six events
1. Ashlee Ankudinoff (Australia) 13pts
2. Katazyna Pawlowska (Poland) 13
3. Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus) 13
4. Laura Trott (Great Britain) 14
5. Ausrine Trebaite (Lithuania) 15