The thin air of the Aguascalientes velodrome, in the altitude of central Mexico saw a new World Record set on the same track where the USA’s Sarah Hammer set her Individual Pursuit best almost three years before. Hammer herself was on top form again, in the Omnium this time, while Katarzyna Pawlowska took her second gold medal of the weekend.
Women’s Sprint: The World Record falls in the Mexican altitude
The Women’s Sprint competition began with a new World Record, set by China’s Zhong Tianshi in the 200 metre Qualification ride. The 21-year-old’s time of 10.573 seconds was seven hundredths quicker than the previous best of 10.643, set by Germany’s Miriam Welte in Colorado Springs, USA, the previous June, and almost seven tenths quicker than the qualification time of 11.252, ridden Zhong herself at the Melbourne, Australia, World championships the previous April.
Fastest qualification does not guarantee victory overall, however, and the Chinese rider was beaten by Cuba’s Lisandra Guerra at the quarter final stage.
Final victory went to Zhong’s compatriot Gong Jinjie of Giant Pro Cycling, who took just two of the three rounds to beat Guerra in the race for gold. Third place went to Hong Kong’s Lee Wai Sze, who beat Australia’s Kaarle McCulloch, also in two rounds.
Lee’s third place was more than enough to secure the overall World Cup competition.
Result Women’s Sprint
1. Gong Jinjie (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
2. Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cub) Cuba
3. Lee Wai Sze (HKg) Hong Kong
4. Kaarle McCulloch (Aus) Australia
Women’s Individual Pursuit: Katarzyna Pawlowska takes a second gold
Katarzyna Pawlowska of Poland took her second gold of the event, to add to that taken in the Points Race the previous day, with a powerful victory over Colombia’s Maria Calle Williams. Having qualified the fastest, the Polish rider went six tenths of a second faster in her final round, to record a time of 3:30.390, and beat the Colombian by almost two seconds.
The race for bronze also went with qualification as Australia’s Rebecca Wiasak beat Canadian Laura Brown in the third place race.
Since this - like the Points Race - was the first and only appearance of the Individual Pursuit in the World Cup, Pawlowska took the title to add to that taken the previous day.
Result Women’s Individual Pursuit
1. Katarzyna Pawlowska (Pol) Poland
2. Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Col) Colombia
3. Rebecca Wiasak (Aus) Australia
4. Laura Brown (Can) Canada
Men’s Keirin: Mattijs Buchli takes the race and overall title
The Men’s Keirin was taken by the Netherlands’ Mattijs Buchli in a final that saw Greece’s Christos Volikakis relegated for coming down into the sprinter’s lane. Buchli made his way through to the final after winning his first round race and, although he was beaten by France’s François Pervis in the second round, finished clear of Cyclo Channel Tokyo’s Kazunari Watanabe and Pervis to win the competition.
With few riders having competed in more than one World Cup event, Buchli’s win gave him the overall victory - on equal points with the other two event winners - by virtue of having won the most recent event.
Result Men’s Keirin
1. Mattijs Buchli (Ned) Netherlands
2. Kazunari Watanabe (Jpn) Cyclo Channel Tokyo
3. François Pervis (Fra) France
4. Edgar Ismael Verdugo Osuna (Mex) Mexico
5. Denis Dmitriev (Rus) RusVelo
Men’s Omnium: Artur Ershov completes his total dominance
Overnight leader Artur Ershov (RusVelo) made his dominance of the Men’s Omnium absolute with another impressive display on day two. Victory in the Individual Pursuit increased the Russian’s lead over his nearest rivals, with sixth place in the Scratch Race and Second in the Kilometre giving him a final overall total of just 16 points.
Ershov’s nearest challenger was Frenchman Vivien Brisse, who began the day in third place; despite finishing eleventh, seventh and seventh, poor performances from the other day one performers lifted Brisse into the silver medal position. Ninth and eleventh didn’t look good for the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Rybin, but victory in the final Kilometre secured the 19-year-old a bronze medal.
Sixth place for Switzerland’s Loic Perizzolo was enough to secure him the overall World Cup title, as one of the few riders to have competed in more than one event.
Result Men’s Omnium Individual Pursuit
1. Artur Ershov (Rus) RusVelo
2. David Muntaner Juaneda (Spa) Performance United-Felt
3. Liu Hao (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
4. Volodymyr Kogut (Ukr) Ukraine
5. Loic Perizzolo (Swi) Switzerland
Result Men’s Omnium Scratch Race
1. Raman Tsishkou (Blr) Belarus
2. Volodymyr Kogut (Ukr) Ukraine
3. Eiya Hashimoto (Jpn) Japan
4. Trent Derecourt (Aus) Australia
5. Yans Carlos Arias Perez (Cub) Cuba
Result Men’s Omnium Kilometre Time Trial
1. Ondrej Rybin (Cze) Czech Republic
2. Artur Ershov (Rus) RusVelo
3. Loic Perizzolo (Swi) Switzerland
4. Trent Derecourt (Aus) Australia
4. Rino Gasparrini (Ita) Italy
Men’s Omnium Final Overall Standings
1. Artur Ershov (Rus) RusVelo 16pts
2. Vivien Brisse (Fra) France 39
3. Ondrej Rybin (Cze) Czech Republic 42
4. Nicky Cocquyt (Bel) Belgium 48
5. Trent Derecourt (Aus) Australia 50
Women’s Omnium: A straight fight between Sarah Hammer and Huang Li
The first day of the Women’s Omnium reduced the competition to a straight fight between the United States’ Sarah Hammer and Giant Pro Cycling’s Huang Li. The Chinese rider took victory in the Flying Lap, with Hammer in third, but the American took the next two events - the Points Race and Elimination - with Huang managing third and second.
Hammer ended day one with a total of five points from the three events so far, with Huang just one point behind on six.
The rest of the riders found themselves able to compete in one or two events, but now more, and Spain’s Leire Olaberria finished the day in third place; fourth and fifth in the Lap and Elimination were let down by eighth in the Points Race, leaving the Spanish rider way off the pace of the leaders with 17.
Result Women’s Omnium Flying Lap
1. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
2. Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cub) Cuba
3. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
4. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Esp) Spain
5. Laurie Berthon (Fra) France
Result Women’s Omnium Points Race
1. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
2. Jarmila Machacova (Cze) Czech Republic
3. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
4. Gillian Carleton (Can) Canada
5. Simona Frapporti (Ita) Italy
Result Women’s Omnium Elimination
1. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
2. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
3. Jarmila Machacova (Cze) Czech Republic
4. Alzbeta Pavlendova (Svk) Slovakia
5. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Esp) Spain
Women’s Omnium Standings after day 1
1. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States 5pts
2. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling 6
3. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Esp) Spain 17
4. Jarmila Machacova (Cze) Czech Republic 19
5. Simona Frapporti (Ita) Italy 23