The final day’s racing in the third event in the 2012/13 UCI Track World Cup in the Aguascalientes Velodrome, central Mexico, saw the Men’s Madison and Sprint titles decided, along with the Women’s Sprint. Arguably the performance of the day came from the United States’ Sarah Hammer, however, as she continued her dominance of the Women’s Omnium in the last three events.
Men’s Madison: France uses laps and sprints to take the title
French duo Vivien Brisse and Thomas Boudat took a comfortable victory in the Men’s Madison race, by virtue of scoring 12 points over the course of the 40km race as well as managing to take laps. Ukrainians Mykhaylo Radionov and Sergiy Lagkuti were the only ones to finish the race on the same number of laps as the France pair, but only managed to pick up three points at the eight sprint points.
Switzerland pair Silvan Dillier and Stefan Kueng took the bronze medal, just one lap down on the top two teams, and with a total of ten points to Russian duo Evgeny Kovalev and Ivan Kovalev’s six. The RusVelo team of Artur Ershov - the previous day’s Omnium winner - and Leonid Krasnov scored the most points in the race with 16, but their consistency at the finish line was not matched by lap taking and they could only manage fifth place.
Since this was the first Madison of the 2012/13 World Cup, France took the overall title.
Result Men’s Madison
1. France (Vivien Brisse and Thomas Boudat)
2. Ukraine (Mykhaylo Radionov and Sergiy Lagkuti)
3. Switzerland (Silvan Dillier and Stefan Kueng)
4. Russia (Evgeny Kovalev and Ivan Kovalev)
5. RusVelo (Artur Ershov and Leonid Krasnov)
Women’s Keirin: New Sprint World record holder heads an all-Chinese podium
China’s Zhong Tianshi, who had broken the 200 metre World Record in Sprint qualification the previous day, won the Women’s Keirin, ahead of compatriots Gong Jinjie of Giant Pro Cycling and Xu Yulei of the national team.
After finishing second in her first round race, Zhong cruised through to the final, where she took a tight sprint from her two compatriots. Fourth place for Hong Kong’s Lee Wai Sze was enough to give her a comfortable victory in the overall World Cup.
Result Women’s Keirin
1. Zhong Tianshi (Chn) China
2. Gong jinjie (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
3. Xu Yulei (Chn) China
4. Lee Wai Sze (HKg) Hong Kong
5. Taylah Jennings (Aus) Jayco-AIS
Men’s Sprint: Denis Dmitriev overcomes faster qualifiers to take victory
RusVelo’s Denis Dmitriev recovered from qualifying just fourth fastest to take the Men’s Sprint, taking just two of the three rounds to 19-year-old German Max Niederlag. The fastest from the morning’s qualification rounds, Juan Peralta of Reyno De NavarraTelcoMConor, beat Japan’s Seiichiro Nakagawa for the bronze medal, also taking just two rounds.
Result Men’s Sprint
1. Denis Dmitriev (Rus) RusVelo
2. Max Niederlag (Ger) Germany
3. Juan Peralta Gascon (Spa) Reyno De NavarraTelcoMConor
4. Seiichiro Nakagawa (Jpn) Japan
Women’s Omnium: Sarah Hammer sees off Huang Li to take dominant victory
The United States’ Sarah Hammer continued her dominance of the Women’s Omnium and, although she didn’t win a race on the second day, finished the competition with just 14 points from the six events.
Hammer increased her overnight lead over Giant Pro Cycling’s Huang Li in the first event of day two, the Individual Pursuit, the event in which she holds the World Record. The American’s time of 3:26.428 was only good enough for second place, however, behind Canadian Gillian Carleton, who moved herself up into medal contention with 3:25.836, while Huang could only managed fifth place.
The American two-time World champion then took third in the Scratch Race - behind Hong Kong’s Diao Xiao Juan and France’s Laurie Berthon - and fourth in the 500 metres - behind Cuba’s Marlies Mejias, Carleton and Huang - and, despite Huang taking a point back in the latter, Hammer’s final lead was an emphatic seven points.
The top three was the same as that of overnight in the end, with Carleton just unable to unseat Spain’s Leire Olaberria for the bronze medal. With so of the top few women riding more than one World Cup event, Hammer’s victory was enough to secure the overall title.
Result Women’s Madison Individual Pursuit
1. Gillian Carleton (Can) Canada
2. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
3. Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cub) Cuba
4. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Esp) Spain
5. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
Result Women’s Madison Scratch Race
1. Diao Xiao Juan (HKg) Hong Kong
2. Laurie Berthon (Fra) France
3. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
4. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Esp) Spain
5. Jutatip Maneephan (Tha) Thailand
Result Women’s Madison 500 metre Time Trial
1. Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cub) Cuba
2. Gillian Carleton (Can) Canada
3. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling
4. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
5. Tamara Balabolina (Rus) Russia
Women’s Madison Final Overall Standings
1. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States 14pts
2. Huang Li (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling 21
3. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Esp) Spain 31
4. Gillian Carleton (Can) Canada 36
5. Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cub) Cuba 46