Girl power to the fore for BikeNZ junior cyclists

Girl power was again to the fore on the final day of the UCI World Junior Track Cycling Championships in Italy.

After two silver medals in the team sprint and team pursuit by the female squad, Christchurch’s Liz Steel carried the hopes today.

It proved a case of nearly but not quite with for Steel who finished fourth in the two-day omnium competition.

She was fourth after the first three events and while she raced solidly in the individual pursuit, scratch race and 500m time trial, Williams could not quite edge up to a spot on the podium for her second medal of the championships.

Auckland’s Stephanie McKenzie was also edged out of a second medal when she was fourth in the sprints, taking her medal ride off to three races but was pipped in the decider against Australian Holly Williams.

Her fellow team sprint medallist Henrietta Mitchell (Auckland) was sixth in the keirin final.

Piet Bulling (Invercargill) and Alex Frame (Christchurch) finished a creditable seventh in the Madison finals, while Will Bowman (Christchurch) was 13th in the Kilo Time Trial after a slick 1:05.833 with Fraser Gough (Hastings) recording 1.07.051.

Frame recovered well from a tough first day to finish ninth in the omnium with personal best efforts in the individual pursuit in 3:23 and a 1:05 time in the kilo.