New Zealand cyclists win more medals at Cali World Cup

New Zealand cyclists will enjoy a Christmas break after some commanding performances at the UCI Track World Cup in Colombia.

They completed their campaign with the men’s pursuit team dominating the final over hosts Colombia in front of a full house of fervent fans in Cali today.

The quartet of Sam Bewley, Wes Gough, Marc Ryan and Jesse Sergent led from the gun with a controlled display of power and precision to clock 4:00.637 with the Colombians losing a man under the kiwi pressure.

New Zealand ended the Cali event with gold medals in the men’s and women’s team pursuit and women’s individual pursuit and bronze in the team sprint.

After two World Cup contests in Melbourne and Cali, the BikeNZ contingent lead the standings in all four pursuit disciplines, second in the team sprint and third in the men’s omnium. There are two further World Cup events in Beijing and Manchester next month which provide qualifying points for World Championships in the Netherlands in March and the 2012 London Olympics.

The New Zealanders topped the qualifying in the team pursuit in 4:03.500 but stepped up in the final. They opened with a 1:04 to claim a 1.3 second lead and then blitzed their opponents with a 58 second effort for the second kilometre followed by two 59 second efforts as Colombia crumpled under the pressure.

“We are pretty happy with that,” said Bewley. “It’s our first competition since the Commonwealth Games.

We had a bit of a blunder there but we proved to the cycling world today that we can still ride world class times. To ride four minutes flat in December with a very short preparation and on a track that was not very fast today is pleasing.”

Earlier Spain upset the 2009 world champions Denmark to take the bronze.

Auckland teenager Sam Webster finished seventh in a high class men’s sprint. Both BikeNZ sprinters Webster and Eddie Dawkins qualified in the top 16 in 10.249 and 10.401 respectively. Dawkins went out in the first round to Frenchman Francois Pervis while Webster went out in the quarterfinals in two straight rides to another Frenchman Kevin Sireau, a two-time world champion and Beijing silver medallist. Sireau went on to beat triple Beijing gold medallist Chris Hoy in the final in two straight rides.

Christchurch rider Joanne Kiesanowski finished seventh in her first World Cup in the gruelling six-event omnium. On the second day, she was 13th in the individual pursuit, a strong second placing in the scratch race and 10th in the time trial. The event was dominated by world pursuit record holder Sarah Hammer, who won four of the six disciplines.

Earlier Ashburton’s Lauren Ellis was 10th in the 20km points race by Italy’s Georgia Bronzini, the world road race champion.

Day 3 NZ results, UCI World Cup, Cali:
Men’s 4000m team pursuit, qualifying: New Zealand (Sam Bewley, Wes Gough, Marc Ryan, Jesse Sergent) 4:03.500, 1; Colombia 4:07.795, 2; Spain 4:07.439, 3; Denmark 4:16.097, 4.
Gold ride: New Zealand 4:00.637, 1; Colombia 4:07.408, 2; Bronze ride: Denmark 4:08.975, 3; Spain 4:10.527, 4.

Men’s sprint qualifying: Sam Webster 10.249, 8; Eddie Dawkins 10.401, 13. Eighth finals: Webster bt Aziz Awang (Mal) relegated; Francois Pervis (FRA) bt Dawkins 10.553. Quarterfinal: Kevin Sireau (FRA) bt Webster 2-0. 5th to 8th final: Pervis 5, Matt Crampton (GBR) 6, Webster 7. Semifinal: Sireau bt Tsubasa Kitatsuru (JPN) 2-0, Chris Hoy (GBR) bt Gregory Bauge (FRA) 2-09. Final: Sireau bt Hoy 2-0. Bronze: Bauge bt Kitatsuru 2-0.

Women’s omnium, day 2: 3000m individual pursuit: Sarah Hammer (USA) 3:32.947, 1; Tara Witten (CAN) 3:34.592, 2; Vilija Sereikaite (LTU) 3:37.473, 3. Also: Joanne Kiesanowski (NZL) 3:46.936, 13.
Scratch race 10km: Tatsiana Sharakova (BLR) 1, Kiesanowski 2, Pascale Jewland (FRA) 3.
500m time trial: Laura Trott (GBR) 35.933, 1; Sereikaite36.030, 2; Jollen D’Hoore (BEL) 36.074, 3. Also: Kiesanowski 37.242, 10.

Overall points: Hammer 15, 1; Whitten 30, 2; Sharakova 31, 3. Also: Kiesanowski 55, 7.

Women’s points, 20km: Giorgio Bronzini (ITA) 13 points, 1 Kelly Druyts (BEL) 10, 2; Aksana Papko (BLR) 10, 3. Also: Lauren Ellis (NZL) 3, 10.