UCI Track Cycling Championships - Day 5 Wrap

New Zealand riders have matched last year’s record tally of four medals at the 2011 UCI Track Cycling World Championships that finished in The Netherlands today.

They were not able to add to the total despite some solid performances with experienced Christchurch Joanne Kiesanowski finishing ninth overall in the women’s omnium, big young Southland sprinter Eddie Dawkins 10th in the men’s kilo time trial and Tom Scully combining with Aaron Gate to be 13th in a stacked field in the 50km Madison.

BikeNZ High Performance Director Mark Elliott said the championships had been a definite pass mark for the team who will face real challenges over the next 16 months through to the London Olympics.

“Four medals matches the best we achieved last year in Denmark. But importantly two of those came in the individual pursuit, which while important to our overall programme, won’t be event contested at the Olympics,” Elliott said.

“We made some significant gains in the last three years to move in to the same stratosphere as the super powers in the sport like Great Britain, Australia, France and Germany and now our improvements are in small increments.

“We are clearly world class in pursuiting although our combinations were not always firing here. In some respects that is exciting to know we were in the medal hunt when not at our absolute best. We are up there in the omnium and our sprinters are making gradual improvement as a very young group, especially in world terms where they are in reality stronger prospects for 2016.

“Some of our key riders had compromised build-ups with obligations to their professional road teams which won’t be the situation next year. Equally there will be riders from other countries released from road commitments to strengthen combinations for London.

“We’ve have shown we have two very good omnium riders, especially in Shane Archbold who is an exciting prospect. Both riders struggled in the bunch races which has been their strength and will be a key to their success next year.

“We are within striking distance of the podium in our key events. It’s going to get tougher as some of the other strong cycling nations like the Netherlands, Russia and Spain are really gearing up for the Olympics. We will need to work harder and smarter across the board on and off the track if we are to build towards success in London which is now only 16 months away.”

Dawkins, 21, clocked a 1:03.534 effort for the test of truth over the 1000m time trial on the heavy track at Omnisport Apeldoorn.

He started conservatively to be 18th fastest over the first lap and built his kilo from there, coming home impressively with the fourth fastest final lap.

Kiesanowski had a solid start to the day with a 3:46.4 effort to be 12th fastest in the individual pursuit which listed her into ninth place going into the all-important scratch race.

She worked hard with Australian Amy Cure to bring back a dangerous break but Canada’s World Cup winner Tara Whitten and Tatsiana Sharakova from Belarus attacked immediately to put a lap on the field. The Kiwi worked hard to finish sixth in the bunch sprint to remain in the top 10 overall.

The closeness of the competition was such that had she finished third she would have jumped into the top six. However like her compatriot Shane Archbold in the men’s omnium, she struggled to dominate in the bunch races.

The Canterbury rider was ninth in a sound 36.68s run in the 500m time trial to snatch a top-10 performance. She now heads to the USA to resume duties with her Tibco professional road team after a successful transition back to the track.

Canada’s Tara Whitten claimed the rainbow jersey to go with her World Cup series win, ahead of American favourite Sarah Hammer.

Young kiwi riders Aaron Gate (Auckland) and Tom Scully (Invercargill) were 13th in a stacked field in the men’s 50km Madison, recovering after Gate crashed early but managed to get back into the action with a torn racing suit.

Australians Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer retained their world championship title after lapping the field while the local Netherlands team, in front of the packed home stadium, won the most points but finished a lap down to be content with third.

Most of the endurance track riders will return to various road campaigns, many with their professional teams, and will return to the track later in the year when the UCI World Cup series begins in December.

Results, day 5:

Women’s omnium, day 2, 3000m individual pursuit: Sarah Hammer (USA) 3:34.012, 1; Tara Whitten (CAN) 3:38.219, 2; Leire Alaberria (ESP) 3:38.880, 3. Also: Joanne Kiesanowski (NZL) 3:48.455, 12.

10km Scratch race: Tatsiana Sharakova (BLR) 1; Whitten 2, Evgenya  Romanyuta (RUS) 3. Also: Kiesanowski 8.

500m time trial: Laura Trott (GBR) 35.799, 1; Mariles Mejias Garcia (CUB) 36.015, 2; Olaberria 36.143, 3. Also: Kiesanowski 36.687, 9.

Final placings:  Whitten 20, 1; Hammer 28, 2; Kirsten Wild (NED) 35, 3. Also: Kiesanowski 57, 9.

Men’s 1000m time trial: Stefan Nimke (GER) 1:00.793, 1; Teun Mulder (NED) 1:01.179, 2; Francois Pervis (FRA) 1:01.226, 3. Also: Eddie Dawkins (NZL) 1:03.534, 10.

Men’s 50km Madison: Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer (AUS) 8 points, 1; Martin Blaha and Jiri Hochmann (CZE) 1 point, 2; Theo Box and Peter Schep (NED) one lap down, 21 points, 3. Also: Aaron Gate and Tom Scully one lap down, 2 points, 13.