The final day of the UCI Track World Cup in New Zealand ended with gold medals heading to four different continents as the pursuit of Olympic qualifying points intensified.
Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer added the sprint gold medal to the bronze he won in the Keirin on Saturday, winning 2-0 against German’s Max Niederlag, while China’s Shaung Guo and Australia’s Anna Meares clashed in the final of the women’s keirin.
Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen won the men’s Omnium and Allison Beveridge of Canada won the women’s Omnium in a display of her young talent.
France won the men’s Madison after finishing on equal points with Switzerland, while Australia’s Amy Cure beat Jolien D’Hoore of Belgium to win the women’s scratch race.
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Glaetzer and Niederlag made full use of the track in a technical display of cat-and-mouse racing in race one, with the Oceania champion managing to come around Niederlag for the victory. In their second meeting Glaetzer lead from the front and despite a challenge from Niederlag he knew by the penultimate turn that victory would be his.
“Niederlag pushed me all the way and I had to really execute my racing perfectly to beat him,” said Glaetzer. “If I had made a mistake he probably would have won it. I raced really well, one of my best competitions that I have raced and I’m really happy with this result.”
New Zealander Eddie Dawkins toyed with German Maximilian Levy in front of a fiercely supportive home crowd in the battle for the bronze medal. Levy drew first blood before Dawkins matched him in a photo-finish race two. The home-crowd delight was short lived as Levy powered ahead of Dawkins to claim the bronze medal in the deciding race of the night.
China’s Shaung Guo had a titantic struggle against Australian Anna Meares in an outstanding women’s keirin final. A photo finish was required to separate the top two but Guo dug deep to draw level and come around Meares in the final few metres. Canada’s Monique Sullivan was promoted to third place after Korea’s Hyejin Lee was relegated for not holding her line in the final sprint.
“I am very happy. In the Keirin we never know who can win, I think everyone in the final can win so I did my best and I got a result,” said Guo.
Second was a success for Meares, with the 11-time world champion and London Olympic sprint gold medallist unable to race earlier in the week due to a back twinge. With her back fully bandaged, the Australian impressed in winning her second round and nearly had another victory.
“I am so, so happy. I love good races and I love hard races and the final didn’t disappoint for me,” said Meares. “I left everything out on the track for what I could put out there. I didn’t feel the back throughout the race and it was good.”
Omnium winners
Lasse Norman Hansen also came back from a crash in team pursuit qualifying to fight for victory in the men’s omnium. He has made a smooth transition back to the track in one of his first races on the boards since claiming the omnium Olympic gold in London in 2012. The Dane dominated the points race to turn a slim two point lead at the beginning of the event to a 20 point victory over Great Britain’s Chris Latham. Despite his crash injuries, Hansen rode strongly over the two-day competition to put himself in pole position for the final event. However an early exit in the elimination race meant that it was Latham held the lead overnight. Hansen fought back this morning in the kilometre time trial and flying lap to regain the lead which he cemented with a dominant ride in the points race.
“I tried to take as little responsibility over the lead in the first 20 laps and then after that I thought give it a dig and see what the other guys think,” said Hansen of the final event. “As soon as I saw people suffering I thought I would give it another go, and another go. In the end the strongest people were up there and I only had to beat Latham in the sprint. I had one guy to look after and that made it easy.”
The 23 year old has his sights set on defending his Olympic gold medal in Rio after two years on the road with Cannondale-Garmin. Hansen finished with a total of 208 points, Latham had 188 while Australia’s Glenn O’Shea claimed the bronze medal with 165.
Allison Beveridge exceeded expectations by winning the women’s Omnium in her only second World Cup omnium. The 22 year old -who was part of the Canadian squad that won the silver medal in the team’s pursuit - rode a strong points race to hold off world champion Annette Edmondson of Australia. Despite focusing on the team pursuit, Beveridge was consistent throughout the six events, winning the flying lap and finishing in the top five places of each of the other events.
“This is only my second World Cup omnium,” said Beveridge. “I rode one a couple of years ago but I’ve not rode one for a while so I didn’t know what to expect. Definitely my focus is the team pursuit. We have a really strong team and we are trying to put it together over the next eight months. It’s our total focus. We are really coming together and so we are pushing it and want to let people know that we are knocking on the door for Rio.”
Belgium’s Jolien D’Hoore finished third on 182 points, six behind Edmondson, while fourth placed Kirstin Wild (Netherlands) claimed the World Cup leader’s jersey.
France reigned supreme in the category one Madison finishing on equal points with Switzerland with Great Britain third. Australia’s Amy Cure beat Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium) and Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark) to win the class one scratch race.
Hong Kong hosts the next round of the UCI Track World Cup in January, with Mark Cavendish expected to ride for the Great Britain as he chases a place in the Omnium vent in Rio next summer.
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