Day Two Cycling World Champ Results

The Australian Cyclones have grabbed two gold medals and a bronze on day two of competition at the 2011 UCI Track World Championships in the Netherlands to move to the top of the table after eight of 19 events.

Defending world champions Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch delivered a standout performance to defeat Great Britain’s Jessica Varnish and Victoria Pendleton and claim their third straight team sprint world title.

The Australian pair clocked 33.237 to finish three tenths of a second up on their rivals and cement the hat trick. Meares set the pair up with a solid first lap of 18.688 which was half a second quicker than Varnish. McCulloch added another tenth of a second to the lead in the next half lap and hung on against Pendleton’s barnstorming final 125 metres to seal the victory.

“The whole point of the first lap is to deliver Kaarle as fast as possible so she can maintain and hang on for dear life really because Victoria Pendleton has one of the fastest final laps in the team sprint but I am backing my teammate all the way,” said Meares.

“I wasn’t thinking in terms of three in a row or a hat-trick I was thinking in terms of a world title and you have to fight so hard to win these things, we have been fortunate, you could say, to win three of these things but we have worked so hard for three years in a row and we are not going to stop because this isn’t our goal,” said Meares. “Our goal is in another 14 or 15 months’ time and that is London (Olympic Games).

“We are the benchmark at the moment but the British, Chinese and French and the rest of the world will be aiming to better that mark but so will we and we are a pair of pretty stubborn, motivated girls.”

Meares and McCulloch acknowledged nerves played a part in tonight’s result.

“I was nervous, I’ll tell you the truth I was more nervous in the qualifying than in the final but nerves work well for me,” said Meares. “In Manchester the teams were all within a few tenths of a second of each other so the pressure was in the qualifying. I felt a little more comfortable in the final, never going to feel safe, but a little more comfortable at least.”

“I knew I had to pull out a big one in the final tonight,” said McCulloch. “The last couple of World Cup rides I’ve had a bit of a shaky qualifier which is something Gary West and I are going to work on in the lead up to London but I always knew I was going to rip it up in the second ride and I certainly did that.

“Tonight I was so emotional when I looked at the scoreboard and saw that we won because tonight was a real test mentally and having done it here has put me in a good place and we want to win in Melbourne (2012 World Championships) because a rainbow there is just one step closer to London.”

In the men’s 4km individual pursuit Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn and Rohan Dennis lined up on the back of yesterday’s victory in the teams pursuit and although the individual event is no longer on the Olympic Games schedule there was personal pride on the line.

South Australian Bobridge, 21, went into the event as the red hot favourite after smashing the world record at last month’s Australian championships in Sydney. The record had been previously held by Britain’s Chris Boardman who set it 15 years ago in the now banned ‘superman’ stretched riding position. Tonight Boardman was commentating for British television as Bobridge finally realised his ambition of donning the rainbow jersey of individual pursuit world champion. Bobridge was in a class of his own clocking a qualifying time four seconds faster than 2010 silver medallist Jesse Sergent and then defeating the New Zealander by 2.7 seconds in the gold medal final.

Bobridge raced out of the start gate at a cracking pace and was two seconds up on Sergent after four of 16 laps. He then maintained that margin over the next two kilometres before bringing home the final four laps

“I went out hard which was the plan but probably not the plan to go quite as hard but Ian (McKenzie) kept running up the line (indicating Bobridge should pick up the pace) and when you’re in a final like that you can’t back off so I had to keep it going and hope for the best,” explained Bobridge. “I started to breath pretty heavy there at halfway but I managed to control it and held him off and finally got the world title in the individual which I’ve been going for a few years.

“To get the world record and the championship in the same year is mission accomplished for me.

“I came in here targeting the teams pursuit as it’s the Olympic event but I broke the world record in the individual so I couldn’t come here and not say I was going for the win and to race two and win two I couldn’t ask for more.”

Bobridge and his endurance team mates have recognised they are on their way to replicating the journey of their predecessors who won the 2002, 2003 teams pursuit world titles before claiming gold at the 2004 championships in Melbourne ahead of the gold medal at the Athens Olympic Games.

“We’ll step onto home turf next year and I’m sure it’s going to be another massive worlds in Melbourne,” said Bobridge. “If we can follow in their footsteps we’re on a roll and I’m sure we’ll have great success in London.”

One of those trailblazers was Graeme Brown who won gold in the teams pursuit and Madison in Athens and he was at the Omnisport Centre tonight to cheer on the next generation of Australian champions. With him was reigning under 23 road race world champion, Michael Matthews, from Canberra who was also in the arena to cheer on his compatriots.

It was a case of duelling team mates in the bronze medal pursuit battle with 19 year old Queenslander Michael Hepburn (4:22.553) proving too strong for Rohan Dennis, 20, who clocked 4:24.087.

Hepburn led up to halfway before Dennis surged and took over the lead at the 3km mark but that sparked a fightback by Hepburn who held his form to clinch his first individual medal at a senior world titles.

“My number one goal was to defend the teams pursuit gold and that’s what we did and I wouldn’t say this medal is a bonus, because I wanted to do well in the individual, but to walk away with gold and bronze is pretty special,” said Hepburn. “And I saw one of my best mates (Bobridge) win the world title.”

Hepburn says racing a team mate poses different challenges.

“Whichever way I walk off I’d be happy whether happy for him to win or happy for me but Rohan has done exceptionally well in the IP in the last year.

“He won the World Cup and posted one of the fastest times in history at nationals so I knew it would be a tough competition but I looked at the splits from the qualifying and I had confidence that I could bring it home in the last kilometre.

“We rode an exact same time down to a tenth of a second this morning and I knew it would come down to the final laps when it was important to have fresh legs to finish well.”

In the women’s teams pursuit WAIS-AIS cyclist Josephine Tomic was the only member of Australia’s 2010 gold medal trio to line up. Joining her were the oldest and youngest members of the Cyclones team in two time Olympian Kate Bates, 28, and 2010 triple junior world champion Amy Cure, 18.

Unfortunately the quartet failed to qualify for the gold medal final and in their bronze medal match up against New Zealand (3:24.065) came off second best (3:24.422) to finish the competition ranked fourth. Great Britain won the gold medal final against the USA. With only one second separating the top four teams the event promises to be one of the most hotly contested at the Olympic Games

In the men’s sprint all three Australians qualified for the first round with 2010 silver medallist Shane Perkins from Victoria the best performed with the sixth fastest time of 10.172. West Australia’s Scott Sunderland (AIS-WAIS) qualified eighth fastest in 10.262 and senior debutant, Mathew Glaetzer, 18, from South Australia impressed with he eleventh best time of 10.295. The 2010 dual junior world champion then won through to the second round where he was outclassed by sprint superstar and Olympic champion, Sir Chris Hoy, 35.

Sunderland and Perkins made it through to the quarter finals where Sunderland was bundled out in straight heats by defending world champion Gregory Bauge from France. Perkins faced British rider Jason Kenny who won the first of their best of three heats before the Australian fought back to even the score. However in the decider Kenny triumphed putting Perkins out of medal contention.

Day three will see Meares, McCulloch and Emily Rosemond will line up in the women’s sprint for Australia and WAIS scholarship holder Michael Freiberg will begin his quest for a medal in the men’s six race omnium event. Also in action is WAIS-AIS star Cameron Meyer who will be trying to win his third straight points race crown. Josie Tomic is listed to ride the individual pursuit.

Australia now has three gold medals and one bronze to lead the medal table from Belarus who has two gold medals with Great Britain sitting third with a gold silver and two bronze medals after eight of 19 events.

– Cycling Australia