Meyer, Richardson, Welsford and Leahy all Medal at Hong Kong World Cup
Western Australia’s competing talent enjoyed a highly successful campaign at the UCI Track World Cup in Hong Kong.
Track legend Cameron Meyer was a familiar face atop the podium, but this time his gold medal came via the omnium, with the three-time WAIS Athlete of the Year winning the title in just his third venture in the discipline.
Equally impressive, were the medal winning performances of emerging WA track talents Matt Richardson (team sprint) and Conor Leahy (team pursuit) with the duo having both made the move to Adelaide late last year to link up with the Cycling Australia Podium Potential Academy for its inception year.
Whilst Sam Welsford partnered Kelland O’Brien in collecting a silver medal in the Madison, with the WA product also riding a round of the team pursuit.
OMNIUM
At 31 years of age, Meyer continues to shine brightly on the track boards, with his presence of mind and tactical nous still front and centre whenever he’s engaged in bunch racing.
The Omnium tasks riders with four endurance events within a single day. This consists of a scratch race, tempo race, elimination race and points race.
In Hong Kong, Meyer was seventh in the scratch race before kick-starting his campaign with victory in the tempo.
A fourth place effort in the elimination race saw Meyer ranked second overall heading into his favoured points race.
From there, he was near unstoppable, claiming two sprints and taking a lap of the field within the first thirty laps to set up his triumph on 134 points, ahead of France’s Benjamin Thomas (120) and New Zealand’s Campbell Stewart (104).
Despite his track pedigree, Meyer admitted a level of surprise at his success having only raced the omnium outside of major competition level.
“A little bit shocked and surprised, but I knew I had good condition coming off the road racing in Australia with the Tour Down Under, but I didn’t know what to expect in my first omnium at a World Cup,” said the nine-time world champion.
“I was pretty nervous for some of the events, but when I knew I was up there for the points race which is my speciality, I was a chance of a getting a result and coming away with a gold medal.
“My goals were to find out what the omnium was about really. It is an Olympic event, something that I can target, so I wanted to see where the level was at, where my level compared to the other competitors.”
Meyer will now return to the Australian Cycling Team’s Adelaide headquarters for final preparations for February’s World Championships in Poland.
“Now it is a full focus towards Worlds and I am really looking forward to it. It is always exciting to be back on the track, I have good condition and am looking forward to the World Championships.”
TRACK SPRINT
In the team sprint, Richardson combined with fellow Podium Potential Academy riders James Brister and Thomas Clarke to set the fastest qualifying time en route to claiming a brilliant gold medal in the final over Japan.
The trio clocked an impressive time of 44.343 in qualifying before lowering their time to 43.774 in their round one victory over Belarus.
In the final, Richardson got the team off to a hot start, with Clarke and Brister bringing it home in 43.815 seconds to record a resounding win over Japan (44.148) to claim the gold.
“It was only the second time we have ridden together, and with a new order, and it paid off with this great result,” said Richardson.
“First World Cup, first medal, first gold medal, it is pretty exciting, I wasn’t expecting this at all, can’t thank my teammates, coach and staff enough,” said Brister, who recognised the Academy for his result. “The support we are getting phenomenal now, I wouldn’t be here now without the support of Cycling Australia setting up the Academy.”
MADISON
In a heartbreaking end the men’s 30km Madison, Sam Welsford and Kelland O’Brien were edged into the silver medal position by New Zealand in the final sprint of the 120-lap race.
The Aussie pair set the pace early, claiming the race lead after the second sprint. However, France and New Zealand surged to take the lead over the Australians at the halfway mark.
With dual Madison world champion Cameron Meyer calling the shots from the sidelines, the Australians pounced inside the final forty laps to take a lap on the field, and with the twenty bonus points, they regained the race lead.
A litany of attacks ensued in an animated final thirty laps, with New Zealand stealing the win on the final sprint, leapfrogging the Australians onto the top step of the podium.
“It was pretty hard out there, we knew we had to be on our game,” said Welsford. “We knew we had to score early and take a late lap if we needed and we did that. But we just got caught behind a few riders and missed out on that final sprint.”
TEAM PURSUIT
In the team pursuit, the teenage quartet of Jarrad Drizners (19), Godfrey Slattery (18), Conor Leahy (19) and Luke Plapp (18) won bronze in just their second World Cup event.
The team posted the eighth fastest time (4:01.562) in Thursday evening’s qualifying round to just make it through to Friday’s first round.
There, world record holder Sam Welsford, 23, subbed in for Slattery with the quartet scorching the Hong Kong Velodrome with a stunning ride of 3mins 53.889secs, the fastest time ever ridden by the teenage trio.
“It is crazy to ride a three-fifty three, particularly in these cool conditions,” said Welsford. “I only came in to ride the first round to give a little direction in the middle, to set the pace. But hats off to the boys, they were holding the pace as good as, if not better than me.”
In the bronze medal final, Drizners, Slattery, Leahy and Plapp (3:57.423) proved too good for France (3:58.738) to take their first podium at a World Cup level.
– with Australian Cycling Team (Photos © Guy Swarbrick / Cycling Australia)