May 30/98 12:50 pm - Victoria World Cup Report 9

Posted by Editor on 05/30/98
 

Men‚s Sprint

The pairings were Marty Nothstein USA vs Jens Fiedler GER for the gold, and Frederic Magne FRA vs Jan Van Eijden GER for the bronze. Nothstein and Fiedler have met up many times in the finals, and this time Fiedler proved to be the stronger of the two, taking the medal in two straight rides. Fiedler led out the first ride, but Nothstein dropped down when the German left a window of opportunity open to come through the bottom at the last corner. The two bumped elbows all the way to the line, and the photofinish gave Fiedler the nod. „He left the pole (line) and I came down. He broke the rules, it‚s pretty simple.‰ said Nothstein. „I‚m surprised the officials didn‚t call it.‰ In the second ride Nothstein led out, but Fiedler went to the front on the second lap and held off the American in another photofinish. Despite this, Nothstein felt the track suited him, „it‚s a big track, which is like my home track in Pennsylvania, and is good for big and powerful riders like me.‰

The most tactically interesting races were the ones between Magne and Van Eijden for the bronze. Both times Magne managed to drop down on Van Eijden from behind and then close the door for the win. In the semifinals, Magne forced the stronger Fiedler into a track standoff twice - the second time for 3 minutes. Afterwards he said: „Yes, tactics are my strong point. I try to ride smart, but he (Fiedler) was stronger than me today. I am happy with my race.‰

Women‚s Sprint

The favourite for the gold medal race was Michelle Ferris of Australia, who was extremely strong throughout the heats. She did not disappoint, beating Oksana Grichina in two straight; the first time jumping the Russian as she went into a trackstand and taking a long sprint. Ferris said that she is trying „to work on my tactics. I‚m one of the strongest (riders), but I want to practice at the World Cups tactically.‰ Ferris said that she was „much happier with the way I rode (this week). Last week (in Cali, Colombia) I was sick, and wasn‚t pleased with the way I rode.‰

Tanya Dubnicoff, the crowd favourite, rode extremely strongly in the bronze medal races, using her years of experience to defeat the tentative U.S. rider Jennie Reed in two straight heats. „I was a little disappointed, since I had hoped to be in the final against Michelle. But this is my first major competition of the year, so I‚m not too unhappy.‰ Dubnicoff will be going to the remaining World Cups in Germany and France.

Team Pursuit

The race was between the Australians and New Zealanders. The wind had picked up since the earlier session, so the time were slower, but Australia once again proved to be the strongest team. New Zealand said that they were just coming off their road training, so that they were actually quite pleased to finish so well.

Women‚s Individual Pursuit

As expected, Lucy Tyler-Sharman of Australia was the easy victor over Svetlana Samokhvalova (Russia), winning by 10 seconds. The wind played havoc with Tyler-Sharman‚s prediction of going faster than she had in the morning.

Points Race

Local favourite Brian Walton was a very popular winner in the 30 kilometre race. „It was so windy out there that I was just sitting in at the start, plus everybody was busy watching me. With the wind it was more like a road race than a track race.‰ Just after the halfway point, he and Danish rider Jimmi Madsen managed to get away and take a lap on the disintegrating field. That combined with the second and third place place points he had picked up earlier were enough to give Walton the win.

We expect to have results and photos up within the next hour or so.