May 30/98 11:02 am - Victoria World Cup Report 14

Posted by Editor on 05/30/98
 

The final session of this World Cup track meet in Victoria, B.C. began with the women‚s Points race. Lucy Tyler-Sharman (AUS) took her second gold medal of the meet in a strongly contested 20 kilometre race of 25 riders from 14 countries. Wind played a strong part in the race, with no one able to take a lap on the field. Tyler-Sharman and Olga Slioussareva (RUS) battled through the race, with the Australian taking points in 4 sprints, and the Russian in 5. This put the two neck and neck at 12 points each going into the final (double point) sprint. Tyler-Sharman wound it up early, with Slioussareva desperately hanging onto her wheel. Coming out the last corner, the Russian managed to pull up even with Tyler-Sharman‚s back wheel, but that was as far as she could get, leaving Tyler-Sharman to take the points and the race.

Next up it was the men for the Olympic Sprint. Germany pulled out the second fastest ride of the day to take the bronze medal over France, while Poland repeated their qualifying win against the United States.

The 160 lap Madison was the third event of the evening, and offered some of the most exciting racing of the day. Spain took an early flyer and managed to gain a lap on the field. Australia followed just before the halfway mark, and picked up enough points during their chase around to the pack to move into the lead. The Spanish, Danish and Germans all tried to gap the field, but Australia covered every move and stopped any of their rivals from gaining the points necessary to displace them. Luke Rogers said „with the wind it was very difficult for anyone to get away, which helped us.‰

The meet finished off with the Keirin. Marty Nothstein, Jens Fiedler and Frederic Magne, the reigning world champion in this event, were the favourites. Nothstein took the early front position behind the pace motorcycle, and stayed there once the pacer had pulled off. Fiedler jumped from third position when Nothstein temporarily lost sight of him just before the start of the last lap. Magne was first on the German, with Nothstein having to work his way back up from 4th. Coming into the final straight, Magne passed Fiedler, as did Nothstein. It looked like Nothstein was about to challenge Magne, but the French rider had timed it perfectly to take the win. Magne was extremely happy with his victory, after the frustration of finishing third in the Sprint and 4th in the Olympic Sprint. „I was happy that Fiedler went early, I didn‚t want to go to the front since I had big gear. My tactic was to wait, and it worked!‰

Full results to follow.

Many thanks to the organizers, and especially the media volunteers for their incredible assistance during this very busy meet. We can‚t wait to come back again next year!