|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Race Overview Track World Cup Classics - Sydney - Round 4 18 - 20 February 2005
Click below to go to the day-by-day results >
Sydney provides the final round of the 2004, 2005 Track World Cup Classics. There are titles at stake for those performing most consistently in each of the events over the series and also for the overall best performing nation. On top of that, with the World Championships just over a month away, this round of the TWC provides riders with a crucial barometer to their own and their competitor's form. Click here to go to results from Day 1 events on this page >> Sprint 20km Points Race Photos
Qualifying Fourteen of the top women in the world battled it out for the sprint event, the early results not really giving any indication of form. Yvonne Hijgenaar NED and Shusng Guo CHN got a bye through to the quarter finals due to withdrawals, given the out come this may have benefited them.
Quarter Finals After the lunch break the successful eight fought it out for the top placings. Yvonne Hijgenaar NED had a comfortable win against her team mate, Willy Kanis NED Shusng Guo CHN, in her first year as a senior, showed her talent against the German Dana Glöss Lori-Ann Muenzer's CAN coach was shouting from the pit area "floor it, floor it" on her way to a close run QF win against Jennie Reed USA Anna Meares AUS had a tough run against Italian Elisa Frisoni but her strength won through on the final 5 m
In the battle for the top places Shusng Guo CHN again showed that she was on form, winning through again to secure her place in the final show down with the home favourite Anna Meares who also made it through, toughing it out against the Canadian. Semi-Finals Anna Meares showed her form again in the placing heats, although the dutch woman took her to three. In the second heat Hijgenaar lead out strong getting some space between her and Anna, the final heat secured Anna’s place in the fight for the gold medal. Shusng Guo, much to Lori-Anne’s diapointment only took two attempts to secure her place. Guo had a great lead into the bell lap of the second heat and never looked like she was struggling.
Semi
Final 1st Heat
In
the fight off for the 5-8th places, a great race unfortunately
ended with a crash just after the finish line. Frisoni ITA, fell hard
after the finish line as she and Glöss were driving hard, Frisoni leant
on Glöss and came off worse
Medals Races The
fight for the medals was a battle to the end, the bronze medal fight going
to three heats. Anna Meares road strong with a convincing 1st win then a
close chase to take the second heat, after the win she had this to say “I’m
exhausted” the Chinese rider made her work hard , this is what she had to
say about her “she
has an awful lot of talent, I think we are going to see a lot more of her
in the future, it really good that they come down to competitions in
Australia, to throw a few new riders into the race”.
When asked if this gives an indication of where her form is she had
this to say “I feel a bit flat after the week of
nationals we’ve just had, but based on form of the other riders at the
event, I just need to do some speed work leading up to the World
Championships and I am looking forward to it”. Speaking
directly to WomensCycling Anna was candid about how hard she had to work
in the last race, she said that “she
took the front off me very well and disguised it pretty well, I thought
she was going to slow down and play a bit more because we were still a way
out and then I thought, she’s not even looking at where I am, she’s
actually gone, I thought this is going to be painful but here we go, I
didn’t think I was going to get there but I did”
. Planning a few days rest at home road riding before she starts to
prepare for the Worlds, WomensCycling asked about having (sister) Kerrie
back to team up with in Los Angeles, Anna said “she
is a great competitor and a fun travel buddy so its good to have her back”. Gold / Silver ride-off
Bronze ride-off
Leading
out the bunch, Australia’s Rochelle Gilmore looked relaxed and
confident. The pace was steady then the first attack of the day came from
Marlijn Binnendijk NED, the bunch chased her down, because of the first
sprint coming up, this was lead-out and won easily by Rochelle. The bunch
split after the first sprint led by Katarzyna Jagusiak of Poland and Alias
Norazian of Malaysia again the break was chased down by bunch. However a
small break was started by Yunmei Wu CHN,
she managed to get half a lap up, but again as the second sprint
approached the bunch reacted. The second sprint was won, like the first,
byGilmore, sorting out the lesser places was down to the judges, Marshall
GBR finished 3rd but was relegated for not holding her line
during the sprint. The
Chinese rider Wu, broke away, getting a half lap gap, she was chased by a
small group of three riders Prudnikova, Wong, and Sell. Wu was caught and
they worked well as a group, but off the front of the following bunch was
Belinda Goss AUS, who made a spirited charge to chase them down. The third
sprint fell to the strong Chinese rider Wu. The pace picked up, led by the
New Zealand rider Catherine Sell, who was consistent in her attempts to
get into the points but she was closely marked by the Goss and Gilmore. With
the race at the half way stage, the two Italian riders attempted to get
off the front but again the bunch reacted. Then with 10 laps to go two
riders managed to go off the front, they were Wu and Bronzini. The bunch
did not respond, no one really wanted to chase as Gilmore already had the
win. However as the two riders came close to lapping the bunch and getting
the 20 points that would have been on offer, which could have upset the
Australia’s placing, the bunch picked up their pace impressively and
with urgency. This was led by the Australian double act of Gilmore and
Goss. Gilmore crossed the
line in the bunch, but was easily identified with her arms aloft in a
victory salute. Her celebrations lasted for two or three victory laps –
she was clearly overjoyed with the win – she acknowledged the crowd and
gave thumbs-up to the gathered press and team staff. WomensCycling caught up with the British rider Marshall briefly, Jackie said ‘that she was pleased with her performance, as she had not had good form recently” Speaking after the win Rochelle Gilmore said “ I felt on good form tonight in the warm up, her heart rate showed the right signs”. When asked about the slow pace of the race, Gilmore said “I thought it would be a lot harder, there were a lot of names she did not know, making it difficult to know who to chase. I also had my team mate (Goss) in the bunch who also wanted to have a good ride”. Asked if this was a confidence boost “definitely” was the answer. Rochelle said “this whole series was about getting a ride at the Worlds, to prove Ian Mackenzie” of the AIS “ that I can have a good ride when I am in good form” Gilmore was only told last Monday that she was going to get a ride at the event, the World Championships had not really been in her mind. She said that “being given the chance to prove myself once more, I dashed back from Noosa where I was having a holiday and got my butt into gear”. Gilmore finished by saying that “things are looking good and I feel confident now”
Gallery 24 photos - click here, or on the selection of photos below to enter
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Click below to go to results of : |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WomensCycling.net 
