LOS ANGELES, 26 March 2005 — The British men’s cycling team got off to a winning start on the opening day of the World Track Championships here on Thursday by claiming the team sprint crown.
The trio of Jamie Staff, Jason Queally and Chris Hoy captured the final in 44.379 seconds over the highly-favored Dutch team, including world sprint champion Theo Bos, who were second in 44.713. Olympic champion’s Germany beat France, the reigning world champions, in the race for third spot.
Earlier, Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus captured the first title of the championships when she won her third 500-meter time trial gold as Volodimir Rybin of Ukraine won the 40-kilometer men’s points race title.
After a last-minute pedal change before the final the British trio were lead-off off by Staff — standing in for flu victim Craig MacLean.
But going into the final lap the Dutch had a slight advantage before Hoy, the kilometer time-trial Olympic champion, came storming back to claim gold. “We rode well together and were very aggressive on the track,” said Hoy, who won the team sprint three years ago in Cophenhagen with Staff.
Meanwhile, Tsylinskaya shocked world and Olympic champion Anna Meares of Australia in the 500-meter time trial, winning in 34.738 seconds with Meares a close second in 34.752. Dutch star Yvonne Hijgenaar was third in 34.928.
