HONG KONG: Belgium won a crash-filled inaugural women’s madison at the Track Cycling World Championships on Saturday as the helter-skelter race makes its bid for Olympic inclusion.
Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky and Jolien D’Hoore finished the 160-lap race with 45 points, ahead of second-placed Britain and Australia, who survived two wipe-outs to take bronze.
The International Cycling Union is lobbying for Olympic inclusion for the madison, where teams of two riders swap in and out and sprint for points every 10 laps.
“It’s a dream to become a world champion. Doing it in the madison is unbelievable, to be the first world champion,” said Kopecky.
The event at Hong Kong Velodrome featured plenty of wheel-to-wheel action and Australia’s Alexandra Manly twice hit the deck after collisions with her teammate, Amy Cure.
“I must admit after our second crash, I thought we were out of the medals and we had to work pretty hard to bring it back there to come out to the last couple of sprints,” said Cure.
“So I’m just really glad we could hold on for that medal in the end.”
Later France’s Benjamin Thomas won a thrilling men’s omnium on the last sprint of the final event, the points race, to claim his first world title.
Thomas, 21, was level on points with New Zealand’s Aaron Gate before he charged on the 100th and final lap to snatch victory by 149 points to 147.
America’s Chloe Dygert won the women’s individual pursuit by more than seven seconds over Australia’s Ashlee Ankudinoff, clinching her first individual world title.
Her fellow American Kelly Catlin also beat an Australian, two-time defending champion Rebecca Wiasak, in the bronze-medal race.
Russia’s Daria Shmeleva won the 500m women’s time trial with a time of 33.282sec, 0.1sec faster than Germany’s Miriam Welte, while Russian defending champion Anastasia Voynova took bronze.
Shmeleva, 22, moves on to three career rainbow jerseys after she successfully defended her team sprint title alongside Voynova earlier this week.
“I know that I’m a world champion in two events here, but it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Shmeleva said. “If you ask me tomorrow morning probably I can tell you what I feel.”
In the men’s sprint, Russia’s Denis Dmitriev, 31, finally broke through for his first major title with victory over Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen in the gold-medal final.
Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky and Jolien D’Hoore finished the 160-lap race with 45 points, ahead of second-placed Britain and Australia, who survived two wipe-outs to take bronze.
The International Cycling Union is lobbying for Olympic inclusion for the madison, where teams of two riders swap in and out and sprint for points every 10 laps.
“It’s a dream to become a world champion. Doing it in the madison is unbelievable, to be the first world champion,” said Kopecky.
The event at Hong Kong Velodrome featured plenty of wheel-to-wheel action and Australia’s Alexandra Manly twice hit the deck after collisions with her teammate, Amy Cure.
“I must admit after our second crash, I thought we were out of the medals and we had to work pretty hard to bring it back there to come out to the last couple of sprints,” said Cure.
“So I’m just really glad we could hold on for that medal in the end.”
Later France’s Benjamin Thomas won a thrilling men’s omnium on the last sprint of the final event, the points race, to claim his first world title.
Thomas, 21, was level on points with New Zealand’s Aaron Gate before he charged on the 100th and final lap to snatch victory by 149 points to 147.
America’s Chloe Dygert won the women’s individual pursuit by more than seven seconds over Australia’s Ashlee Ankudinoff, clinching her first individual world title.
Her fellow American Kelly Catlin also beat an Australian, two-time defending champion Rebecca Wiasak, in the bronze-medal race.
Russia’s Daria Shmeleva won the 500m women’s time trial with a time of 33.282sec, 0.1sec faster than Germany’s Miriam Welte, while Russian defending champion Anastasia Voynova took bronze.
Shmeleva, 22, moves on to three career rainbow jerseys after she successfully defended her team sprint title alongside Voynova earlier this week.
“I know that I’m a world champion in two events here, but it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Shmeleva said. “If you ask me tomorrow morning probably I can tell you what I feel.”
In the men’s sprint, Russia’s Denis Dmitriev, 31, finally broke through for his first major title with victory over Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen in the gold-medal final.
