December 10/09 18:35 pm - Track World Cup #3 (Colombia): Day 1 Report and full results

Posted by Editoress on 12/10/09
 

Stephane Cossette, competing in his first ever World Cup race, rode a great Kilo. He was in the top six in the first 650 metres, and ended with a time of 1:04.096 to place 11th.  "I think being fast in the first three laps is important and shows that the team has been focusing on Team Sprint training," commented coach Tanya Dubnicoff.  Stephane was pleased with his time, which was only one second slower than at the Pan Am championships in July, where he rode a 1:03 at an altitude of 6000 feet.

Travis Smith qualified through to the second round in the Keirin by taking control of the front of the race in the first round, with 2.5 laps to go as the pace bike pulled off. The second round was a tough heat, with Travis facing Teun Mulder of Cofidis and Maximilian Levy of Germany, the reigning World Champion. Travis made his move early over the top to control the race, but was overpowered in the last 100 metres, finishing fourth and moving on to the 7th-12th finals.  Travis won that heat with ease, using a little more patience and attacking with one and a half laps to go. The other riders challenged him as he was coming over the top, but Travis was carrying too much speed and shut it down before the finish.

Zach Bell had a bitter sweet Points Race with a fourth place result.  "The race was a lot faster and more competitive than last year."  After placing second in his qualifying heat, he had a tough battle near the end of the final, which cost Zach the podium.  During the last two sprints, two riders took valuable points needed in the tally for the Canadian to stay in third. Zach is happy with knowing a lesson was learned, but disappointed to not be on the podium.

Monique Sullivan had a great qualifying flying 200 metre time trial with a time of 11.58 seconds, placing her ninth overall, and advancing to the 1/8th final.  Monique lost her first ride against Emily Rosemond of Australia, and went on to the B Final. Once in the B Final Monique misjudged her opponent's acceleration and Xu Yulei of Hong Kong went on to win the ride and advance. This is the fastest 200 metre time for Monique Sullivan since her Bronze medal at Junior Worlds in 2007. Sullivan has been struggling with a few injuries, but now she feels healed and motivated to work on getting her sprint tactics back.

Racing continues with Tara Whitten in the Individual Pursuit and Points Race, and Travis Smith and Joseph Veloce in the men’s sprint.

Courtesy CCA

Afternoon and evening session results from the first day of racing in Cali, Colombia

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