Aussie cyclists retain world team pursuit title
Australia defended its world team pursuit title in style Wednesday, overpowering Russia in the final on the opening day of the track cycling world championships. Belarus took gold in both the women's 500-metre time trial and 25-kilometre points race.
The Australian team of individual pursuit world record-holder Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Luke Durbridge and Michael Hepburn combined perfectly as it sped around the banked 250-meter Omnisport velodrome 16 times in three minutes 57.832 seconds to become the only team to break the four-minute mark.
Russia kept pace early in the race but slipped steadily further behind as the Australians cranked up the pace in the closing laps. The Russians finished second in 4:02.229 with Australia already celebrating.
"We were pretty confident we could go in and match the four-minute ride the Russians did (in qualifying) and we went in and matched it quite comfortably," Bobridge said.
Olympic champion Britain was third in 4:02.781 after being forced to drop world omnium champion Ed Clancy for its bronze medal race against New Zealand because he was struggling to get over a virus. Clancy was replaced by reserve rider Sam Harrison.
Olga Panarina of Belarus claimed the first gold of the championships when she won the 500-meter time trial in 33.896 seconds, stepping up from a third-place finish in the last world championships. Sandie Clair of France was second and Miriam Welte of Germany took the bronze.
Panarina's success was matched by teammate Tatsiana Sharakova, who won the 25-kilometre points race with 30 points from Jarmila Machacova of the Czech Republic who earned 20 points and Giorgia Bronzini of Italy on 14. Points are awarded for sprints during the 100-lap mass-start race. Like Panarina, Sharakova improved from a third-place finish last year.
Dutch rider Marianne Vos could only manage a disappointing seventh place in front of her home crowd.
Ho Ting Kwok of Hong Kong won the men's 15K scratch race in a big improvement on his eighth place at the worlds last year in Denmark. Elia Viviani of Italy was second and Morgan Kneisky of France was third.
The strong French team earned its first gold of the championships in the day's final race, beating Germany into second in the men's team sprint.
France's three-man team of Gregory Bauge, Michael D'Almeida and Kevin Sireau finished the explosive three-lap race in 43.867 seconds while Germany crossed the line in 44.483.
Olympic champion Britain beat Australia in the race for bronze in a time of 44.235 — quicker than Germany's silver medal time.