World Cup Points Race (Sydney)
30-Nov-2007
Courtesy of Cyclingnews.com Men's points race: Experience and patience nets Henderson points
gold Thirty year-old New Zealander Greg Henderson used a combination of experience, wisdom and patience to fend off former professional roadie, Spaniard Toni Tauler and youthful Australian Cameron Meyer, to glide to a well deserved victory in the men's 30km points race at Sydney's opening round of the 2007 Track World Cup tonight. In a fast-paced event that delighted the opening night crowd, Henderson consistently added to the 25 points he was awarded after taking a lap early with Tauler and Meyer to finish the event with a grand total of 31 points. The 2004 world champion was a gracious winner, saying that although a rider could never expect to win the gold going into a World Cup event, he had hoped to be on the podium and was delighted he had made it. "My training has been coming up and up for the past few weeks but I didn't really know where I would be until I raced," he said. "This showed me. I am absolutely pleased." Silver medalist Tauler, 33, who finished with 27 points, was also a happy bike rider, saying he had just started on the track after retiring from road racing after winning the Spanish time trial championship in 2006. "I was not expecting to do so well," he said. "I just started and attacked the first time, then I found I had one lap more and one lap more . . . I think it's crazy! I am retired!" Bronze medalist Meyer (24 points), of Australia's new Team Toshiba, also wasn't expecting a win. At 19 and with more than 10 years of youth on Henderson, he hoped to do well but went into the race considering it a good learning experience. "I never expected to be on the podium but I am really happy to be there," he said. "I think from Greg tonight I learned how to better position myself for the sprints. I wasn't feeling all that good while out there, but it came together." Meyer is off to the Belgian World Cup round next week and is focused on gaining a spot at the Olympics. "I won the Oceania two weeks ago and now I've had a third place in the World Cup, so I would say things are going pretty well," he said. How it unfolded Twenty four riders lined up for the start, with Great Britain rider Chris Newton leading the field out and setting a snappy pace. Sergiy Lagkuti (Arda Natura Pinarello Ukraina), Dane Daniel Kreutzfeldt and Dutch rider Peter Schep made a break with 114 laps to go and started frantically swamping turns, but nobody was planning on letting anyone go this early in the peace and the gap was closed quickly. It was while the field was still considering its options after the early attack that Meyer had the foresight to make his move, tailed by Henderson and Tauler. At the bell for the first sprint Tauler and Meyer were off the front with Henderson, already showing the wisdom of conserving his energy for the long journey ahead, following. The trio managed to steal a lap right away and in the first sprint, picked up 25 points for their trouble. Understandably, the pace was then on in the main field. Three riders had just lapped the field with 107 to go. The second of 12 sprints gave points to Kiryienka, Canadian Zachary Bell, Russian Mikhail Ignatiev and Ivan Kovalev (Moscow). At this point Tauler led the race on 25, Meyer was second with 23 and Henderson third on 22. A group of five then attacked, with Henderson choosing to remain in the main field, helping to reel the breakaway in. The third sprint went to Ignatiev, Kovalev, Kiryienka and Lagkuti, with the three race leaders untouched. It was the same after Newton, Schep and Kiryienka took the fourth sprint points, with Kiryienka trailing in fourth with nine points. With 77 laps to go the field was obviously tiring, strung out in single file and Meyer was at the back, obviously feeling the effects of the pace A new player, Makoto Iijima of Japan, staged an attack with 73 to go and was joined swiftly by Martin Blaha (ASC Dukla Praha) and Ukrainian Rybin Volodymyry, but it was a short lived effort. Australian Mark Renshaw led out the fifth sprint and picked up points for second when Pole Rafal Ratajczyk breezed around him to win that effort. With the leaders pacing themselves (Henderson at the back of the field and Meyer in second wheel of the main field), the sixth sprint was contested by Kovalev, Kam-Po Wong (Hong Kong), Nicolas Rousseau (France) and Schep. Sprint seven saw the group together but in single file with Henderson taking first place to narrow the gap in the total pointscore; Newton sprinting through for second and Meyer for third. Competition hotted up at this point, with only one point separating the three leaders. Henderson decided it was time to add more points to his tally at the eighth sprint with third place behind Kovalev and Bell. Meyer missed out. With 37 to go Henderson was race leader with 27 and Meyer two points behind and determined to hang in there. The ninth sprint went down to Ratajczyk, Iijima and Henderson, who elevated his total to 29. Tauler was on 25 and Meyer 24 with three sprints - and a maximum 15 points - to go. None of the main players contested the tenth sprint 10 and it was won by Schep ahead of Kluge and Newton. Having initiated the first attack of the race, Bell decided to have another go with 12 to go. He won the 11th sprint and Martin Blaha and Tauler picked up the extra points. With four to go Henderson was once again to be found on the front of the chasing bunch and had the break reeled in within half a lap. Lucky he had the energy after being careful with it earlier in the race. The bunch all together in the bell lap for the final sprint. Bell, Newton and Kluge made a last ditch attack off the front, but it was Henderson who was the hero of the event, gliding around the leaders to hit the finish line in third position behind Newton and Kluge and win the event. Men's points race - final 1 Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 31 pts |