Day two of the 2022 Tissot UCI Track World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, saw five gold medals awarded.
Men’s team pursuit
In the men’s team pursuit final, the fastest team so far in the competition, Great Britain with Ethan Hayter, Oliver Wood, Ethan Vernon and the former holder of the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot, Dan Bigham, faced reigning champions Italy with current holder of the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot, Filippo Ganna along with Francesco Lemon, Jonathan Milan and Manilo Moro. The British team managed to beat the Olympic champions and world-record holders by 0.204 seconds, with a time of 3:45.829.
“It’s unbelievable,” said a delighted Bigham. “We were here to execute good, clean rides. It wasn’t about being here to win; it was about doing everything we could to perform to the best of our ability. Every round we stepped forward and improved. That was the best one, full stop. We’re on cloud nine.”
Asked about the team’s build-up, Bigham, who’s known for his precise preparation, commented, “We’ve done a lot of sessions in the Derby [Great Britain] Velodrome. The team has relocated there from Manchester. We’ve tested a lot of different strategies and came in here pretty confident of how we’d execute things.”
In the bronze match, Denmark with Tobias Hansen, Carl-Frederik Bévort, Lasse Norman Hansen and Rasmus Pedersen secured the bronze after having beaten the Australian team with Conor Leahy, Kelland O’Brien, Joshua Duffy and Samuel Welsford.
Women’s elimination race
The elimination race has a maximum of 24 riders and begins with a rolling start. Primarily an endurance event, there is also a sprint element every two laps. At the end of every second lap, the rider who crosses the finish line last is eliminated from the race.
There was no eliminating Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky as the 26-year-old powered to gold, continuing her form from the UEC European Championships, where she also won gold. Italy’s Rachele Barbieri took silver with America’s Jennifer Valente winning bronze.
“It feels really good,” Kopecky said after the race. “My coach and I watched the footage from last year a couple of days ago, and I knew what I did wrong last year and knew I couldn’t make the same mistakes again. The race was super-fast. Before I knew it, we were down to seven riders.”
Men’s keirin
In the men’s keirin, all eyes were on the powerful Dutch duo with reigning champion Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland, despite both finishing second in their respective semi-finals. France’s Melvin Landerneau and Colombia’s Kevin Santiago Quintero Chavarro won their respective heats. In the final, Lavreysen maneuvered fellow countryman Hoogland to win gold. Quintero Chavarro finished third.
“It wasn’t that tactical but the legs felt really good today so I just went for it,” Lavreysen said. “I chose my moment and went full gas. We were a bit sad about yesterday [when the Netherlasnds took team sprint silver] but, of course, I really wanted to win this jersey today.”
Men’s Scratch
The men’s scratch race was a 15km tactical combat with defending champion Donavan Grondin in prime position with a couple of laps to go. Belgium’s Tuur Dens then accelerated and looked to be in control… until Canada’s Dylan Bibic attacked at the right time, winning by a full bike length. Kazushige Kuboki won Japan’s first medal at the 2022 Tissot UCI Track World Championships with his silver while the Netherlands’ Roy Eefting took bronze.
“I believe in my sprint as it’s comparable to sprinters so I can rely on it,” Bibic commented. “I’ve done a lot of team-pursuit practice and riding behind the moto. I’m now looking forward to the Omnium and Madison, which I want to place well in ahead of the Olympics, and then the UCI Track Champions League.”
Women’s team pursuit
In the women’s team pursuit, Great Britain with Neah Evans, Katie Archibald, Anna Morris and Josie Knight faced Italy in the final after having raced neck-to-neck with the French team until the British team pulled away over the last few laps to qualify for the final. In the second semi-final, it looked like Italy with Elisa Balsamo, Chiara Consonni, Martina Alzini and Vittoria Guazzini might be disqualified after two false starts but it turned out to be a neutralised start. Once the race was underway, the Italians kept control and took a decisive victory over Australia.
In the bronze race, France continued the trend and dominated Australia to win bronze in 4:10.774.
Great Britain started the final with the same quartet as in the semi-final, while Italy swapped out Martina Alzini for Martina Fidanza. Halfway through the race Italy had a lead of 1.3 seconds. The British fought hard but the Italians increased their lead to over 1.5 seconds and won in 4:09.770, with Great Britain 1.599 seconds behind.
“We knew we came here with a big chance of winning,” said Guazzini. “We kept pushing to the end and won. We are young and want to improve every time. We may celebrate tonight but not too much as there are more races to come.”
The quarter-finals in the women’s sprint saw Germany’s Lea Friedrich, France’s Mathilde Gros, Germany’s Emma Hinze and the Netherland’s Laurine van Riessen qualify for the semi-finals on the Friday.