French and Dutch and British riders also placed on the podium six times, while Denmark took three gold medals. But nobody managed to match New Zealand’s medal haul which, as well as the three gold, included two silver and a bronze.
The medal standings 🥇#TissotNationsCup pic.twitter.com/MxCgMcUZrq
— UCI Track Cycling (@UCI_Track) February 26, 2023
Kiwis start strong in the team pursuits
The New Zealanders quickly showed their strength as they dominated the qualifying of the men’s and women’s team pursuits on Wednesday’s opening night.
From there, the Kiwis Michaela Drummond, Ally Wollaston, Bryony Botha and Emily Shearman powered to the gold medal in spectacular fashion (4’08’440) despite a strong start from the Frenchwomen (Victoire Berteau, Clara Copponi, Valentine Fortin and Marion Borras) who stood on the top step of the podium of the 2022 UCI World Championships. This time, they took silver ahead of Team GB (Sophie Lewis, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts, plus Neah Evans who rode in previous rounds).
In the men’s competition, Italians were the first eliminated, with the 9th best time of the qualifying. After their strong start, the New Zealand team of Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart, Daniel Bridgwater, and Nicholas Kergozou de la Boessiere (plus George Jackson in a previous round) saw Denmark (Tobias Hansen, Robin Skivild, Carl-Frederik Bevort and Rasmus Pedersen) take the top spot, riding in 3’49’’210. The Kiwis and the Brits (Oliver Wood, William Tidball, Rhys Britton and Charlie Tanfield) joined them on the podium.
Wollaston’s delight, Lavreysen’s power
New Zealand’s two other gold medals came from the young Ally Wollaston, rising to Elite glory after she took the Junior UCI World Champion title in the individual pursuit in 2019. Last year, she claimed four gold medals at the Oceania Championships. In Jakarta, she took part in the winning team pursuit team, and, individually, went on to dominate the elimination race (ahead of Great Britain’s Neah Evans and the Netherlands’ Marit Raaijmakers) and the Omnium (France’s Clara Copponi came 2nd and Evans stood again on the podium).
“It feels amazing, I’ve really exceeded my expectations this weekend,” Wollaston said as the most decorated rider of this first round.
Victory in the Women Omnium 🏅 for Ally Wollaston
— UCI Track Cycling (@UCI_Track) February 26, 2023
Post-race thoughts from the 22-year-old 🇳🇿 after some fantastic riding 🗣⬇️#TissotNationsCup pic.twitter.com/m4yZmZSWre
Dutch powerhouse Harrie Lavreysen also had a very successful weekend but had to settle for two gold medals and one silver. The Oranje star outpowered everyone in the keirin (Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang took silver after he had to go through the repêchages and Israel’s Mikhail Yakovlev finished 3rd) and the individual sprint (silver for Japan’s Kaiya Ota and another bronze for Yakovlev).
The Dutch sprinters were also off to a flying start in the team sprint final… but Jeffrey Hoogland suffered a puncture and had to be content with silver behind Australia (Thomas Cornish, Leigh Hoffman and Matthew Richardson), the reigning UCI World Champions. France (Florian Grengbo, Rayan Helal and Sébastien Vigier) stood on the third step of the podium, just as they did at the recent 2023 European Championships.
French sprints and Danish endurance
French women were less successful in the team sprint, dominated by Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich, Pauline Sophie Grabosch and Emma Hinze (plus Alessa-Catriona Propster). The German team, reigning European and UCI World Champions, only came 5th in the qualifying but they got the better of France in the first round and powered to the final, where a late surge saw them overhaul China, represented by the Olympic Champion Shanju Bao alongside Yufang Guo and Liying Yuan (plus Wei Zhuang) with a time of 46’’613. In the final for bronze, Lauren Bell, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane brought the bronze medal to Team GB (46’’684) winning against the Netherlands.
When it came to the individual sprint, Mathilde Gros showed the raw power that put her on top of the game at the 2022 UCI Track World Championships and UCI Track Champions League. She set the tone from the qualifying, clocking the fastest time of the 43 riders who competed in the 200m flying start: 10’’514 (68.480km/h). Nobody could stand in her way as she powered past her different opponents and eventually beat the European Champion Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER) to take gold. An all-British battle for bronze saw Finucane get the better of Capewell.
In the keirin, Gros had to be content with silver when she was beaten to the top spot by Japan’s Mina Sato. Another Japanese rider, Fuko Umekawa, claimed bronze. Japanese riders took more success through Eiya Hashimoto, who participates in the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup with Team Bridgestone Cycling, and clinched a very special victory in the men’s elimination race ahead of Belgium’s Jules Hesters and the Netherlands’ Yoeri Havik (reigning UCI World Champion in the points race).
In addition to the team pursuit, Denmark’s successes came from the men’s Omnium - with Tobias Hansen taking another gold ahead of a Kiwi, Campbell Stewart, and Spain’s Sebastián Mora - and the women’s Madison, won by the stellar duo of Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth. They got the better of France (Borras and Fortin) and Italy (Martina Fidanza and Silvia Zanardi).
In the men’s Madison, the 2-time UCI World Champions Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt (GER), were crowned, ahead of the Netherlands (Havik and Jan Willem van Schip) and New Zealand (Gate and Stewart).
The second round of the 2023 UCI Track Nations Cup will take place in Cairo, Egypt (14-17 March).