Day One of the Manchester World Cup ended with three gold medals for Great Britain in the form if
Chris Hoy in the Kilometre TT, Victoria Pendleton in the Women's Sprint and Bradley Wiggins in the Men's 4km Individual Pursuit.
Wiggins was on form in the Individual Pursuit qualification to record a fantastic time of 4m 18.276s to top the leader board from Russia's Alexander Serov, who
recorded a time three seconds slower with 4m 21.081s
This meant Wiggins faced Serov in the final whereas arch rival Bradley McGee would have to ride for Bronze against the Netherland's Jen Mourris, due to him only recording a time of 4m 24.238s
McGee easily beat Mouris by six seconds to claim the Bronze medal, and Wiggins produced a similar dominate performance in the final
to take gold easily from Serov in a stunning time of 4m 17.864s
Pursuit Silver medallist Alexander Serov (Left), Gold went to Bradley Wiggins (Centre), Bronze medallist Bradley McGee (Right)
Wiggins commented "To do that in a first competitive race - I'm really pleased because
you can go as hard as you like in training but you never know until you get on
the track."
In the Kilometre TT Chris Hoy showed why he is the World and Olympic Champion when he produced a fantastic ride
to come from behind and beat French rider Francois Pervis
Standards had already been set high wby Tim Veldt when the Dutch man set a time of 1m 02.617s and the Hoy v Pervis showdown was delayed
whilst Poland's Tomasz Schmidt was allowed to re-run his effort after pulling his foot out in his start
This only went to improve the atmosphere in an already buzzing Manchester Velodrome, which enjoyed a healthy attendance
Hoy shot out of the gate and was leading Pervis after the first two laps, however by lap three Pervis was on top and it took an almighty
effort from the Scot to get back in front and win in a time of 1m 01.500s to Pervis' 1m 01.535s, so as you can see it was extremely close!
Kilo Silver medallist Francois Pervis (Left), Gold went to Chris Hoy (Centre), Bronze medallist Tim Veldt (Right)
"I was sort of aware I was down as I didn't hear as much noise from the crowd
as I had at the start," Hoy said
"But in this event you can only be down by a small fraction so you can always
get back."
Hoy is likely to start as favourite to win a fourth when he defends his world
kilometre title in Majorca at the end of next month although he expects to have
to again beat Pervis, whom he compared to fellow Frenchman Arnaud Tournant.
"I wasn't expecting him to go that fast," Hoy said. "That ride was of the
quality Tournant was doing."
Hoy says he is 99% certain he will make an attempt on Tournant's world
kilometre record in Bolivia in May with an official announcement expected around
18 March.
In the Women's Points race the Cuban team of Yumari Gonzalez Valdiuieso and Yoanka Gonzalez Perez produced a fantastic ride to dominate the event, with victory
going to Yoanka Gonzalez Perez.
Second was Austrailian Belinda Goss with Mie Bekker Lacota of Denmark taking the bronze
Points Silver medallist Belinda Goss (Left), Gold went to Yoanka Gonzalez Perez (Centre), Bronze medallist Mie Bekker Lacota (Right)
In the Men's Scratch race strong rides by Britian's Geraint Thomas, Chris Newton and Russell Hampton, who suffered a crash in the early stages of the race, were not enough to get any of the trio a medal.Instead it was Rafal Ratajczyk take the Gold from German Roger Kluge and third placed Charles Bradley Huff of the USA
Scratch Silver medallist Roger Kluge (Left), Gold went to Rafal Ratajczyk (Centre), Bronze medallist Charles Bradley Huff (Right)
The most dramatic event of the day had to be the Men's Keirin final. We had already seen crashes in all events but the Pursuit and Kilo, and the most spectacular crash was on the final bend of the Keirin
Crossing the 200m line France's Kevin Sireau swerved up the track illegally moving above the Sprinters red line, pushing Jamie Staff up the track, this allowed Austrailian Shane Perkins to get himself under Sireau in a none existent gap
As the speed increased coming into the final bend, Perkins' move caused the entire field bar himself and China's Qi Tang to come down in the most dramatic crash I have ever seen
Bikes were destroyed with Team mechanics rushing to the rescue of riders who lay injured under the scoreboard, Perkins contiuned to claim victory with Tang taking silver to the crowds disappointment who booed Perkins on his laps of honour
Hodei Mazquiaran Uria running to his Bronze Medal
With forks and handlebars snapped and wheels missing what happened next was amazing, Spain's Hodei Mazquiaran Uria realised the Bronze medal was up for grabs and picked up his bike, minus front wheel and ran down the home straight with his bike in his hand,
closely following by Jamie Staff on his Trek Madone road bike. Hodei took the bronze and then collapsed by the side of the track due to the pain of his injuries.
Keirin Silver medallist Oi Tang (Left), Gold went to Shane Perkins (Centre), Bronze medallist Hodei Mazquiaran Uria (Right)
In the Women's sprint Britain's Victoria Pendleton who was riding in SiS colours saw off Shuang Guo in the final
The 27-year-old Pendleton came through a semi-final against 18-year-old
Briton Anna Blyth, who narrowly lost the bronze-medal race to Australia's Anna
Meares.
The victory was well deserved as Pendleton was clearly the most dominate rider, however Blyth's performance deserves a mention as she wasn't phased by the event or the riders she was facing and produced some fantastic sprinting
Sprint Silver medallist Shuang Guo (Left), Gold went to Victoria Pendleton (Centre), Bronze medallist Anna Meares (Right)
The event continues until Sunday night, results from Saturday can be found here:
