Copenhagen World Cup – Day 1 finals
The story so far Day 1 ? qualifying sesssion
There were three gold medals for Great Britain to cheer on the opening night of the Copenhagen World Cup.
Lizzie Armitstead (Team 100% ME) took Britain's first gold of the meeting, when she won the scratch race. It also gave her the overall World Cup title.
The second gold of the night came courtesy of the Sky+HD trio in the men's team sprint. Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff's 44.129-second time was too hot for Cofidis. The French US Creteil team got the better of Great Britain's Matt Crampton, David Daniell and Ross Edgar in the race for bronze though. However, the British team's time was just a whisker away from breaking the 45-second barrier, proving that, like France, GB can call on six world-class team sprinters.
In the women's sprint, Victoria Pendleton was as impressive as ever, even though she had to go to a deciding race to get past Willy Kanis in the semi-finals. Pendleton was beaten in race one, and then crashed as she crossed the line, but she got level in the next race and then win the decider to make the final. In that final, she beat the French rider Clara Sanchez 2-0.
Earlier, Joanna Rowsell claimed the first British medal of the weekend, when she beat the German rider Verena Joos to the bronze in the women's individual pursuit.
The Team 100% ME rider, aged 20, had qualified fourth fastest in the afternoon session, but overturned Joos in the medal race. Rowsell's time was 3-40.656. Third place was enough to make her the overall World Cup champion for the season.
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Dutch rider Eleonora Van Dijk beat Canada's Tara Whitten to the gold with a time of 3-38.870.
Chris Newton was eighth in the final of the men's points race, but he had already clinched the overall World Cup title.
As expected, the American teenager Taylor Phinney was a convincing winner in his individual pursuit final against David O'Loughlin of Ireland. Phinney completed the catch shortly after passing the 3,000-metre mark.
Day 1 finals results
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT
1 Eleonora Van Dijk (Netherlands)
2 Tara Whitten (Canada)
3 Joanna Rowsell (GB, Team 100% ME)
World Cup overall winner Joanna Rowsell (GB, Team 100% ME)
MEN'S POINTS RACE
1 Kam-Po Wong (Hong Kong) 32pts
2 Marcel Barth (Germany) 12pts
3 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 11pts
8 Chris Newton (Great Britain) 7pts
15 Luke Rowe (Team 100% ME) 4pts
World Cup overall winner Chris Newton (Great Britain)
WOMEN'S SCRATCH RACE
1 Lizzie Armitstead (GB, Team 100% ME)
2 Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russia)
3 Annalisa Cucinotta (Italy)
16 Alex Greenfield (Great Britain)
World Cup overall winner Lizzie Armitstead (GB, Team 100% ME)
MEN'S TEAM SPRINT
1 Sky+HD (Hoy, Kenny, Staff) 44.129sec
2 Cofidis (Bourgain, Pervis, Sireau) 44.702sec
3 US Creteil (Bauge, D'Almeida, Jollet) 44.695sec
4 Great Britain (Crampton, Daniell, Edgar) 45.040sec
World Cup overall winner Cofidis
MEN'S INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT
1 Taylor Phinney (USA)
2 David O'Loughlin (Ireland)
3 Alexei Markov (Russia)
World Cup overall winner Valery Kaykov (Russia, Lokomotiv)
WOMEN'S SPRINT
1 Victoria Pendleton (GB, Sky+HD)
2 Clara Sanchez (France)
3 Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)
World Cup overall winner Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)
RELATED LINKS
Preview: Who's riding which event for Britain?
International track results 2008-2009
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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.
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