Copenhagen World Cup – Day 3 finals
The story so far ? Day two finals
The trio of Lizzie Armitstead, Katie Colclough and Joanna Rowsell won the women?s team pursuit to give Britain a fifth gold medal of the weekend at the Copenhagen World Cup.
It was their third World Cup win in the team pursuit this season and makes them favourites for the world title in Poland next month. And if Wendy Houvenaghel, who was part of last year?s rainbow jersey-winning team with Rebecca Romero and Rowsell, comes back into the team they will certainly be the team to beat. The question is, will British Cycling break up a winning team?
Riding for Team 100% ME, they qualified quickest and then beat the Netherlands in the final.
The final day in Denmark was one of mixed fortunes for the British after that winning start.
In the women?s Keirin, Victoria Pendleton looked comfortable on her way to the final, but as the medal race began she made no attempt to get onto the back wheel of the Derny, instead settling in at the back of the line. From there, she had a lot of places to make up and when Clara Sanchez took a flier and opened up a gap at the front, she was never going to get on terms and she finished sixth of six.
Helen Scott, the young British rider, reached the second round and rode in the 7th to 12th place final, finishing 12th.
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Sir Chris Hoy missed the men?s sprint competition after his crash in the Keirin yesterday. He was taken to hospital but x-rays showed he had not broken anything, but did have a bruised hip.
The French dominated the sprint competition, although all three remaining British riders qualified for the match races.
In the 1/8 finals, Matt Crampton beat Rene Enders, Ross Edgar dispatched Robert Forstemann and Jason Kenny got past Tim Veldt.
Crampton bowed out to Frenchman Gregory Bauge 2-0 in the quarter-finals. Edgar took Kevin Sireau to a decider but lost 2-0. Kenny beat Teun Mulder of the Netherlands.
In the semi-finals, Kenny was beaten 2-0 by Bauge, and then he lost the bronze medal race to Sireau.
That meant the French completed a sweep of the medals, with Bauge beating Bourgain in the final.
In the Madison, Peter Kennaugh and Rob Hayles (Great Britain) reached the final, but Kennaugh was taken out by a crash not far before the finish.
The British topped the medal table, if you ignore the various trade team factions, and although not everything went to plan, it showed the squad is on course for a successful World Championships.
Despite fielding small teams in three of the five rounds, British riders won four World Cup titles ? Chris Newton (points), Team 100% ME (women?s team pursuit), Lizzie Armitstead (scratch race) and Jo Rowsell (individual pursuit).
Great Britain were third overall in the national World Cup classification behind Germany and the Netherlands.
Day 3 finals results
WOMEN'S TEAM PURSUIT
1 Team 100% ME (Armitstead, Colclough, Rowsell)
2 Netherlands (Koedooder, Pieters, Van Dijk
3 Germany (Brecker, Brennauer, Joos)
Overall World Cup winner Team 100% ME
WOMEN?S KEIRIN
1 Clara Sanchez (France)
2 Elisa Frisoni (Italy)
3 Shuang Guo (China)
6 Victoria Pendleton (GB, Sky+HD)
12 Helen Scott (Great Britain)
17 Anna Blyth (Great Britain)
Overall World Cup winner Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
MEN?S MADISON
1 Germany (Barth & Bartko) 16pts
2 Italy (Viviani & Ciccone) 13pts
3 Netherlands (Schep & Ligthart) 12 pts
Overall World Cup winner Germany
MEN?S SPRINT
1 Gregory Bauge (Fra, US Creteil)
2 Mickael Bourgain (Fra, Cofidis)
3 Kevin Sireau (Fra, Cofidis)
4 Jason Kenny (GB, Sky+HD)
6 Matt Crampton (Great Britain)
7 Ross Edgar (Great Britain)
Overall World Cup winner Shane Perkins (Australia)
COPENHAGEN IN SUMMARY |
REVELATION OF THE WEEKEND
The American Taylor Phinney doesn?t turn 19 until June, but his sprint-endurance double will have made the dominant Brits sit up and take notice. Bradley Wiggins, currently concentrating on the road and racing at the Tour of the Mediterranean this week, will have noted that Phinney?s time in the individual pursuit was just a couple of hundredth of a second of his own PB.
The time may have been a surprise, if the result was not. Phinney comes from good racing stock, the son of former Tour de France stage winner Davis Phinney and 1984 Olympic road race champion Connie Carpenter.
On Saturday he stepped up and produced a world class 1-01.6 in the kilometre. ?I was expecting to win the pursuit,? he said. ?But I rode the kilo for fun, really. I set two American records, which is what I came here to do. I?ve never trained specifically for the kilo before. If the two events don?t conflict in Poland [at the World Championships] maybe I?ll do both.?
BEST BRITISH PERFORMANCE
It?s a bit of a cop-out to group them all together, but the women?s endurance riders stood out as the weekend?s outstanding performers.
They delivered a medal in all four of their events. There was gold for Lizzie Armitstead in the scratch race and the team pursuiters. Katie Colclough took a fine silver in the points race and Jo Rowsell was a bronze-medallist in the individual pursuit.
And when you consider the Armitstead and Rowsell are the oldest at just 20, it?s clear there?s a huge amount of potential in the group.
BRITISH MEDAL WINNERS
Gold
Lizzie Armitstead (scratch race)
Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff (team sprint)
Victoria Pendleton (sprint)
Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Chris Newton, Rob Hayles (team pursuit)
Lizzie Armitstead, Katie Colclough, Jo Rowsell (team pursuit)
Silver
Katie Colclough (points race)
Bronze
Jo Rowsell (individual pursuit)
COPENHAGEN WORLD CUP MEDAL TABLE
By nationality
1 Great Britain 5 gold 1 silver 1 bronze
2 France 3 gold 5 silver 3 bronze
3 Netherlands 2 gold 1 silver 2 bronze
4 USA 2 gold 0 silver 2 bronze
5 Germany 1 gold 2 silver 1 bronze
6= Australia 1 gold 0 silver 0 bronze
6= Cuba 1 gold 0 silver 0 bronze
6= Hong Kong 1 gold 0 silver 0 bronze
6= Japan 1 gold 0 silver 0 bronze
10 Italy 0 gold 2 silver 1 bronze
11 Spain 0 gold 2 silver 0 bronze
12 Russia 0 gold 1 silver 1 bronze
13= Canada 0 gold 1 silver 0 bronze
13= Ireland 0 gold 1 silver 0 bronze
13= Switzerland 0 gold 1 silver 0 bronze
16= China 0 gold 0 silver 2 bronze
16= Ukraine 0 gold 0 silver 2 bronze
18= Czech Republic 0 gold 0 silver 1 bronze
18= Denmark 0 gold 0 silver 1 bronze
2008-2009 WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS
Men
Individual pursuit Valery Kaykov (Russia)
Team pursuit Spain
Points race Chris Newton (Great Britain)
Scratch race Tim Mertens (Belgium)
Madison Germany
Sprint Shane Perkins (Australia)
Team sprint Cofidis (France)
Keirin Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)
Kilo Yevhen Bolibrukh (Ukraine)
Women
Individual pursuit Jo Rowsell (Great Britain)
Team pursuit Team 100% ME (Great Britain)
Points race Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)
Scratch race Lizzie Armitstead (Great Britain)
Sprint Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)
Team sprint Germany
Keirin Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
500m Jinjie Gong (China)
RELATED LINKS
Preview: Who's riding which event for Britain?
Day one finals
Day two finals
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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