photo credits @ UCI
Ethan Vernon and Harrie Lavreysen express their amazement at their successes on the fifth night of track cycling at the UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland.
“I can’t believe it”. And neither could the crowd as they witnessed Ethan Vernon claim victory in a thrilling elimination race that put him through an absolute rollercoaster. Scratches on his left thigh showed how tough a battle the British rider survived en route to his first individual UCI World Champion title, after winning the team pursuit last year in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France).
The stakes were high, and so was the intensity with the threat of an elimination hanging over each rider’s head every two laps. Riders rubbed shoulders and hit the deck as soon as the race began, and Vernon and Matthijs Büchli (NED) also crashed later in the race.
Both men got back up and survived a few more laps until the Dutch rider was eliminated just outside of the podium. But Vernon managed to resist Italy’s Elia Viviani (bronze) and distance Canada’s Dylan Bibic (silver) to triumph in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
Harrie Lavreysen (NED) came to Glasgow with 11 Elite UCI World Champion titles under his belt. But the Dutch superstar made it 13 as he won the men’s team sprint on Friday and now the individual sprint three days later.
After he eliminated Matthew Richardson (AUS) and Jack Carlin (GBR), Lavreysen faced Nicholas Paul (TTO) in the final. The Dutch star dominated the first round, and the second as well to enforce his superiority in the individual sprint. It is a discipline he has ruled at the UCI Worlds since 2019, and with a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games to boot! “The fifth is unbelievable”, Lavreysen said with an immense grin.
In the meantime, Jack Carlin (GBR) provoked more roars from the crowds as he claimed bronze in two rounds against Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk.
The Scottish rider Neah Evans lived her dream as she dominated the Madison alongside her Welsh partner Elinor Barker. The British duo dominantly powered to the lead, taking turns on the attack to claim 21 points in the first eight sprints (one every 10 laps). Australia followed with 14 points, with France and Poland in close contention.
Georgia Baker and Alexandra Manly (AUS) increased the pressure as they won the ninth sprint (5 more points) but Great Britain pushed their advantage to 7 points (26 to 19 after 11 sprints) ahead of the final run-in to the line.
Team GB launched what looked like a decisive attack in the final laps, but a crash interrupted the race. As the action resumed, France (Victoire Berteau and Clara Copponi) powered to the maximum points and to the bronze medals with 22 points. Evans and Barker maintained their lead (28) with Australia taking silver (25).
Fast British women also delighted the crowds of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome with Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell setting the two best times of 200m flying start to qualify straight for the 1/8 finals of the individual sprint alongside Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich and China’s Liying Yuan. The riders with the next 12 best times won their 1/16 finals to join the early leaders in the next round: Emma Hinze (GER), Mathilde Gros (FRA), Pauline Sophie Grabosch (GER), Lauriane Genest (CAN), Yufang Guo (CHN), Ellesse Andrews (NZL), Kelsey Mitchell (CAN), Hetty van de Wouw (NED), Kristina Clonan (AUS), Martha Bayona (COL), Taky Marie Divine Kouamé (FRA) and Mina Sato (JPN).
Their battle for gold will resume on Tuesday and go on until Wednesday. Three gold medals will be to play for on Tuesday, in the men’s 1km time trial, the women’s points race and the men’s Madison.
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