By Lyne Lamoureux

Australian Team wins Men’s Team Pursuit

In the Men’s Team Pursuit, the Danes and the Australians qualified for the final where the four-man teams went head to heard on a distance of 4 kilometers.

“We were the eighth team off, really due to our standards, (we had) average results for us in the last two World Cups so we had to go out and really put it on the line which we did. We rode a really good time of 4:09 just short of the fastest qualifiers.” said Peter Dawson about the qualifying heat which brought the Australian team to the final.

The battle ensued between the Danish team of Casper Jorgensen, Jens-Erik Madsen, Michael Morkov and Alex Rasmussen and the Australian quartet of Jack Bobridge, Peter Dawson, Mark Jamieson and Bradley McGee. The Danish team led off with an advantage over the first few laps with a gap of one second (1:105) after one kilometer, and less than two seconds (1:929) after two kilometers, but then the Australians kept the pressure on and reduced the gap to only 0:344 after three kilometers. The Australian team won the Team Pursuit with a time of 4:06:171 with an average speed of 58.495 kilometers an hour. The Danish team finished with a three second (3:207) gap to take the silver.

According to Dawson, everything went according to the team’s strategy. “The game plan was to go off nice and even, 1:06 for the first kilometer, and then see how we went for the second one and then race the Danes who we knew were going to out really hard, and we were almost one hundred percent certain that they were going to go so hard that they weren’t going to make it to the finish as a team. And it turned out that way which is very good for us.”

“Our coach is on the sideline, he walks a certain amount of steps on the line so we know exactly where we are. so if he’s in front of the line, we know that we’re in front, if he’s behind the line, like two steps, then we’re two ticks down.” explained Dawson on their tactics to keep track of their time.

The team was quite happy with their results and “I think that a 4:06 on this track is pretty impressive.” said a smiling Dawson.

The Ukrainian team finished third for a bronze medal with a fast time of 4:05:770 beating the
Dutch team by more than four seconds.

Men’s Team Pursuit
1. Australia 4:06.171
2. Denmark 4:09.378
3. Ukraine 4:05.770

Czech Jamila Machacova wins her first World Cup in the Women’s Points Race

Twenty-two year old Jamila Machacova from Czech Republic won the Women’s Points Race by garnering 27 points beating Hong Kong’s Min Hye Lee with 23 points and 12 points for China’s Li Yan. With her third place in the last World Cup in Sydney, and her first place in Los Angeles, Machacova takes the lead in the World Cup Women’s Points Race with only one World Cup left in the series.

Machacova did not feel well before the qualifying heat in the morning where she finished fifth in the second heat, but “then I qualified and I started to feel positive and relaxed, and then I try again, and I don’t think what will happen in (the) future, so I try and go and then it was just… amazing.” said a beaming Machacova after the podium ceremony.

Machacova has an affinity with the velodrome in Los Angeles. “I took my first medal (here) when I was a junior, second place in Scratch, so this is my town”, continued a laughing Machacova.

Machacova’s focus is now the World Championships, in March 2008.

Women’s 20-kilometer Points Race
1. Jamila Machacova (CZE) 27
2. Lee Min Hye (KOR) 23
3. Li Yan (CHN) 12

Frenchman Arnaud Tournant wins his second gold medal with the Men’s Keirin

Already a winner on Friday with the Team Sprint with his Cofidis team, 12 time World Champion and 1km world record holder Arnaud Tournant won the Men’s Keirin on Saturday night. He won his first qualifying heat and finished second in the second round of qualifications to move to the final where he took on Italy’s Roberto Chiappa, Australia’s Ryan Bayley, the Netherlands’ Teun Mulder, Greece’ Christos Volikakis and his countryman François Pervis from France.

“The Keirin is not an easy event because there are a lot of riders on the track. We are 6 riders at the same time, in a sprint discipline which makes it very, very fast and sometimes brings heated and even dangerous sprints. For me today, the strategy was to take the lead of the race, to put myself in the first positions. I found myself in the lead, and I wanted to keep this position but I did not give it full gas immediately. At the beginning of the last lap, I gave it everything and it worked.” said Tournant.

Tournant was confident before the final, “I finished second at the last World Cup in Beijing, so I knew that making it to the final was within my reach. So after I qualified for the final, I didn’t have anything to lose, being in the top 6 already, so might as well give it everything to win.”

The 29 year old Frenchman has announced that 2008 will be his last season after eleven years as a professional cyclist, and is focusing on the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

“First, the World Championships because they are coming really soon. In longer term, there is the qualification for the Olympic Games and the Games are really important. I’ll have to focus on all those and try my best. It is difficult as there are 6 or 7 men for three or four spots.”

Men’s Keirin
1. Arnaud Tournant (FRA)
2. Christos Volikakis (GRE)
3. Ryan Bayley (AUS)