August 18, 2008 (Beijing, China) – Day four of the Olympic track competition started with the women’s Points race, in which twenty-two countries came to the line. Canada’s Gina Grain started with eleven riders on the blue-line while eleven others started at the fence on the banking at the start/finish. Dutch rider Marianne Vos went into the race as the favorite, but England’s Rebecca Romero, fresh off her victory in the women’s individual pursuit was also a strong contender, and given the depth of the field, a good twelve riders had a strong shot at the podium.

One the first lap American rider Sarah Hammer jumped immediately with China’s Li Yan, but were caught by the field three laps later, as Grain and the Europeans chased. Lithuania’s Svetlana Pauliukaite was next to go, chased by Spain’s Leire Olaberria and Vos who took the first sprint with Olaberria in second, and Pauliukaite third.

These three continued to put real distance between themselves and the peloton. But Australia’s Katherine Bates chased and caught them with Grain staying within the top five, and Cuban rider Yoanka Gonzalez chasing. Gonzalez’s effort worked and Vos, Olaberria, Gonzalez and Bates were away. This break of four looked strong with Gonalez winning the breakaway sprint in the next bell lap, while Romero flew to the front of the bunch and won the group sprint.

With Romero at the front, the break was caught and in the next lap had a serious crash with Hammer, Japan’s Satomi Wadami, and Danish rider Trine Schmidt going down with Yan having to go out on the apron to avoid also going down. Schmidt and Yan recovered and got back in the field, while Hammer and Wadami were taken away by stretcher.

Soon after this Columbian rider Maria Luisa Calle broke and won sprint #3, but was soon caught as France’s Pascale Jeuland, who took the second spot, chased and bridged the gap. Romero attacked again and was chased by Evelyn Garcia of El Salvador, and though the field strung out, they still caught the break and regrouped. At the next bell lap it was a field sprint the Ukraine’s Lesya Kalitovska taking it and Russia’s Olga Slyusareva scooping second, with no breaks occurring. Schmidt broke three laps later with New Zealand’s Catherine Cheatley, Romero and Lesya Kalitovska of the Ukraine. But Vos counter-attacked and towed the peloton up again. With a lap to go Grain made her move with Yan, Vos, and Kalitovska. Yan won this sprint while Grain placed fourth, which put her in twelfth position.

After the sprint Romero went again and was chased by Calle. Schmidt attacked with Cheatley and Italian Carrara and the three went after Romero and Calle. Romero still got half a lap on the peloton before they woke up to what she was doing, and a group of five, which included Grain, went after the group of three that was chasing Romero, pulling everyone back together again.

With thirty-nine laps left Vos made a powerful attack. Within seven laps she had lapped the field, gaining an extra twenty points, but not before Calle and Carrara broke again from the front with Grain and Bates chasing them. It was a successful jump as Grain came second in the sprint to Bates, which moved her up with three points and ninth overall.

At the next bell lap Calle led out, but the Cuban Gonzalez and Spanish rider Olaberria chased with Cuba taking it. Schmidt broke away next and Vos and Bates reeled her in. The top racers did this over and over – individuals jumping and the field coming back on them within the next three laps. It made for an extremely exciting and very fast race. There is no way anyone could criticize women’s cycling of being “boring” as one of the Swiss journalists declared at the start of the women’s road race.

The peloton stayed together until the next lap when Olga Slyusareva of Russia took the sprint in the second to last sprint with Grain still in ninth at this stage.

But Grain rode aggressively in the next set of laps and with three laps left in the race was right on Vos’s wheel at the front of the group. On the bell lap as Gozalez moved up past Vos, Grain went with her – a very smart move as she took second in the final sprint to finish with six points and a solid ninth position. Vos had the race sewn up with her twenty extra points because she had lapped the field, while Cuba’s Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba took the silver. Spain’s Leire Olaberria took the bronze.

“I feel happy,” said Grain after the race. “I was really looking forward to this race and I’m happy with my form and fitness. It was fast right from the start – a really heated race. I was definitely up there, playing the game, I’m still soaking it up.”

Grain said that the field thought that Vos would try to take a lap, as she did, but that no one else was strong enough to go with her, and this is exactly what happened. But Grain also said she narrowly missed the crash, with one of the cyclists hitting her hip, saying, with no brakes or gears on the track, you can’t afford to hesitate when these things happen. The fast reflexes she developed both in road and mountain biking came in handy more than once.

“You’re rethinking strategy all the time out there,” she said. “Your heartrate is 175, you’re working really hard, and you still have to think about whose got how many points, when the next sprint is, where you want to be.”

Gonzalez was absolutely elated with her finish. “Medals are very important for Cuba. We don’t have the same opportunities to prepare and train properly as our European counterparts. Fidel has taught us from a very early age that we have to work hard and think big to achieve great things.” In terms of her strategy, Gonzalez said, “The problem was that there were three of us level in points. With three laps to go, I went for it. I was a little worried someone would overtake me but I knew I had to go for it because these are my last Olympics.” Later Gonzalez admitted that she will rethink whether or not she is retiring.

Winner Vos said she put the disappointment of the road race and the time trial the week before behind her. “I just focused on the track and it felt good. I knew the track was a completely different event. I just had to reload and I was confident. From the beginning in training it felt good on the track and I knew I had a chance,” she said.

Vos also sensed that “everyone was getting tired. I knew halfway would be a good moment [to lap the field]. I felt the bunch was not at high speed. So I went full speed and gained a lap.” She said that she knew the gold medal was hers before the race was over. “A couple of laps before the end I knew. I had recovered and it was a matter of keeping it all together. Also, all of the attacks were stranded at half a lap. This is wonderful.

“It feels incredible to get this gold. It’s so unbelievable. After the road race and the time trial I was so disappointed but now it feels so good to win gold. I can’t believe I just won gold in the Olympic Games,” said Vos.

Men’s Sprint – Quarter Finals
First up were England’s Chris Hoy and Malaysia’s Awang. Hoy took the win in 10.80, but Awang wasn’t a walkover. It was a near photo-finish. In the second heat Awang and Hoy held a track stance until officials fired the gun for a new start. Eventually officials sounded the gun and told the athletes to return to the startline for a re-start. This run saw a no-nonsense ride from both athletes, with Hoy still taking it, looking like he was out for a Sunday ride until the last 20 metres, and still recording a 10.302.

The second grouping saw Hoy’s teammate Jason Kenny and France’s Kevin Sireau battle it out, with Kenny never being contested, and winning it in 10.546. The second heat saw Sireau riding in a nervous manner, spending a great deal of energy watching Kenny, but not racing. Kenny was like a fox in a henhouse, eating Sireau for dinner in 10.595.

The third grouping was Teun Mulder of the Netherlands and Maximilian Levy of Germany, with the latter easily taking it in 10.689. The second heat saw Levy taking the lead in the preliminary laps with Mulder coming around him as they hit the line for the bell lap. But Mulder could not challenge him and Levy took his second heat in 10.660.

The fourth grouping saw Mickael Bourgain of France and the Netherland’s Theo Bos ride off with Bourgain winning in 10.689. The second heat crept along in the preliminary laps, and took place high on the banking, until Bourgain took a flyer. Bos went way down on the apron trying to get by on the inside, but to no avail. Bourgain won in 10.463.

This set the stage for the semi finals on Tuesday up with Bourgain and Hoy in the first group and Jason Kenny and Maximilian Levy in the second group, with Sireau, Awang, Bos and Mulder riding off for fifth to eighth place.

Women’s Sprint – Quarter Finals First Heat
Victoria Pendleton easily took the first heat against Lithuania’s Simona Krupeckaite in 11.839. In the second heat it looked like Pendleton let Krupeckaite ride to the front and just watched until half a lap to go and then turned on the power. And like the Brits are doing in nearly every race here, she raced by as if the competition was standing still crossing the line in 11.672.

The first heat in the second grouping saw home town favorite Lei Zhang and Belarus’ Natallia Tsylinskaya on the line. The crowd went crazy and Zhang, who had the second fastest qualifying time behind Pendleton, took it in 11.501. Their second heat saw the velodrome nearly shake with support for Zhang, who didn’t take the sprint until the last five metres. This race was won in 11.627. Both of Zhang’s times were faster than Pendleton, who is the race favourite.

The third group saw Australia’s Anna Meares, who was second in Athens to Canada’s Lori-Ann Muenzer in Athens, and France’s Clara Sanchez. Meares won the first heat in 11.716. In the second heat Sanchez forced the Aussie to the front, but Meares was so strong she was able to hold her off to a photo finish in 12.108.

The fourth group had the Netherland’s Willy Kanis and USA’s Jennie Reed matched with Kanis taking the first heat in 11.944. In the second heat the American was at the front going into the bell lap and simply tried to muscle it in front of Kanis. It was impossible and Kanis took it easily in 11.767.

This sets up Pendleton and Kanis in one grouping and Meares and Guo in the second for the semi-finals on Tuesday. Tsylinskaya, Sanchez, Krupeckaite, and Reed contest fifth to eighth place.

Men’s 4000m Team Pursuit Final
Every Dane who was present in China showed up at the velodrome for this event as Michael Moerkoev, Casper Joergensen, Jens-Erik Madsen, and Alex Nicki Rasmussen tried to stop the British machine. By now everyone had had enough of Britain taking everything. Riding for England was Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggns.

At the 1,000 metre mark Britain was leading with a 1:02.8 with Denmark back by 0.854 seconds. This increased to 1.701 seconds as the Brits crossed the 2,000 metre mark at 1:59.02. Three thousand metres was hit at 2:56.5 by the Brits, while the Danes were in danger of being lapped. They held on, but the British team did what they did the day before as they took the gold – and set a new world record again, this time at 3:53.314, erasing the 3:55.202 time on Sunday. The Danish team finished in 4:00.040.

In the race for the bronze, it was the friendly old enemies Australia and New Zealand contesting. Riding for Australia was Jack Bowbridge, Graeme Brown, Mark Jamieson and Bradley McGee, while Sam Bewley, Hayden Roulston, Marc Ryan and Jesse Sergent were up for New Zealand. Roulston had put the small country of 7 million on the map two nights earlier when he took the silver in the individual pursuit.

New Zealand had a 0.2 second gap at the 500 metre point and held it through the 1,000 and 2,000 metre mark. One thousand metres later, it was even a stronger gap at 0.675 seconds. At this point, Australia was down to three riders, while New Zealand lost their fourth man soon after, but continued to motor to a great finish of 3:57.776 – faster than the Danes who took the silver medal.

When asked if the British team’s ride was perfection Manning replied, “Yes, it was perfection – just so smooth, once we got these guys [the Danes] in our sights – we never really dreamt on doing a time like that. We just had great legs and kept going. My first Games was Sydney where I won bronze. That showed that we can try to win medals at major championships like this. There were a lot of disappointments in the early years when Australia was the dominant force.”

“It was probably the most enjoyable three to four minutes of my life. Racing on the Pursuit team has been so enjoyable. We’ve all sacrificed the individual pursuit to guarantee we’ve got a pursuit team. It all came together tonight.”

“I’ve been on the Team Pursuit squad for ten years – ten years of getting better – there’s a lot of talented individuals to go through the Great Britain pursuit team. We’ve persevered with this event. The time [new world record] is a bonus – that was a perfect lead out to the end,” he added. Manning will retire before London in 2012 as he is 39, but Thomas and Clancy “will be sticking around to London.”

“We felt disappointed the minute we got off the track – we need more experience and more confidence. We did our ride in under four minutes at the Manchester World Championships six months ago,” said the Danes after taking the silver. What about four years from now? “I think we’re all pretty young riders on the team. In two years the Track Worlds are in Denmark. We’d really like to fight against the Great Britian team again. They are super perfectionists. We really like competing against these guys.”

Results

Women’s Points Race

Final

1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 30 pts
2. Yoanka Gonzalez (Cuba) 18
3. Leire Olaberria (Spain) 13
4. Maria Luisa Calle (Colombia) 13
5. Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 10
6. Katherine Bates (Australia) 10
7. Pascale Jeuland (France) 8
8. Olga Slyusareva (Russian Federation) 8
9. Gina Grain (Canada) 6
10. Yan Li (China) 6
11. Rebecca Romero (Great Britain) 3
12. Svetlana Pauliukaite (Lithuania) 2
13. Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 2
14. Vera Carrara (Italy) 1
15. Wan Yiu Wong (Hong Kong)
16. Evelyn Garcia (El Salvador)
17. Catherine Cheatley (New Zealand)
18. Trine Schmidt (Denmark)
19. Minhye Lee (Korea) – 40
DNF Sarah Hammer (United States)
DNF Satomi Wadami (Japan)
DNF Verena Jooss (Germany)

Women’s Sprint

Quarterfinals

Heat 1
1. Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 11.839 / 11.672
2. Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)

Heat 2
1. Shuang Guo (China) 11.501 / 11.627
2. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus)

Heat 3
1. Anna Meares (Australia) 11.716 / 12.108
2. Clara Sanchez (France)

Heat 4
1. Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 11.944 / 11.767
2. Jennie Reed (United States)

Men’s Sprint

Quarterfinals

Heat 1
1. Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 10.820 / 10.302
2. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Heat 2
1. Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 10.546 / 10.595
2. Kevin Sireau (France)

Heat 3
1. Maximilian Levy (Germany) 10.689 / 10.66
2. Teun Mulder (Netherlands)

Heat 4
1. Mickael Bourgain (France) 10.524 / 10.463
2. Theo Bos (Netherlands)

Men’s Team Pursuit

Final

1. Great Britain 3:53.314 (61.719 km/h) – WORLD RECORD
Ed Clancy
Paul Manning
Geraint Thomas
Bradley Wiggins

2. Denmark 4.00.040
Michael Mørkøv
Casper Jørgensen
Jens-Erik Madsen
Alex Nicki Rasmussen

3. New Zealand 3:57.776 (60.561 km/h)
Sam Bewley
Hayden Roulston
Marc Ryan
Jesse Sergent

4. Australia 3:59.006
Jack Bobridge
Graeme Brown
Mark Jamieson
Luke Roberts