December 02, 2017 (Milton, ON) – Team Canada hit the boards with a strong start on Day One of the historic UCI TISSOT Track World Cup Round 3 in Milton, Ont. as Jasmin Deuhring took home a silver medal in the women’s Points race at a packed Mattamy National Cycling Centre with some 1,500 school kids on hand. This is the first world cup medal for Canada at the new velodrome.
This is the first time Canada is hosting a Track World Cup event since 1998, and along with Deuhring’s medal, the Canadian women’s Team Pursuit squad qualified fastest while Canada’s men claimed second behind New Zealand at the historic debut as both teams advanced to the First Round.
“It’s so special to be part of this team here and see how the Canadian program has developed over the years and now we have our own velodrome and we’re hosting our first World Cup. It’s been an amazing journey and I’m so proud to represent Canada,” said Deuhring. “The team pursuit squads set the bar high and I just had to go out and do my best and it’s amazing to win a medal on the opening day.”
British rider, Katie Archibald, the current Omnium world champion was the clear favourite and put on a clinic, winning all of the early sprints convincingly before taking a lap with a 4-rider breakaway that included Canada’s Duehring.
Initially it appeared that Duehring had missed the race-defining move but she made a heroic effort to bridge across to the breakaway before it gained too much distance on the field. Duehring was rewarded with a silver medal for her efforts and was followed by veteran Jarmila Machacova (Czech Republic) in third who bested Coralie Demay (France) for the final podium spot.
Earlier in the day the Canadian women rose to the pressure of riding at a home World Cup for the first time as the quartet of Kinley Gibson, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Allison Beveridge did not disappoint and qualified first with a 4:22.3 – the fastest time this line up has ever achieved. The young crowd was ecstatic with the Canadian performance. New Zealand qualified second with a 4:25 ahead of France with a 4:35.
Japan, now coached by former Canadian coach, Ian Melvin, will benefit from the small field size as they will race the First Round against Canada despite loosing cohesion in their qualification at the three kilometer mark and falling nearly 20 seconds adrift of the leading pace.
Canada will benefit from their deep roster on home turf as they are expected to race Steph Roorda and Kirsti Lay in the First Round, while resting Beveridge and Bonhomme for a likely gold medal final.
The team pursuits are shaping up to be battles between Canada and New Zealand, with the Kiwi men qualifying first ahead of the Canadian squad. The Kiwis were the only team to sneak under the 4-minute barrier with a 3:59.4 while the Canadian line-up of Derek Gee, Adam Jamieson, Jay Lamoureux and Bayley Simpson rode a solid 4:01.2.
The United States qualified third with a 4:06 and will battle Canada in the First Round. A surprising number of teams fell apart in the qualifying ride including top-seeded France and Denmark who both ended up with riders scattered across the track in the fourth kilometer – perhaps struggling to match the New Zealand pace.
The German pairing of Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte left little doubt that they are the fastest pairing in the world, riding a blistering 33.1 ahead of an incredibly close trifecta of Korea (33.81), Spain (33.86) and Great Britain in 4th (33.89)
Canada’s freshman world cup team of Amelia Walsh and Tegan Cochrane had a baptism of fire as they were deemed to have false started in their first ride demanding that they do a second effort immediately after. The double effort took its toll and the pair was only able to finish 12th with a 35.3 and did not advance to the First Round.
Canada elected not to field a team in the men’s Team Sprint competition. The racing was a hotly contested affair with current world champions New Zealand qualifying fastest (43.8) ahead of France (44.1), Great Britain (44.1) and Korea (44.8).
The men’s Points race was a wild affair with the field splitting in half partway through the event as the front group eventually lapping the chasers, relegating pre-race favourites France and Italy to the back of the standings.
Danish rider Niklas Larsen took advantage of the confusion to go clear late in the race and take a solo lap, moving himself to the top of the leaderboard ahead of British rider Mark Stewart. Six-day rider Kenny de Ketele took the bronze medal.
One of the more impressive, but futile, rides of the night belonged to former Keirin rider Christos Volikakis who actually scored the most sprint points of any rider but conceded the lap and last 20 of his 22 points. No Canadians contested the event.
Results here.
