January 11, 2015 (Milton, ON) – The Omnium kicked off Day 2 of the Milton International Challenge with the endurance riders taking on the Scratch race and the women were up first. The competition was quick from the gun – not a lot of attacks, but the pace was kept high and the group was lined out.

A strong attack by Anita Stenberg (NED), Steph Roorda (CAN) and Jasmin Glasser (CAN) turned out to be THE move as the three of them lapped the field and no one countered. At the finish it was Glasesser first, Roorda second and Stenberg third.

The men’s Scratch race started out a little more cautiously bu the action picked up with attack after attack. No one was able to gain an advantage by lapping the field and although it was very strung out at the finish, the group finished on the same lap with a three-up sprint that saw Zachary Kovalcik of the USA take the win, followed by new crowned Canadian Omnium champ Remi Pelletier-Roy in second and Ed Veal (CAN) in third.

The next races featured plenty of good sprinting in the opening rounds of the Elite races as the top 16 riders from last night’s qualifications contesting the 1/8th finals. There were no real surprises here as the stronger riders moved onto the next round – all one-up sprints with the losers given one chance to get back in through the Repechage.

The Elite women’s 1/4 finals were won by Monique Sullivan (Can), Yesna Rijkhoff (NED), Kate O’Brien (Can) and Krista Ruby (Can) to set up the medal rounds for later in the day.  The Elite men’s 1/4 finals saw Joe Veloce (Can), Njisane Philip (Trinidad & Tobago), Hugo Barrette (Can) and Evan Carey (Can) advance.

With the Junior men Kallisto-FCV’s Nick Wammes – who qualified fastest – taught everyone in attendance that you can’t go too fast on the banking and went for a slide. He recovered to win his restart, as well as his next heat, and move on to the semi-finals. Also advancing were Sei Daniel (TTO), Lucas Taylor (CAN) and Thierry Kirouac-Marcassa (CAN). For the Junior women, Charlotte Creswicke (CAN),  Eva Burke (USA), Ruby West (CAN) and Allyson Wasielewski (USA) would fight for medals.

The first Session of the day ended with a Points race – separate from the Omnimun event – but it wasn’t well attended as most riders were saving their legs for the Omnium. Christoph Schweizer (GER) won over Nicolas Rogers (USA) with Michael Scheizer (GER) in third while Colleen Hayduk (USA) took the women’s race over Kate Wilson (USA) in second with Amy Hill (GBR) third.

Glaesser got Session 2 underway with a classy display of form posting a 3:36.926 in the Individual Pursuit besting second-placed Allison Beveridge by over seven seconds with Roorda a close third.  Pelletier-Roy continued his domination in the Men’s IP followed by Veal and Curtis Dearden from BC. Of note Real Deal Veal had a close call as he was overtaking his opponent, the rider swung up the track forcing Veal to go up to the blue line to avoid making contact, which cost him some time, but he didn’t loose his 2nd place points.

In the Match Sprint semifinals, the two fastest qualifiers in the 200m race won their heats as Sullivan and Rijkoff would race for gold with O’Brien vs Ruby for the Bronze. There was some tension during the men’s semis as Carey had a spill during a match with Veloce. He recovered after a few minutes and they re-did their heat with Veloce winning both match ups advancing to the gold final.

Barrette and Philip put on a good show for the crowd with some acrobatic riding – Philip was issued a warning for his erratic riding. Barrette emerged as the winner meaning it would be a rematch of the gold medal ride from last week’s Track Nationals against Veloce.

Glaesser took the women’s Elimination race demonstrating that she is clearly on form for the Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia next week, and was followed by her TP teammates Roorda and Beverage. There was lots of bumping and jostling – some laps were neutralized until things settled down – in the men’s race eventually won by Kovalcik. Pelletier-Roy who won the final sprint was relegated to second for an improper move against Kovalcik with Veal taking third.

The Sprint finals were what many fans had been waiting for all day. Creswicke won the battle for gold in the Junior women’s race followed by West in second with Burke third. For the Junior Men, Daniel’s acceleration was too much for top qualifier Wammes who settled for the silver as the bronze went to Kirouac-Marcassa.

Sullivan prevailed over Rijkhoff for the elite women’s sprint gold maintaining her dominance in Milton – she has not lost a sprint on the new track – while O’Brien picked up a bronze.  For the men Barrette was unstoppable as the battle with Veloce came down to a final third heat. Philip took the bronze in two straight over Carey. Of note Njisane finished 4th in the match sprint at the London Olympics in 2012.

Going into day 2 of the Omnium Glaesser has a comfortable lead over Roorda and Beveridge. In the men’s Omnium, Pelletier-Roy has a slight advantage over Veal and Kovalcik who are tied for second. As we saw at Track Nationals last week, with the new format for the Points race we won’t know who the winner is until the final gun sounds.

Sunday morning starts off with the TT for the Omnium event – 500m for women and 1000m for men – followed by the first rounds of Keirin for the sprinters. There been a little bit of sickness going around the infield since Nationals hampering a number of  performances. Hopefully many of them can get some rest and be able to perform closer to their potential as the Milton International Challenge wraps up on Sunday.

Results (brief)

Women’s Omnium

Scratch Race
1. Jasmin Glaesser (Canada)
2. Stephanie Roorda (Canada)
3. Anita Stenberg (Norway)
4. Allison Beveridge (Canada) -1 lap
5. Marie Soleil Blais (Canada) -1 lap

Individual Pursuit
1. Jasmin Glaesser (Canada) 3:36.9
2. Allison Beveridge (Canada) 3:44.2
3. Stephanie Roorda (Canada) 3:46.0
4. Jamie Gilgen (Canada) 3:51.0
5. Judith Bloem (Netherlands) 3:51.2

Elimination
1. Jasmin Glaesser (Canada)
2. Stephanie Roorda (Canada)
3. Allison Beveridge (Canada)
4. Judith Bloem (Netherlands)
5. Anita Stenberg (Norway)

Men’s Omnium

Scratch Race
1. Zachary Kovalcik (United States)
2. Remi Pelletier-Roy (Canada)
3. Ed Veal (Canada)
4. Michael Schweizer (Germany)
5. Tobias Wauch (Austria)

Individual Pursuit
1. Remi Pelletier-Roy (Canada) 4:28.9
2. Ed Veal (Canada) 4:34.1
3. Curtis Dearden (Canada) 4:38.3
4. Jay Lamoureux (Canada) 4:40.9
5. Jean Michel Lachance (Canada) 4:42.5

Elimination
1. Zachary Kovalcik (United States)
2. Remi Pelletier-Roy (Canada)
3. Ed Veal (Canada)
4. Jean Michel Lachance (Canada)
5. Tobias Wauch (Austria)

Men’s Sprint

Final for Gold
1. Hugo Barrette (Canada) 10.878, 10.917
2. Joseph Veloce (Canada) 11.096

Final for Bronze
3. Njisane Philip (Trinidad & Tobago) 11.113, 10.748
4. Evan Carey (Canada)

Final 5-8
5. James Mellen (United States)
6. Kwesi Browne (Trinidad & Tobago)
7. Camiel Lok (Netherlands)
8. Nate Koch (United States)

Women’s Sprint

Final for Gold
1. Monique Sullivan (Canada) 12.022, 11.549
2. Yesna Rijkhoff (Netherlands)

Final for Bronze
3. Kate O’Brien (Canada) 12.649, 12.289
4. Krista Ruby (Canada)

Final 5-8
5. Danielle Mullis (United States)
6. Kyra Lamberink (Netherlands)
7. Alissa Maglaty (United States)
8. Sara Byers (Canada)

Junior Women’s Sprint

Final for Gold
1. Charlotte Creswicke (Canada)
2. Ruby West (Canada)

Final for Bronze
3. Eva Burke (United States)
4. Allyson Wasielewski (United States)

Final 5-8
5. Naomi Desousa (Canada) 14.301
6. Ali Van Yzendoorn (Canada)
7. Amelia Bell (Canada)
8. Farleigh Creswicke (Canada)

Junior Men’s Sprint

Final for Gold
1. Sei Daniel (Trinidad & Tobago)
2. Nick Wammes (Canada)

Final for Bronze
3. Thierry Kirouac Marcassa (Canada)
4. Lucas Taylor (Canada)

Final 5-8
5. Jake Allaire (Canada) 13.507
6. Jordann Jones (Canada)
7. Je’Land Sydney (Canada)
8. Joseph Kelly (Canada)

Men’s Points Race
1. Christoph Schweizer (Germany) 30 points
2. Nicholas Rogers (United States) 29
3. Michael Schweizer (Germany) 26
4. Emile Jean (Canada) 10
5. Robert Hargrove (Canada) 7
6. Dylan Davies (Canada) -2 (-1 lap)
7. Marc Antoine Soucy (Canada) -10 (-1 lap)

Women’s Points Race
1. Colleen Hayduk (United States) 24 points
2. Kate Wilson (United States) 22
3. Amy Hill (Great Britain) 21
4. Kimberly Zubris (United States) 12
5. Catherine Ouellette (Canada) 9