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UCI World Cup Classics 2007 [106 photos] International Track Cycling Racing at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles. Three Days of High Speed Action

(please forgive my camera, it cannot capture the speed of movement with a “no flash” setting.)

~~ “There were several AVers in LA this weekend to watch the UCI Track World Cup at the indoor track at the Home Deport Center--me, Mark, Leo, Warren, and probably others. The UCI has several World Cup events for the top international track riders in the months leading up to the elite World Championships, which are in Spain in March, 2007. There were a number of world and olympic champions in LA this past weekend--many are favorites in the upcoming World Championships. These are my highlights from watching all four sessions on Friday and Saturday:

1. Chiappa v. Hoy--Sprints: Hoy qualified first and had a much faster 200 than Chiappa, but Chippa won the first two rides with good tactics against a faster and stronger rider. Overall, the sprinting was amazing. It was worth the price of admission. Sitting and watching for several hours is worth it for the 10 seconds when these guys go—when they go, the power, the speed and the fearlessness are incredible. When the riders are this fast, they really wow the spectators.

2. Bauge v. Chiappa--Sprints: Bauge won the Sprints in the finals against Chiappa. In the second ride, they rode almost the entire last lap flat out, right next to each other, handlebar to handlebar, going over 60kph. That 15 seconds made the trip to LA worth it. Bauge had too much and Chiappa gave up in the home stretch.

3. Hoy in the Keirin: In both the semi and final of the Keirin, Hoy went to the front with about two laps to go, wound it up, and no one even thought about coming around him. Hoy can go fast lap after lap—amazing. Wow. He won the final easily. What will happen when he and Bos go head-to-head at worlds? (if Hoy does the Keirin at worlds)

4. Danish Team Pursuit--Second in the Final. I didn’t know Denmark had a team pursuit team. I didn’t expect them to qualify because there was a long list of teams with strong teams trying to be in the top four, like GBR, Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia. Denmark went off in the second or third heat. After just a couple of laps, on the back stretch, the third rider hit the wheel in front, went down and took out the fourth rider too. The fourth rider went down hard. It looked like he landed on his chin. I wasn’t sure he’d get up right away. I didn’t think they could re-ride because of the severity of the crash. All of the other 13 heats went and the top four were Ukraine, Russia, GBR, and NZ. In the meantime the Danes put themselves back together and started again, last. I thought that they were riding just to finish. Was I wrong. The Danes qualified first. Very gutsy for a team with little or no reputation. In the final with Ukraine that night, the Danes went out fast and got a big gap. It looked like they would win easily. However, one of the crashed riders pulled up after only 2k, maybe because of the crash or because of the quick start in the final. The remaining three Danes couldn’t keep it together and came apart in the last 500m and ended up a second behind Ukraine, who were able to keep all four riders to the end.

5. Hammer Time--Sarah Hammer won the Pursuit, Points Race, and Scrath Race. Everyone expected her to win the pursuit, but she was clearly the strongest endurance rider there. She was particularly strong in the points race. With only one or two sprints left, there was a rider clear by 75 meters with a lap to go for points, Hammer went to the front and turned up the speed to catch and pass the sole break away, and she got ma ximum points on that sprint. Very impressive speed toward the end of a points race, where she had already done a lot of work earlier in the race.

6. Australian Teenager Wins the Points Race. The men’s points race was full of great points racers, including a group of former points race world champions (Juan Ilaneras, Chris Newton). Cameron Meyer, a 19 year old Australian, got in several breaks and was sitting in second or third with two sprints to go. Chris Newton (GBR) was ahead, but something happened to him. He must have gone too hard early on. He got stuck in a second group, while Cameron and the other leaders were in the lead group. Newton made the effort to get up to the first group, but no one would help him. He finally did get up to the first group, but once there he couldn't get to the front. In the meantime the teenager got in a break of four with one sprint left, and came around the other three on the final lap to win the sprint and the poi nts race against a very strong field.

Jeff” ~~