Southern hemisphere riders dominated the first day of round two of the Track World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, although they didn’t have everything go their way.
Australian World champion Cameron Meyer took the gold in the men’s points race ahead of Ioannis Tamouridis of Greece. They were two of six men that lapped the field, although Meyer found himself a lap down on Tamouradis and others and had to regain it. The two both finished on 33 points, but Meyer was awarded the victory by virtue of his third place in the final sprint. Lukasz Bujko of Poland took third. Great Britain’s Chris Newton took by far the most points in the sprints but finished outside the medals in fifth because he was not one of those riders to get a lap.
Team Jayco of Daniel Ellis, Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland 44.589 beat the Germany team of Carsten Bergemann, Rene Enders and Tobias Wachter in the men’s team sprint. The Russian team spoiled the Australian party slightly by beating the national team to the bronze medal.
Jesse Sergeant of New Zealand beat Dennis Rohan of Australia in the men’s individual pursuit in a time of 4:23.192, despite Rohan qualifying fastest. Vitaliy Shchedov of the Ukraine took the bronze medal ahead of Levi Heimans of the Netherlands.
One of very few Great Britain riders to make the trip south, Wendy Houvenaghel won the women’s 3km individual pursuit in 3.33.771, ahead of New Zealand’s Alison Shanks. Lesya Kalitovska of Russia beat Australian Josephine Tomic for the bronze medal. Russian Evgeniya Romanyuta won the women’s scratch race ahead of Italian points race World champion Giorgia Bronzini and Verducci Breakaway Theresa Cliff-Ryan of the USA.
Australian former World champion Anna Meares took gold in the sprint, ahead of perennially second placed Guo Shuang of China, despite Meares qualifying just third fastest behind Guo. “I’m back in town,” Meares said after her victory. “I just feel like I belong in this event again.” The Netherlands’ Willy Kanis took the bronze ahead of Team Jayco’s Kaarle McCulloch.