Gold for Stewart and Edmondston sparks Vantage New Zealand team

TISSOT UCI TRACK CYCLING WORLD CUP – DAY 2 NEW ZEALAND WRAP

World champion Campbell Stewart again belied his years to dominate the omnium event on day two of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Cambridge.

The 21-year-old displayed speed, stamina and nous to stamp his class on a field that included nine-time world champion Cameron Meyer (Australia) and two-time world champion Roger Kluge (Germany).

His performance led another strong night at the Avantidrome for New Zealand riders with Holly Edmondston, a member of the winning team pursuit on Friday, winning the scratch race and the pairing of Michaela Drummond and Jesse Hodges claiming a bronze medal in the madison.

There was plenty of sparkle on display at the Avantidrome and none more so than a brilliant victory from likeable Malaysian sprinter Azizul Awang (Malaysia) in the men’s keirin final, finding a gap where none appeared possible to edge out Shane Perkins, the Australian now racing for Russian Federation and fellow Australian Matt Glaetzer.

Glaetzer, the 2018 world sprint champion, was remarkable, racing on to the podium just weeks after surgery for thyroid cancer, from which he is still under-going radiotherapy treatment.

Quote

Russian Anastasia Voinova jumped back into the top three in the world rankings when she beat off the challenge from 200m world record holder Kelsey Mitchell 2-1 in the best of three race final.

“It is such a long way to travel for this World Cup that the victory means so much more to me. I am so pleased,” said the Russian.

A jam-packed local crowd saved much of their cheers for Stewart. The Manawatu rider pushed hard from the start of the omnium but was always closely marked, as a trio of riders put a lap on the field. He replied with a group of the main players to regain the lead, dominating through the middle stages with two sprint wins and a second.

The crucial move came in the penultimate sprint when he out-kicked Meyer and Kazakhstan’s Artyom Zakharov to establish an unbeatable advantage. He was fifth in the scratch race and the tempo, and won the elimination and points races in a classy display to push him to the top of the world rankings.

Stewart won with 142 points from Meyer 133 and Zakharov 129, to back up his won in the four-discipline event from Hong Kong last week.

“It was just an awesome kind of day,” Stewart said. “I started off consistent and managed to hold off a fair few attacks from the top riders, chased them down, eventually got the sprints and got there in the end.

“I’ve been looking out for this for a while. I knew that I was going to be in front of a home crowd racing and they were awesome tonight. They were on their feet…and they really helped me get round.”

The New Zealand duo of Michaela Drummond and Jesse Hodges produced a superb finish to claim the bronze medal in the 30km women’s madison.

Australia’s Georgia Baker and Alex Manly dominated, winning six of the 12 sprints determined every 10 laps, while Poland scored points on all but one sprint to push into second.

New Zealand’s chances looked to have diminished after Drummond was caught in a crash that brought down four riders, but bravely returned to the race. They were locked in a battle for third with China and Ukraine but they managed to finish third in the last two sprints, including a superb effort from Drummond in the final double points sprint to claim the bronze medal. It gives New Zealand some invaluable ranking points to push closer to the world’s top 12.

“I tried to go around the outside and then go under but they had already changed and I got hit. It was pretty scary,” said Drummond. “It is never much fun going down especially in front of the home crowd. I knew what I had to do, I stayed process-focussed and I had a teammate out there that I had to think about. Thinking about her and doing it for everyone else is what made me get up and finish it off well.”

Edmondston capped the second night of competition by winning the women’s scratch race after being one of only four riders to lap the field. She then threaded her way through the field on the final lap to edge out Olga Zabelinskaya (UZB) and Lydia Gurley (IRL).

“It feels amazing to be up here in front of a home crowd. I can’t believe it,” Edmondston said.

“I always have a little bit of bad luck in the scratch race with placing myself in the bunch, but I listened to my coach Ross last night and I really trusted him, I trusted myself and took it on board and went for it, committed and took it.”

The New Zealand sprinters did not feature in the hunt for medals with Natasha Hansen and Olivia Podmore, who won the team sprint gold medal on Friday, not able to repeat their heroics in the individual sprint.

Hansen was beaten in the quarterfinals by the eventual winner Voinova, after setting the fifth best time in qualifying, while Podmore lost to Hansen in the round of 16.

Eddie Dawkins, who has carried a massive load with the big gearing tactics with the team sprint, was baulked during the qualifiers and missed out on the final, but dug deep with a superb solo two-lap sprint to win the consolation final for seventh.

With the team sprint men secure for their place in February’s world championships, Dawkins has been given a spell from next week’s Brisbane World Cup with Sam Dakin to ride with Sam Webster and Ethan Mitchell.

The World Cup finishes on Sunday.

CAPTION: Campbell Stewart celebrates his succss.(Credit: Guy Swarbrick)