03.29.08 - 2008 Track Worlds in Manchester - Day 3

Day 3 ended at the Track World Championships with Britain once again dominating, taking two out of three gold medals awarded; the women's Team Pursuit and the prestigious men's Sprint title by Chris Hoy. Belarus took their second gold medal of the championships with Vasili Kiryienka winning the men's Points Race. The women's Sprint qualifying and first rounds of competition also took place.

Canada had one rider in competition today, Zach Bell in the Points Race. Bell, who is racing with a shoulder injury after crashing in Australia three weeks ago, had a strong start to the race, winning points in the first two sprints, but faded and then crashed just after the halfway point in the race.

Bell won the first sprint, ten laps into the race, and looked to be in good position for the first 40 laps, however, the toll of recovering from his shoulder injury began to show, and he was lapped by the halfway mark, and then crashed a few laps later.

"The shoulder was fine, and the speed wasn't a problem, but I guess the past few weeks of not being able to train and race took more out of my condition then I thought. Our plan was to go for easy points and ride a smart race, and the first sprint was fine, at 80% effort. But then I guess my [lack of] conditioning caught up with me, and I just couldn't keep the pace."

Prince Edward was in attendance, and stopped in to talk with Zach Bell as he was preparing for the Points Race. "He asked me what event I was doing, and talked for a couple of minutes about racing. It was sort of interesting."

Photos: Rob Jones ©www.canadiancyclist.com