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03.20.06 - Commonwealth Games, Track Cycling - After silver, Travis Smith takes the bronze in Men's Sprint
Ottawa, March 20 - Canada came away from the Commonwealth Games track races with two medals (silver and bronze, both Travis Smith, AB and a number of near-medal performances, including Gina Grain and Mandy Poitras finishing 4th and 5th in the Points Race, fifth in the Team Sprint, Bell's top-10 in the Pursuit and the Points Race and 6th and 8th in the Kilo (MacKinnon and Morin). This is very encouraging for Canadian cyclists' future.
DAY 4, Track - Men's Sprint, Team Pursuit and Scratch Race
Canada's Travis Smith claimed his second medal of the Commonwealth Games on Saturday, winning a bronze in the Men's Sprint, behind Olympic champion Ryan Bayley (Australia) and Ross Edgar (Scotland). England won both gold medals in the other two events contested - the Women's Sprint and the Team Pursuit (Canada did not enter either event).
Men's Sprint (March 18)
Travis Smith (25, Calgary, AB) proved that his silver medal in the Keirin yesterday definitely was not a fluke by taking the bronze in the Sprint. Smith qualified fifth in the flying 200 metre time trial, and went up against Australian Shane Perkins in the first round of 12 riders. Perkins is considered to be one of Australia's future champions, and he pushed Smith hard in their ride. In the quarter finals he was up against Josiah Ng (Malaysia), who was expected to be a strong contender. However, Travis Smith easily won in two rides to move to the semi-finals against Scottish Ross Edgar. Edgar took the first ride, but Smith came back with a tactically savvy second ride win. He forced Edgar to take the lead, and then came by on the last lap. Unfortunately, Smith couldn't repeat his strategy in the third ride, and Edgar moved on to the gold medal final. Smith was up against Matthew Crampton of England for the bronze, and easily won in two rides, outpowering the Brit.
"All day I was fighting flat legs" explained Smith. "So it forced me to try and sprint tactically, which isn't what I'm best at - I'm better using my power. It was good, because I learned a lot, like I found out that I'm better when I'm in front, because I can control the race better. In the first race I let him (Edgar) go to the front. In the second I changed it and took the front myself, which came out good."
Smith also spoke about which medal was more meaningful to him: "They're actually both good, but in different ways. In the Keirin, while it may
not be my best event, I expected to do well. But in the Sprint, it has been my best event all year, I have been excelling at it. Since I had no legs, that made it mentally tough, so I had to overcome that by sprinting smarter."
RESULTS - Men's Sprint
1. Ryan Bayley (Australia)
2. Ross Edgar (Scotland)
3. Travis Smith (Canada)
Team Sprint (March 19)
This was a race between England and Scotland, with Australia a given for the bronze (which they did win, over New Zealand). The Great Britain team can normally choose between a wealth of talent - Jason Queally, Jamie Staff, Chris Hoy and Craig Maclean. However, at the Commonwealth Games the first two (Queally and Staff) ride for England, while Hoy and Maclean don their kilts for Scotland. The final was too close to call, with Scotland winning by a miniscule 27 thousandths of a second.
In qualifying, the Canadian team of Yannik Morin, Travis Smith and Cam MacKinnon qualified fifth; a heartbreaking 46 thousandths out of the bronze medal final. However, the team was reasonably upbeat about the result.
"It is bittersweet", admitted MacKinnon. "It is the best time we have done, but came up a little short. But it was a very positive ride for us. Yannik crushed his personal best. As a team, we wish we could have made it (to the final), but this is a big boost for us, and tells us that the best is yet to come. There were top teams here, so we are close."
Yannik Morin was also pleased with the outcome. "I didn't expect to go that fast! I'm really happy with my ride - my leadout was pretty good, and we took a big bite out of what we normally do. In the past, I was holding the team back a bit because of lack of experience, but doing the World Cup (in Sydney) and having two weeks of training here before has helped with my experience. Today I made the team stronger."
RESULTS - Men's team sprint
1. Scotland (Ross Edgar, Chris Hoy, Craig Maclean) 44.265
2. England (Matthew Crampton, Jason Queally, Jamie Staff) 44.564
3. Australia (Ryan Bayley, Shane Kelly, Shane Perkins) 44.597
4. New Zealand (Justin Grace, Nathan Seddon, Adam Stewart) 46.200
5. Canada (Cameron Mackinnon, Yannik Morin, Travis Smith) 46.246
Men's Scratch Race (March 19)
Mark Cavendish gave the Isle of Man its first Commonwealth cycling gold since the 1960's with his win over Ashley Hutchinson (Australia). The race came down to five riders quickly, after the group managed to lap the field in the first third of the race. Cavendish and Hutchinson were joined by Canada's Zach Bell, James McCallum (Scotland) and Timothy Gudsell (New Zealand) at the front, and once this group had lapped the field, the Australian, Scottish and New Zealand teams did a good job of shutting down any further break attempts.
New Zealand set up a train to support Gudsell in the final laps, but Cavendish, the 2005 Madison world champion, received a the help of a fellow Great Britain rider, Rob Hayles to get to the front and then hold off Hutchinson. Bell couldn't hold the pace of the other leaders in the last few laps, despite the assistance of team mate Martin Gilbert, and finished fifth.
"After the Points Race we talked about how the Scratch Race would probably go. We figured that there was a good chance that something would go away early with the big teams, so we were really attentive for any early moves. there were actually 2 - 3 aggressive moves before the one that stuck, and Martin and I always had someone in them.
The one that got away wasn't so much an attack, but some strong guys going to the front and accelerating away. Initially I missed the move, and I didn't catch up to them until we had a half a lap on the field. I had to expend a lot of energy to get there.
When they picked it up, I just didn't have the gas. That's one of the weakness I still have; after a lot of effort it becomes harder for me to fight for and stay on a wheel. Martin tried to bring me up, but I couldn't do it. It's the first time we've been in that situation at an international event, so it's more to learn.
It was a really good performance for me; I've been getting better all week. I was looking back at my goals for the season, and one was a top-5 in a major event, so that was definitley a big achievement for me."
RESULTS - Men's Scratch Race
1. Mark Cavendish (Isle Of Man)
2. Ashley Hutchinson (Australia)
3. James McCallum (Scotland)
5. Zack Bell (Canada)
9. Martin Gilbert (Canada)
Source:
Rob Jones
Canadian Cyclist
http://www.canadiancyclist.com
Feature stories with photos and riders interviews are posted on the site: www.commonwealthgames.ca
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any specific questions.
Contact:
Florence Bourg
Communications Manager
Canadian Cycling Association
Tel. 1-418-824-9207
Fax. 1-418-824-3499
Cell. 1-418-558-4559
florence.bourg@canadian-cycling.com
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