2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics #2
Australia's medal assault off to a great start on day 1 at the Melbourne World Cup - Anna Meares Brings Down the House! Garmin's Cameron Meyer adds to his account...

By Gennie Sheer

Beijing Olympic Games sprint silver medallist Anna Meares brought the home crowd to their feet with a thrilling win in the women's sprint on day one of competition at the Melbourne round of the UCI Track World Cup at Hisense Arena. Reigning points World Champion Cameron Meyer kicked off Australia’s medal charge the Team Jayco trio of Daniel Ellis, Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland giving the home nation a third gold medal of the night with their win in the team sprint.

“I am back in town," said Meares.

Meares faced China's Shuang Guo in the gold medal decider and downed her rival in two straight heats. Guo and Meares have a history after the Chinese rider was relegated in the semi final of the sprint at the Beijing Olympic Games after a physical encounter with Meares.

After posting the morning’s third fastest qualifying time, Meares made her way through to the final with ease. Once there she controlled the first heat from start to finish and despite falling behind Guo early in the second, a surge on the back straight gave the Queenslander the advantage and she edged Guo on the line to take the gold medal.

“The second heat didn’t go to plan as I actually wanted to lead that one how I did the first one.... but the good thing was I reacted straight away, I didn’t hesitate to change plans and that’s what is really important in the sprint.

“I really didn’t want to go to three rounds so I was like ‘just go!’.

“The Beijing semifinal was hard, that was hard as well and I think a lot of people ask questions, ‘if it wasn’t for the disqualification, would I have got through to that final,’ well I deserve that final, like tonight I deserve that gold, so I am really stoked.”

In the bronze medal round Dutch rider Willie Kanis overcame Team Jayco's Kaarle McCulloch. Kanis won the first heat but the Sydney rider took the second forcing a third race decider which Kanis won.

Cameron Meyer Shows the Rainbow Jersey Proud
West Australian Meyer, 21, who this year raced his first professional season on the road with Garmin Slipstream, trailed Greek rider Iaannis Tamouridis by two points heading into the final sprint of the 12 sprint 30km race setting up a nail biting finish.

But Meyer, resplendent in the rainbow stripes of World Champion, delivered in the final lap to equal the score to 33 points each. Meyer was third across the line but he finished ahead of a fading Tamouridis which gave him the win on a count back. Poland's Lukasz Bujko was third on 28 points.

“There was a little bit of expectation on my shoulders but to come away and put in that good performance is something special," said Meyer." I'm really happy to come here with the rainbow jersey."

Great Britain’s World Cup Series leader in the points race, Chris Newton set the early pace, however four riders including Olympic Madison champion Walter Perez of Argentina and Australian Michael Freiberg lapped the field mid race.

“I was getting a bit worried when they took a lap as I didn’t have that many points and I knew the leaders where on 25 points so I had a lot to do in that final bit of the bike race," Meyer said. “But I knew I still had a bit of legs in me and I knew I was going to give it a crack.

"I wasn’t going to go home disappointed in front of a home crowd."

So low on points and down a lap, Meyer along with Tamouridis, attacked with less than 25 laps remaining, holding off the chasing field to gain a lap and a valuable 20 points each.

“I knew Newton was going to tag me a bit but I also saw that he was struggling a bit so I kept chipping away, chipping away with those attacks and finally I broke him and I got away with the Tamouridis and I pulled hard.

“It’s always been my tactic and my belief to lay it all out there and that’s what I did and I am real happy to show that I have some form coming back and it’s a real confidence boost going into next season and World Championships next year where I hope to defend my title.”

Jayco Wins Team Sprint
In the men's team sprint competition the Team Jayco line up of Dan Ellis, Shane Perkins and Scott Sunderland went in as the fastest qualifiers in their final against Germany but with only 24 thousandths of a second separating the teams it was going to be a tight battle for the gold medal.

The German lead rider fell after the start forcing both teams to line up again. On the restart Team Jayco trailed by five hundredths of second after the first lap. A blistering second lap by Perkins (13.096) saw the Australian’s take the lead before Sunderland powered home for the win.

“It (the false start) got me more motivated to rip it out at the start again because you just get that extra go at beating the last one,” said Ellis after the false start. “We still are a young team and the big outlook is London 2012 and we are starting to look really good, so with another three years to go it’s looking promising.”

In the end Team Jayco clocked 44.589sec across the line at the end of three laps with Germany just off the pace in 44.673sec.

A young Australian line up of Alex Bird, Peter Lewis and Jason Niblett also impressed in national team colours qualifying fourth fastest. But the bronze medal was won by the Russians in 45.206sec, two tenths of a second faster than Australia's 45.436sec.

South Australian teenager, Rohan Dennis, added some silverware to the collection with his performance in the 4km individual pursuit. Dennis had knocked seven seconds of his previous best time to qualify fastest 4min19.255sec but in the final New Zealand's Jesse Sergent went out strong early and Dennis couldn't match him. Across the line Dennis recorded 4.24:374 to Sergent's (4.23.192). The Ukraine's Vitaliy Shchedov won the bronze medal.

“My best time before that was 4.26 at last year's Oceania (Championships) and I was a little bit sick at nationals this year, but after a European block on the road I have just got a lot stronger, especially through the domestic races," said Dennis who was happy to post a personal best.

Tomorrow Meares is back in action in the team sprint with Emily Rosemond while the male sprinters go head to head in the keirin. The team pursuit battle lines will be drawn as well with New Zealand, Great Britain and Australia all vying for bragging rights.

UCI Track World Cup # 2 - Melbourne Day 1Report

The Melbourne World Cup is the second round of the 2009-2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics series and will feature around 220 cyclists from more than 40 nations in action in 17 events over three days of racing. For more details please Event website: www.trackworldcup.com.au
Complete Results:  www.tissottiming.com.
Cycling Australia website www.cycling.org.au

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