Second silver for Kiwi cyclist in Junior Track World Championship

Central Otago cyclist Liam Aitcheson earned his second medal after a brilliant performance at the UCI Juniors Track World Championships in Scotland today.

Aitcheson, who won a silver medal as part of the team pursuit on the opening day, took the silver medal in an exciting 25km men’s points race at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.

The 18 year old, who also won a silver medal in last year’s world championships in New Zealand, produced a superb final sprint which saw him move from fifth place overall to second by a single point.

After a careful start, Aitcheson played an aggressive role, pushing a breakaway group of seven to put a lap on the field. From there Frenchman Benjamin Thomas collected the sprint points to take a big lead but Aitcheson saved his legs for a final flourish, passing a four riders in the last lap to get up for third.

There was an agonising wait, with officials relegating one of the key medal contenders, before confirming Aitcheson in second place in the final sprint which edged him up over five other riders into the silver medal position.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking at the end waiting. Once the rider had been relegated that changed things,” Aitcheson said.

“I am pretty stoked at that. Of course I came here to win it and would have liked to but the Frenchman was too good today. Second in the world is pretty good.

“My plan was to sit back a bit at the start. After we got the lap I then wanted to save my legs for that final 20 laps. I was a bit further back than I wanted at the bell but I could see the gaps and I gave it everything. It was close.”

Aitcheson did well to make it to the final after he crashed during the qualifying race in the morning. He recovered to re-enter the race and duly put a lap on the field to ensure his qualification to the final.

He has a day’s break before he returns with Regan Gough in the Madison on the final day.

Meanwhile Gough (Central Hawkes Bay) lies provisionally in sixth place after the first day of the six-discipline Omnium. He was seventh in the flying lap, 13th in the points race and fifth in the elimination.

There were strong top-10 efforts for Alex Hooper and Josh Haggerty in the kilometre time trial, on a sluggish Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

Hooper (Ashburton), celebrating his 18th birthday today, set an excellent time of 1:05.163 to finish in seventh place from the 31 riders competing.

Haggerty (Invercargill), who had won two silver medals on the first two days of the championship, clocked 1:05.651 to finish in ninth place.

Tomorrow features Gough in the second day of the omnium while Quinn Karwowski (Blenheim), Callum Saunders (Blenheim) and Jeremy Presbury (Invercargill) in the sprint.

Results, day 3:
Points Race 25km: Benjamin Thomas (FRA) 40, 1; Liam Aitcheson (NZL) 28, 2; Ivo Oliveira (POR) 27, 3.
Men Kilometre Time Trial: Maximilian Dornback (GER) 1:03.129, 1; Aleksandr Dubchenko (RUS) 1:03.227, Zach Shaw (AUS) 1:03.288, 3. Also: Alex Hooper (NZL) 1:05.163, 7; Josh Haggerty (NZL) 1:05.651, 9.
Omnium, Flying Lap: Marc Jurczyk (GER) 13.524, 1; Jack Edwards (AUS) 13.536, 2; Eric Johnstone (Can) 13.676, 3. Also: Regan Gough (NZL) 13.854, 7.
Points: Casper Pedersen (DEN) 1, Edwards 2, Riccardo Minali (ITA) 3. Also: Gough 13.
Elimination: Jurczyk 1, Edwards 2, Lindsay de Vylder (BEL) 3. Also: Gough 5.

Southland cyclist grabs his second world championship medal

Southland’s Josh Haggerty has earned a silver medal on the second day of the UCI Juniors Track Cycling World Championships in Scotland.

Haggerty controlled the final lap sprint in the men’s scratch race to claim the silver medal, after German Manuel Porzner had put a lap on the field early in the 10km race.

It is New Zealand’s second medal after the silver to the men’s team pursuit that included Haggerty, on the opening day.

Fellow Invercargill rider Jeremy Presbury finished 11th in the keirin after teammate Callum Saunders (Blenheim) was knocked out in the repechage, and Alex Hooper (Ashburton) finished a solid sixth place in the 3000m individual pursuit in 3:24.155.

Prozner controlled the scratch race when he caught the bunch unawares in an early escape to gain a lap on the field which changed the nature of the race.

“He already had half a lap just like that, so as soon as I saw him lap the field I had to re-focus on the final sprint and get what I could from that point,” Haggerty said.

While the Germany nestled safely on the back of the bunch, the New Zealand rider took the responsibility to bring back several breaks.

“I did probably a bit more than I should have but I had the energy so I guess it worked out alright.”

With the urging of his coach Ross Machejefski, Haggerty bridged up to a three-strong break with two laps remaining and controlled the sprint on the final lap to secure the silver medal.

“Ross and I have always known I have a good sprint. That was something we were relying on in the race, not to break away but to wait and use my sprint.

“As soon as Ross signalled to get across I waited and then hit it, and got the slingshot off the Russian on that first bend on the final lap so then I had some good speed into the next straight.

“I am pretty stoked about that. I would have liked to have won but second place in the world championships is pretty good.

“The atmosphere was loud. There’s a lot of Kiwi support and it was pretty cool to hear them calling out your name.”

Haggerty will look to recover after two day’s racing for his final event in the kilometre time trial tomorrow.

“I think my form is pretty good and I will give the kilo a good crack tomorrow.”

Tomorrow’s third day includes Haggerty and Alex Hooper (Ashburton) in the kilometre time trial, Regan Gough (Central Hawkes Bay) in the first day of the omnium and Liam Aitcheson (Alexandra) in the points race.

Results, day two:

Scratch Race, 10km: Manuel Porzner (GER) 1, Josh Haggerty (NZL) 1 lap, 2; Cristian Cornejo (CHI) 1 lap, 3.
3000m individual pursuit qualifying: Zachary Shaw (AUS) 3:19.293, 1; Callum Scotson (AUS) 3:20.831, 2; Pavel Churson (RUS) 3:21.598, 3. Also: Alex Hooper (NZL) 3:24.155, 6.
Keirin, first round, heat 2: Sergej Gorlov (RUS) 1, Jeremy Presbury (NZL) 2. Heat 5: Thomas Copponi (FRA) 1, Jiri Fanta (CZE) 2; Callum Saunders (NZL) 3.
Repechage 1: Presbury 1, Johannes Keuchel (GER) 2. Repechage 2: Aleksandr Dubchenko (RUS) 1, Saunders 2.

Semifinal 2:  Jaroslav Snasel (CZE) 1, Ben Gill (FRA) 2, Gorlov 3.
7th to 12th final: Jai Angsuthawawit (AUS) 7, Artsiom Zaitsau (BLR) 8, Svajunas Jonauskas (LTU) 3. Also: Presbury 11.

Final: Gorlov 1, Snasel 2, Dubchenko 3.

Details: www.bikenz.org.nz