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Day 2 at the UCI World Track Championships in Pruszkow, Poland
Cavendish frustrated in the scratch race
While American readers saw the big news from this week's UCI world track championships to be Taylor Phinney's victory in the men's individual pursuit, there was plenty of other racing at the velodrome in Pruszkow, Poland, on Thursday, including a return to the boards for recent Milan-San Remo winner, Mark Cavendish.
Men’s Scratch
Frenchman Morgan Kneisky upset the field in a chaotic men's scratch final to win gold Thursday.
Dario Colla of Argentina took the silver with Austrian Andreas Müller taking the bronze.
Britain's Mark Cavendish was left fighting a late battle to catch up with six leaders who had broken away around 12 laps into the 60-lap race and eventually lapped the field.
Australian Travis Meyer, whose older brother Cameron won the points race on Wednesday, helped drive the frontrunners throughout the race but in the end the 19-year-old had nothing in the tank when Kneisky made a late decisive move with less than a lap to go.
It is France's second gold of the championships, following their victory over Britain in the men's team sprint on Wednesday.
Cavendish, a four-time stage winner at last year's Tour de France, won the Milan San Remo one-day classic last week with his professional road team Columbia. A defending two-time champion in the two-man Madison, the Isle of Man rider will look to make amends in Saturday's event.
Women’s team pursuit
Britain finally grabbed a gold medal Thursday after successfully defending its women's team pursuit crown against New Zealand.
Australia beat the Netherlands in the bronze medal match.
In the absence of Olympic pursuit champion Rebecca Romero of England, northern Irishwoman Wendy Houvenaghel was the elder stateswoman for Britain, who went nearly three seconds faster than their qualifying time to finish in 3min 22.720.
New Zealand fought hard throughout the race, but the efforts of the earlier session appeared to take their toll in the latter stages.
After trailing by just 0.138sec at the 2000m mark, a further four laps on the Kiwis finished the race in 3:23.9.
It is the second medal of the championships for both Houvenaghel and New Zealand's Alison Shanks, who beat Houvenaghel to gold in the women's individual event on Wednesday.
The Netherlands proved no match for the Australian trio of Ashlee Ankudinoff, Sarah Kent and Josephine Tomic, who took the bronze in a time of 3:24.972.
Men's Keirin
Germany's Maximilian Levy defied a two-pronged British challenge to be crowned world keirin king Thursday night in Pruszkow.The British duo of Matthew Crampton and Ross Edgar faded in the last lap as Frenchman Francois Pervis claimed silver and Dutchman Teun Mulder the bronze.
In the motor-paced power event Sergey Borisov of Russia was the first to accelerate, his move with three laps to go being countered by Crampton.
With two laps to go, Levy moved to the front, putting space behind him and the field before Pervis finally inched closer on the final bend. Last year's champion Sir Chris Hoy, the reigning Olympic champion, is absent due to injury.
That left Britain's hopes resting on the shoulders of Jason Kenny, Edgar and Crampton. However, they did not have the perfect start in trying to make the final.
In their respective first round heats all three British riders failed to secure either of the first two places that paves the way to the crucial second round, forcing all three into repechages.
Kenny then had the misfortune to fall victim to a faster Crampton in their repechages heat, one in which fancied Kevin Sireau – who helped France to team sprint gold on Wednesday – flattered to deceive by finishing fifth.
Diminutive Scot Edgar, who took keirin silver behind Hoy at the Olympics, made no mistake by surging into an unassailable lead.
Levy, by contrast, had a comparatively easy path to the final, winning his first round heat to go straight into the second round, which he won to qualify for the final.
He becomes the first German since track great Jens Fiedler, in 1999, to lift the keirin crown.
Women’s team sprint
Australian pair Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch surprised defending champions Britain to win gold in the women's team sprint final Thursday evening.
Lithuania claimed the bronze medal in a tight match-up with France.
Starting first, Meares – who claimed silver in the women's 500m time trial Wednesday – powered over the first lap of the track to lead Britain's Shanaze Reade by the slimmest of margins.
Despite having to hold off world and Olympic sprint champion Victoria Pendleton, McCulloch, just 21 years old, finished off the job to bring Australia home in a time of 33.149sec. Britain clocked a time of 33.380.
Meares had lost her 500m time trial world record on Wednesday when she took silver behind Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite.
The Australian, who survived a broken neck in a crash last January to go on and win sprint silver behind Pendleton at the Olympics, seemed only too happy to make amends with the teammate who could become her successor.
"I don't know what to say really, to walk away with the rainbow jerseys is a really big high, to ride with Kaarle and to ride such a great time is great for our country and great for our sport," said Meares.
McCulloch, who admitted she took up the sport after watching Meares, started the championships well on Wednesday when she knocked nearly half a second off her personal best in the 500m time trial.
She was delighted after defying Britain's defending world champions.
"When you line up against the current world champions there's a bit of pressure I guess. I just wanted to go out there and do my job, which was to stay smooth around the track, and I did that," said McCulloch.
Pendleton took a well deserved bronze in the 500m time trial Wednesday, but after losing this crown will turn to more serious matters in the women's sprint tournament.
Meares is not competing in the coveted speed event. However Krupeckaite, the new world 500m champion and record holder, will be one of the Englishwoman's big rivals.
Krupeckaite proved her worth when she overcame Clara Sanchez in the latter stages of their two-lap battle for the bronze to clock a time of 33.495.
