Sprinter Simon Van Velthooven grabbed a surprise second medal on the last night of the UCI World Cup in Beijing yesterday. Van Velthooven, the Common wealth Games bronze medallist in his specialist keirin, chosen up a bronze in the 1000m time trial at the Beijing Velodrome.The burly Manawatu rider had earlier made it through to the eighth round of the men's sprints before turning his attention to the gut-busting kilo, more for experience than expectation. More used to the hurly burly of the keirin than the exact aerodynamics of the kilo, Van Velthooven nonetheless produced the fastest final lap of all 32 riders to climb to third place overall in 1:03.103.
Frenchman Francois Pervis took out the gold in 1:01.197, with Hugo Haak (NED) second and Van Velthooven third after scorching home in 15.373 seconds for the final 250m.It gave the BikeNZ team a third medal at the World Cup after Van Velthooven won the men's keirin and New Zealand took out the team pursuit. Head coach Tim Carswell said it was mission accomplished."We got plenty out of this World Cup with Simon coming here in excellent form and getting the rewards he deserved," Carswell said.In other events, Canterbury rider Natasha Hansen missed out in repechage for the women's keirin, Joanne Kiesanowski was 11th in the omnium competition and Tom Scully was a close fourth in the points race.
"The women, without their two strongest riders, showed there's depth in the women's pursuit programme with Jaime Nielsen really impressive," said Carswell."And it was great to have Tom Scully back to this opposition and he got stronger throughout the weekend and was unlucky not to get a medal. He said there would be little respite as the squad will be in full preparation for a major assault on the final World Cup in Manchester next month, and then a further month on to the world championships."There's a growing depth in the programme which will make selection for Manchester challenging," said Carswell.
Frenchman Francois Pervis took out the gold in 1:01.197, with Hugo Haak (NED) second and Van Velthooven third after scorching home in 15.373 seconds for the final 250m.It gave the BikeNZ team a third medal at the World Cup after Van Velthooven won the men's keirin and New Zealand took out the team pursuit. Head coach Tim Carswell said it was mission accomplished."We got plenty out of this World Cup with Simon coming here in excellent form and getting the rewards he deserved," Carswell said.In other events, Canterbury rider Natasha Hansen missed out in repechage for the women's keirin, Joanne Kiesanowski was 11th in the omnium competition and Tom Scully was a close fourth in the points race.
"The women, without their two strongest riders, showed there's depth in the women's pursuit programme with Jaime Nielsen really impressive," said Carswell."And it was great to have Tom Scully back to this opposition and he got stronger throughout the weekend and was unlucky not to get a medal. He said there would be little respite as the squad will be in full preparation for a major assault on the final World Cup in Manchester next month, and then a further month on to the world championships."There's a growing depth in the programme which will make selection for Manchester challenging," said Carswell.
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