Godfrey Holds Kiwi Hopes In World Cycling Championship Finale

29 March 2009, 12:17PM
Bike New Zealand

World champion Hayden Godfrey holds the major hopes for New Zealand in tomorrow’s final day of the UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Pruszkow, Poland today.

Godfrey will defend the five-event omnium title that he won in Manchester last year, after impressing earlier in the meet in the scratch race.

Today’s chances ended when Auckland rookie Kaytee Boyd crashed heavily during the penultimate event in the women’s omnium. She showed her grit, passing a medical check and returning for the final event, the 500m time trial where she finished 12 and 14th overall.

The top rating mountain biker and road cycling moved into the women’s track programme this summer, narrowly missing a ride in the team pursuit in Poland after being part of the winning effort in December’s World Cup.

Boyd instead competed in the unaccustomed Omnium, consisting of a 200m time trial, 5km scratch race, 2km pursuit, 10km points race and 500m time trial.

She was 13th after the first three disciplines and got squeezed when pushing through to the lead during the points race. Boyd suffered bruising but was not seriously injured and was allowed to restart in the time trial.

“The women’s omnium is slanted to the power riders so it was a bit of a struggle for Kaytee,” said BikeNZ High Performance Director, Mark Elliott. “But she was really mixing it up in the points race which was her strongest chance. She was pushing for a break between two riders and the gap just closed on her.

“Kaytee is a fantastic prospect for our women’s programme and has developed brilliantly after coming out of BMX, then excelling in mountain bike and she was 21st at last year’s world road championships.

“She is a very valued part of this exciting women’s track programme.”

Boyd’s performances at the world road championships last year has earned her a professional contract, and she will be heading for Italy to ride for the Nobili Rubinetterie Menikini Cogeas team, following on from leading kiwi Jo Kiesanowski who rode for the team four years ago.

Boyd was 12th fastest in the 200m time trial, 11th in the in the 5km scratch race, seventh in the 2000m individual pursuit and 12th in the 500m time trial.

Earlier both Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill) and Simon Van Velthooven (Palmerston North) did not advance from the heats of the men’s sprint.

They produced solid times up to their best but the quality of the competition meant that only 4/10ths of a second separated 10th qualifying place from 35th.

The championships finish tomorrow with Hayden Godfrey (Christchurch) defending his world title in the omnium with Lauren Ellis (Tinwald) competing in the 25km points race.

“We obviously have high hopes for Hayden who is riding exceptionally well. It is a mighty tough event and as we saw with Kaytee, any mishap can be very costly.”

Results:
Women’s Omnium:
200m time trial: Yvonne Hugenaar (NED) 11.400, 1; Anna Blyth (GBR) 11.552, 2; Elisa Frisoni (ITA) 11.622, 3. Kaytee Boyd (NZL) 12.769, 12.

5km Scratch race: Tara Whitten (CAN) 1, Lesya Kalitovska (UKR) 2, Renata Dabrowska (POL) 3. Boyd 11.

2000m individual pursuit: Vilija Sereikaite (LTU) 2:20.682, 1; Whitten 2:23.950, 2; Kalitovska 2:24.094, 3. Boyd 2:27.283, 7.

10km Points race: Jo Tomic (AUS) 10 pts, 1; Dalila Hernandez (CUB) 6, 2; Frisoni 6, 3. Boyd dnf.

500m time trial: Hugenaar 35.242, 1; Blyth 35.377, 2; Frisoni 35.458, 3. Boyd 37.907, 12.

Overall: Tomic 26, 1; Whitten 27, 2; Hugenaar 27, 3. Boyd 61, 14.

Men’s sprint qualifying:
Gregory Bauge (FRA) 9.930, 1; Jason Kenny (GBR) 10.002, 2; Kevin Sireau (FRA) 10.010, 3. Eddie Dawkins (NZL) 10.654, 33; Simon Van Velthooven (NZL) 10.666, 35.

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