Hoskins Wins Scratch Race Gold in London World Cup
WAIS-AIS cyclist Melissa Hoskins won gold in the women’s scratch race at the UCI Track World Cup in London on the weekend following a successful late solo attack.
Hoskins, who lined up in the scratch race after being swapped out of the finals line up for the team pursuit, made the most of the opportunity to solo to gold half a lap ahead of the field.
“My personal strategy was to try and (get on the) podium because I haven’t had an individual win at a world cup before,” said Hoskins. “I wanted to produce something and that really paid off.
“I was bringing back a move (six laps to go) and when I turned around there was no-one there so I thought I’d give it a crack and thought ‘if I get caught I get caught’,” she explained. “Maybe half a lap to go (I knew I had won) but I wasn’t confident at all because I know in the group there were a lot of girls who could challenge me.
“You just have to put your head down and go for it and don’t hold back,” Hoskins said. “It was a nice way to finish, by myself.”
the Australian women’s pursuit team of AIS-WAIS athlete Josie Tomic, Annette Edmondson and Amy gave the crowd another reason to cheer when they bettered the USA held world record of 3:19.569 on their way to claiming the bronze medal with a time of 3:19.164 in their 3000m match up against the Dutch.
But their status as world record holders was short-lived as Britain’s Laura Trott, Danielle King and Joanna Rowsell powered to victory over Canada in 3:18.148 to win the gold medal in a time a second faster than the Australians had ridden. The Canadians too bettered the Australian mark with a time of 3.18.982 to claim the silver medal.
“Now that Great Britain have set another benchmark we have to raise ours again,” said Josie Tomic, 22, who has been a part of the women’s pursuit program since moving into the elite ranks in 2008 in the wake of triple gold at the 2007 junior world championships.
20-year-old Edmondson had a junior career as a sprinter before switching to endurance events and earning national selection while Amy Cure, 19, stepped up to replace Hoskins for the final ride and, whilst the youngster of the team, she is well credentialed. Cure has four junior world titles to her name and is the current world record holder in both the under 19 individual and team pursuits.
Australia’s team sprint men were also in action with Shane Perkins, 25, AIS-WAIS athlete Scott Sunderland, 23, and teenager Matthew Glaetzer, 19, qualifying third fastest in a time of 43.869 for the three laps to move into the bronze medal final against Great Britain’s Ross Edgar, Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy who were a shade slower in 43.876.
Glaetzer’s final lap of 13.107 in qualifying was the fastest of the event and he was close to that again in the medal race where the Australians were just a little slower in 43.954 and the Brits a tenth of a second quicker to claim the bronze medal in a time of 43.781.
In the gold medal decider reigning world champions, Germany (Rene Enders, Robrt Forstemann and Maximillian Levy) were fastest at every marker to secure victory in a time of 43.562 ahead of the French trio of Gregory Bauge, Mickael D’almeida and Kevin Sireau who clocked 43.631 for the silver medal.
Australian elite road time trial champion and 2011 team pursuit world champion, Luke Durbridge (WAIS-AIS), lined up in the 30 km (120 lap) points race but struggled with the change of pace having not contested a bunch track race for more than a year. He placed 13th with the win going to Spain’s Albert Torres Barcelo who lapped the field twice to finish with a 16 point winning margin through a tally of 58 points.
-Cycling Australia