Track Worlds: Saturday & Sunday
March 30, 2009
The Saturday evening session was all about the madison. Daniel and Colby rode a great race, scoring points and attacking at will. They overcame a few obstacles and road aggressive the entire race, they launched what ended up being the winning move and shattered the filed in the process, only the Danish (Saxo Bank) team of Michael Morkov and Alex Rasmussen were able to stay on terms in the thick of the chaos, earning the World title in the process. Daniel went long on the last sprint only to get nipped @ the line, taking 2nd in the final sprint (and 8th on the night).
Shelley raced the points on Sunday, it didn’t quite go according to plan. She escaped a near race ending crash early in the race. I celebrated as if she won when I saw he make it through. No points late in the race forced her to look for a lap, with 14 or 15 to go she got into a promising three rider move, took a pull, swung up track then right back down into Lizie Armestead...who was heading up track rather than pulling through. It’s hard to place blame, Shelley was in full gas attack mode and came down hot...assuming the other riders had committed. She had no chance, her front wheel overlapped big time w/ Lizzie and Shelley came tumbling down hard in a spectacular replay worthy crash. I ran across the infield assuming the worse, only to find Shelley up on her feet checking her bike and body for functionality. She was thrown back in a lap before the 10-to-go sprint, then attacked w/ Cali Willams w/ 7 to go. The field gave them a bit of room for a few laps, but got back to business as 2nd and 3rd place were still up for grabs. They got rolled w/ 3 or 4 to go, then rode the pack home for 16th place.
The rest of the night included Taylors omnium ride, the woman’s keiren, and the epic battle between Gregory Bauge and my new favorite sprinter Azizulhasni Awang.
Shelley raced the points on Sunday, it didn’t quite go according to plan. She escaped a near race ending crash early in the race. I celebrated as if she won when I saw he make it through. No points late in the race forced her to look for a lap, with 14 or 15 to go she got into a promising three rider move, took a pull, swung up track then right back down into Lizie Armestead...who was heading up track rather than pulling through. It’s hard to place blame, Shelley was in full gas attack mode and came down hot...assuming the other riders had committed. She had no chance, her front wheel overlapped big time w/ Lizzie and Shelley came tumbling down hard in a spectacular replay worthy crash. I ran across the infield assuming the worse, only to find Shelley up on her feet checking her bike and body for functionality. She was thrown back in a lap before the 10-to-go sprint, then attacked w/ Cali Willams w/ 7 to go. The field gave them a bit of room for a few laps, but got back to business as 2nd and 3rd place were still up for grabs. They got rolled w/ 3 or 4 to go, then rode the pack home for 16th place.
The rest of the night included Taylors omnium ride, the woman’s keiren, and the epic battle between Gregory Bauge and my new favorite sprinter Azizulhasni Awang.