Session 1 - Afternoon, December 10

By Eddie Monnier in Carson, California

Arnaud Tournant (France)
Photo ©: Mitch Friedman

The Los Angeles World Cup track event kicked off Friday morning at North America's newest and the US's only indoor velodrome, the ADT Event Center, Carson, California. Riders from 32 countries, including five gold medalists from Athens, will face off in this second round of the World Cup with the added bonus of previewing the venue for the 2005 World Championships to be held here in March.

The morning session opened with three keirin heats of seven riders, from which the first two finishers would advance to the two heat finals Friday evening. The event is still thrilling to watch even with the advent of the no contact rule this season. Although there was clearly some bumping in the first heat, which finished very closely with Trinidad Villaneuva (Spain) taking the heat over Barry Forde (Barbados) who barely edged out Josiah Ng (Malaysia).

Arnaud Tournant (France), kilo world record holder, was surely the man to be in heat 2. He commanded the heat throughout, never once relinquishing the lead. Vladimir Kiriltsev (Russia) finished second.

Heat 3, the fastest of the day with a final 200 meter time of 10.886 (66.1 km/hr), was an exciting battle. Double Olympic gold medalist Ryan Bailey (Australia) jumped from his mid-track start position to the lead as soon as the gun fired. He was closely flanked by John Matthias (Germany) and Kleanthis Bargkas (Greece). With a lap to go, Andrei Vynokurov (Ukraine) accelerated over the top with a lap and a half to go. Cedric Stoller (Switzerland) put in a huge counter and established a five meter gap. Vynokurov surged back into the lead with a half lap to go and held off a hard charging Bayley who secured the second qualifying spot.

Josiah Ng took the first Repechage heat over a come-from-the-very-back charging Christian Stahl (USA). Cedric Stoller took honors over Kasper Jessen (Denmark) in Heat 2, while John Matthias scored the win over Teun Mulder (Netherlands) in the third heat, which was the fastest of the Repechage round (65.5 km/hr).

The twelve riders advancing to the Finals will compete in two heats, with the first 3 of each heat advancing to the 1-6 Final and the remainder going to the 7-12 Finals.

Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia)
Photo ©: Mitch Friedman

Natalis Tsylinskaya (Bielorussia) set the fastest qualifying time in the Women's Flying 200 meter with a 11.479 (62.723 km/hr). Based on qualifying times, there were no surprises as to who advanced from the 1/8 finals to the 1/4 finals with the exception of 10th seeded Anna Meares (Australia) overtaking 7th seeded Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania).

The Men's Individual Pursuit would provide a good indicator of how fast the still new track is -- or isn't. Wood tracks usually get faster after a few years of use, but this would be the first time several world class contenders would ride the track, including reigning world champion Sergi Escobar (Spain), World Cup leader Volodymar Dyudya (Ukraine) and 2000 Sydney double gold medalist Robert Bartko (Germany). The times suggest this beautiful track may not be the fastest, but we can hope for better-than-average seasoning over the next few years.

Bartko paired off against Dyudya in the final pairing of the qualifying round. Dyudya unleashed a 1:07.7 first kilometer, practically leaving a smoke trail behind him. It looked as if he might catch Bartko but it proved way too fast a start, as Bartko fought back into a commanding lead by the third kilometer and closed with a final kilometer of 1:06.1 to qualify fastest with a 4:28.446. He will face Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia, 4:31.551) in the ride-off for the gold medal. Escobar (4:31.787) will duel with Marc Ryan (New Zealand) who rode a 4:35.134.