The first day of the World Championships, which are being held until Sunday in Santiago, Chile, ended with complete Dutch dominance, with victories for both speed teams and Lorena Wiebes in the women’s scratch race.
The two events were a give-and-take between the Netherlands and Great Britain. In the qualifying heats, Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen, and Jeffrey Hoogland scored 41.860, while Joseph Truman, Matthew Richardson, and Harry Ledingham-Horn scored 42.131. In the first round, the British dropped to 41.850, and the Dutch dropped to 41.634.
The final remained, in which they changed their team, with Hamish Turnbull replacing them for the third relay. And they led for most of the race: 17.161 for a great Truman against 17.495 for Van de Berg; 29.131 to 29.450 after the intervention of their two “leaders.” But a sensational Hoogland reversed the situation and allowed them to maintain the “rainbow” finish, their eighth since 2018: 41.691 to 42.060.
Australia (Ryan Elliott, Leigh Hoffman, and Daniel Barber) and France (Florien Grengbo, Tom Derache—with Sébastien Vigier in the second performance—and Rayan Helal) soon emerged as contenders for bronze, and that was the outcome, with the Oceanians winning: 42.611 to 42.861.
Two identical podiums
The women’s qualifying also highlighted the favorite status of Great Britain (45.808) and the Netherlands (45.947), with a narrow gap between them suggesting anything could happen. And so it would be in the first round, where the “Orange” athletes, Kimberly Kalee, Hetty van de Wouw, and Steffie van der Peet, posted a better time than their rivals, Rhianna Parris-Smith, Iona Moir, and Emma Finucane, 45.709 to 45.864.
The final remained, however, which wasn’t as exciting as the men’s, as after an initial lead in the first relay by the Olympic champions, the Dutch team recovered in the second and took the lead in the third: 45.743 to 46.003.
Australia, with the third-fastest time from the start, completed the same podium as the men’s, defeating Poland in the B final, 46.773 to 48.003, with an “odd” but effective lineup, featuring veteran Kristine Perkins (42) alongside Molly McGill and Alessia McCaig, following the first-round appearance of the very young Liliya Tatarinoff.
Noteworthy was the United States’ impressive showing, with the fourth-fastest time from the start, although they ultimately finished seventh, and fifth place for a Germany team that missed Emma Hinze too much.
Wiebes: Exciting until the very end
Aside from the start of the team pursuit, the first day saw the final of the women’s scratch, in which Wiebes repeated her 2024 triumph, albeit with considerable uncertainty until the end. In a race with virtually no movement, it was Olivijia Baleysite who “woke up” the group with an attack with seven laps remaining, prompting a reaction from Frenchwoman Marion Borras, who would catch and leave the Lithuanian in the final three.
At that point, Wiebes was quite far behind, which Amelie Didericksen took advantage of to launch her attack. However, the Dutchwoman remained calm and eventually overtook the Dane on the finishing straight, even having time to raise an arm. Behind her, Borras was ultimately overtaken by New Zealander Prudence Fowler, who took bronze.
Source: https://www.trackpiste.com/ y https://www.revistamundociclistico.com