Archbold, Ellis in the medals in international track cycling

The Australians fought back on the second day of the International Track Cycling Series in Adelaide last night.

The home team shut the New Zealanders off the podium in the sprints while Timaru’s Shane Archbold had to be content with second place in the omnium on countback and Lauren Ellis took bronze in the women’s omnium.

The BikeNZ contingent are competing in five days of UCI Tier One competition in Adelaide which carries qualifying points for upcoming World Cup events, which in turn qualify riders and teams for the World Championships.

Olympic sprint medallist Shane Perkins (AUS) edged Matt Archibald and Eddie Dawkins in qualifying for the sprint in 10.155s in a chilly Adelaide Super-Drome and was then unmatched in the elimination series, accounting for compatriot Peter Lewis in two straight rides in the final.

Archibald (Invercargill) was the best of the Kiwis after winning his first round over Wang Shengwei (CHN), Jacob Schmid (AUS) in the second round and Mitchell Bullen (AUS) in the quarterfinal. He lost out to Lewis 2-0 in the semifinal and to Nathan Hart in the ride-off for bronze.

Dawkins (Invercargill), who won the keirin on the first day, finished fifth when he won the ride-off for the minors after losing to Perkins in a closely fought quarterfinal, while Ethan Mitchell lost to Lewis in the same round.

Dunedin’s Katie Schofield missed out in the repechage for a place in the quarterfinals in the women’s sprint.

Archbold, who is competing on the road this year with UCI Pro Continental team An Post Sean Kelly in Europe, had a slender two point lead in the omnium after the first day to Australian Olympic gold medallist Alexander Edmondson.

The Australian drew level after finishing second in the 4000m individual pursuit with Archbold fourth in 4:32.130 and Southland’s Pieter Bulling seventh in 4:39.763.
Edmondson finished fourth, one spot ahead of Archbold with Bulling sixth in the 10km scratch race.

Archbold finished third in the final event, the 1000m time trial in 1:05.498 one place ahead of Edmondson to leave the pair level on 18 points but the Australian was given the top honours on countback.
Bulling was sixth in the time trial to finish sixth overall.

London Olympian Lauren Ellis finished third in the women’s omnium won by Australian Isabella King who dominated the competition.

Hamilton’s Jaime Nielsen won the individual pursuit in 3:40.957 ahead of King and Ellis (3:46.721) but the Australian fought back to win the scratch race with Ellis sixth and Nielsen sixth.

King took out the 500m time trial in 37.280 from Nielsen (37.495) with Ellis fourth in 37.838.

The Australian finished on seven points on the low point system to with China’s Xiaojuan Diao second on 18, Ellis third on 21 and Nielsen fifth on 25.

The five day competition reverts back to sprints and keirin competition in two sessions today.

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Mission accomplished for Kiwi track cycling squad

Mission accomplished for the BikeNZ track cycling team with two further podiums and key qualifying points at the conclusion of the five-day international series in Adelaide last night.

Europe-based Shane Archbold returned to the track from his professional road team to claim second place in the men’s omnium, his second silver medal of the meet in the six-discipline Olympic event, while Hamilton’s Jaime Nielsen was third in the women’s omnium.

BikeNZ Head Coach Dayle Cheatley said the group had achieved the main goal of securing vital qualifying points in key events for upcoming UCI World Cups which in turn qualify riders and teams for the World Championships.

“Shane Archbold came out of road racing and had two good efforts in the omnium, while both Jaime and Lauren got points for the women,” Cheatley said.

“It’s been a long campaign in Europe and now here for the sprint boys but they got the job done brilliantly and we are well set-up there for the World Cup season.

“Most of this group will enjoy a short break now and then prepare for the racing season at home and the World Cup meets.”

The squad finished with three wins and nine podium placings, with Eddie Dawkins claiming the opening kieren and sprint titles and Olympic medallist Simon van Velthooven claiming a kieren victory.

Archbold, second overnight, was fourth in the individual pursuit in 4:35.949 with any chance of catching Australian Luke Davison ended with ninth in the 20km scratch race. The Timaru rider, who returns to his UCI Pro Continental team An Post Sean Kelly in Belgium, bounced back to finish third in the 1000m time trial in 1:05.771 to be second overall.

Young Southland rider Pieter Bulling, who is part of BikeNZ’s endurance track squad in Europe, finished sixth overall.

Nielsen, a member of the Olympic team pursuit, started with a win in the 3000m individual pursuit in 1:39.406, with her London teammate Lauren Ellis third. Nielsen was third and Ellis fifth in the scratch race with Ellis second in the 500m time trial in 37.643s and Nielsen sixth in 39.050.

Australian Isabella King won her second omnium for the meet with eight points ahead of Xiaojuan Diao (HGK) on 18, Nielson 20 and Ellis 22.

Invercargill sprinter Matt Archibald finished fourth in the sprints. He qualified second in 10.101 and breezed through his opening rounds over Zac Deller (AUS) and Josiah Ng (HGK) and the quarterfinal over Emerson Harwood (AUS).

He lost to Olympic medallist Shane Perkins 2-1 and was beaten by Australian Daniel Ellis in two rides for the bronze.

Earlier Ethan Mitchell bowed out in the repechage as did Dunedin’s Katie Schofield in the women’s sprints.

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