Belgium's Lotte Kopecky dents British track dominance at cycling world championships
Lotte Kopecky finally put a dent in Britain's dominance of the velodrome at the cycling world championships on Tuesday.
One day after the home nation took two more gold medals in track cycling, the Belgian multi-disciplinary standout regained her points race world title from Britain's Neah Evans with a dominant performance. Kopecky and Australia's Georgia Baker gained a lap on the field early, and that proved to be decisive in the duo going one-two in the 100-lap race.
Kopecky finished with 39 points, including the 20 she earned from gaining a lap and the points she gained for the sprints that come every 10 laps. Baker wound up with 31 points for her lap and sprints, while Tsuyaka Uchino of Japan won the final sprint worth double the points to finish with 14 and earn the bronze medal.
Evans, who gained a lap but then lost one, finished tied with Lily Williams of the U.S. with nine points apiece, just outside a podium spot.
“In the end I just had to focus on Georgia,” said Kopecky, the 2021 champion who finished fourth a year ago, when Evans won the gold medal. “If I stayed right behind her it couldn't go wrong anymore, so that's what I did.”
In other world championships Tuesday, Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands won his third straight title and fourth overall in the men's 1-kilometer time trial; the Swiss road team comprised of three men and three women narrowly beat France to win the mixed team relay; and Jan Willem van Schip and Yoeri Havik of the Netherlands held on in the final sprint of the men's Madison to win the gold medal by just two points over second-place Britain and three over New Zealand.
It was the first men's Madison title for the Dutch since its introduction at the world championships in 1995.
Evans, who joined Elinor Barker in winning the women's Madison a day earlier, jumped to an early lead in the points race by edging Kopecky and Baker in a tight sprint. Kopecky bounced back to take the second sprint, then hid in the back of the peloton as Evans expended energy trying to nail back a breakaway, before pouncing on the opportunity.
Kopecky charged around the outside and straight to the front, and Baker soon joined her. The duo took points at the next sprint before gaining their ever-important lap, putting significant pressure on Evans over the final 40 laps of the race.
Evans and Williams took laps to gain 20 points, but they later lost them when they dropped a lap. By the time the final sprints were winding down, the only questions left were whether Kopecky or Baker would win and whether Evans would medal.
Kopecky never gave Baker a chance to shake loose on the final sprint, securing her gold medal, while Evans made a desperate charge in an attempt to earn bronze. She faded badly, though, and Uchino was able to charge past to take third place.
In the men's time trial, Matthew Glaetzer of Australia posted the fastest time before Hoogland stepped onto the track.
The Dutch sprinter raced away from the start line and had moved ahead by a half-second by the first time check, and Hoogland maintained that lead over the first two laps of the four-lap ride. He slowly ceded time over the back half of the ride but stopped the clock in 58.222 seconds and win his ninth world title in various events.
Glaetzer wound up with the silver medal and fellow Aussie Thomas Cornish took bronze.
The men's Madison — an endurance relay involving handoffs throughout the 200-lap race — came down to the final sprint, where the Netherlands got third-place points to lock up the gold medal. New Zealand won the sprint to vault ahead of Belgium for the bronze medal, while Britain took second in the sprint and earned the silver medal.
Out on the roads of Glasgow, Scotland, the Swiss mixed relay team of Stefan Bissegger, Stefan Kung, Mauro Schmid, Elise Chabbey, Nicole Koller and Marlen Reusser stopped the clock in 54 minutes, 16.20 seconds — despite a fall by Reusser, who got back on her bike fast enough to keep from losing too much time.
The French team finished seven seconds back in second while Germany was 51 seconds down in third place.
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