The new international velodrome in Cairo (Egypt) was alive with thrilling racing as the 2021 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships got underway on Wednesday.
Over five days of competition, rainbow jerseys will be awarded in 22 races – the highest total in the history of an event born in 1975 and settling in Egypt for the first time in its rich history, after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Three UCI World Champion titles were up for grabs on Wednesday as the rising talents of the team sprint (women and men) and the Scratch Race (women) were the first in action in this historical edition, where 258 riders from 46 nations have gathered in Africa.
In the first race of the day, the Spaniard Isabella Maria Escalera showed she was fired up for the competition. She lapped her opponents and finished her qualifying round (over 5km, before moving to a distance of 7.5km for the final) in 7:11mins (41.758km/h). The Dutch rider Yuli van der Molen was the fastest among the rest of the field, ahead of Germany’s Jette Simon.
Russia’s Valeria Valgonen emulated Escalera in the second heat to take the first qualifying spot ahead of USA’s versatile talent Kaia Schmid, who’s also a world-class skier. Italy’s Valentina Basilico, recently crowned Junior European Champion in Apeldoorn (the Netherlands), came fourth in this tightly-fought heat, behind Poland’s Maja Tracka, who won bronze in the Netherlands.
The battle was even more intense in the final, and it was almost impossible to get an edge, although Escalera and many others tried to surprise the field. However, Jette Simon made a decisive move with seven laps to go (out of 30), maintaining a narrow lead on the line to take gold ahead of Belgium’s Marith Vanhove and Italy’s Valentina Basilico.
Simon is the first German junior to become UCI World Champion in the Scratch Race. She had taken silver in the Madison at the European Junior Championships.
It was a historic day for the women’s team sprint, which saw three riders per team racing over three laps for the first time - opposed to two riders over two laps – bringing the event on a par with the men’s team sprint.
Jette Simon’s compatriots Lara-Sophie Jaeger, Stella Mueller and Clara Schneider were fastest in the qualifying round of the women’s team sprint (53.008km/h), ahead of Russia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico and Nigeria.
Alina Lysenko, winner of four gold medals two weeks ago in Apeldoorn, was a substitute in qualifying but she stepped in for the first round, helping Russia dominate Mexico courtesy of a blazing speed of 54.859km/h. In the final for gold, they were set to face Germany, while Mexico and Italy would battle for bronze.
Valentina Basilico took her second bronze medal of the day alongside her Italian compatriots Alessia Paccalini and Sara Fiorin. In the final, Alina Lysenko, Elizaveta Bogomolova and Elizaveta Krechkina scorched around the velodrome at an average speed of 54.776km/h, dominating Germany by more than 2secs (49.292 vs 51.344).
German sprinters also enjoyed the best start in the men’s competition with a time of 45.818 in qualifying (58.929km/h). Russia was the second fastest, ahead of the Czech Republic, Malaysia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria.
Luca Spiegel, Willy Leonhard Weinrich and Paul Gross were even faster in the first round, dominating South Africa with a time of 45.476. The finals would see them battle for gold against Russia, while Poland and Malaysia would face off for the bronze medals.
Malaysia was the fastest in the first two laps, but Tomasz Grzesiak, Marcin Marciniak and Mateusz Przymunsinski eventually powered to a narrow victory (0.157secs).
Germany also enjoyed a blazing start, but Bogdan Medenets, David Shekelashvili and Nikita Kalachnik moved ahead in the second lap to take a second gold medal for Russia in the team sprint events.
Illustration: © Mamdouh Magdy