Kiwi riders challenged at home event
- editor59343
- 10 minutes ago
- 3 min read
New Zealand’s leading track cyclists faced some international competition led by a strong squad from Japan, at the Omnium and Madison National Championships in Cambridge.
The two-day event carried UCI global ranking points as the riders got to blow off the cobwebs from a long road season as they prepare for their international track programme starting in February.
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Scratch race world champion Kazushige Kuboki led the way with some impressive riding to claim the four-discipline men’s omnium honours in an exciting battle with Frenchman Oscar Nilsson.
Kuboki won the opening scratch race from Nilsson with the placings reversed bya single point in the Tempo race. Kuboki was second to New Zealand Olympian Keegan Hornblow in the elimination while Nillson lead the final points race.
The pair finished tied on 110 points but Kuboki earned the honours after winning the final double-point sprint on countback, wi9th Hornblow third.
The other national title was the exhausting 40kms two-rider Madison competition, won impressiveby by Sexton and exciting fellow Southlander Marshall Erwood on 57 points, clear of Olympic teammates Hornblow and George Jackson.
Fresh back from a brilliant road season on the Women’s World Tour, Waikato’s Ally Wollaston was quickly back into form on the boards.
She claimed the national omnium honours on 144 points ahead of teammate Bryony Botha on 126 with Japan’s Tsuyaka Uchino, a multi-Asian champion and World Championship medallist.
Waikato’s McKenzie Milne won the opening scratch race from Wollaston, who claimed the Tempo points ahead of Botha.
Wollaston, the 2024 world champion and Paris Olympic medallist in omnium, took out both the Elimination and final Points race to win the overall honours on 144 points, with Botha on 126 and Uchino 119.
Uchino paired with national road time trial champion Ayana Mizutani to win the two-rider Madison ahead of Botha and Fowler, with Milne and George Simpson third.
There were a range of other non-championship racing for elites and junior riders in a successful two-day competition.
Results: Male - Elimination: Marshall Erwood (NZL) 1, Elya Hashimoto (JPN) 2, Keegan Hornblow (NZL) 3.
Scratch race (10km): Erwood 1, Keast 2, Hornblow 3.
Omnium, scratch: Kazushige Kuboki (JPN) 1, Kanta Umezawa (JPN) 2, Oscar Nilsson (FRA) 3. Tempo: Nilsson 27 points, 1; Kuboki 26, 2; Yamamoto 22, 3. Elimination: Keegan Hornblow (NZL) 1, Kuboki 2, Marshall Erwood 3. Points: Nilsson 41 points, 1; Koboki 35, 2; Tom Sexton 34, 3.
Final Classification: Kuboki 151, 1; Nilsson 151, 2; Hornblow 127, 3.
Madison: Tom Sexton/Marshall Erwood 57 points, 1; Keegan Hornblow and George Jackson 41, 2; Oliver Watson-Palmer and Hamish Keast 40, 3.
Sprint qualifying elite male: Liam Cavanagh (NZL) 10.109, 1; Jaxson Russell (NZL) 10.154, 2; Mitchell Louie (AUS) 10.241, 3. Final: Russell 1, Cavanagh 2, Flynn Underwood (NZL) 3.
Elite female: Sprint qualifying: Lily Cameron (NZL) 11.868, 1; Minnie Collins (NZL) 12.069, 2; Pyper Newton (NZL) 12.224, 3.
Women Omnium: Scratch race: McKenzie Milne 1, Ally Wollaston 2, Sami Donnelly 3. Tempo: Wollaston 31 points, 1; Bryony Botha 29, 2; Tsuyaka Uchino (JPN) 22, 3. Elimination: Wollaston 1, Botha 2, Uchino 3. Points: Wollaton 26 points, 1; Prudence Fowler (NZL) 18, 2; Uchino 17, 3.
Final: Wollaston 144 points, 1; Botha 126, 2; Uchino 119, 3.
Madison: Tsuyaka Uching and Ayana Mizutani (JPN) 43 points, 1; Bryony Botha and Pru Fowler 29, 2; McKenzie Milne and Georgia Simpson 14, 3.