On the final day of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, on the Olympic track for Paris 2024, Lindsay De Vylder and Fabio Van den Bossche gave our country a bronze medal in the points race. Lotte Kopecky and Jules Hesters just missed the medal. Belgium closes the World Cup with 4 medals.
| Sunday October 16 | ||
|---|---|---|
| keirin (v) | Nicky Degrendele | out in 1e ronde |
| points race (v) | Lotte Kopecky | 4e |
| ploegkoers (m) | Lindsay De Vylder and Fabio Van den Bossche | bronze |
| weight loss (m) | Jules Hesters | 4e |
Bronze for Van den Bossche and De Vylder in team race
Fabio Van den Bossche and Lindsay De Vylder presented a fourth medal on the final day of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Belgium. They finished third in the team race.
With 43 points, the Belgians only had to tolerate the French Donavan Grondin and Benjamin Thomas (65 points) and the British Ethan Hayter and Oliver Wood (47 points) after 200 laps (50 km) and 20 sprints.
In a blistering, lightning fast team race, the young Belgians did a bit like Shari Bossuyt and Lotte Kopecky in their golden team race yesterday. They waited to grab a bonus round at the end.
At the end, they were still fully involved in the battle for the medals. Host country France was a size too big, they were already certain for the final sprint, but Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Great Britain were all second with 37 points.
The final sprint would decide. And in it, Ethan Hayter shot to silver, but De Vylder was able to hold off Italy. The young Belgians were thrilled.
Just short of third medal for Kopecky
Just short of third medal for Lotte Kopecky at the Track Cycling World Championships. As the defending champion, she finished fourth in the points race on Sunday.
After 100 laps (25 km) and ten sprints, Kopecky totaled 50 points. The gold went to Britain’s Neah Evans with 60 points. She beat the Danish Julie Leth (53 points) and the American Jennifer Valente (51 points).
The American too often remained in the wheel of our compatriot, who was targeted as a favourite. At 2.5 laps from the end, Kopecky still got around, but she couldn’t score any points in the final sprint.
“Now I’m going to rest,” Kopecky said afterwards. “I’m not going to think about next season yet. I’ve barely been home for the past 1.5 months, I’ll be glad I’m home.”
Jules Hesters also narrowly misses the medal
In the very last number of the World Track Cycling Championships, the elimination race for the men, it was still looking forward to Jules Hesters. The 23-year-old Belgian took bronze at the European Championships in this discipline last summer and could therefore also dream of a medal of honor at the World Cup.
Hesters drove an alert race, although he escaped an early elimination twice in between. The Belgian then advanced well and ran smoothly until the final.
With 4 riders left in the race, Hesters had to survive one more drop to be on the podium, but just then things went wrong. Hesters was pinned by the Briton Vernon and could not find a hole anymore. With his 4th place, the Belgian does one place better than last year at the World Cup.
“I got closed in and it was too short to react,” sighed a visibly disappointed Hesters afterwards. “I dreamed of the podium and I had the legs for it. It should have happened today.”
“I am only 23 years old and I am already participating here for the prizes. That in itself is hopeful for the future, but as an athlete you always want to bring out the best in yourself. This was my main goal of the season. if you fall just off stage, it is painful.”
The gold in the elimination race was for the 2nd year in a row for the experienced Italian Elia Viviani.
Van den Bossche and De Vylder: “It’s great that at the end we focused on seizing our chance”
Hesters: “I got locked in and couldn’t recover”
Jules Hesters just misses a medal on the elimination
Friedrich delivers gold to Germany at the keirin
Van den Bossche and De Vylder can pick up bronze medal
Harrie Lavreysen remains the absolute sprint king at this World Cup
