ROUBAIX, France – After winning Olympic gold in the Women’s Omnium, Jennifer Valente (San Diego; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) is back on the track for the 2021 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Valente started off the championship racing the Women’s Scratch Race. She rode to silver in this event last year, and won the event at the Junior World Championship 10 years ago.
The Scratch Race is straightfoward, whoever crosses the finish line first wins. The race started off slow with no moves being made until about eight laps to go. Verena Eberhardt (AUS) made the initial move. Hungarian rider Hanna Tserakh countered the Austrian’s move, and overcoming her in less than a lap, with Martina Fidanza (ITA) reacting quickly to Tserakh’s attack and taking over the race. It was all Fidanza as she gained about half a lap on the rest of the field. Valente worked to control the rest of the field staying at the front, pulling back both Eberhardt and Tserakh. The silver medal came down to a two-up sprint between Valente and Maike van der Duin (NED). The Dutch rider edged out Valente, awarding the member of Team USA the bronze in the event.
Women's Scratch Race Results:
1. Martina Fidanza (ITA)
2. Maike van der Duin (NED)
3. Jennifer Valente (USA)
Tomorrow starts the Sprint tournament for Madalyn Godby (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Mandy Marquardt (Allentown, Pa.; Team Novo Nordisk). Gavin Hoover (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) will start in his first event of the World Championships with the Men’s Scratch Race along with Jennifer Valente (San Diego; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) competing in the Women’s Elimination Race.
