Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, FRA – The penultimate day of the 2022 UCI Track World Championships saw four riders line up in red, white, and blue. The duo of Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif.; Team DSM) and Lily Williams (Tallahassee, Fla.; Human Powered Health) took on the Women's Madison, Gavin Hoover (Manhattan Beach, Calif.; L39ion of Los Angeles) raced the Men's Omnium, and Shayna Powless (Roseville, Calif.; L39ion of Los Angeles) went against the clock in the Women's Individual Pursuit.
The Madison, a two-person points race where there is an active rider and a relief rider, keeping the pace high through the duration of the event. Pairing together for the third time, Williams and Jastrab started the race for the U.S. The 120-lap race was action-packed, with teams taking laps, a power outage, and several crashes. Early in the race, the Irish and German teams crashed before the lights on the back straight cut out. The power outage caused a seven-minute race neutralization, allowing riders to reset before the gun went off again.
Team USA was on the hunt early and played parts in several sprints, getting their first points at 100 laps remaining. At the halfway point, it was clear that the French team was out to dominate the event, taking the majority of top points. Both the British and Danish teams responded and began challenging France. Jastrab and Williams were riding a smart race staying out of danger and making moves to get into the sprints. At 37 laps left in the race, Team Belgium attacked, pushing the tempo of the race higher. The field was unsuccessful at pulling the duo back, and they ended up gaining a lap at 17 to go. In the end, the Belgians squeaked out a win by a single point. Williams and Jastrab finished ninth, even on the leaders' lap.
"I was pleased with Lily and Megan's ride," said USA Cycling's Women's Endurance Coach, Gary Sutton. "For their third time riding together, with only a couple camps to train together, they road remarkably well. Each time they ride together, they achieve more. With that in mind, we have a clear trajectory for our Women's Madison into 2024."
1. Team BEL – 32 pts.
2. Team FRA – 31 pts.
3. Team DEN – 23 pts.
9. Team USA – 2 pts.
The UCI Champions' League Men's Endurance winner, Hoover, prepared for a hard fight with the Men's Omnium. In the first of the four omnium events, the Scratch Race, he attacked early in the race with six others, but traffic off the back of the field would divide the leaders, and Hoover didn't make the selection. Absorbed back into the field, he maintained his positioning and was mid-field for the finish. The speed of the Scratch Race was astounding, averaging 56.1 kilometers/hour.
The second event of the men's omnium, the Tempo Race, can only be described as chaotic. Hoover took a lap early in the race, adding 20 points to his total, hoping to secure a top-5 position. But at 13 laps to go, another group of seven riders attacked and took the lap, guaranteeing Hoover a top-10 spot but not what he wanted.
Wrong positioning struck in the third event, the elimination race, where Hoover was eliminated prematurely from the event. In the first several eliminations, he was positioned well toward the front of the pack. But in the sixth elimination, Hoover was stuck down track with nowhere to go and was eliminated.
The final event, the Points Race, was much more tactical at the start, with riders watching each other like a hawk. Through the first half, Hoover was in the thick of it, winning the sprint at 60 laps remaining. But the hammer dropped after the sixth points sprint, and the pace vastly increased. Seven riders took a lap in the second half of the race, adding to their point totals. Hoover fought on but could not overtake the combo of Ethan Hayter (GBR) and Benjamin Thomas (FRA), who dominated the front of the bike race. At the finish, Hoover ended with 49 points and placed fifteenth.
1. Ethan Hayter (GBR) – 147 pts.
2. Benjamin Thomas (FRA) – 127 pts.
3. Aaron Gates (NZL) – 118 pts.
15. Gavin Hoover (USA) – 49 pts.
Powless, the first tribally-recognized woman to race for the United States at the UCI Track World Championships, rode the 3,000-meter Women's Individual Pursuit. Going in the third heat, Powless set a solid time early in the event, with a 3:38.708. At the end of the competition, that time was good for eighteenth. The battle for gold came down to Franiska Brausse (GER) and Bryony Botha (NZL), with Brausse taking the title and improving over her silver in 2021.
1. Franiska Brausse (GER) – 3:19.427
2. Bryony Botha (NZL) – 3:19.869
3. Josie Knight (GBR) – 3:21.459
18. Shayna Powless (USA) – 3:38.708
Kayla Hankins (Scottsdale, Ariz.) starts her third event, the Keirin, in the morning. In the evening, Jennifer Valente (San Diego; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) takes on her final event of the week, the Points Race. Next, Eddy Huntsman (Newport Beach, Calif.; ButcherBox Pro Cycling) and Peter Moore (Saint Paul, Minn.; Giant Dijon Track Team) will team up to take on the Madison. Finally, Hoover will cap off the championship for Team USA and race the Elimination Race.
