Oh, and this happened...

Martyn Irvine or Ireland leading the omnium elimination race.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com

The 2011 UCI Track Cycling World Championships was just on. A lot of Australians won races, not many Brits did, and some other people won races too. Sorry for the lack of coverage, but lets be honest, if you're actually interested in international track racing, you're not coming here for your news and photos.

1989 Track Cycling World Championships

I was just browsing through flickr the other night and I found nztony's excellent photos of the 1989 Track Cycling World Championships in Lyon. Check out some of the highlights below, and head over to his photostream to see the rest. Thanks for letting me put these up, Tony!

Tony's not sure who these match sprint riders are. Maybe Frederic Magne (France) v's Bill Huck (East Germany)? Whoever it is, check out the sheriff stars. Nice. Photo by nztony.

East German sprinters go head to head. Love this shot. Photo by nztony.

The East German pursuit team on some fancy bikes. Photo by nztony.

East German pursuit bike technology. Insanely advanced for 1989. Also, check out that sweet Colnago. Photo by nztony.

Details of the bb shell of the above bike. The "made in GDR" label slays me. Photo by nztony.

Viatcheslav Ekimov 4000m Individual Pursuit Final. Photo by nztony.

Michael Hübner, East German sprinter. His holder is a styler. Photo by nztony.

Unknown sprinters from France and the Soviet Union at the World Cycling Championships, Lyon, France 1989. Photo by nztony.

East Germans Celebrating becoming the 1989 World 4000 Metre Team Pursuit Champions. Obviously those fancy bikes worked. Photo by nztony.

This guy is my hero. Note: child's air horn on Colnago warm-up bike. Photo by nztony.

More Olympic Track Changes

Sometimes being on chifg can actually pay off. I was just on there reading about the the IOC and the UCI's proposed new changes to the Olympic track programme. What the hell are they smoking in Switzerland?? First they cut the points race and the madison, two of the more exciting races, from the Olympic schedule, and now they're limiting the number of riders a country can enter in the individual events to just ONE!

British duo Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny battle it out in the final of the Men's Sprint at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. New UCI changes mean you won't be seeing these guys race against each other in the Olympics anymore. DANIEL GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images

Okay, so, cutting the points and madison was done to facilitate an increase in the number of women's events without increasing the number of events overall. I understand that. Women racers should have parity with men. It's a pity that the UCI wasn't able to achieve that parity and keep the points and madison races, but so be it. This new change, however, is really strange. Each country is now limited to entering just one rider in each event, which means that only a country's top qualifier will be entered, and to hell with the rest of the squad. This is terrible news for the big track cycling countries like Britain, France, and Australia, who each have multiple riders capable of competing at the highest level. So, with fewer riders from these "big squad" countries able to compete, the numbers will be made up by riders from other countries, riders who are not going to be as good as the excluded riders. For example, here's the list of the current top ranked men's Sprint riders:

1. Kévin Sireau (France)
2. Shane Perkins (Australia)
3. Matthew Crampton (Britain)
4. Grégory Baugé (France)
5. Maximilian Levy (Germany)
6. Chris Hoy (Britain)
7. Jason Kenny (Britain)
8. Daniel Ellis (Australia)
9. Robert Forstemann (Germany)
10. Michael D'Almeida (France)

As you can see, four countries dominate the men's Sprint scene at the moment: France, Australia, Britain and Germany. In the next Olympics, only one rider from each of those countries will be allowed to enter the men's Sprint. That means that more than half of the top ranked men's Sprint riders in the world will be excluded! On the current standings, Sireau, Perkins Crampton and Levy would be in, but Baugé, Hoy, Kenny, Ellis, Forstemann and D'Almeida would be out! Their places would be taken by slower riders, meaning that while the Olympic track programme will now have a wider national representative pool (good) it will also no longer be a competition between the fastest riders in the world (bad). Can you imagine a similar change happening in swimming? Do you think the USOC would sit quietly by while the IOC decided that countries could only enter one individual swimmer per event? Why is the IOC putting pressure on the UCI to make these changes? Do they really care about representation, or is this just another example of putting the squeeze on a minority sport? Is the UCI tired of the Track World Championship being seen as a second tier event compared to the Olympics, and so it's sabotaging the legitimacy of the Olympic track programme?

From my own perspective, I think its great that smaller cycling countries might have the chance to put a rider into the big show, but I think it's a pretty lame way to make that happen, and I'm sure that riders who qualify because of this rule will feel like they're taking the place of someone better and faster. The level of competition will be much more uneven too, which will probably make for less exciting racing. Seriously, what is going on in Switzerland?

UCI Track Cycling World Championships 2010

The Worlds were on this weekend, and sadly I didn't get to watch any of it. Here are some photos of the action:

The Women's Keirin final. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Sireau versus Baugé in the Men's Sprint semi-final. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Pendleton versus Mears in the Women's Sprint semi-final. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard of Australia celebrate winning the Men's Madison. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Baugé versus Hoy in the Men's Sprint quarterfinals. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Big crash during the Women's Scratch finals. Photo by Bob Strong/REUTERS.

Hoy in the Men's Sprint. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Australia in action during the Men's Team Pursuit. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Taylor Phinney in the Men's Omnium scratch race. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Varnish versus Pendleton in the Women's Sprint 1/16th round. Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images.

Baugé Wins

Gregory Baugé, the new match sprint World Champion!

Sireau Crash

From his match sprint with Gregory Baugé. There's a great pic out there somewhere of Baugé keeping his bike upright after the crash, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now. Photo: ANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images.

[update] The pic with Baugé in it is over on the Macaframa page. Thanks Matt! Check it out here.

World Championships Videos

Not a lot on the internet yet, but check these out:

Baugé and Awang's 2nd match sprint:


Baugé and Awang's 3rd match sprint, for the men's gold:


Pendleton and Kanis' 3rd match sprint, for the women's gold:


Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite getting the gold and setting a new 500m women's time trial world record:


France versus Britain in the men's team sprint:


Women's keirin final:


Men's keirin final:


That's your lot!

Hey America...

... your boy took gold. Taylor Phinney, Men's Individual Pursuit World Champion. Photo by Guy Swarbrick at TrackCyclingWorld.

World Championships Photos - Day 1 & 2

TrackCyclingWorld editor-in-chief Guy Swarbrick is at the World Championships in Poland right now, and is taking some great photos of the action. To read his reports and to see more of his photos, go here.

Ireland's David O'Loughlin in the Men's Individual Pursuit qualification round. He was sick and didn't do very well. Photo by Guy Swarbrick. More here.

A Ukrainian riders overhauls a Polish rider during Men's Individual Pursuit qualifaction.

The French Men's Team Sprint squad. Photo by Guy Swarbrick. More here.

The French Men's Team Sprint squad, Kévin Sireau, Michael d'Almeida and Grégory Baugé collect their gold medals. Sireau and d'Almeida look feckin' delighted, wha'? Photo by Guy Swarbrick. More here.

The velodrome during the Men's Points Race. Photo by Guy Swarbrick. More here.

World Championships Photos - Day 1

Here are a few shots from the first day of the Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszków, Poland. I'll have more photos and results up soon.

Victoria Pendleton getting herself psyched up before the start of the Women's 500m Time Trial in which she took bronze. SEBASTIEN BERDA/AFP/Getty Images

The Dutch Men's Team Sprint Squad. AP Photo.

Joanna Rowsell of the British team in her Women's Individual Pursuit qualification. JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images

New World Record holder and the first gold medal winner of the 2009 World Championships, Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania, winning the Women's 500m Time Trial. AP Photo.

Irish Team Pursuit Squad Miss Out

The Irish Team Pursuit squad narrowly missed out on going to the 2009 Track Cycling World Championships.

David O'Loughlin, David McCann, Paul Healion and Martyn Irvine at the recent World Cup Classic at Copenhagen, where they set a new national record and just missed out on a ride-off for bronze.

Apparently, the team needed to have competed in at least one event in four of the last five World Cup meets to qualify, which they haven't done. So even though they came 7th and 5th in the last two World Cup meets, and are currently ranked 11th in the world, they won't be going to the World Championships. David O'Loughlin will be Ireland's sole representative, and will be hoping for a medal in the Mens Individual Pursuit.

Surprise!

Guess who just got named to the British squad for the 2009 Track Cycling World Championships, even though he recently said, when asked about returning to the track, "there's nothing for me to do there now. I wouldn't gain anything in my career either financially or in terms of being remembered. It would just be a hindrance to what I can gain on the road."

Getting ready for the points race at the 2008 Worlds in Manchester. Photo by Tompy.

That's right. Mark Cavendish. The preeminent road sprinter of the moment will make a surprise return to the track as part of the endurance squad of the British team at the forthcoming Worlds. Should be fun watching him in the Madison!

Back to Normal

Hipster Nascar has finally disappeared from Blogger's Blogs of Note page, so my numbers have gone down to "pre-fame" levels, but so have the amounts of dodgy Chinese spam and comments like "hey i really like your blog bikes are cool and i have a blog too it's about FINANCIAL SERVICES." So it's a case of swings and roundabouts, I suppose. Unfortunately, I'm sick with a bad cold right now, and couldn't be feckin' bothered posting anything substantive, so you'll have to make do with this classic photo for a while:

Bos versus Hoy - World Track Cycling Championships 2008 - Manchester Velodrome - Photo by johnthescone

2009 Track Cycling World Championships

One week to go till the 2009 Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszków, Poland. Will the British team be able to replicate their Olympic success without Chris Hoy? Will anyone be able to stop Victoria Pendleton? Will France be able to defend their Team Sprint title? TrackCyclingWorld has a preview here, and if you're lucky you might be able to watch some action here.

[update 1] USA Cycling just announced the US squad going to the Worlds. It's made up of just four cyclists: Taylor Phinney will compete in the Individual Pursuit, Kilometer Time Trial, and Omnium; Daniel Holloway will compete in the Madison and Scratch Race; Colby Pearce will compete in the Madison and Points Race; and Shelly Olds, the only woman in the US team, will compete in the Points and Scratch races. Four cyclists is a pretty small squad. In comparison, the Brits are bringing nineteen.

[update 2] TrackCyclingWorld has its full preview of the Worlds here.

Chris Hoy Out of Worlds!

Chris Hoy crossing the line to win a keirin heat during the recent World Cup in Copenhagen. Photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Bad news for fans of British track cycling, and fans of track cycling in general really, because Chris Hoy is withdrawing from the 2009 Track Cycling World Championships, happening later this month in Poland. It seems that the injuries he sustained in the crash in Copenhagen were a little more serious than originally thought. British Cycling team doctor Roger Palfreeman told BikeRadar that "it's called a degloving injury and it's when the skin and the underlying tissue and fat get separated from the underlying muscle." GAH! That sounds really pleasant. I've decided to give up cycling and stay indoors wrapped in cotton wool and blankets from now on. Cheers, Dr. Palfreeman!

Get well soon Chris Hoy, and thanks to Val for another Hoy-based heads up. Anyone would think you were stalking him...