BERLIN – Team USA’s Ashton Lambie (Huub Wattbike) took silver in the Men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit and Jennifer Valente (Sho-Air TWENTY20) placed fifth in the Women’s omnium Friday during the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
Lambie was seeded in heat nine of 10, for his title as the Pan-American Champion, which he won in Cochabamba, Bolivia in September 2019 when he set the world record with a 4:06.407.
Lambie started his qualifying race strong, having the fastest time at 1,000 meters. He continued his pace and go on to be seeded first after his heat, guaranteeing him a place in the gold medal ride in the evening. His qualifying time was 4 minutes and 3.640 seconds. Italy’s Fillippo Ganna set the fast time of the day, and a new world record of 4:01.934.
“I’m happy with this race,” Lambie said. “Going up against Ganna, who’s arguably one of the best pursuiters ever, was an honor. The fact that he broke his own record again in the first session is crazy. My coach and I had a plan. We had a schedule until six laps to go, and then he’d show me where I was at in relation to him.”
Moving to the evening session, Lambie went head-to-head ride against Ganna. In the first 2,000-meters, he led the Italian by a tight margin. But Ganna steadily pulled forward in the last half of the race.
The day started with Valente racing the first event in the Women’s omnium, the scratch race, in which she received a silver medal on Wednesday. With five laps to go in the event, Valente came from the back of the field straight to the front and sprinted for the win against the Netherlands’ Kirsten Wild and Japanese rider Yumi Kajihara, with Karjihara taking the win. But Valente took second after Wild was relegated. In the tempo race, she led on several laps, and just barely missed taking a lap on the field, finishing in fourth.
Valente was shut out early in the elimination race but gained 11 points, taking maximum points in two sprints and move from ninth to fifth.
Daniel Holloway (Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team) gained an early three points in the Men’s points race but crashed with two laps to go.
On Saturday, Chloe Dygert (Sho-Air TWENTY20)and Emma White (Rally UHC Pro Cycling) will take on the Women’s individual pursuit. Dygert is the current world recorder holder in this event, as well as the reigning road time trial world champion. Gavin Hoover (Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling) will take on the Men’s omnium, in hopes of bettering his fifth place finish from the UCI Track World Cup in Milton, Canada.
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All evening sessions will be livestreamed on NBC Sports as part of the Gold Package. Below is an approximate schedule of times and events in the broadcasts.
- Fri. Feb. 28 12:30p ET – Women’s Omnium Events 3 & 4, Men’s Individual Pursuit finals, Men’s Points Race
- Sat. Feb. 29 10:30am ET – Women’s Madison, Men’s Omnium Events 3 & 4, Women’s Individual Pursuit finals.
- Sunday March 1 6:00am ET – Women’s Points Race, Women’s Keirin, Men’s Madison.
Content provided by USA Cycling and edited by Clipped In.