GLASGOW: Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky underlined her status as one of the best female all-round cyclists of her generation when she claimed a second track title at the UCI World Cham­pionships with victory in the points race on Tuesday.

Earlier, Dutch dominance of the men’s sprint events continued as the 30-year-old Jeffrey Hoogland claimed a third successive 1km time trial world title.

The Dutch had further cause to celebrate in the final event of the session when Jan-Willem van Schip and Yoeri Havik won a thrilling men’s madison race that was decided on the last few metres of the 200-lap marathon.

That gold, their first in the men’s madison at a world championships, put the Dutch level on top of the medals table with hosts Britain.

The 27-year-old Kopecky, runner-up in the Tour de France Femmes last month and now a six-time track world champion, made an early attack in the 100-lap race and then kept Australia’s Georgia Baker safely at bay to win by eight points.

Britain’s Neah Evans, the reigning champion, had challenged initially but got caught out of position when Kopecky took off with Baker in pursuit of a breakaway.

Evans ended up losing a lap to fall down the standings and had nothing left in the tank as Japan’s Tsuyaka Uchino grabbed third place by taking the 10 points for the last sprint.

Kopecky also won the elimination race earlier in the championships and will be one of the favourites for the women’s road race which concludes the championships on Sunday.

Hoogland joined his compatriot Harrie Lavreysen on two golds for the championships when he relegated two Austra­lians to the bottom rungs of the podium with a masterful kilo ride.

Matthew Glaetzer had put himself in first place with a national record time of 58.526, but Hoog­land, the last rider to go after qualifying quickest, completed his four laps of the Chris Hoy Velodrome in 58.222 to take gold.

Australia’s Thomas Cornish was third fastest.

Hoogland also won the men’s spr­­int alongside Lavreysen and both of them will be going for a third gold in the keirin which reac­hes its conclusion on Wednesday.

Lavreysen retained his men’s sprint world title on Monday.

The madison provided a thrilling conclusion to the evening as Belgium, who had been top of the points standings for much of the race, faded and were pushed off the podium.

With the last of the 20 sprints to come, five teams were essentially battling for the medals.

The Netherlands came under tremendous pressure but crossed the line in third place for four points, which was enough to give them a winning total of 37.

Britain’s duo of Oliver Wood and Mark Stewart scored big in the last 50 laps, grabbing the silver, while New Zealand won the final sprint to edge out Belgium, whose riders were left banging their handlebars in frustration.

Tuesday saw the end of the para cycling programme, which for the first time has been held on the same schedule as the able-bodied events.

Britain’s Neil Fachie rounded things off with his third gold of the championships alongside pilot Ma­tt Rotherham in the B mixed team sprint for vision-impaired riders with Elizabeth Jordan and pilot Amy Cole the women’s riders.

Fachie now has 19 world titles in para cycling.

“It’s nothing I ever dreamed of,” said Fachie, who has the congenital eye condition retinitis pigmentosa.

“As a teenager, I finished last in most races I did, so I never even dreamed of winning one world title, Now I’ve got 19.”

Britain topped the para medals table with 18 golds.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023