Track Worlds Day 3 – GB Report

JOSH TARLING & JOSH CHARLTON WORLD CHAMPIONS!! — Josh Tarling delivered a points race masterclass in his track world championships debut & Josh Charlton picked up his first rainbow jersey with a faultless individual pursuit ride. Joe Truman added to the haul with a bronze in the men’s kilo.

TRACK WORLDS (GB Press Release)- JOSH TARLING & JOSH CHARLTON WORLD CHAMPIONS!! — Josh Tarling delivered a points race masterclass in his track world championships debut, showcasing his prowess in the bunch to take GB’s first world title of the competition.

Josh Charlton picked up his first rainbow jersey with a faultless individual pursuit ride while Joe Truman added to the haul with a bronze in the men’s kilo.

Men’s POINTS race

Photo: Sw Pix/UCI Track Cycling (TwitterX)

Josh Tarling delivered a points race masterclass in his track world championships debut, showcasing his prowess in the bunch to take GB’s first world title of the competition.

Tarling delivered a measured start in the men’s points race, placing himself well to take three points in the opening sprint. He shut down the first break of the race before finding himself in a good trio with Noah Bolgi (SUI) and Bertold Drijver (HUN). They were reeled back in but not before Tarling picked up max points in sprint three.

Keeping his momentum from the sprint, Tarling made the bold move to continue on and go on his own for a lap gain. Pushing ahead alone, looking in control the whole time he collected 20 points to catapult him into the lead with 28 points.

Subsequent attacks from Naoki Kojima (JPN) and Conor Leahy (AUS0were less committed and so were closed down by the bunch – all good news for Tarling.

France, USA, the Netherlands and Mexico pick up sprint points in the next few laps, before an attempted lap gain gives Clement Petit (FRA) the chance to take the next sprint, putting him into the lead.

Having had a quiet few laps Tarling springs back into action in sprint seven to take three points and move joint top with Petit. With 84 laps to go, Diego Rojas Rivas (CHI) went off the front getting the crowd roaring! Tarling chased him down to put himself in an excellent position to take maximum points in sprint eight.

After a solo attack from Japan is allowed, Tarling sprints to three more points in sprint ten as he continues to eke out his lead.

With 56 laps to go, Roger Kluge (GER) attacks, followed by Peter Moore (USA), but an alert Tarling quickly closed them down to move into a break with Elia Viviani (ITA) and Yoeri Havik (NED). It was eventually broken down but Tarling yet again found himself in position to take max points in sprint 11.

Kluge, Moore and Leahy attacked with 45 laps to go and unable to get the peloton together to pull them back in, Moore makes the join to the bunch and moves into the lead. But not for long as with 20 laps to go, Tarling moved right back into lead with three points in a sprint.

With just nine laps to go, Tarling made one final shot off the front to secure his position, taking Petit and Jasper de Buyst (BEL) with him as the Moore worked desperately to bring them back. Taking second in the final sprint, Tarling won the title in sensational style – a fantastic start to his first elite track world championships.

On his first world championships experience, Tarling reflects: “It went to plan so far. I didn’t know how it would be or how it would feel [his first world championships], so not knowing was scary. [In the race] if felt pretty good. I think it was good that I got those early points in just so I knew the legs were there.

“It was unknown before and now I think I have a little bit more of an idea of where we’re at and Mark’s in a good place as well so it should be good.”

Men’s INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT

Photo: : Sw Pix/UCI Track Cycling (TwitterX)

Josh Charlton delivered the second world title in the evening, one-upping last year’s debut performance of silver. Hitting the track hard in qualifying, Charlton set a blistering pace to be completely uncatchable by Belgium’s Milan van der Haute, putting down a time of 4:02.844.

With his gold medal opponent Rasmus Pederson (DEN) qualifying 2.248 seconds slower than him, it was Charlton’s to lose. The Brit flew out of the start gate, creating a gap of two seconds within the first kilometre. Travelling at over 58km per hour, Charlton showed no signs of letting up and continued to eat into his rival’s race, eventually crossing the finish line over three seconds ahead to win his first world title in dominant style.

Charlie Tanfield finished sixth overall, covering the 4km distance in 4:07.285, while debutant Michael Gill came 11th with a time of 4:12.057.

Men’s 1km TT
It was back-to-back bronze for Joe Truman who qualified second fastest in 58.807, with 1.126 seconds to reach defending champion Harrie Lavreysen (NED). In the final, with the fastest time set by Lavreysen’s compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland of 58.163, and Lavreysen to go, Truman set off conservatively before hitting the pace at the halfway mark.

Pushing hard, he slowed slightly to create a gap of 0.7 seconds with one lap to go, eventually finishing in a time of 59.268 to finish third overall.

Photo: : Sw Pix/UCI Track Cycling (TwitterX)

Women’s omnium
The women’s omnium saw a slightly underwhelming start as Jess Roberts was unable to find the place to make her move in a generally uneventful scratch race, finishing 22nd overall.

However, the 26-year-old delivered a stormer of a tempo race, biding her time as Marion Borras (FRA) and Eva Anguela Yaguez (ESP) took an early lap. Roberts moved fast to follow a late move from Sharri Bossuyt (BEL), alongside Amalie Dideriksen (DEN) and Messane Brautigam (GER), eventually dropping them all as she committed to the lap take.

With fewer than 10 laps to go, Roberts was well off the front, moving her way up the rankings through sprint wins before rejoining the bunch with two laps to go, taking 20 laps points and the overall win.

A commendable 14th place in the elimination put Jess 11th in the overall standings, with 55 points heading into the points race. Roberts stayed patient and safe for the first few laps, as Weibes, Dideriksen and Borras added to their points via the sprints. Just before the third sprint, Roberts made her move into the five-woman break including Italy, Lithuanina, Spain and Switzerland, working with them to take a lap and an additional two sprint points, pushing her into the top 10.

After a few quiet laps and other results pushing her down into 11th, Yumi Kajihara (JPN) made a move which Roberts followed up pick up three sprint points, moving back up to 10th with two sprints remaining. As more moves were attempted in the final moments of the race, Roberts continued to follow and stay active but unable to contend with the podium riders, and with time running out Roberts finished a commendable 11th place overall.

In todays penultimate day of competition, the sprinters will be back in action as Matt Richardson and Hamish Turnbull take on the men’s sprint qualifiers, while Rhian Edmunds will be joined by Meg Barker to contest the women’s kilo.

Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jess Roberts fight it out for the women’s individual pursuit title, while Katie Archibald and Maddie Leech contest the women’s Madison and Matt Bostock takes on the men’s omnium. Pics: Sw Pix/UCI Track Cycling (TwitterX)