Cycling: Ulmer hopes for forgiveness

12.00pm

MANCHESTER - Champion New Zealand cyclist Sarah Ulmer hoped New Zealand would take it easy on her after she failed to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games points race here tonight.

She feared she had failed to meet expectations at home.

Although the event is not her specialty -- and she did not specifically train for it -- Ulmer won a silver medal at Kuala Lumpur four years ago and felt New Zealand demanded she at least match that feat inside a sweltering National Cycling Centre.

Ulmer, who needed a half-hour warm down session to recover, finished fifth, four points adrift of bronze medallist Clara Hughes.

"I know there's heaps of pressure on me here so I'm disappointed. I know people expect me to medal in this event.

"I know if I have an absolute blinder and some luck I might, but I don't prioritise it," she said.

"I've ridden a couple of good ones in my time but people expect more from me than I do myself."

Ulmer joked there was even more pressure on her now since she "cocked-up" the points race.

She starts the defence of her individual pursuit crown on Thursday and three of the four riders who finished above her tonight feature in the event as well.

However, she said the races could not be compared and she was confident ahead of qualifying.

"It's a totally different energy system and the pursuit is only 3-1/2 minutes not 40 like it was tonight."

Ulmer missed a decisive break by four riders, including gold medallist Katherine Bates (37 points) of Australia, early in the 25km race and could not bridge the gap despite scoring points on seven of the 10 sprints.

Another Australian, Rochelle Gilmore, took silver with 23 and Hughes, the road time trial gold medallist, collected her second medal of the Games with 20 points.

"I knew the Aussies were going to be on the offensive and they just rode brilliantly," Ulmer said.

"They put it together fantastically."

The breakaway group were rewarded with an extra 10 points when they caught the field and Gilmore, although not among the tearaways, won three of the sprints to propel herself onto the dais.

Ulmer, although exhausted by the heat, had no excuses: "The fact I didn't win a sprint showed I didn't have the pace the winner's did."

- NZPA

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