Cycling: Ulmer sets hot pace, Vertongen misses medal

8.30am

MANCHESTER - New Zealand cyclist Sarah Ulmer kept her head to emerge top qualifier in a searing individual pursuit qualifying session that saw the Games mark shattered three times in succession,

Ulmer claimed a new Commonwealth record, personal best and a crucial psychological advantage at the National Cycling Centre on Thursday.

She sat emotionless in the warm-up zone as Australians Alison Wright and Katherine Bates took turns rubbing out the four-year-old mark of compatriot Alayna Burns.

Then the defending champion, and gold medal favourite, overcame a sluggish start to grab pole position for tomorrow's semifinals with a scorching ride of three minutes 32.504 seconds.

Far from being intimidated by the slick riding of Wright and Bates, the 26-year-old used the Australians as the ultimate motivational tool.

"It set off a few alarm bells, I didn't expect the times to be that fast," she admitted.

"I knew I'd have to pull something special out to qualify fastest and that sort of stuff brings out the best in you. I don't think I'd have done a PB if I didn't have to."

A grandstand finish is guaranteed in the final with Wright, and Bates in particular breathing down Ulmer's neck.

Bates, who won the points race on Tuesday, was only a wheel length away clocking 3min 32.913sec, while road specialist Wright was the first to bin Burns 3min 40.389sec benchmark with a personal best of 3min 35.605sec.

Ulmer said she was also helped to the record by Sara Symington, with the Aucklander overtaking her outgunned opponent on the penultimate lap of the 3000m journey.

"It's like a greyhound racing chasing the rabbit. When you've got someone in your sights it's a huge advantage," Ulmer said.

She can expect similar assistance tomorrow when pitted against slowest qualifier Lyne Bessette of Canada in a semifinal ride where the emphasis is squarely on recording one of the two fastest times of the eight remaining competitors.

The two quickest riders go to the final while the next fastest pair battle for bronze.

Bessette, a bronze medallist in the road time trial last week, was 15 seconds slower than Ulmer in qualifying.

Team manager Brian Simmonds said Ulmer produced a great ride under pressure.

"She had pressure on her from the first two that had broken the record before and the pressure of being champion but psychologically she's got the first shot in.

"Sarah's form had been a little bit unknown, she hasn't been on the track a lot recently so this was a great sign," he said.

While Ulmer was not overly worried watching the record tumble, head coach Max Vertongen admitted some anxiety when the Australians cut loose.

"There's some scary things coming out of that camp. When you see Luke Roberts (men's individual pursuit) going six seconds faster than he's ever gone and you see this girl (Bates) going this quick you think 'Holy Moly, where did that come from'?"

Ulmer's previous personal best was 3min 33.412sec, recorded at altitude in Cali, Colombia, at a World Cup meet two years ago.

Such was her dominance on the track today she was the only rider to catch her opponent.

Symington suffered the same fate when the pair met in the final of the Sydney World Cup meet in March, Ulmer's last competitive outing in her specialist event.

Lee Vertongen narrowly missed a medal in the men's 20km scratch race when he lost out in a frantic four-man sprint at the climax of an intriguing tactical battle in the final race of the session tonight.

Vertongen managed to join a decisive break with eventual winner Graeme Brown, England's Tony Gibb and Huw Pritchard.

Wth five laps to go the quartet jockeyed for position until the brink of the bell lap when Australian Brown gunned for the line.

Vertongen was caught at the tail and could not make up ground in the final dash, with Pritchard and Gibb taking silver and bronze respectively .

Fellow Kiwis Greg Henderson was sixth and Hayden Godfrey ninth,

Brown's win was a tremendous achievement coming soon after his Australian team-mates set a world record (3min 59.583secs) while beating England in the team pursuit final.

Meanwhile, Anthony Peden has a chance to gain some consolation when the three-man team sprint competition starts tomorrow. He was disqualified from the individual event.

His teams mates are Justin Grace and Nathan Seddon.

Henderson, Matthew Randall and Hayden Roulston will line up in the points race.

Track Men's 20km Scratch Race Final: 1 Graeme Brown (Aus) 24:14.660
2 Huw Pritchard (Wal)
3 Tony Gibb (Eng)
4 LEE VERTONGEN (NZL)
5 Jean-Pierre Van Zyl (Rsa)
6 GREG HENDERSON (NZL)
7 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus)
8 Mark Renshaw (Aus)
9 HAYDEN GODFREY (NZL)
10 Alwyn Mcmath (Nir)
11 Mark Kelly (Iom)
12 Ross Muir (Sco)
13 Carlitos Jones (Bar)
14 Richard Chapman (Sco)
15 Emile Abraham (Tri)
16 James Mccallum (Sco)
17 Will Wright (Wal)
18 Paul Sheppard (Wal)
19 Tim Buckle (Eng)
20 Steve Cummings (Eng)
21 Dean Edwards (Rsa) Did Not Finish
22 Horace Mcfarlane (Jam) Did Not Finish
23 Christian Tavares-Finson (Jam) Did Not Finish
24 Ako Kellar (Tri) Did Not Finish
25 Elisah Greene (Tri) Did Not Finish

- NZPA

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