On the fifth day of competition of UEC Track Juniores and U23 European Championships, the omnium marked a large part of the program, this time in the under-23 category. Shari Bossuyt (Belgium) and Oscar Julien-Nilsson were the champions. The latter confirmed a very positive day for Great Britain.
Both titles were disputed until the end, with a lot of uncertainty in the final result. The points races were spectacular. Bossuyt beat the dutch Daniek Hengeveld, with just eight points separating them (129 against 121). In third place was the french Jade Labastugue (115).
The men race was even for tight. There were several leadership changes in the race that closed the day of the championships. The british rider Oscar Nilsson-Julien, the Tim Torn Teutenberg and the dutch Philip Heijnen fought for gold, with few points separating them after scratch, tempo race and elimination. In the points race, the three switched positions on the podium a few times and it was in the final sprint that Nilsson-Julien won the European title (165 points). Teutenberg (163) took the silver medal and Heijnen (156) the bronze.
In the 500 meters time trial, Taky Marie Divine Kouame didn’t give a chance with a spectacular time that guaranteed her the European title. Kouame completed the distance in 33,860. Czech Veronika Jaborníková came closest, with 34,690, with German Alessa-Catriona Pröpster closing the podium with 34,750.
In the junior women’s points race, Isabel Sharp gave the title to Great Britain, with a display that gave the competition little chance. She finished with 58 points, against 35 for french Aurore Pernollet and 25 for belgian Hélène Hesters, who in the last sprint “grabbed” the bronze medal, relegating the german Magdalena Fuchs to fourth.
In the men’s event, a well-known surname in cycling took first place. Ben Wiggins was the champion, in a race disputed until the last sprint with the dutch Justus Willemsen. The six points Wiggins added at the end allowed him to finish with 56, against the rival’s 50. Third place went to the frenchman Titouan Fontaine.
In the sprint (under-23), the dutch Tijmen van Loon took the gold, leaving Germany to settle for silver and bronze, for Anton Höhne and Willy Leonhard Weinrich, respectively.
In the junior women’s keirin, the germans also came in second and third, with Clara Schneider and Lara-Sophie Jäger being beaten by the czech Anna Jaborníková.
On the men’s side, Italian Mattia Predomo proved that he is one of the strongest in speed competitions, winning another European title, now in the keirin. He beat polish Marcin Marciniak and compatriot Stefano Minuta.
The classification of the under-23 points race, sunday, was yet to be defined. The commissioners reanalyzed part of the competition and the European title was confirmed this monday for the austrian Maximilian Schmidbauer (64 points), with the portuguese Diogo Narciso with just one point less than the champion. Frenchman Gregory Pouvreault was third (53).
