Men's Points Race
Courtesy of British Cycling and Larry Hickmott. Photos Gerry McManus (www.gerrymcmanus.co.uk).

Newton wins series in style

Great Britain's Chris Newton has got a bronze medal in the Points race at the Copenhagen World Track Cup, his third medal of this current World Track Cup series. Newton was one of no less than twelve riders who gained a lap during the race as well as scoring points in the first sprint (5), ninth (3) and the final sprint where he was the winner (5), giving him a total of 33 points.

Winner, Pim Ligthart of Holland, was the only rider to gain two laps to give him 49 points while Poland's Rafal Ratajczyk out scored Chris by four points to win the silver medal. The win means Chris wins the World Cup for this event, giving him automatic qualification for the Olympics should he be selected by the GB team.

"It was pretty good," Newton told Gerry McManus of his win in the World Cup. "A bronze medal and I took first and last sprints. We picked up some points when we were on the way to lapping the field but the judges gave the points to the bunch so I was a bit knocked down by that. I was just trying to keep in the top six to win the series and qualify for Beijing and the bronze was a bonus."

After the race Chris had this to say to Gerry Mcmanus: "Qualifiers are always the same, people are not looking for the win, they're just looking to score a few points to qualify so everyone is just blasting off the front and its difficult to control. Sometimes when you go for a few sprints, you miss the move and then you spend the race trying to save as much energy as you can. It's job done, through to the final and we'll take it from there."

"At the end there, I knew I had to be up there in the final. Shane (Sutton) was checking and giving me a few directions, I knew what I had to do. It was still touch and go and I prefer it to be a bit more comfortable than that. In the final, Schep is going really well but the race is wide open because there are a few hitters missing from this one I think it will be all over the place, a really hard final."

FINAL

1 Pim Ligthart (Ned) DSB Bank 49 pts
2 Rafal Ratajczyk (Poland) 37
3 Chris Newton (Great Britain) 33
4 Ivan Kovalev (Russian Federation) 32
5 Colby Pearce (United States Of America) 30
6 Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Denmark) 28
7 Juan Pablo Forero Carreno (Colombia) 28
8 Marco Arriagada (Chile) 25
9 Aliaksandr Lisouski (Belarus) 24
10 Makoto Iijima (Japan) 23
11 Oleksandr Martynenko (Rus) ISD-Sport Donetsk 23
12 Milton Wynants Vazquez (Uruguay) 22
13 Ioannis Tamouridis (Greece) 8
14 Roger Kluge (Ger) Team Focus 7
15 Vadim Shaekhov (Uzb) Uzbekistan Pro Cycling 5
16 Hayden Roulston (New Zealand) 5
17 Artur Ershov (Rus) Lokomotiv 4
18 Kam-Po Wong (Hong Kong, China) 4
19 Alexander Aeschbach (Switzerland) 2
20 Milan Kadlec (Cze) ASC Dukla Praha 2
21 Juan Esteban Curuchet (Argentina) 1
22 Temur Mukhamedov (Uzbekistan)
23 Nicolas Rousseau (France)
24 Peter Schep (Netherlands)

Qualifying

In the first heat of the Men's Points race, Chris Newton -- who is second overall in the UCI World Cup for this event -- finished 11th and qualified for the final. Unlike previous World Cup rounds this season, only two heats were needed and this allowed more riders from each heat to go through. In a fast race, seven riders gained a lap whilst Newton remained in the bunch and did enough in the sprints to book his place in the final. Series leader Cameron Meyer is not in the event in Copenhagen which leaves Newton a chance to win the overall should it go well in the final.

Heat 1

1. KREUTZFELDT Daniel DEN 24
2. AESCHBACH Alexander SUI 23
3. WYNANTS VAZQUEZ Milton URU 20
4. IIJIMA Makoto JPN 20
5. MARTYNENKO Oleksandr ISD 20
6. SHAEKHOV Vadim UPC 20
7. KADLEC Milan ADP 20
8. LIGTHART Pim DSB 11
9. KLUGE Roger FOC 8
10. LISOUSKI Aliaksandr BLR 7
11. NEWTON Chris GBR 5
12. MUKHAMEDOV Temur UZB 5