BERLIN – Day four of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships started at a blistering pace, with a new world record set early in the Women’s Individual Pursuit by Team USA’s Chloe Dygert (Brownsburg, Ind.; Sho-Air TWENTY20). She would go on to set the world record again during her gold medal ride, adding her tenth world rainbow jersey to her collection.
Team pursuit teammate Emma White (Duanseburg, N.Y.; Rally UHC Pro Cycling) would take sixth in individual pursuit. Gavin Hoover (Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling) would have his best performance yet at world championship, placing seventh in the Men’s Omnium. Madison partners Jennifer Valente (San Diego; Sho-Air TWENTY20) and Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif.; Rally UHC Pro Cycling) finished ninth after an incident during the event.
Dygert had not raced the individual pursuit since she won the world title in 2018. Seeded in the first heat, she would overtake her heat partner in the first half of her race, and then attempt to go a second time, but coach Garry Sutton, cautioned her to reserve her energy. While reserving her energy Dygert would go on to set a new world record in a time of 3 minutes and 17.283 seconds.
“This morning’s ride felt really good. Gary had me pull back a bit with 3 laps to go, in order to save energy for tonight. The schedule that what I was on would have given me a time of 3:19, but because the track conditions are so good, I just kept going. Going into tonight, I think I can break the record again.”
Dygert would go up against Germany’s Lisa Brennauer in the gold medal ride. With a solid start, Chloe would remain dominate in the match up through the entire heat, coming within 150-meters of catching her opponent. She would stop the clock for her second ride at 3:16.937
Riding an individual track event on the international stage for only the second time in her career, White would come out swinging, stopping the clock at 3:25.667. She would maintain the second position behind teammate Dygert through the first 5 heats of the event. White’s time would have qualified her for the gold medal ride at the 2019 Track World Championships. In the end she would place sixth overall.
“This event really gave me confidence that I’m where I need to be fitness wise heading into the summer.”, said White about her ride. “I have improved so much in the last two years on the track and sometimes that’s difficult to see so having this time in this event is very rewarding.”
Coming into the Men’s Omnium with a bronze under his belt from the last UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Hoover would make a strong showing at his first World Championship in the event. Hoover raced the scratch race like a man on a mission, never leaving the front 10 riders. He would ultimately end up in a 4-wide sprint for places 5- 8 and be edged out for 8th. In the next event, the tempo race, the 22-year old missed the chance to lap the field with four other riders, but rode to the front on 2 laps, awarding him sixth place. Hoover rode a smart race in the next event, the elimination race, playing cat-and-mouse with the tail end of the race, but never being. On the 14th pull, it he was called to exit the race, placing him tenth in the elimination. In the final race of the event, the points race, Hoover would start with 78 points, part of a tight bunch of riders all within 10 points. Hoover would defend his position through the event, and after gaining four points through 10 sprints, would finish in seventh place.
“I'm extremely happy with seventh today. I surprised myself consistently over the day, and walked away from the last race with a result I'm extremely proud of”, said Hoover about his racing today. “It's hard not to want more after the fact, but I'm very pleased with how I raced and where I ended up.”
The final event for Team USA on Saturday was the Women’s Madison. Valente and Jastrab would have a good start to the race, active at the front, trying to attack the dominate Dutch team. They would garner points in two sprints, at 80- and 50-laps to go, before a British rider would try and split their exchange and take down all three riders. Valente and Jastrab would recover, but would miss the next round of points. The team got back in the mix, keeping up with the smaller field and ended up placing ninth with 2 points.
On Sunday Madalyn Godby (Louisville, Colo.) will kick the day off for Team USA, racing the Women’s Keirin, the event she received the bronze in at the Milton World Cup. Valente takes on her final event with the Women’s Points Race. And Adrian Hegyvary (Asheville, N.C.; Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team and Daniel Holloway (Boulder, Colo.; Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team) team up for the Men’s Madison to close out the championships for USA Cycling.
How to Follow Along
Follow the excitement via @USACyclingLive on Twitter, and @USACycling on Instagram Stories and #Berlin2020 on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
For more about the 2020 UCI Track World Championships, please visit the event website at https://www.trackcycling-berlin.com/. The event schedule can be found here. Start lists and live timing can be found here.
All evening sessions will be livestreamed on NBC Sports as part of the Gold Package. Below is an approximate schedule of times and events in the broadcasts.
· Sunday March 1 6:00am ET – Women’s Points Race, Women’s Keirin, Men’s Madison.
Visit USACycling.org for more information on the athletes, events and membership programs, and follow @USACycling across all channels for the latest on Team USA
