UCI Track World Championships: Wild wins rainbow stripes in Scratch Race

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Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) took the first rainbow jersey of the 2018 UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn on Wednesday, attacking the field with six laps remaining in the Scratch Race and holding off a hard chase from Katie Archibald (Great Britain) and eventual runner-up Jolien D'Hoore (Belgium). Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark) took the bronze.

"It's really, really nice to win before my own people, on my own track. It's amazing," Wild said in a TV interview before the podium ceremony. "It's the best riders in the world to compete, and actually I can't believe that I won with a solo. It's really cool."

Wild, who is known for her powerful sprint on the road, said the solo attack was not part of her original plan. 

"My plan was to stay really calm and wait for the sprint, but it didn't go according to my plan," she said. "But, yeah, this worked out really well."

Wild won gold in the discipline at the 2015 World Championships, but she said Wednesday's win was even more special.

"Yeah, this is amazing to win here in Apeldoorn," she said. "I have no words."

Germany and Netherlands take Team Sprint gold



In the team sprints, which opened the evening session with qualifying rounds for the men and women, the German women took gold ahead of Netherlands and Russia, while Netherlands claimed gold in the men's event over Great Britain and France.



The German women, Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel, qualified with the fastest time of 32.640 and then knocked Poland off with a time of 32.652 in the first round. Paired against Netherlands in the final, the German women won gold with a time of 32.605 to the Dutch time of 33.124. In the race for bronze, Russia rode to 32.990 to China's 33.282.

In the men's contest, the Netherlands team of Nils van Thoenderdaal, Harrie Lavreysen and Matthijs Buchli set the fastest qualifying mark at 42.869, then took out the Czech Republic in the first round with a time of 43.234.

In the final, the Dutch team rode a 42.727 to beat Great Britain's 43.231. In the race for bronze, France beat the Russian Federation with a time of 43.373.

Team Pursuit squads set the pecking order

In other opening-day racing, Great Britain set itself up for a gold medal test against Denmark, while Germany will race Italy for the bronze.



The British team of Ed Clancy, Kian Emadi, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield set the quickest qualifying time at 3:55.714, followed by Italy, Denmark and Germany. Britain then beat Germany 3:56.335 to 3:58.047 to make the final. Denmark squeaked past Italy 3:54.496 to 3:54.884 to set up Thursday's gold-medal match.

In the women's Team Pursuit qualifying round, the United States set the fastest time at 4:18.836, followed by Great Britain at 4:19.177, Italy at 4:21.543 and New Zealand at 4:23.530.

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