![]() “It’s a dream come true to be here, but we kind of got thrown into this.” “We’re not going to get better until we race more,” Friedman said. The first-year pros have already had trial by fire in these world championships, racing on the track more or less for the first time at elite international competition, so they said why not. “We were getting ready to go home and the UCI asked us if we wanted to get in.” “I laughed and cried at the same time,” Huff said. Mike Friedman and Brad Huff thought their world track championships were over when the UCI came calling Saturday afternoon, offering the Americans and the Canadian team start positions in the 50km Madison if they wanted. In the second heat, Reed safely punched through with second behind China’s Shuang Guo Reed used her good positioning as key, riding on the fourth wheel during the derny laps and then pulling to the front for the final sprint. ![]() In the first round of qualifying, Reed finished first after China’s Di Mu was relegated, but she had already pushed through to the second round after finishing second. Shuang Guo claimed the bronze medal for China while compatriot Di Mu was disqualified for dangerous riding and Reed was left to settle for fourth. Two-time defending keirin world champion Clara Sanchez of France just missed her third title in a photo finish to take silver. Reed, winner of a bronze medal in the keirin two years ago, had the lead position coming off the derny, but was squeezed out by swarming riders. Jennie Reed’s hopes for a gold medal melted in the final lap when she was crowded out in the homestretch by Germany’s Christin Muche, who held off the field to win the gold in the hotly contested women’s keirin. In their semi-final face-off, crowd favorite Bourgain held off MacLean who went high on the boards in a photo-finish in their first matchup, but MacLean won handily in the second round and took another photo-finish despite an elbow check from Bourgain in the final sprint to reach the finals. In the second heat, Nimke tried his luck with an early launch, ramping up his sprint with 1.5 laps to go, but Bos once again waited patiently and roared past his shoulder coming off the final corner to reach the finals. In the semi-finals, Bos got by Nimke with a nifty late charge in the first heat. In the medal round, Stefan Nimke (Germany) held off Mickael Bourgain (France) to win the bronze medal, leaving host nation France out of the medals in the prestigious sprint discipline after Arnaud Tournant and Gregory Bauge failed to make it out of Saturday’s qualifying. The final was the hardest race of the week because I thought that MacLean could beat me there.” “This world title comes at a high level because all the riders coming off the Commonwealth are in really good shape, so this means a lot for me,” said Bos, who’s been nicknamed by the Dutch press as the “Boss of Bordeaux.” “I don’t feel like the boss of Bordeaux. The big Dutchman sprang away from the Scot after a cat-and-mouse game in two heats to win the men’s sprint title in Sunday’s final day of action at the world track cycling championships in Bordeaux, France. MacLean’s brawn was no match for Bos’s pounce. Theo Bos made it look easy in a daring showdown against Craig MacLean to win his second match sprint world title in three years.
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