Queally wins bronze as Tournant rules
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Your support makes all the difference.Five weeks on from that golden day in Sydney, Olympic champion Jason Queally came home to the track where it all started for him, but was foiled by two men chasing redemption.
Five weeks on from that golden day in Sydney, Olympic champion Jason Queally came home to the track where it all started for him, but was foiled by two men chasing redemption.
He rode off with the bronze in the one kilometre time-trial championship here at the Velodrome last night as Arnaud Tournant completed a hat-trick of world titles.
Queally squeezed out a time of 1min 02.449sec over four laps of the 250metre wooden track, roared on by a near-capacity crowd waving Union Jack flags, and desperately trying to recapture the Sydney ambiance.
"Tournant was awesome, but my ride was a personal best for this track by six-tenths of a second," he said after finishing less than a second behind Tournant. "I did not feel any pressure. For me the Olympics was the high point. Since then I have been very busy and training has been a bit hit and miss." His time was almost a second slower than his Olympic record of 1:01.609.
"I did not expect Soeren Lausberg to be so fast, but the poor guy finished second for the third time in the championships.
"Now I have to look to the future when I can get on the top of the podium again, but for now I would not change anything for one-tenth of a second."
He has one last chance to win gold spot at these five-day championships when he, Craig MacLean, and Chris Hoy race the Olympic sprint team event on Saturday.
It was a great homecoming for Queally, who lives near Chorley, and on the track where five years ago he was spotted during a novices' racing session by coach Marshall Thomas.
For Tournant, his winning time of 1min 01.619sec, a track record, went a little way towards consolation after his disappointing fifth in the Olympic Games one kilometre time-trial.
Britain's quartet in the 4,000m team pursuit set the patriotic mood by racing into a semi-final today with France, who they beat for the bronze in Sydney.
Paul Manning, Chris Newton, Jon Clay, and Bradley Wiggins were some 0.9sec slower than Olympic and defending champions Germany, who were the fastest quarter-finalists in 4min 02.059sec.
Germany, lacking their key man Robert Bartko, caught Spain with six of 16 laps still to race. Britain also caught their opponents, the Czech Republic, with four and a half laps remaining, to clock 4:02.915, a second outside their best set in Sydney.
France, silver medallists in the world final last year in Berlin, caught Poland with seven laps left, and the other semi-finalists Russia left it until the last two laps to overhaul the Dutch team.
The British endurance coach, Simon Jones, is tipping his men to improve on their Sydney showing. "We have a team good enough to do it," he said, but admitted that their quarter-final did not go to plan.
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