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Published: Saturday March 28, 2009 MYT 9:25:00 AM
Updated: Saturday March 28, 2009 MYT 12:51:19 PM

Germany's Nimke wins gold in men's time-trial

PRUSZKOW, Poland: Stefan Nimke of Germany stunned the field to win the men's kilometer time-trial at the track cycling world championships on Friday.

Nimke, an Olympic bronze medalist in the team sprint, started slow but finished in a blistering 1 minute, 00.666 seconds, nearly half a second faster than the best time of absent world and Olympic champion Chris Hoy of Britain.

"It's a surprise for sure. The time is very, very good," Nimke said. "It's a very fast time and it was unbelievable. I saw on the screen the time and said, 'Whoa, fast time."'

Also, Denmark won the men's team pursuit and Yumari Gonzalez Valdivieso of Cuba captured the women's scratch race.

Nimke rode early and had a nervous 30-minute wait to see whether his time would hold up.

"I went 15th and had to wait for the next 12 or 13 riders, so it was a long time," he said.

"But it was good because I felt very sick and my legs hurt very much, so it was good to sit down."

Taylor Phinney of the United States, who the individual pursuit the day before, took the silver and Mohd Rizal Tisin of Malaysia claimed bronze.

Phinney was wowed by the German's ride.

"I was definitely not expecting that fast of a time," Phinney said.

"Nimke's ride was phenomenal, I was definitely really impressed. He beat Chris Hoy's time of a couple years ago, so that's saying a lot.

"I'm pretty happy (with my result), I mean that's my third kilo ever, so it's pretty good."

The Danish team of Casper Jorgensen, Jens-Erik Madsen, Michael Faerk Christensen and Alex Rasmussen captured the men's pursuit crown, crossing the line in 3:58.246 to beat Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer of Australia by more than half a second.

Rasmussen said the Danes' experience - three of the four riders raced on the silver medal squad in Beijing - paid off against a young Australian team.

"We know each other and coming from the Olympics we're not so nervous going back to the world championships," he said.

"It was just great coming together after the Olympics and going for the win."

Britain, which had only Ed Clancy from last year's world champion team, was left without a medal in the team pursuit.

The retooled British team lost to New Zealand in the bronze medal race.

In the women's scratch, Gonzalez Valdivieso, the runner-up last year, outpaced the 18 other riders.

A half dozen riders crashed with eight laps to go in the 40-lap race, including Britain's Elizabeth Armitstead, who popped back onto her bike and rode on to a silver medal.

"I'm a bit disappointed maybe with the way I handled it," Armitstead said.

"I would have liked to come around the Cuban earlier, and I think perhaps if I hadn't crashed I might not have hesitated but I'm still happy I got the medal and she's the world champion and deserves it."

Belinda Goss of Australia was third for a second straight year and defending champ Eleonora Van Dijk of the Netherlands was sixth.

In the women's sprint, defending champion Victoria Pendleton of Britain, 2008 runner-up Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania, Willy Kanis of the Netherlands and Olga Panarin of Belarus all advanced to Saturday's finals. - AP

Cycling World Championships Results

Results Friday from the world track cycling championships at BGZ Arena:

Men

1-kilometer time-trial=

1. Stefan Nimke, Germany, 1 minute, 00.666 seconds.

2. Taylor Phinney, United States, 1:01.611.

3. Mohd Rizal Tisin, Malaysia, 1:01.658.

4. Michael D'Almeida, France, 1:02.034.

5. Scott Sunderland, Australia, 1:02.144.

6. Teun Mulder, Netherlands, 1:02.209.

7. David Daniell, Britain, 1:02.316.

8. Kamil Kuczynski, Poland, 1:02.356.

9. Quentin Lafargue, France, 1:02.669.

10. Edward Dawkins, New Zealand, 1:02.685.

Team Pursuit=

1. Denmark (Michael Faerk Christensen, Casper Jorgensen, Jens-Erik Madsen, Alex Rasmussen).

2. Australia (Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Leigh Howard, Cameron Meyer).

3. New Zealand (Westley Gough, Peter Latham, Marc Ryan, Jesse Sergent).

4. Britain (Jonathan Bellis, Steven Burke, Edward Clancy, Peter Kennaugh).

5. Spain.

6. Germany.

7. Netherlands.

8. Ukraine.

9. Belgium.

10. Colombia.

Women

Scratch Race=

1. Yumari Gonzalez Valdivieso, Cuba.

2. Elizabeth Armitstead, Britain.

3. Belinda Goss, Australia.

4. Giorgia Bronzini, Italy.

5. Pascale Jeuland, France.

6. Eleonora Van Dijk, Netherlands.

7. Kelly Druyts, Belgium.

8. Andrea Wolfer, Switzerland.

9. Sun Feiyan, China.

10. Jarmila Machacova, Czech Republic. - AP


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