Cycling: Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart take bronze in last gasp sprint at Cycling World Championships

Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart after receive their bronze medals at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow. Photo / Supplied

A last-gasp final-lap sprint earned a bronze medal for the men’s two-rider madison combination of Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart on the penultimate day of track action at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow.

Fittingly it was Gate, the individual star of last year’s Commonwealth Games and the sport’s talisman, who played a vital role finishing off with a stunning sprint by Stewart, the 2019 omnium world champion.

The two-rider event, where one rider is always in play with the change made with a hand-to-hand sling, was close throughout, with points every 10 laps and 20 lap bonuses to lap the field.

Such was the incredible speed of the race, with an average of 59km/h for the 200 lap, 50km race, that no team was able to gain a lap, meaning the result came down to the 20th and double point final sprint with six teams in the hunt for a medal.

Gate put in a brilliant push to get New Zealand to the front with four laps remaining and hold off the challenges before handing over to Stewart who showed his remarkable sprinting ability for New Zealand to win the double points final sprint.

Netherlands managed third to win on 37 points, with Great Britain able to sneak into second on 35 and New Zealand leap-frogging early leaders Belgium and Denmark to finish third on 34.

“It is fantastic. We have come along way even in the last couple of years,” said Gate. “I was a lucky one to be in Europe when Covid hit after the Olympics and was one of only four riders at the worlds. Now here we have a full team winning medals across all disciplines.

“It’s been awesome and great to see the team just feed off each other and nice to go out there tonight with Campbell with good legs and get stuck in and also know there’s improvements to make and headroom to improve which is exciting.

“I think Cycling New Zealand is in great space and I am looking forward to the Olympics in Paris now.”

“We are in a great place for this event. It is exciting going forward. Now it is time for me to rest up and see if we can get the legs going again for a 160 lap points race tomorrow.”

Women’s keirin gold medallist, Ellesse Andrews returned for the women’s sprint match-racing and showed her clear development with an impressive performance in the competition which is spread over an unprecedented three days.

The kiwi star will return for the final day of competition tomorrow to contest the best of three-race semifinal, and the opportunity to earn just the second world championship sprint medal for a female rider, with the first by Madonna Harris in 1990.

Andrews accounted for Germany’s Sophie Pauline Grabosch, an eight-time world champion over sprint disciplines, in the second round action with a strong move to dominate.

She drew the second fastest qualifier, Sophie Capewell (GBR) in the best of three-race quarterfinal, with the Brit taking advantage of a gap to win the first race. Andrews fought back, coming over the top in the closest of battles to claim the second heat by just 0.014s.

However Andrews was all class in the decider, making her move two laps out, rounding her opponent at the end of the straight and winning comfortably.

She will return tomorrow to take on Sophie Pauline Grabosch (GER), an eight-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic sprint silver medallist, in the best of three race semifinal.

Meanwhile Sam Dakin took part in an exciting keirin competition, drawing the back in his heat, and while he attempted to push up, the speed was such that he could not feature, forcing him to the repechage.

The kiwi champion drew the No 1 marble in the repechage, and while overtaken by world champion Harrie Lavreyson (NED), Dakin was able to latch on to his wheel to secure second place to move through to the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Earlier team pursuit team rider, Nick Kergozou showed his range of skillset to compete in the 1000m time trial, finishing 17th in his heat in 1:00.821 to miss out on the finals.

Manawatu professional, Michaela Drummond finished 11th in the women’s 100-lap Points race. She gained points in the second sprint before the race split apart, and dominated by outstanding Lotte Kopecky who was one of four riders to put a lap on the field to secure the bonus points.

The Belgian, who is also a star on the professional road scene, won on 39 points from Australian Georgia Baker on 31 and Japan’s Tauyaka Uchino third on 14.

Tomorrow’s final day of track action features Andrews in sprint, Dakin in keirin, Gate in the Points race and Ally Wollaston in the women’s four-discipline omnium.

Other action tomorrow, Bailey Frederickson competes in the men’s E-MTB cross-country race, and Logan Currie from the Bolton Equities Black Spoke pro team, competes in the under-23 men’s time trial.