Aussie duo takes Madison title

Australian Cameron Meyer claimed his third gold of the world track cycling championships when he teamed up with Leigh Howard to win the men’s Madison crown on Saturday.

Australia finished on a total of 15 points, with France second on six and Belgium winning the bronze with five. The rest of the field finished one lap down.

Their victory raised Australia to five gold medals from the five-day championships, a tally which consolidates their lead in the table.

Meyer, 22, won the men’s points race for the second successive year on Wednesday and helped Australia to victory in the team pursuit final over Britain on Friday.

After finishing second last year, Meyer and Howard were determined to go one better.

At the 2009 worlds in Poland Denmark took the gold thanks to Michael Morkov and Alex Rasmussen but this time the pair were forced into a late chase for points after being left among the teams who had been lapped once.

France and Belgium garnered few points in the early stages but crucially lapped the field, virtually sealing a place on the podium well before the race had finished.

Meyer and Howard, however, appeared to be banking on other tactics. They combined to pick up 15 points from the intermediate sprints early on, and then Meyer went on to win back the lap they had lost.

That put them top of the provisional leaderboard with two intermediate sprints to race, a position they kept until the finish.

FILED UNDER: News / Track TAGS: Madison / UCI Track World Championships