Hoy turns his attention to the sprint

By Agence France Presse
In track cycling, the men’s match sprint tournament is about as close as you can get to a fight to the death.

And Sir Chris Hoy, the reigning Olympic champion who missed the world championships last year due to injury, could face his biggest challenge yet as he bids to win back the title over two days of intense competition this weekend.

In 2009 Frenchman Gregory Bauge overcame diminutive but gutsy Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang to win his first world crown, with Kevin Sireau of France winning bronze ahead of Australian Shane Perkins.

However Bauge will have taken note of Hoy’s form in dominating the men’s keirin for his third world title in that event and the 10th rainbow jersey of his career.

After Thursday’s keirin, Hoy said he was more than ready for the challenge of regaining the sprint crown he last won in 2008,

“This win is great for my confidence,” said the Scot. “I certainly ride on morale and when my confidence is up I get the best out of myself. There’s no pressure on me now. I’ve retained the world title in an Olympic event.

“The sprint is going to be an extremely hard challenge but it’s one I’m looking forward to now, so bring it on.”

To some, Hoy’s tactic of leading from the front and imposing an almost unassailable pace has killed off some of the suspense from the keirin and sprint events.

But Bauge’s coach Florian Rousseau, a former Olympic champion in the kilometer who won sprint silver at Sydney in 2000, believes it’s up to his rivals to adapt to his racing style if they want to beat him.

“Each era has its own particularities in the sprint events, riders are using bigger gears and so some are riding faster,” he told AFP.

“Hoy simply races to his strengths. It’s really up to his opponents to try and adapt to his style and find ways to beat him.”

The shoulder injury Bauge suffered in January might now be a distant memory, but after lamenting France’s loss of their coveted team sprint crown to on-form Germany on Wednesday the Frenchman of Guadeloupean heritage now has no excuses.

“We have to get over this defeat, but I don’t think it will affect me for the individual competition,” said Bauge.

Pervis will also compete in the sprint, and while he is not his country’s biggest hope he believes France will be Hoy’s biggest worry.

“This year he’s not on his biggest form. In the sprint our team should be confident of their chances,” said Pervis.

Although France have a maximum of five riders hoping to oust Hoy, and Britain’s Olympic silver medalist Jason Kenny, from the competition Rousseau says there could be a few surprises.

“I think the tournament is going to be really tight,” he added.”The Brits will be up there as usual, so will the Australians, the Germans and there’s even a New Zealand rider (Ed Dawkins) who won a recent World Cup event.

“And then there’s (Azizulhasni) Awang, who caused Bauge all sorts of problems last year, so it’s going to be interesting.”

The women’s sprint tournament also concludes Saturday, with Britain’s Victoria Pendleton favorite to win a fifth career and fourth consecutive world title.

FILED UNDER: News / Track TAGS: Chris Hoy / UCI Track World Championships