Kennett wins fourth medal at world champs

Kennett wins fourth medal at world champs
27 August 2012

Riding for New Zealand SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Dylan Kennett combined with Hayden McCormick to overcome a puncture and a heavy crash in the Madison to claim his fourth medal at the UCI Junior Track World Championships in Invercargill on Sunday night.

Often regarded as the most spectacular cycling event on the programme, the Madison is a 30 kilometre two-man points race with one rider in play at any time, with riders taking turns to slingshot each other hand-by-hand.

It was made hard for the Kiwi pair at the 40-lap mark, when Kennett suffered a flat tyre, and not long after returning to the track he collided with an Australian and came crashing down hard.

“It wasn’t the perfect ride and it definitely wasn’t how we wanted it to go but you can’t control what happens on the day and we walked off the track with nothing left so that’s all we can do,” McCormick said.

After the crash Kennett and McCormick worked with four other Hayteams to put in a huge effort to gain a lap on the field that secured their podium placing.

“After the crash I was running on adrenaline, but then conked out with about 30 laps to go and the pain started coming back, so I was lucky to have such a great partner to tow us around for the bronze,” Kennett said.

“It’s gutting for our last race to have such a bad run of events, especially as we probably went into it as favourites, but what more can you do.”

Visibly hurt, Kennett had to be helped up onto the podium by one of the Colombian gold medallists in a heart-warming display of sportsmanship.
Kennett had earlier won silver medals in the team’s pursuit, Kilo and individual pursuit to clearly establish himself as one of the leading junior riders in world cycling.

Ends
Notes
• Full details and results; www.juniorworlds2012.com

• SUBWAY® Pro Cycling Team was New Zealand’s first professional cycling team, established seven years ago.
• It has been registered as a UCI Continental team since early 2009 with a successful track record of racing in New Zealand, Asia and the United States

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