Anna Meares is Australia’s sole remaining medal hope after streaking into the semi-finals at the Laoshan Velodrome tonight. Meares, 24, had a strong day yesterday and followed that up this evening by beating France’s Clara Sanchez in the first two heats of the best-of-three quarter-finals.

In the event affectionately known as the cat and mouse, Meares won the first heat comfortably before Sanchez fought tooth and nail in the second, only to lose by a whisker.

Meares will face home favourite Shuang Guo in the semi-final tomorrow…

In the other semi-final, Great Britain’s world champion Victoria Pendleton will face the Netherland’s Willy Kanis.

That means the mouth-watering propsect of an Australia-Great Britain final could be on, at a time where the two countries are fighting for third place in the medal table.

Meares was only millimetres from permanent disablement after fracturing her C2 veterbrae in a shocking fall in Los Angeles in January.

Last night, she broke Victorian Michelle Ferris’s flying 200m qualifying record with a personal best of 11.140secs.

The Athens gold medallist then franked her performance in the first round by demolishing Yvonne Hijgenaar, taking the lap at the bell and streaking clear to secure her place in the quarters.

Earlier tonight in the women’s points race, former world champion Kate Bates finished sixth on day four of the Olympic track cycling program.

Marianne Vos of the Netherlands tool gold, while Cuban Yoanka Gonzalez took the silver.

Span’s Leire Olaberria finished third.

The Great British team pursuit team have smashed their own world record to record the time of 3:53 for the 4km team pursuit, beating the Danish team home for the Olympic Gold medal…

Final Results:

1. Great Britain – 3.53
2. Denmark – 3. 58
3. New Zealand - 3:57
4. Australia - 3:59

Full report coming soon…

The Australian team pursuit quartert, consisting of 19 year old Jack Bobridge, Tasmanian Mark Jamieson and former Olympic champions Luke Roberts and Graeme Brown, have finished in fourth behind New Zealand in the bronze medal ride off tonight…

In the battle of the Tasman, New Zealand recorded its first ever men’s team pursuit medal at the expense of the outgoing Olympic champions.

The team, which is the defending champions, were level pegging the New Zealand formation until the 3.5km mark, before New Zealand stormed off to win in a time of 3:57. 

This is the first time New Zealand have beaten Australia in the team pursuit.

The long-running political battle between the UCI and the Grand Tour organisers appears to be moving closer to an end following the announcement on Monday of a new “UCI World Calendar” system.

According to the UCI, this will combine the existing ProTour races plus the monument events organised by the Grand Tour organisers. It will come into effect from next season and will feature both individual and team classifications.

Under the proposed terms, participation in the 2009 and 2010 Tours de France will be governed by the agreement signed by the teams and ASO on 18 June. From 2011 onwards, the classifications of the UCI World Calendar would confer the right to participate, with either seventeen teams of 9 riders or eighteen teams of eight taking part.

The announcement of the new system was made on Monday morning in Beijing and followed several weeks of discussions between the UCI…

and EPA (Editions Philippe Amaury, the owner of ASO and Société du Tour de France).

“I am confident of the fact that this plan will give rise to a fruitful and constructive collaboration that is in the best interests of professional road cycling,” said UCI President Pat McQuaid. “In this regard, and with the respect of the UCI’s democratic structures, I know that I can rely on the indispensable contribution of all our stakeholders to relaunch and maintain a dialogue on the future of professional cycling.”

The Irishman thanked the IOC President Jacques Rogge for the attention that he paid to the situation in the world of cycling. IOC member Jean-Claude Killy was also highlighted for his role as a mediator. McQuaid said that the agreement should satisfy all of the players in professional cycling and expressed his desire that the political conflict of recent years would finally come to an end.

Under the terms of the announcement, the UCI states that it recognises ASO’s exclusive rights of ownership and operation as well as those of all other organisers. At the same time, it claims that, “in more general terms, these modifications are in line with the reform of road cycling launched by the UCI in 2005, in that they favour the development of the sport of cycling to the benefit of all National Federations around the world.”

ASO and the other Grand Tour organisers are yet to respond, so it remains to be seen if they will fully accept the terms of the proposal. If so, it would mean that political stability would finally return to the sport. “The unanimous backing of this plan will also allow the parties involved to put an end to the various proceedings under way,” states a UCI press release issued after the announcement was made. “This will allow the complete reintegration of the French Cycling Federation within the auspices of the UCI.”

It is as yet uncertain if teams will be required to retain their ProTour licences to take part in all the races. This and other details will become clearer in time; more on today’s announcement will follow later.

Report Courtesy: cyclingnews.com

MARK Jamieson’s quick thinking and the doggedness of his 4000m pursuit teammates saved cycling defending champion Australias from Olympic Games elimination.

Jamieson’s front tyre punctured at the halfway mark, leaving Jack Bobridge, Bradley McGee and Luke Roberts to complete eight qualifying laps without one of the nation’s strongest riders.
Jamieson’s exit meant his teammates had to shoulder his share of the workload in an extreme endurance event – while making sure their time was good enough to make the top eight.
The Cyclones trio responded instinctively and courageously to clock a creditable 4min 02.041sec to finish third in qualifying, with competition rules demanding that three riders finish the course.

World champions Great Britain topped the session with a superb 3min 57.101sec, ahead of New Zealand (3min 59.277sec).
Los Angeles cycling gold medallist Mike Turtur praised the team, describing the effort as brilliant, and predicted a much faster time in the first round for Australia.
Australia could have lost up to five seconds from the mishap, given Jamieson’s form.
If Jamieson had attempted to remain on track, he inevitably would have slowed his team – and probably fractured their formation.
National coach Martin Barras said the well-drilled foursome reacted calmly to the puncture crisis.
“We were actually very pleased because they are extremely difficult circumstances for the guys,” Barras said. “You’ve got to make an instant decision in terms of how you’re manage that.
“(Jamieson) did that very well but we won’t know truly until they get back on the track for the next round.”
Australia are due to face the Netherlands in the first round, with the four winners advancing to the medal rounds.
The two quickest teams progress to the gold medal contest. The next two race for bronze.
The Netherlands clocked 4min 04.806.
“It could have been worse,” Barras said.
“If we ended up fourth or fifth, we could have had a very, very difficult match-up.
“This is a better match-up. It allows us to go out there and do what we plan to do without worrying about the other team too much.”
Dual Athens gold medallist Graeme Brown was left out of qualifying as endurance guru Ian McKenzie continued to analyse power output and sectionals.
Great Britain’s world record of 3min 56.322sec and Australia’s 2004 Olympic mark of 3min 56.610sec are both expected to fall in the next 24 hours.

1 Great Britain 3.57.101 (60.733 km/h)
Ed Clancy
Paul Manning
Geraint Thomas
Bradley Wiggins
2 New Zealand 3.59.277
Sam Bewley
Westley Gough
Marc Ryan
Jesse Sergent
3 Australia 4.02.041
Jack Bobridge
Mark Jamieson
Bradley Mcgee
Luke Roberts
4 Denmark 4.02.191
Michael Faerk Christensen;
Casper Joergensen
Jens-Erik Madsen
Alex Nicki Rasmussen
5 France 4.03.679
Damien Gaudin
Matthieu Ladagnous
Christophe Riblon
Nicolas Rousseau
6 Netherlands 4.04.806
Levi Heimans
Jens Mouris
Robert Slippens
Wim Stroetinga
7 Spain 4.06.509
Sergi Escobar
Asier Maeztu
David Muntaner
Antonio Miguel Parra
8 Russia 4.06.518
Alexei Markov
Alexander Petrovskiy
Alexander Serov
Nikolay Trusov
9 Ukraine 4.07.883
Volodymyr Dyudya
Lyubomyr Polatayko
Maksym Polishchyuk
Vitaliy Shchedov
10 Colombia 4.11.397
Juan Esteban Arango
Arles Castro
Juan Pablo Forero
Jairo Perez

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Great Britain’s Nicole Cooke has finally achieved her dream of winning the Olympic road race championship after a dominant performance in appalling conditions today. Cooke, who has won countless national and world championships, held on for the win after hitting out early in the final sprint of 5 riders.

Emma Johansson of Sweden looked as if she was going to take the win from Cooke in the dying stages of the race, but ran out of energy just before the line. Italy’s Tatiana Guderzo held on for a gutsy third place, after attacking constantly throughout the race.

Australia’s defending Olympic champion Sara Carrigan led the Australian contingent home in the second group on the road.

Results:
1 Nicole Cooke (Great Britain)
2 Emma Johansson (Sweden)
3 Tatiana Guderzo (Italy)
4 Christiane Soeder (Austria)
5 Linda Melanie Villumsen Serup (Denmark)

Real Aussie Kids rider Lachlan Morton has won the American U17 National Road Championship ahead of Daniel Tisdell and Anders Newbury. Lachlan, who is currently training in Colorado with his brother Angus, attacked the 80 strong field with half a lap to go and held off to win against his US counterpart.

The Port Macquarie local has had a stellar season, which included winning his first professional road race two months ago.

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