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Team Canada back in action on day one of Cali track cycling World Cup

Seventh for women's team sprint duo, eighth for Roorda in the omnium

February 17, 2017
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On Friday the UCI track cycling World Cup returned after a two-month break with the first day of competition in Cali, Colombia. The women’s team sprint duo qualified for the first round where it placed seventh and Stephanie Roorda came eighth in the omnium.

For the first time this season, the women trackies were riding the boards, and Kate O’Brien and Amelia Walsh were in Cali 2017’s first event, the team sprint qualifying. O’Brien and Walsh went head to head with Mexico over two laps, setting the sixth fastest time to set up a first round competition with Chinese outfit Holy Brother Cycling Team.

Holy Brother was 0.637 of a second faster than Canada in the first round.

Hugo Barrette returned to the same velodrome where he suffered a horrific crash while on a training run last season. His team sprint trio went up against Colombia in a three lap qualifying affair, but Barrette, 2016 junior world kilo champion and world record holder Stefan Ritter and Patrice Saint-Louis-Pivin placed just outside the top eight with 44.704 and didn’t move on.


Stephanie Roorda had the entire omnium to roll Friday, and placed 14th in the first event, the scratch race. Next came the tempo race, an event similar to the points race except that points are awarded to the first two riders of each tenth lap sprint. It was hotly contested with only 5-points separating the winner Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) from Roorda in 8th spot. Roorda moved up to 10th overall.

After a break the nineteen women took the boards once more for the elimination race. Roorda was the eighth rider eliminated and thus placed 12th. In the final event, the points race, Roorda came roaring out of the gate, winning the first two of eight sprints. Her second place on Sprint 6 gave her seventh place in the event and eighth all around.

On Saturday, Roorda, Laura Brown, Canadian criterium champion Kinley Gibson and Ariane Bonhomme will face the team pursuit qualifying round, Hugo Barrette is in the omnium, and O’Brien contests the individual sprint.