Matt Brammeier was the best Irish finisher on day two of the Beijing World Cup track meet on Saturday, performing solidly in the men’s scratch race.
Former FBD Rás competitor Zach Bell (Canada) beat Hayden Godfrey (New Zealand) and Werner Riebenbauer (Austria), with Brammeier finishing 13th in the event.
The Irish squad finished fifteenth in the men’s team pursuit, clocking a time of four minutes 18.427 seconds in the qualifiers. This was seven seconds off the national record set last year, en route to fifth in Copenhagen.
The Australian team was fastest in qualification and improved its time by over four seconds in the final, covering the distance in four minutes 1.226 seconds. The quartet of Durbridge, Hepburn, Howard and Meyer caught the Dutch riders Heimans, Van der Zwet, Veldt and Zijlstra, taking gold.
New Zealand beat the Ukraine in the bronze medal final.
Martyn Irvine competed in the men’s kilo, posting a time of one minute 5.82 seconds. This was 0.1 of a second off the national record set in Cali in December, and saw him finish 19th.
Victory went to Miao Zhang (People's Republic of China) in one minute 2.173 seconds, with Joachim Eilers (Germany, 1 min 2.677) and Kamil Kuczynski (Poland, 1 min 3.105) netting second and third.
The World Cup concluded on Sunday, although there were no Irish riders in those events.
Next up will be the track world championships in Copenhagen. It runs from March 24th to 28th, giving the Irish riders time to continue to build form.
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World Cup round IV, Beijing (World Cup), January 22-24:
January 23, Day 2:
Men's team pursuit qualifying:
1, Australia, 4 mins 5.635
2, Netherlands, 4 mins 8.992
3, New Zealand, 4 mins 10.025
4, Ukraine, 4 mins 10.731
5, Max Success Pro Cycling, 4 mins 10.737
6, China, 4 mins 10.810
Other:
15, Ireland, 4 mins 18.427
Men's team pursuit finals:
1, Australia (Durbridge, Hepburn, Howard, Meyer) 4 mins 1.226
2, Netherlands (Heimans, Van der Zwet, Veldt, Zijlstra) DNF
3, New Zealand (Archibold, Gate, Scully, Simpson) 4 mins 5.278
4, Ukraine (Polatayko, Polizchuk, Popkov, Shchedov) 4 mins 10
Men's kilo:
1, Miao Zhang (People's Republic of China) 1 min 2.173
2, Joachim Eilers (Germany) 1 min 2.677
3, Kamil Kuczynski (Poland) 1 min 3.105
4, Edward Dawkins (New Zealand) 1 min 3.190
5, Chongyang Wang (Msp) 1 min 3.211
6, Filip Ditzel (Czech Republic) 1 min 3.570
Other:
19, Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 1 min 5.820
Men's scratch race:
1, Zachary Bell (Canada)
2, Hayden Godfrey (New Zealand)
3, Werner Riebenbauer (Austria)
4, Cody O'Reilly (United States Of America)
5, James Carney (Sal)
6, Elia Viviani (Italy)
Other:
13, Matthew Brammeier (Ireland)