Netherlands ‘bullet train’ powers to cycling team sprint gold in world-record time
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Netherlands' Harrie Lavreysen celebrates his team's victory after winning the men's track cycling team sprint final for gold.
PHOTO: AFP
SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES – The flying Dutchmen broke the world record twice in the space of an hour to retain their Olympic title in the team sprint at the National Velodrome on Aug 6.
Hot favourites ahead of the Paris Games, the Netherlands trio of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland put on a sprinting masterclass to power to gold.
Britain were trying to stop the so-called “Bullet Train” in the final but did not stand a chance as they came in almost one second behind in a race often won by the width of a wheel.
Australia beat France to take the bronze – their first medal in the men’s team sprint since 2000.
“It’s crazy,” said Lavreysen, who is seeking to surpass his two gold medals from the Tokyo Games.
“Of course we were going for the gold medal tonight but breaking world records and going so quick was really special.”
The Dutch sent out a statement in the first round when they clocked 41.191 seconds to lower their own world record. That was just the warmup, though, in a sweltering velodrome as they turned the final into a procession against a British trio coached by track sprint great Jason Kenny.
Lavreysen, nicknamed “The Beast” because of his phenomenal power, led out the second lap of the 250m track and the experienced Hoogland did the rest with the team eventually breaking their own mark in 40.949sec.
The 27-year-old Lavreysen, a 13-gold world champion, will next try to retain his sprint title on Aug 9 and then will go in the keirin on Aug 11, the only discipline he did not win in Tokyo.
Asked whether he feels unbeatable, he said: “Let’s go for it (three golds). I feel good, I broke my PB (personal best) on my lap and really looking forward to the sprint.”
For Britain’s Jack Carlin, who was joined by Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull, it was yet another near miss and he must be sick of the sight of the orange-clad Dutch sprinters. He now has 14 Olympic, world or European medals – but none of them gold.
“Look at the world record. The Dutch are a great team, they are three great individuals,” he admitted. “We executed what we knew we could do. We went to that final and enjoyed it.”
It was another fast and furious day in the velodrome with more world records falling following Day 1 on Aug 5 when the British women’s team sprint squad lowered the mark en route to gold. REUTERS
