SANTIAGO :The Netherlands dominated the opening day of the UCI World Track Cycling Championships claiming all three gold medals on offer inside the Velodromo Penalolen on Wednesday.
The Dutch men once again proved unstoppable in the men’s team sprint with their Olympic champion trio of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland beating Britain in a hard-fought final.
It was the seventh time in the last eight world championships that the Dutch topped the podium in the event with Lavreysen adding a 13th world title to his career haul.
If Dutch gold was expected in the men’s event, the women’s gold was more of a surprise as the trio of Kim Kalee, Hetty van de Wouw and Steffie van der Peet beat a Britain team led by two-time world sprint champion Emma Finucane.
The first title of the championships went to Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes who produced a scintillating last lap burst to edge out Denmark’s Amalie Dideriksen in the women’s scratch race over 40 laps of the banked track.
Wiebes was the favourite having won the event last year but was made to scrap before edging Dideriksen on the line.
Action continues on Thursday with Olympic champions Australia up against Denmark in the men’s team pursuit final.
(Writing by Martyn Herman in London; Editing by Chris Reese)
