Youthful exuberance leads the way for Australia at Track Worlds

The 2021 UCI Track World Championships in Roubaix, France were wrapped up on Sunday night with the young duo of Luke Plapp (VIC) and Kelland O'Brien (VIC) racing in a world-class men's Madison field.

Plapp and O'Brien played an active role in the 50km, 200-lap with 20 sprints epic at Stab Velodrome en route to eventually finishing in 8th.The men's Madison title went the way of Danish duo Michael Mørkøv and Lasse Norman Hansen, adding to their Olympic title won in Tokyo.

Australia was also represented in the women's Madison courtesy of Georgia Baker (TAS) and Alexandra Manly (SA).

Baker and Manly qualified top of their heat to make the final where they would finish a strong 6th.

That same evening O'Brien raced in an electric men's omnium, which was dominated by Great Britain's Ethan Hayter from the opening scratch race.

O'Brien notched finishes of 18th (scratch race), 5th (tempo race) and 15th (elimination race) before the all important points race.

The Victorian would end the points race and the overall omnium standings in 13th position on 50 points.

The track cycling action will continue for O'Brien and Annette Edmondson next weekend, with the two Australian Cycling Team members announced in the first batch of pre-qualified endurance riders in a five-round pro series dubbed the UCI Track Champions League starting November 6 in Mallorca, Spain.

Pictures: Robert Jones