Track Roundup: Elorriaga storms to omnium lead in Glasgow

Unai Elorriaga Zubiaur took the lead in the omnium on the first day of the UCI Track World Cup in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. The 32-year-old from Barakaldo, Vizcaya rode superb points and elimination races, taking 2nd and 1st place respectively, to secure a 4 point lead on 2nd place Lucas Liß of Germany.

The morning session started the action with the flying lap and the points race. The flying lap, an individual 3.5 lap race where only the last lap being timed, started off the proceedings with Elorriaga placing 7th, a bit over 3 tenths of a second off of Liß. The 2nd race of the morning session, the points race, proved to be fruitful for Elorriaga with the Basque rider scoring a massive 103 points to come 2nd behind Volodymyr Kogut of Ukraine.

The evening session only had one event for the men's omnium in the elimination race. With the object of the race being not to be caught at the back on the sprint laps, the pace fluctuated from relaxed to frantic throughout the event. Elorriaga used great tactics and easily made the final selection where he was able to overhaul a tired omnium world champion Glenn O'Shea in the final sprint for the win. Saturday will contain three more events in the individual pursuit, the scratch race and kilometer time trial.

In other news from Glasgow Basque riders Illart Zuazubiskar (Orbea) and Asier Maetzu composed half of the Spanish team pursuit squad that rode to 4th place, being beaten in the bronze medal final by Belgium.

Photo: Tiffany Hore