TT riders sixth in Team Sprint

TT capped off its 2019 Tissot International Cycling Union (UCI) World Cup Series Men’s Team Sprint campaign by placing sixth along the Anna Meares Velodrome track in Brisbane, Australia, on Friday.

In the opening round, the national trio of Nicholas Paul, Keron Bramble and Njisane Phillip qualified with the fifth fastest time (43.973 seconds) of the eight advancing teams. Against the Polish force of Krzysztof Maksel, Mateusz Rudyk and Maciej Bielecki in the following round, TT clocked an improved time of 43.710s.

Their effort however, was not enough, as Poland produced a speedy 43.091s clocking to move on to the finals.

In the end, Japan pedalled to gold in a blistering 42.912s beating Poland by three seconds while New Zealand (43.406s) and Great Britain (44.177s) finished third and fourth respectively.

The national Team Sprint squad has now completed their 2019 World Cup Series following three consecutive weeks of extensive competition in China, New Zealand and Australia.

Altogether, the trio amassed a hefty total of 487.5 UCI points having placed eighth (Hong Kong), fourth (Cambridge) and sixth (Brisbane).

The final leg of the Series rides off at Milton Velodrome, Canada, from January 24-26.

TT has not yet confirmed its participation in the final stage and may use this time to recuperate from a hectic World Cup season. With the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships scheduled for February 26 to March 1 in Berlin, Germany, TT will use this meet as its final Olympic qualifier event. At 11.46 pm on Friday, national representative Kwesi Browne lined up in heat one of four of the Men’s Keirin. Browne vied for an advancing spot against the likes of Maksel, Yu Zhon (China), Shane Perkins (Russia), Tomoyuki Kawabata (Japan) and Azizulhansi Awang (Malaysia).

On Saturday, Nicholas Paul also climaxes his campaign when he lines up for Men’s Sprint qualifying from 8 pm. Paul has also amassed a healthy number of UCI points and is hoping to end his 2019 calendar on a high.