Aussie cyclists score a hat-trick

The Australian track cycling team swept all before them by taking all three gold medals on offer tonight at Vodafone Arena.

Kate Bates started the goldrush by winning the women’s points race in brutal fashion, collecting maximum points in five of the 10 sprints to finish with 30 points. Rochelle Gilmore finished on 21 points to claim silver and make it an Aussie double, while Scotland’s Kate Cullen took out bronze.

Both girls dedicated their efforts to Amy Gillett, who was killed when a car collided with an Australian road cycling training group in Germany last year. Alexis Rhodes, who was seriously injured in the crash and worked hard to get back for the Games, finished ninth.

The night got sweeter for the home crowd when Olympic champion Ryan Bayley claimed gold in the men’s keirin. But another Australian top-two finish was ruled out when Ben Kersten, who crossed the line in second, was relegated to last for interfering with Aussie veteran Shane Kelly on the final turn.

Bayley told SportsAustralia.com that in the closing stages of the race he didn’t know about the incident that saw one teammate stripped of a medal and the other out of contention.

“Once I got past everyone I put my head down… I had no idea. It was a case of making sure no one came around the outside of me – and no one did.”

That decision moved Canadian Travis Smith to silver and Scotland’s Ross Edgar into bronze.

Sean Finning capped off a golden night on the boards for the host country when he won the men’s points race. Finning – who still works part-time for his parents’ tyre company in Castlemaine when he’s not training in Adelaide – led for most of the journey and finished with 137 points, 18 points ahead of New Zealand’s Hayden Roulston, with Wales’ Geraint Thomas taking out bronze.

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