Great Britain crashed out of the men’s team pursuit on the opening day of the UCI World Cycling Championships in Glasgow, after the 26-year-old rider Charlie Tanfield fell in the qualifiers in the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome.
The defending world champions looked set to breeze into the medal rounds before Tanfield’s crash reduced the starting quartet to only two riders, forcing their elimination from the competition. Although he walked away from the scene, Tanfield was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a concussion.
“Following his crash in this morning’s men’s team pursuit qualification, Charlie Tanfield was assessed immediately by the on-site medical team before being taken to hospital for further treatment,” British Cycling said. “Unfortunately, the men’s team pursuit riders will not progress in the competition.”
Team pursuit times are based on the third rider to finish, so Tanfield’s crash on the final lap automatically ended their challenge. Denmark set the fastest qualifying time and the final is scheduled for Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, it is understood that Biniam Girmay, Africa’s leading professional cyclist, has finally had a UK visa application granted, less than 24 hours after the Guardian highlighted that he and other Eritrean athletes were still awaiting a decision from the Home Office.
Girmay, a stage winner in the Giro d’Italia and also a winner of the Gent-Wevelgem in Belgium, finished the Tour de France on 23 July, but crashed when racing in the San Sebastián Classic the following Saturday. Although he first applied on 1 June, his UK visa was only confirmed on Thursday morning. Due to his injuries and the delay in receiving his visa, he will not be racing in Glasgow.
In the track para-cycling events, Britain’s Jody Cundy became the second British para-cyclist to set a new world record in Glasgow in the men’s C4 omnium flying 200m. “I’ve been struggling to find a bit of speed lately but also I don’t get to do this event that often,” the 44-year-old said. “It was quite frustrating watching last year’s omnium and thinking I quite fancy a 200.”
Despite that his main goal remains the “kilo” in which he is targeting a 14th consecutive world title, as part of his buildup to the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
A strike by members of the Unite union also affected services at the velodrome, after Glasgow Life workers said they had “no option but to take strike action”.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Life, the charity which runs leisure facilities on behalf of the city council, said: “We are looking at how this may impact our delivery of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships and where we can put contingency plans in place to mitigate against such action.”
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Away from the championships, it was reported that Richard Freeman, the former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor, has told Ukad (UK Anti Doping) that he will not be representing himself at a National Anti-Doping Panel to defend allegations of two breaches of anti-doping rules. As a result, Freeman could be subject to a four-year doping ban.
Freeman was struck off the medical register after a four-year inquiry into the delivery of testosterone patches to Team Sky and British Cycling headquarters in Manchester in 2011. He admitted that he lied to Ukad, his solicitor and his legal team, as well as to ordering 30 sachets of Testogel to the British Cycling team headquarters at the Manchester Velodrome.
Freeman could become the second doctor associated with Team Sky to be subjected to a doping ban after the team’s former medical consultant Geert Leinders was, given a life ban in 2015 by anti-doping agencies for offences relating to the period before he joined Sky.
Leinders worked for Sky on a consultancy basis in both 2011 and 2012, having been hired in October 2010, after the team amended its publicly stated policy of not recruiting doctors with experience of professional cycling in an attempt to make a clean break with the sport’s doping past.
