SIR CHRIS Hoy suffered a painful return to racing in the keirin at last night's World Cup in Copenhagen. After anchoring the Sky+HD team to victory in the team sprint on Friday, he progressed smoothly to last night's final of the keirin, only to crash heavily with his fellow Scot Ross Edgar.
The crash came as the six riders thundered around the track, heading for the bell at around 40mph. The Frenchman Gregory Bauge seemed to instigate the mayhem, cutting Hoy up as they came out of the banking. That interrupted Hoy's rhythm and when he t
hen got tangled up with another Frenchman, Kevin Sireau, he tumbled to the ground, taking down Edgar and smashing his bike in the process. While Sireau remained upright to win the race, Bauge was disqualified for dangerous riding.
There was a sense of panic as Hoy remained grounded for several minutes, with suspected concussion. After being tended to by medics he eventually got up and made his way gingerly from the track. The initial diagnosis was multiple cuts and abrasions. He suffered scabbing and bruising on his shoulder and side. He has also sustained a bruised hip, but an X-ray showed no fracture. Nevertheless, the Scot will not now compete in today's final stage of the World Cup meeting. He had been due to take part in the individual sprint.
Edgar, the keirin silver medallist in Beijing, wasn't as badly hurt as Hoy. "They got tangled up a bit," said Edgar of Hoy and Sireau, who had been directly in front of him. "When you hook your arms (as Hoy and Sireau did] that turns the steering and you can't correct it – the other guy is coming past and takes you with him. As for me, I had nowhere to go."
Earlier, Hoy had seemed to pick up where he left off in Beijing, despite this being his first World Cup in a year – since Copenhagen last February. The 32-year old from Edinburgh won his qualifying heat and semi-final and lined up alongside Edgar – who was third in his heat and had to qualify through the 'repechage' – in last night's final.
The crash brought an abrupt end to his phenomenal winning run in this event, which in major events – World Cups, world championships and Olympic Games – he extended to 27 with his wins in yesterday's first two rounds. His skill in avoiding crashes – a fairly regular occurrence in the rough-and-tumble of keirin racing – has owed mainly to Hoy's favoured tactic, which has him sitting at the front, out of trouble.
Last night the plan went awry, in what was – remarkably – his first crash since last March when he took a tumble during training for last year's world championships.
Until his crash Hoy had looked as formidable, and unbeatable, as he was in Beijing, lending weight to the surprising claim by the British performance director, Dave Brailsford, in an interview this week. Brailsford claimed that Hoy has "untapped potential," adding: "We haven't seen the best of Chris Hoy yet."
Speaking before last night's incident, however, Hoy was at pains to stress that he is unlikely to be at his best this season, which he describes as "heavily compromised". After almost four months of interrupted training, as a result of the celebrity treadmill upon which he found himself post-Beijing, he escaped to his regular winter training base in Perth, Australia, at the beginning of January.
Five weeks of hard training there were designed not to get him in top shape for this weekend's meeting in Copenhagen, but for the world championships in Poland at the end of next month.
Another of the Beijing gold medallists, Victoria Pendleton, also hit the deck on Friday night, though she bounced back up to win the sprint. She fared less well yesterday, placing fifth in the women's 500m time trial – though she, too, admits that she is far from her best form.
Otherwise, it was another positive session for Britain in the Ballerup Velodrome. After three gold medals on the opening night, the team pursuit squad claimed a fourth last night, with Katie Colclough adding silver in the women's points race.
Speaking before his crash, Hoy said: "I needed this to see where I am and how my performance is. It's good to be back – I miss the atmosphere, the nervousness and the whole preparation that goes with it.
"I'm enjoying being back doing what I do best, rather than standing in front of a TV camera or giving a speech and having my photo taken. I'm looking on this as the first step to London (in 2012]."
