Mould Fifth In Scratch After Taking A Lap In La La Land

Jon Mould finished fifth in the scratch on the opening day at the Track Cycling World Cup in Los Angeles.

The Newport-born rider, competing for the Welsh Cycling-backed Team USN, has returned to the track after a spell on the road in Australia and New Zealand with JLT Condor.

Mould was part of a seven rider group to take a lap in the men’s scratch race.

But the 25-year-old missed out on the medal positions in the final sprint, settling for a strong fifth overall as Belarus’ Yauheni Karaliok won gold.

Mould tweeted: “Finished up 5th in the Scratch, after getting a lap, just out of position in the sprint! Happy with it after dropping in from the road

Monmouthshire’s Lewis Oliva qualified sixth fastest in the men’s sprint in a time of 10.002 – just missing out on an automatic route to the 1/8 finals by less than a tenth of a second.

Oliva was drawn against South Korea’s Chaebin Im In the 1/16 finals, but failed to progress with Russia’s Denis Dmitriev taking the gold.

On the final day Oliva will be looking to add to his bronze medal won in the keirin in the opening World Cup round in Glasgow last November.

Abergavenny’s Rachel James made her UCI Track World Cup debut with Team USN in Los Angeles.

James finished fifth in her keirin first round heat, with Germany’s Kristina Vogel taking the win.

That result pushed James – sister of fellow cyclist Becky – into the repechages, where she kept her chances in the competition alive by finishing second behind Colombia’s Martha Bayona Pineda.

In the second round, James finished fourth as Vogel once again picked up a win, on her way to gold in the keirin final, with James taking 10th place in the minor final.

James will be back in action on Sunday in the sprint while Mould and Sam Harrison will also team up in the Madison.

Wales’ Elinor Barker will team up with Ellie Dickinson for the GB team in the Madison, with Barker also set to compete in the scratch race.