NORTH Vancouver's Zach Bell scored a silver medal at a UCI Track Cycling World Cup event held earlier this month in Cali, Colombia, showing he will be a serious medal contender for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Bell posted three personal best times in finishing second in the omnium, a six-race event that tests a cyclist's endurance, sprinting and strategy. It includes a one-lap sprint; a 30kilometre points race, where certain laps earn points for the leader; an elimination race; a pursuit race; a scratch race and a one-kilometre time trial. The omnium is a recent addition to the UCI World Cup lineup and will be an Olympic event at the 2012 London Games.
Bell opened the event by finishing second in the flying lap with a personal best time of 13.155 seconds. Next he finished second in the points race despite a crash and then seventh in the elimination race. On the second day of competition Bell opened with a sixth-place finish in the individual pursuit with a personal best time of 4: 27.686 followed by a fifth-place finish in the scratch race. In the final race of the event Bell placed third in the time trial, setting another personal best with a time of 1: 03.805.
"Coming in to the race, I was apprehensive about my condition because it's been over seven months since my last competition on the track," Bell said in a Canadian Cycling Association release. "I was pleasantly surprised to have achieved personal bests in all three timed events."
Bell was named the omnium World Cup champion for the 2010-11 season after scoring podium finishes in each of his three races.
