NORTH Vancouver's Zach Bell won a bronze medal in the omnium at the fourth and final UCI Track World Cup cycling event held Saturday and Sunday in London, England.
The third-place showing moved Bell into fourth place overall in the final 2012 World Cup standings.
The omnium is a six-race, two-day event and Bell started the competition in fine style on Day 1, posting the fastest time in the 250-metre flying lap, clocking in at 13.295 seconds.
The next two races didn't go quite as well as Bell finished 11th in the points race and 14th in the elimination race to finish Day 1 in fifth place.
Bell picked the speed back up to start day 2, finishing second in the individual pursuit to jump back into medal contention. In the scratch race Bell rode a strategic race, staying ahead of his rivals to finish in fourth place and move into third place overall.
In the final race of the day, the one-kilometre time trial, Bell delivered a strong performance once again, finishing with the second fastest time to keep his spot on the podium.
"(My omnium) definitely started off well," Bell said in a Canadian Cycling Association release.
"I have been progressively improving the flying lap race, and that's good because I haven't done a lot of work on it. To bounce back today was really positive, especially in this venue, and with the calibre of the riders attending the World Cup."
Bell, a native of Watson Lake, Yukon, was the 2011 UCI World Cup champion in the omnium and should be a medal favourite heading into 2012 Olympic Summer Games. Olympic track cycling will be held at the same venue as last weekend's races.
"We are definitely taking away some positives here, and some good lessons heading into the Olympics," said Bell.
