France win big on final day at world cycling championships

HONG KONG (AP) Francois Pervis of France won the men's 1km time trial on Sunday at the world track cycling championships in Hong Kong. Pervis, who is also the

HONG KONG (AP) Francois Pervis of France won the men's 1km time trial on Sunday at the world track cycling championships in Hong Kong.

Pervis, who is also the world record holder, won his fourth rainbow jersey in the event with a time of 1 minute 0.714 seconds.

''My rainbow jersey missed me last year but now I can put again every day for training and it's good,'' Pervis said

Pervis' countryman Quentin Lafargue and Tomas Babek of the Czech Republic both won their second medals of the championship sharing silver with a time of 1:01.048. No bronze medal was awarded.

Elinor Barker of Britain won her first individual world title. She beat American Sarah Hammer in the women's 25km points race. Barker led the field after the fourth sprint but Hammer gained a lap in the penultimate sprint to take the lead with 51 points. But Barker fought back, taking the lead back with four laps to go by gaining a lap on her opponent, and finished on 59 points. Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands won bronze with 35 points.

''Before the race I didn't really want to get a lap,'' Barker said. ''I just wanted to win the sprints and I was just kind of forced into it by other people getting laps and there was no other way to win the race so I thought, `yeah let's do it.'''

Germany's Kristina Vogel retained her world title in the women's Keirin event. Vogel beat out the No. 3-ranked Martha Bayona Pineda of Columbia who finished second and Nicky Degrendele of Belgium in third place.

France won the men's Madison race in the final event of the day. Morgan Kneisky and Benjamin Thomas secured the gold medal with 45 points. They were followed closely by Cameron Meyer and Callum Scotson of Australia with 41 points and Moreno De Pauw and Kenny De Ketele of Belgium on 32 points.

''We had a very very hard start from all the French team,'' said Kneisky. ''It was hard the first two and three days and the morale of the French team was so good that everyone was motivated to give everything in the end of the week. And the last two days was so incredible for us with Benjamin because he give us the first world title for the French team and today it was Parvis with the kilometer and now we won the Madison and we are very happy.''

Australia finished the world championships with 11 podium finishes - including three gold medals, five silvers and three bronze. France, which had a shaky start to the week but won big on the final two days, finished with five medals in total including three golds, one silver and one bronze. Russia finished third with three golds and a bronze.