Olympic champion Anna Meares hits back as Matt Glaetzer continues winning form in Adelaide

AS ANNA Meares hit back in typical fashion, Matt Glaetzer continued his unbeaten run at the International Track Series in Adelaide.

CYCLING - Australian Cycling Grand Prix - Adelaide Super-Drome. Stephanie Morton about to be overtaken by Anna Meares who won the Women's A Final. Photo Sarah Reed.

AS ANNA Meares hit back in typical fashion, Matt Glaetzer continued his unbeaten run at the International Track Series by winning their respective keirin finals in Adelaide on Thursday night.

Meares produced a perfectly-timed bike throw to haul in teammate Steph Morton in a photo finish while powerhouse Glaetzer showed his incredible engine by going to the lead with two full laps remaining and holding off all challengers.

It continued his perfect record in two days of racing at the Adelaide SuperDrome after he won the men’s sprint on Wednesday night.

“It’s always tough backing up after a full day of racing yesterday (Wednesday) but I’m really happy with the result,” Glaetzer said.

“I drew the front in the final and knew it was going to be tough to defend that position with a quality field attacking me.”

But Glaetzer called on the horsepower he uses to ride third wheel in the team sprint to drive all the way to the finish to beat home Mohd Awang from Malaysia.

“I’ve definitely developed a strength with the longer sprinting so I can have that confidence to back myself with the longer races,” he said.

Meares, meanwhile, returned to the top of the winners’ podium after her third place in the women’s sprint on Wednesday night.

She took front position in the keirin final and held sway until Morton launched with one-and-a-half laps to go.

The 23-year-old Morton who won the women’s sprint the night before put three bike lengths into the field before Meares and China’s Junhong Lin slowly dragged her back.

“Steph came past with some formidable pace and for three-quarters of a lap I thought ‘I’m not going to close it, I’m not going to close it’ and then the gap started to close and I thought ‘ooh’,” Meares said.

“It’s funny because afterwards Steph said ‘our footy teams (Port Adelaide and Western Bulldogs) are on this weekend, it’s tit for tat at the moment’.

“It’s not so much (me) making a point, it’s more just reinforcing some confidence in my own ability.

“As racing goes on, fatigue will start to become a factor in everyone’s presentation to a race and then it will come down to who handles it.”

Earlier on Thursday night, round two of the women’s keirin was marred by a crash involving China’s Xuemei Li and Victorian Caitlin Ward.

Ward was treated for skin grazing while Li was able to walk off the track but was later taken from the velodrome by ambulance with a shoulder injury.

TITLE: Join us on Facebook

Originally published as Olympic champion Anna Meares hits back as Matt Glaetzer continues winning form in Adelaide