A few weeks ago, the third and last World Cup of the track season took place in Cali, Colombia. Jasper De Buyst conquered the silver medal in the omnium. In the first World Cup in Guadalajara he had to abandon because of a crash and in London he finished as eighth. Nonetheless De Buyst wassecond in the overall ranking of the World Cup.

The omnium at the World Cup is spread over two days. On day one the riders ride the scratch, individual pursuit and elimination. The second day the time trial (1 kilometre), flying lap and points race are scheduled.

In Cali, De Buyst started strongly with a second place in the scratch and a second place in the individual pursuit. Then he got tenth in the elimination. After the first damy De Buyst was second in the classification. The 1-kilometre time trial and flying lap made him fall back to place four but he gained two places in the points race.

In Calim De Buyst gathered important points for the Olympic Games. Belgium is ninth in the UCI Olympic Track ranking at the moment and the fifth European country. To qualify a rider for the omnium, a country has to be in the top 18 and only a maximum number of eight Europeans can participate.

“This silver medal was welcome, certainly because I need the points for the Olympics," De Buyst said. "This is reassuring. I started well, with two second places. Usually I don’t start that strongly. In the elimination I only got tenth, that’s where I lost gold. Tactically I made some wrong choices and then it can go fast. Still, I thought about the gold medal at the end of the first day. The second day the points race is the most important event, each point counts. As a road cyclist the points race, of forty kilometres, suits me best.

“That I am second in the overall classification of the World Cup omnium is unexpected, certainly because I abandoned in the first round. Last year I won the overall, now I didn’t think I’d set a high result. Because of the circumstances I don’t look back with a good feeling on this World Cup season. In the first round I had bad luck, you can’t change that. In London I felt really bad. I had ridden the Six Days of Ghent with a broken nose and back problems, that had its consequences. That’s why I didn’t perform well in the second World Cup and I definitely wanted to set a good result in Cali.”

“At the moment I’m pretty safe for the Olympics, but there are important points to gain at the World Championships in February. I’m really motivated. First I’ll ride the Six Days of Copenhagen (29th January – 3rd February) together with Marc Hester.”