Valente maintains golden start for U.S, Hinze shines for Germany

GLASGOW :Jennifer Valente continued the American women's team's flying start to the UCI World Championships with a perfectly-timed charge for gold in the scratch race on Friday.

The Olympic omnium champion picked a path through the pack to launch her victory sprint on the 40th and final circuit of the Chris Hoy Velodrome and held on for gold.

Dutch rider Maike van der Duin was second with New Zealand's Michaela Drummond third.

Germany's women have also begun the championships impressively on the boards with sprinter Emma Hinze claiming a second gold medal in two days with a powerful ride in the 500m time trial, pipping Australia's Kristina Clonan.

Clonan was seeking to become the first Australian to win the world title in the discipline since Anna Meares in 2012.

Hinze won the women's team sprint the day before in a world record time - Germany's fourth world title in succession at that discipline - and now has eight world titles.

Valente now has six world golds in her collection and the 28-year-old Californian showed why on Friday with superb ride.

The previous night Chloe Dygert had outclassed the individual pursuit field to win her first world gold since 2020.

"There were a couple of riders off the front with a decent gap until a couple of laps to go," Valente, who will join Dygert in the women's team pursuit medal round on Saturday against New Zealand, told reporters.

"I was just trying to find a gap and set up my sprint. This is really the best possible way we could have opened these championships."

The Dutch men reclaimed their world title in the men's team sprint as they avenged the loss last year to Australia which snapped their four-year domination.

Olympic champion threesome Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey