The scoreboard tells the sorry tale…
Ireland's women team pursuiters' hopes of qualifying for the London Olympics have taken a disastrous twist at the World Cup meeting in Kazakhstan, where they have this morning failed to finish their qualifying round.
The trio of Caroline Ryan, Ciara Horne and Sinead Jennings were travelling well through the 1km mark on the Sary-Arka velodrome in Astana before a puncture forced them out of the 3km event.
They were not allowed to start again because they had already false started on their first attempt and only two starts are allowed at this level. They were officially listed as a DNF.
That's a very unfortunate piece of bad luck for the trio who have been in Astana for much of the week ahead of their only ride of the meeting this morning.
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They were riding the World Cup meeting - one of four Olympic qualifying World Cup events in the lead-up to the London games - for their trade team Cunga Bikes rather than for the Ireland squad.
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Their funding was cut last year after the Irish Sports Council cut the Cycling Ireland high performance grants. The three women have decided to continue independently with their bid to qualify for London.
So in that context this morning's forced withdrawal really is very unfortunate.
Cunga Bikes team co-owner David O'Loughlin is in Astana to ride the scratch and individual pursuit. He said he was “very disappointed” for the team.
"It was really bad luck for the girls," he told stickybottle from Astana.
"They had a false start on their first attempt. But on the second attempt they got away well and were riding good splits through 1.5km when Ciara (Horne) pulled up with a puncture."
"It was a big splinter from the track in a good wheel. Unfortunately you are only allowed two starts. I feel really bad for them, they've worked really hard for this over the past few months."
Qualifying this morning was won by Holland, from China. They will now ride off for first and second. Germany were third, with the trade team RusVelo in fourth, meaning they will ride off for the final place on the podium.
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