Cycling: Paul comes up short in battle of Bremen

City OF EDINBURGH  cyclist John Paul had to settle for second place in the sprinters competition at the Bremen Six Day Meeting when the gruelling race programme reached a  conclusion in the German city.

By COLIN RENTON

Published 17th Jan 2013, 12:00 BST

The 19-year-old had topped the leaderboard for the first four days of racing, but was pegged back by the host  country’s Sebastian Doehrer on the penultimate night.

The pair shared the lead as they lined up for the three-event finale and the German drew first blood when he took second place behind another German, Philipp Thiele, in the time trial, while Paul was third. However, the young Scot showed his mettle when he battled back to win the Keirin, with his German rival in third spot. That left Paul with a one-point advantage as they took the track for the final event, the  individual sprint. Doehrer made no mistake as he powered his way to the win and, in his wake, Thiele snatched second spot from Paul.

The result handed Doehrer overall victory ahead of Paul by a single point, whose City of Edinburgh team mate, Callum Skinner, finished in fifth spot.