Gold for GB At World Cup

Great Britain’s women’s team pursuit quartet won gold on the opening day of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow this evening.

Gold for GB At World Cup

Great Britain’s women’s team pursuit quartet won gold on the opening day of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow this evening.

The team of Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ellie Dickinson and Neah Evans were impressive throughout their three rides, qualifying fastest before catching their Belgian opponents in the first round to book their place in this evening’s final.

There they met Germany, who competed well but were ultimately unable to live with the British, who recorded a time of 4:12.244 – their fastest ever outside of Olympic competition.

Afterwards, Archibald said: “That feels very good. We went in with a plan that I think scared us all a little bit, where we were going to front end it and put those long turns in early – that’s what you see the best nations in the world do, but we’ve stuck to what we’re safe doing, because it’s worked and it’s served us well in the past. To challenge ourselves like that and to come out with a win feels good.”

… continued after advert

The men’s team sprint saw the increasingly familiar scenario of a Great Britain versus the Netherlands final, after the British trio of Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin and Jason Kenny set the fastest qualifying time, stopping the clock in 43.084, before backing that up with a 42.497 in round 1.

It was the Netherlands who finished the day the stronger, though, winning the final with a time of 42.163 as Great Britain brought Joe Truman in to replace Kenny.

In the men’s team pursuit, Great Britain were beaten to a bronze medal by France. The British quartet – Ethan Hayter, Ed Clancy, Ollie Wood and Charlie Tanfield – recorded a strong time of 3:50.900 in round 1, but were unable to replicate that in the bronze medal ride-off.

HUUB Wattbike finished one position behind, in fifth – narrowly missing out on a medal ride after they clocked 3:52.755 in round 1, while gold was won by in-form Denmark in 3:49.246.

British duo Milly Tanner and Lauren Bate stopped the clock at 33.537 to qualify sixth fastest in the women’s team sprint, but exited the competition in round 1 after a narrow defeat to eventual silver medallists, China.

… continued after advert

For the second successive year, the British round of the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup included para-cycling races, and both of today’s sessions saw events showcased with fewer than 300 days to go before the Paralympics.

Megan Giglia (women’s C1-3), Louis Rolfe (men’s C2), Jaco van Gass (men’s C3) Nicholas Fairfield (men’s C4) Jon Gildea (men’s C5), Lora Fachie and Corinne Hall (women’s tandem) and Crystal Lane Wright (women’s C5) were the British winners in the pursuit events, while the trio of Jody Cundy, Jaco van Gass and Fin Graham won the mixed team sprint.

Of the integration, seven-time Paralympic champion Cundy said: “It was fantastic to do the world cup in London last year for the first time, and to come back and do it again here in Scotland was a fantastic opportunity to race in front of a home crowd, to perform as well as we have, and to be inspired by the able-bodied guys.”

Competition continues on Saturday, when world champion Barker competes in the women’s scratch race, Hayter and Wood join forces for the men’s Madison, Evans contests the women’s omnium and sprinters Kenny, Owens, Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell will be in action in the men’s sprint and women’s keirin respectively.