Cycling: Hoy touches gold again

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 08:56

CHRIS HOY today issued a warning to his rivals around the globe when he completed a gold medal treble at the UCI World Cup in Manchester and confirmed he is back to his best.

The 33-year-old Capital star posted the fastest-ever final lap as he anchored the Sky HD+ squad that also featured fellow Scot Ross Edgar and Jamie Staff to victory in the team sprint.

That success yesterday capped a fine weekend in the saddle for Hoy who had also won the Keirin and individual sprint, although he opted out of the non-championships Japanese Keirin.

Having competed on six of the last 11 days, he will now ease the intensity of his training for a week before resuming his build up for the World Championships in Copenhagen, the location where he crashed in February. And comparing his current form to the levels of fitness he reached when recording a treble triumph at last year's Olympics, Hoy said: "I would say that I'm either at or just below where I was in Beijing.

"I don't think I could've expected anything more.

"It (the injury) gave me time to get over the whole post-Beijing period and made me realise just how much I missed not being on the bike.

"There's so many demands on my time at the moment; when you come down here (for training) and it's just you, the coaches and my team-mates, that's what I enjoy the most."

His successes mean he has already qualified for Copenhagen in March and does not need to compete in the forthcoming rounds of the World Cup.

In the men's team pursuit, Britain caught silver medallists Spain little more than halfway through the four-kilometre event but continued targeting a track record-breaking ride, which they duly delivered.

Not to be outdone, the women's squad of Joanna Rowsell, Lizzie Armitstead and Wendy Houvenaghel, who have been honing their team pursuit skills with the event poised to join the Olympic programme, went one better with a world record.