Hoy claims third gold medal on final day of Track World Cup in Manchester

Published on Sunday 1 November 2009 22:39

SIR Chris Hoy and Great Britain's cycling team proved their thirst for glory remains undiminished with a dominant display at the Track World Cup in Manchester.

Four-time Olympic champion Hoy proved his indomitable spirit with three gold medals on his international return from injury, while Britain claimed ten golds from 17 events, adding four silver and one bronze.

Hoy, from Edinburgh, added team sprint gold on day three to his keirin and sprint titles – replicating his successes of Beijing – but the day belonged to the pursuit squads.

The men's quartet – Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant – clocked the second fastest time in history, with a track record of three minutes 54.395 seconds, just 1.081secs down on the world record Britain set at the Beijing Games.

Britain's women went one better, with Lizzie Armitstead, Joanna Rowsell and Wendy Houvenaghel breaking the world record with a time of three minutes 21.875secs, shaving 0.54secs off the previous best.

For Hoy, who suffered a serious hip injury in his last World Cup outing in Copenhagen in February and was forced to miss the World Championships in Poland in March, the return was beyond expectations.

After setting his second fastest flying 200 metres time in sprint qualification on day two, Hoy anchored Team Sky+HD to gold after laps from Jamie Staff and Edinburgh's Ross Edgar in another scintillating performance to beat British trio Jason Kenny, Matt Crampton and David Daniell in the final.

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

"Even this morning when I woke up with sore legs, I don't think I could've expected to go as quick as we went today.

"That last lap was a 13.02 (seconds) and I believe that's the fastest time ever for a third lap of a team sprint. Quicker than Beijing, quicker than anyone's ever done."

Hoy's form is staggering considering he has had his longest-ever lay-off from the bike, almost three months since his Valentine's Day crash.

"It gave me time to get over the whole post-Beijing period and made me realise just how much I missed being on the bike," he added.

"I've come back and I've enjoyed it as much as I was doing before Beijing.

"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 the team-mates, that's what I enjoy the most."

Hoy demonstrated his commitment to the team cause by watching and applauding as the team pursuit quartets thrilled a sell-out crowd. First the men, buoyed by a stunning qualifying performance, sent the crowd into raptures.

Tennant replaced Ben Swift for the final as Britain made a seamless transition from their qualifying display with a second astonishing performance.

Britain caught up and passed silver medallists Spain little more than halfway through the four-kilometres event, but continued targeting a record-breaking ride, which they duly delivered.

"It's pretty mega that we've got up there with just me and G (Thomas) from the Olympics," said Clancy, the lead-off man in the Beijing-winning quartet which featured Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and Paul Manning.

"To do a (three minutes) 53 (seconds) here, looking back it's just as good a ride as we did in the Beijing final.

"We're talking about doing sub-50 rides – I think it's possible."

Not to be outdone, the women's squad, who have been honing their team pursuit skills with the event poised to join the Olympic programme in radical changes proposed by cycling's world governing body which are set to be ratified next month, went one better.

They were thrilled to dip beneath the previous best time set on the same track by Houvenaghel, Rowsell and Rebecca Romero – absent due to the imminent loss of the individual pursuit from the London Games schedule – in winning the 2008 world title.

"We had it in us to break that world record and it's good to deliver," said individual pursuit winner Houvenaghel. Armitstead believes there is more to come.

"I reckon we'll get 3:12 in 2012," said the 20-year-old from Otley, who also won the points race. "It's attainable, definitely."

Britain flexed their muscles throughout the weekend, with Hoy (keirin), Victoria Pendleton (sprint) and Chris Newton (points) winning titles as Thomas clocked a sensational individual pursuit time of 4:15.015 on day one.

Three titles followed on day two, through Houvenaghel (pursuit), Hoy (sprint) and Armitstead (points), before the final-day bounty of three gold medals.

Matt Crampton rounded off the event by winning the 15,000 (13,500) cash prize for the international keirin.

It was a welcome boost for the 23-year-old from Manchester, who was not among the members of Britain's Olympic and Paralympic cycling teams to receive the freedom of his home city last night as he did not compete in Beijing.