Cycling: Croall shows selectors what they're missing

Capital cyclist Bruce Croall was today savouring victory in last night's kilometre time trial at the National Track Championships in Manchester.

The City of Edinburgh rider, who was snubbed by Commonwealth Games team selectors, proved his doubters wrong with a fine performance as he powered his way to the gold medal in a time of 1 minute, 4.909 seconds.

Although outside his personal best by just a fraction of a second, that time would have given Croall an impressive sixth place at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games four years ago, just over two seconds down on Chris Hoy, who won the bronze medal.

Croall set off on his ride, with the 1:07.047 of Andrew Kelly (Science in Sport) in his sights and blasted his way to the title by a substantial margin.

His team mate Ken Ayre underlined his promise with sixth place - an impressive achievement in his first season of racing. Both were due back in the saddle today for the individual sprint alongside their colleagues Callum Skinner, Kevin Stewart and John Paul, while their opponents were set to include Chris Hoy.

In yesterday's women's sprint, Capital trio Emma Baird, Jenny Davis and Charline Joiner all exited the competition at the quarter-final stage.