GB stars race to three more golds

WORLD CUP SERIES, MANCHESTER
Venue: Manchester Velodrome Dates: 30 Oct - 1 Nov
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, the red button and BBC Sport website (UK only); live commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra

Watch live: Cycling World Cup from Manchester

Sir Chris Hoy led his sprint team to victory as Britain clinched three more gold medals on the final day of the Track World Cup in Manchester.

Hoy, Ross Edgar and Jamie Staff, in Team Sky+HD colours, were 0.395 seconds ahead of their Team GB rivals.

Gold sealed Hoy's clean sweep of wins in the sprint, keirin and team sprint.

GB's men and women won team pursuit gold, women's trio Joanna Rowsell, Lizzie Armitstead and Wendy Houvenaghel setting a world record.

Prior to the competition, 33-year-old Hoy said making sure he reached the World Championships next March was his "main priority".

Gold medals in each of his three events, earning qualification for the Worlds in the process, ensure he has achieved his goal in style.

"The legs are really tired now and it's been hard work but it's really encouraging," Hoy told BBC Sport.

"Hopefully we can build from here and have success next March.

As a team we've really come together. To pull out a time like that was really, really special Lizzie Armitstead

"Those team sprint times were really competitive on a world level. For two teams to go under 44 seconds is incredible."

Hoy's team-mate Staff added: "The team's done phenomenally this weekend. Chris is in better form than he was at the Olympics and he's the strongest one of the bunch."

Younger British riders Jason Kenny, Matt Crampton and David Daniell took silver behind Team Sky+HD's winning time of 43.423 seconds, while Germany won the race for bronze.

The British women's team pursuit trio of Armitstead, Rowsell and Houvenaghel produced a stunning world record to obliterate a German team who probably could not have delivered a better race.

GB's performance was in a different league, crashing through the world record barrier to set a new mark of three minutes 21.875 seconds.

"I'm so chuffed," said Armitstead. "As a team we've really come together. To pull out a time like that was really, really special."

Armitstead has made the change from road cycling to compete as part of the track pursuit team, with the women's event likely to be included in the Olympics for the first time at London 2012.

"I've really had to step up and be motivated and carry on through the track - and it's worked," she said.

Moments earlier, Britain's four-man pursuit team of Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Andrew Tennant and Geraint Thomas had easily dispatched their Spanish rivals.

They then carried on to set the second-fastest time in the event's history, stopping the clock in a track record three minutes and 54.395 seconds.

Tennant replaced Ben Swift for the team pursuit final, after Swift had helped the remaining three men cruise through qualifying in the morning.

"It felt brilliant," said Tennant. "Ben Swift rode a fantastic race to qualify with the boys but I got my chance and hopefully I've done a good job."

606: DEBATE As important as established names are, it's the new names I think are most worthy of attention BBC Radio 5 live's Alex Murray

Thomas, picking up his second gold of the three-day competition, added: "It was alright, wasn't it? We knew we were on good form and we wanted a track record.

"We were just floating out there, the crowd carried us around."

Victoria Pendleton, world champion in the women's keirin in 2007, proved unable to repeat the achievement in front of a home crowd.

The 29-year-old, who won sprint gold on Friday, left herself too much to do on the outside in the closing stages of Sunday's keirin final, finishing fifth as Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite took gold.

Stockton 36-year-old Chris Newton finished seventh in the men's scratch race, a lap down on Russian winner Ivan Kovalev.

British cyclists have racked up 10 gold medals over the three days of competition in Manchester.

---

Team Sky+HD: Ross Edgar, Chris Hoy, Peter Mitchell, Victoria Pendleton, Jamie Staff

Team GB: Lizzie Armitstead, Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Matt Crampton, David Daniell, Wendy Houvenaghel, Rebecca James, Jason Kenny, Chris Newton, Joanna Rowsell, Ben Swift, Andy Tennant, Geraint Thomas, Jess Varnish

• accutane with no prescription - order isotretinoin online
• cheap finasteride - order generic propecia online
• viagra kaufen günstig
• buy valium without prescription - buy valium
• cialis kaufen schweiz - viagra kaufen