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 10 golds from 17 events, adding four silver and one bronze.
Hoy added team sprint gold on day three to his keirin and sprint titles 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 3mins 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.
He said: “I don’t think I could’ve expected anything more.
“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.”
