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CYCLING: British cyclists win another gold

Britain won the men’s team pursuit gold medal yesterday, knocking nearly two seconds off the world record they set a day earlier and continuing the kingdom’s strong showing in Olympic cycling.

The team of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and individual pursuit gold-medalist Bradley Wiggins finished the 4,000m in 3 minutes, 53.314 seconds at the Laoshan Velodrome.

The four were dominant in the final against Denmark, almost catching the Danish by the end of the 4,000m to the cheers of the crowd.

New Zealand beat Australia to take the bronze medal.

The medal gave Britain 12 golds for the Olympics so far — half of those in cycling — already the nation’s best showing since 1920. Britain could take three more golds in the velodrome today and another on the BMX track on Thursday.

Earlier, Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won the women’s points race gold medal.

Vos dominated the race and was the only rider to successfully lap the field. She finished with 30 points, ahead of Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba, who won the final sprint to take silver with 18 points. Leire Olaberria of Spain took the bronze with 13 points.

The race was marred by a crash that took out Sarah Hammer of the US, Satomi Wadami of Japan and Verena Jooss of Germany.

Vos, 21, had earlier failed to take a medal in the road race and the road time-trial. It was also the first cycling medal for the Dutch, previously a cycling powerhouse.

In the points race, racers ride 100 laps of the track, taking part in sprints every 10th lap for points. There is a bonus of 20 points for lapping the field.

There are three events to be decided today and Britain starts as favorites in all three.

World champion Victoria Pendleton faces Willy Kanis of the Netherlands in the first semi-final of the women’s sprint. The other race pits Anna Meares of Australia against Guo Shuang of China.

The men’s sprint final could well be an all-British affair. World champion Chris Hoy, already the holder of two golds, faces Mickael Bourgain of France in the semi-final and his compatriot Jason Kenny, who only has one gold so far, will face Maximilian Levy of Germany.

The men’s madison will close out the track cycling competition. Wiggins will be looking for his third gold in the madison. His partner is Mark Cavendish — winner of four stages at the Tour de France this year — and the two are world champions in the event.
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