Thursday 3 March 2016 22:24, UK
Great Britain's men’s pursuit team had to settle for silver at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in London after being beaten by Australia in a closely fought gold-medal final.
Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Owain Doull and Jon Dibben trailed by more than half a second for all of the first 3km, but despite Dibben peeling off, they managed to move into the lead inside the last 1km and looked on course to regain the title.
However, Clancy then lost touch with Wiggins and Doull on the last lap and Britain ended up finishing 1.1 seconds down on the Australians, whose time of 3min 52.727sec was the second fastest team pursuit in history.
Britain have now won silver in each of the past two World Championships, but the close nature of the race promises a compelling battle for gold at the Rio Olympics this summer.
Wiggins said afterwards: "Mixed emotions really. Initially we are gutted. We try to put a brave face on and be sportsmanlike and tell them [Australia] congratulations.
"At the end of the day, we said it was going to take a 3min 52sec or close to the world record to win here, and they did that and we didn't. Hats off to them. They are missing two strong riders from that team and to still post a time like that, a world-class time [is impressive].
"It's disappointing, but at the same time, when we look where we have come from, with Ed especially, we are close. We are there with them and we knew we would have a race on with them here, and we will have a race on in Rio, but I think we'll get over the line first in Rio."
Clancy underwent back surgery only 13 weeks ago to repair a slipped disc and attributed defeat to his lack of peak racing condition.
He said: "We have fast-tracked things pretty quickly and it's fair to say we're not flying, but we're not far off. I rode well there, but I just couldn't quite hang on to Brad in the last lap.
"I did a good start, a good middle turn, but I didn't expect that last turn. I gave it everything in the middle of the race and hoped that Brad and Doull would take it to the finish, but they just came up a little bit short and I was left hanging on the last lap.
"I don't know if we would have won if I had have hung on, but I couldn't."
Denmark defeated Italy to claim the bronze medal.
