Great Britain win first gold at UCI Track Cycling World Championships
Last Updated: 02/03/18 6:26am
Great Britain claimed their first gold medal of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships with victory in the men's team pursuit.
Three-time Olympic champion Ed Clancy anchored a youthful team alongside Kian Emadi, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield in Apeldoorn.
They won in a time of three minutes 53.389 seconds, beating Denmark by a little over one and a half seconds.
While Clancy celebrated a sixth world title, his team-mates will be collecting their first rainbow jerseys.
Clancy said: "It feels pretty epic to be honest. I'm 33 next week. You take every win you can get."
In December, Clancy had highlighted these championships as a real chance to claim another world title, given Australia could be forgiven for focusing on the upcoming Commonwealth Games on home turf.
He was correct as the defending champions did not compete, but Clancy insisted that did not make the racing much easier.
"I always knew it was going to be a big fight, it always is," he said.
"The Danes are strong, the Kiwis were maybe not what we expected because they usually push us right to the wire.
"I wouldn't say it was a lean year though, we had a to do a 3:53 in Apeldoorn - usually a slow track - to win.
"It was another tough worlds. But yes, the Australians are still the team to beat and obviously it helps they're not here."
