• Cycling

Pendleton refuses to panic despite disappointment

Victoria Pendleton blamed fatigue for a mixed showing at the Track World Cup at the Olympic Velodrome over the weekend.

While Sir Chris Hoy boosted his London 2012 aspirations with a golden display at the Olympic test event, Pendleton found proceedings a lot harder - setting a world record alongside Jess Varnish in the team sprint on Friday, but failing to find the podium in either the keirin or individual sprint.

Drained from the exploits of Friday and tired by a combination of an increased number of races and difficulty in getting enough rest, Pendleton insisted she was content with the overall performance and will be in far better shape by the time the Olympics arrive.

"You can't go to sleep buzzing after doing a performance like that [on Friday] and feel tip-top the next morning, and there were a lot of fresher legs out here, so it's just one of those things," Pendleton said. "We're in a rather noisy hotel, which is maybe not the best place to have stayed in for recovery.

"But it's not normal to have three days of competition this long because there were so many entries, so this is the worst possible scenario.

"It's normally much more spread out and it will be much nicer at the Olympics."

Having fallen to arch-rival Anna Meares in the semi-finals of the individual sprint, Pendleton revealed she would also be working more on her tactics ahead of the Games.

"I haven't really done a lot of specific tactical training, and that's the next stage between now and the Olympics because genuinely you have to build a foundation before you get there," she added. "It's no good having the tactics if you haven't got the legs to perform it properly.

"For the amount of training I've done on sprint, I know there's more to come. There were two rounds more than you'd usually do in the keirin as well, and that made a difference.

"It's still too early to be in top shape, and the Olympics are still a long way away, so you've got to get the fitness in place first. You can't develop every aspect of all three events in one go, so I'm taking it one step at a time."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.