• Cycling World Championships

Brits storm to team pursuit gold

Laura Trott leads Wendy Houvenaghel and Dani King in the women's team pursuit © Getty Images

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Britain secured their first gold medal of the World Championships in Apeldoorn, as the women's pursuit team proved too strong for United States.

Wendy Houvenaghel, Laura Trott and Dani King dominated from the outset and never relinquished the lead at any stage.

Such was their dominance, the British trio were almost two seconds ahead at one stage. The exertions of pushing so hard told late on as the Americans cut the gap heading into the final lap but they lost formation towards the line and Britain were easy winners.

"It's really special," Houvenaghel said of her third team pursuit world title in four years. "It's incredible to be on that top spot on the podium again and that's where we want to stay.

"It's so encouraging. These girls have come a long way in a short space of time and over the next 16 months there's a lot of leeway to improve a lot more and I'm very excited about the prospect of us performing in London.

"It's been a real pleasure to ride with these girls, especially in that rainbow jersey-winning ride."

The British women's sprint team of Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton were forced to settle for silver in their race with Australia. Anna Meares proved her class off the line with a storming lap and she handed Kaarle McCulloch a lead at the bell. Pendleton charged on the second lap but the deficit was too great.

Pendleton was pleased with the performance, as she said: "It's exciting to see the improvement and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do next year. It's a great step forward."

Sir Chris Hoy eased into the semi-finals of the sprint. The British star took out Matthew Glaetzer in the first round and then proved far too good for Robert Forsterman, winning 2-0 with the minimum of fuss. Jason Kenny joined Hoy in the semi-finals following a win over Shane Perkins.

Endurance rider Ed Clancy will not defend his ominium title after withdrawing on account of illness. Sam Harrison, who replaced him in the team pursuit, will now go in the omnium.

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