Great Britain finished the London World Cup with eight medals, with Sir Chris Hoy, Laura Trott and the men’s team pursuit squad all stepping onto the podium on the final day of racing. Having brought you our first behind-the-scenes gallery on Thursday, we were back at the velodrome on Sunday to bring you more access-all-areas photos.
Spotted beneath the track, this Team GB-issue Pinarello Dogma sat unattended. What’s a road bike doing in the velodrome? The track riders warm up on rollers and then, to keep the legs spinning, ride their training bike in neat circles in front of the podium in the track centre, tapping out a slow, soft rhythm before unleashing fury on the track.
A closer look at the cockpit, complete with an SRM PowerControl 7 computer, feeding back data from the cranks. So whose bike is it?
Having taken a few snaps of the mystery machine, Victoria Pendleton strolled through the door to collect her bike – busted. Remarkably relaxed, Pendleton posed for this photograph before heading out onto the track to comfortably win her semi-final, eventually finishing fifth in the final, in what was the Olympic sprint champion’s fifth race of the day.
Earlier in the weekend, Pendleton teamed up with Jess Varnish to set a new team sprint world record on the way to gold on Friday, before missing out on a medal in the individual sprint after losing 2-1 to Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee in her ride for bronze on Saturday.
We brought you a photograph of the velodrome’s three dernys in our previous gallery – but here’s a closer look.
And here’s another of the dernys, with the rider preparing to take to the track for Pendleton’s semi-final. The derny is used to pace the riders in the kierin, gradually increasing the speed before swinging off the track with approximately 600m left – then it’s a fight to the line.
What does it feel like to ride a 4km team pursuit? Here’s your answer, with Rohan Dennis (standing) and Alexander Edmondson (sitting) in a world of pain after beating Great Britain – Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Peter Kennaugh and Steven Burke – to gold.
The man of the moment, Sir Chris Hoy, speaks to the media after winning sprint gold, his third medal of the event having already topped the kierin podium and claimed team sprint bronze with Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar.
What’s all the fuss about?
Great Britain finished the London-leg of the World Cup, which doubled as the Olympic test event, as team winners having won eight medals, including seven in Olympic disciplines. From left to right on the top step of the podium – Victoria Pendleton, Laura Trott, Jess Varnish, Sir Chris Hoy and head coach Shane Sutton.
