Becky James has taken her second world title in just 24 hours after a spectacular win in the Keirin to add to yesterday’s World Sprint Gold – add this to the 21-year-old’s bronze medals for the TT and Team Sprint and she becomes the first Brit to ever win four medals at a single World Championships. Her success brings to an end Team GB’s campaign in Minsk, which sees them sitting atop the medal table with nine in total including five golds. British Cycling Performance Director Sir Dave Brailsford had described this first step on the Road to the Rio Games as ‘a changing of the guard’, with an intriguing mix of established and fresh talent competing in the absence of old hands like Victoria Pendleton and Sir Chris Hoy.
Certainly Laura Trott, having had to settle for silver in the Omnium (losing her world title to Sarah Hammer), will have been disappointed but compensation came in the form of gold last Thursday in the Team Pursuit and elsewhere Team GB performed – frequently outperformed – across the board. On the strength of the last few day’s competition this fresh squad, including the absolute one-to-watch Elinor Barker, are going to deliver miles of dramatic competition ahead of the 2016 Olympics.