Sir Chris (pictured below left) defeated Germany's Maximilian Levy (pictured below right) 2-0 in the final, but the victory was more comfortable than it appeared at the London 2012 test event.

The first race was a tightly fought contest that Sir Chris edged.

In the second Levy appeared to have the advantage going into the final straight, but Sir Chris showed all of his strength, power and tactical wit to overtake his impressive rival on the inside and eventually win by a distance in the final straight.

The quadruple Olympic gold medallist is battling with Jason Kenny for the one individual sprint spot at London 2012, and set down a marker with this performance, with his rival finishing fifth overall.

"[I'm] really pleased – more than the result – with the way I rode as I have been making mistakes," said Sir Chris.

"I see this as a really important step now towards the Olympics."


Kenny could not hide his disappointment that he was not competing for medals with Sir Chris.

"I'm racing here for the first time in front of a home crowd and wanted to make the top four at least," he said.

"Fifth is a good result, though, if you look at the field.

"They say you learn more from defeat than winning, so I should be a learning a lot today.

"I'm chasing Chris.

"There's not a lot I can do except try harder and harder to close the gap.

"We're really pushing each other, there's a really good atmosphere between us."


Bronze in the men's sprint went to Germany's Robert Förstemann (pictured above), who won his battle with France's Kevin Sireau in bizarre style.

Sireau had won the first race between the pair before the German edged him out in the final straight second time around.

In the third race, Sireau was completely out thought as Förstemann spotted his opponent napping and raced off from the start, and was still building up a huge lead before the Frenchman reacted.

Sireau soon gave up on catching Förstemann, who was so far in front that he was celebrating victory with the best part of a lap to go.

Earlier in the day, Tatsiana Sharakova of Belarus won the women's omnium scratch race, lapping the field on the way to victory, and in the final event of the competition – the time trial – she rode well again to come second, but it was Britain's Laura Trott (pictured below) who claimed the quickest time, a superb 35.642sec.

Sarah Hammer of the United States claimed the omnium title, after a fifth place finish meant she edged out Australia's Annette Edmondson, with Trott claiming bronze.


In the women's keirin, Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania claimed victory ahead of Hong Kong's Wai Lee and China's Guo Shuang after a closely fought race.

There was also drama in the team pursuit, where New Zealand beat Belgium to third place in a time of 3:59:242 with both countries down to three riders, before a thrilling final between world champions Australia and the Olympic champions Britain.

Australia always had the edge, but only just, and it looked as though the British four of Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas were going to make a comeback.

The Britons finished a man down though and the Australian quartet – Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alexander Edmondson and Michael Hepburn (pictured below) – pipped them to the crown in a stunning time of 3min 54.615sec to post a national record.

"That was the best time we've ever gone so this is a big stepping stone," said Bobridge afterwards.

"We knew the British guys are pretty quick starters.


"We never gave an inch even when we were up as they are the world record holders and Olympic champions."

For Britain it was disappointment, and Clancy vowed, "we've got more to come.

"They [Australia] are a threat only if we choose to see it like that.

"We've made a big step forward from the Europeans.

"Australia are obviously doing better than us at the moment but that will only spur us on."

At the conclusion of the event, Britain finished with the most medals, claiming four gold, one silver and two bronze in total.

Australia picked up one gold, three silvers and one bronze, whilst Germany took one gold, two silvers and one bronze.

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