Great Britain’s medal rush stalled a little on the seventh day of the UCI Cycling World Championships, although the home nation’s paracyclists maintained their dominance with Fran Brown winning gold in the C1 scratch race and Neil Fachie, racing with Matthew Rotherham, Amy Cole and Elizabeth Jordan, taking a 19th world title in the mixed B team sprint.
Brown’s success in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome came despite her lack of experience in scratch racing. “I had never done a bunch race before and I had not ridden in a bunch since 2019,” she said. “I find it very hard to look behind me and ride because of my disability.”
In the evening session, Oliver Wood and Mark Stewart settled for silver after being overpowered in the men’s Madison by the Netherlands, but only by two points, after five nations fought over the medals in the final lap of 200.
In the women’s points race, Lotte Kopecky of Belgium – world champion in the Madison in 2021 and 2017, and second overall in the recent Tour de France Femmes – used her turn of speed to thwart Neah Evans, winner less than 24 hours earlier of the women’s Madison with Elinor Barker.
A weary Evans slipped out of the medal positions on the final lap as Kopecky, who in the past two weeks or so has worn the yellow jersey and won a stage in the Tour de France, dominated the sprints in the race, on her way to another world title.
Evans admitted her efforts in the Madison, as partner to Barker, had taken a toll. “That and also I crashed in training last week,” she said.
“You say it is not going to affect you, it won’t make any difference, but you know it is going to. At this level, just a few watts missing is the difference between being able to close the gap or not.”
Kopecky, also a contender for the women’s road race on Sunday, was unable to defend her own Madison title as her usual racing partner, Shari Bossuyt, is awaiting the outcome of a doping case.
Earlier, Great Britain’s team of six in the mixed relay time trial fell just 12 seconds short of a medal as Switzerland successfully defended their world title in central Glasgow. The discipline – hailed by the UCI president, David Lappartient, as “the latest step towards greater gender equality in cycling” – is getting an increasingly positive response from athletes.
The British team of Dan Bigham, Elynor Bäckstedt, Anna Shackley, Ethan Vernon and Pfeiffer Georgi was augmented by the last-minute addition of Josh Charlton after Ben Turner tested positive for Covid on the eve of the race.
“It’s one of those ‘what if’ moments really,” Bigham said. “Nice and close, but not the right side of history. Ten seconds in the grand scheme of things isn’t a huge amount. It would have been nice to have been the other way.”
Vernon, winner of the men’s elimination race in the velodrome the previous evening, admitted he had barely slept.
“It was tough last night,” he said. “It was a late night racing. I didn’t get back until 11, so I don’t think I slept until two or three o’clock this morning.
“But I woke up happy, with the rainbow jersey hanging on the wall,” the 22‑year‑old said. “It was one of my first team time trials, so I was chucked in at the deep end.”
