Silver lining for GB duo but Barker has sights on gold
ELINOR BARKER has gold in her sights today after claiming a second Track Cycling World silver in yesterday’s penultimate day of action in Hong Kong.
Barker won Britain’s first medal of the championships with scratch race silver onWednesday’s opening day and added another second place alongside Emily Nelson in the inaugural women’s Madison.
Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Barker has one more chance to claim a third world champion’s rainbow jersey and first as an individual in Sunday’s points race.
“There’s nothing like having a rainbow jersey and hearing your national anthem,” said the 22-year-old Cardiff racer and team pursuit world champion in 2013 and 2014.
“I’m a little bit bored of knowing the words to other nations’ national anthems now. I kind of want to hear my own.”
Belgium’s Jolien d’Hoore and Lotte Kopecky won with 45 points to the British pair’s 33. Australia’s Amy Cure and Alexandra Manly, who twice crashed heavily, finished on 26 points to take bronze.
“They were head and shoulders above everybody else,” Barker said.
Belgium were relegated at the 10th of 12 sprints as Kopecky impeded Barker, but it made little difference.
Barker believes lessons can be learned from Belgium’s at times aggressive tactics.
“It seemed a little bit unnecessary, but they race really hard and they won,” Barker said.
“They’re so smart. They spent a lot of the back half of the race trying to box us in and make us afraid.
“It works at times. If you’re stuck in a box and a rider in front of you is going to stop, you get a bit scared. Maybe it’s something we can learn off them.”
Meanwhile, there was disappointment for Scot Katie Archibald when she bowed out at the qualifying stage of the Women’s Individual Pursuit after only managing a fifth-place finish.