It’s a golden start as Barker is up to Scratch
ELINOR Barker delivered gold for Great Britain on the opening night of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships as she won the women’s scratch race.
The 24-year-old revealed she almost quit cycling in 2018, but her rediscovered love of the sport was rewarded with a rainbow jersey after she held off defending champion Kirsten Wild to record a superb victory.
“It’s a massive surprise,” Barker said. “It feels really bizarre. I came really close to quitting completely about six months ago. I’d kind of fallen out of love with it so just to get here felt like such an achievement itself.
“I fell out of love with it for a number of factors, but I’ve got it back now.
“I owe a huge amount to our new psychologist who we got around October time.
“He managed to keep me going and feeling at my best again.”
Barker sat back in the pack for 38 of the 40 laps before launching a devastating attack.
Moments later a huge crash took out several riders and Barker - like Geraint Thomas a product of the Maindy Flyers cycling club found the strength to keep Wild behind her in the final bend.
“That was always the plan,” Barker said of the attack.
“I wanted to stay out of the carnage.
“It’s always a little sketchy, the first race of the week, everyone’s fresh and most people want a sprint, so most people are in the race.
“But no one wants to take it on so it’s always sketchy.
“I wanted to stay out of the way a little bit for safety and also to save my legs because I’ve got the