Olympic champions Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker won their second medals of the weekend as Great Britain finished in style at the Track World Cup in Glasgow.
Archibald and Barker prevailed in Friday’s team pursuit and joined forces once again in the Madison, winning silver despite not hitting their peak in front of the home crowd.
Mark Stewart also took silver in the multi-event omnium as the British Cycling team took top honours in the second leg of the World Cup.
“It was a little bit mixed. We’re not massively happy with how we rode – we could have been a lot better,” admitted Barker.
“We were good and we were fast in the sprints, but we didn’t actually compete in enough of them.
“However, it’s quite nice that even when we’re not performing as well as we can, we can still medal.”
It didn’t take long for Archibald and Barker – part of the team pursuit quartet that prevailed at Rio 2016 – to hit the upper reaches of the leaderboard.
Maximum points came regularly each time they competed in a sprint but the consistency of Australia ensured the British duo were always playing catch-up.
And it proved to be a target just out of reach, Annette Edmondson and Georgia Baker comfortably holding on to their lead while Dutch world champions Kirsten Wild and Amy Pieters had to settle for bronze.
The Madison is set to make its Olympic return at Tokyo 2020, with each and every race gaining more significance as the British team works out its best combination, with Barker, Archibald and Laura Kenny all regularly taking on the responsibility so far.
In the omnium, meanwhile, Scotland’s Stewart had a ride to remember at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome with a silver medal of his own.
Steadily accumulating points across the four events, consistency was the key to Stewart’s racing – finishing sixth in both the scratch and elimination races.
He took maximum points in the tempo race to all but guarantee a medal, one that was secured despite not adding to his tally in the points race.
Elsewhere, Olympic champion Jason Kenny narrowly missed out on a medal in the keirin final after being beaten to the line by Sebastien Vigier, Maximilian Levy and Denis Dmitriev.
Despite his disappointment, Great Britain still had plenty to celebrate with their medal tally of six only matched by France across the 14 events.
The team pursuit quartet of Archibald, Barker, Neah Evans and Ellie Dickinson were the first to celebrate a golden moment with their ride on Friday.
While there was also plenty for Katy Marchant to celebrate, the Olympic bronze medallist taking top step on the podium thanks to her performance in the keirin.
Images: SWpix.com
Sportsbeat 2019