Double world champion Becky James says Britain’s time will come in the women’s team sprint after defeat to world and Olympic champions Germany at the UCI Track World Cup in Manchester.
The British pair of James and Victoria Williamson, laughing and joking pre and post race like a couple of school mates, added silver to their European bronze medal from two weeks ago but it was a distant second.
Nevertheless James and Williamson, deputising for Jess Varnish who will compete in the individual sprint, were upbeat despite the lesson on pure speed cycling from Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte.
“They’re the world champions and they’re flying and we don’t expect to do a time like that at the moment,” said James.
“It is a time we’ll aim for one day but they’ve ridden together for a long time now and they’re the Olympic champions, so you expect them to do a fast time like that,” she said of the Germans’ winning mark of 32.788 seconds.
“We’re in a really good place at the moment and to get a second ride at a world track championships at such a high level is really good for us.”
Jason Kenny helped the British men’s team sprint outfit to bronze by defeating New Zealand while Germany took home the gold.
However, the triple Olympic champion, alongside Philip Hines and Matt Crampton, who replaced Kian Emadi from the qualifying rounds, is used to success and would have preferred a different colour medal.
“I'm happy with a medal though I'm obviously not happy with a bronze. It would've been nice to have gold,” he told Sportsbeat.
“But we can't control what other people do and the Germans and the Russians have done really good times.
“I'm quite happy with where we're at. We've made a good step forward in terms of overall time which is what matters. That's the fastest time we've done in a very long time."
In the men’s six-event omnium Britain’s Jon Dibben slipped down to seventh place overall following the points and elimination races.
Frenchman Thomas Boudat won both the second and third events to lie fifth while leader Belgian Jasper De Buyst holds a four-point advantage over Tim Veldt of the Netherlands.
© Sportsbeat 2013