Great Britain ended their track World Cup season on a high as Elinor Barker claimed a hard-fought bronze in the scratch race in Los Angeles.
Just before the race Barker – Olympic team pursuit champion – had finished fifth in the Madison alongside Ellie Dickinson, with less than a 15-minute turnaround before going back on track for the scratch race.
However, the 22-year-old held on for the bronze, winning the final sprint after Ukraine’s Tetyana Klimchenko and Canada’s Jasmin Duehring took a lap in the closing stages.
The win was Barker’s second of the World Cup season, following her points race gold in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, in November.
"Fairly happy with bronze. With it being so close to the Madison, there was literally not even 15 minutes in between, I just had to change my skin suit and get back on, the plan was to risk it and to sit in for a sprint,” she told British Cycling.
"With ten laps to go, I thought I had it, I really thought I was going to win it, but a couple of riders managed to sneak a lap just before the finish.
“I’m a little bit disappointed not to have been further up the podium, but I can’t be disappointed with bronze having raced the Madison just before it.”
The World Cup was the last in the four-event series, with eyes now turning to the World Championships in Hong Kong, in April, as the track season comes to a close.
Great Britain sent just a three-strong team to Los Angeles for the event, with Chris Latham claiming a seventh-place finish in the omnium, on Saturday.
Sportsbeat 2017
Pic: SWPix