Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins channelled the spirit of 2008 to round off the World Track Cycling Championships in style on Sunday and Cavendish claims their madison victory was among the best of his storied career.
The duo won World gold the last time they competed in the madison eight years ago and produced a sterling display to repeat that at Lee Valley VeloPark – bringing the curtain down on a magical World Championships for Team GB.
Great Britian topped the overall medal table with five golds, one silver and three bronzes, following Laura Trott’s omnium triumph earlier on Sunday.
But it was Cavendish and Wiggins that had the partisan home crowd rocking one final time with madison gold and the Manx Missile couldn’t hide his delight after the victory.
“That was incredible, it was our second World Championship together after we rode eight years ago and I’m so happy,” said Cavendish.
“It will probably be one of the last times we ride together and that was incredible – it really was one of the greatest wins of my career.
“It was just about staying up there and it was the end of the Worlds, so we didn’t have another event to save ourselves for.”
The British pair dragged themselves into contention 168 laps into the 200-lap race as they gained a crucial lap on the peloton, after consistently picking up points in the prior sprints.
It may have seemed as if the duo had left their move too late but Wiggins – who intimated this would most likely be his final appearance at a World Championships – insists everything went perfectly to plan.
“We knew we would have the legs the later it got into the race but we knew the Spanish were strong and they kept trying,” said Wiggins.
“We kept biding our time and knew everyone was on their knees and it became now or never because we didn’t come here to finish fourth.
“Fortunately we had racked up enough points early on but that was bloody hard.
“It was a home Worlds and you don’t get many of those although I’ve been fortunate enough to have three of them in the last 18 years.
“I rode this event for the first time in 1998 with Rob Hayles. This was my last, so what better way than to do it with Mark. It was my last race on this track as well, so not a bad way to go out.”
In the omnium, reigning Olympic and European champion Trott added the World title – her third medal of the week after team pursuit bronze and scratch race gold – to her collection.
She finished third in Sunday morning’s 500m time trial and third in the flying lap event before calmly navigating the points race to beat France’s Laurie Berthon and USA’s Sarah Hammer into second and third.
Trott last won the omnium World title in 2012 during the build-up to the London Olympic Games, where she also won gold, and appears to be on course to repeat that double.
“It’s taken me four years to get this jersey back in the omnium,” said Trott. “I cannot thank (coach) Paul Manning enough.
“Last year I was so disappointed to get silver again and to have such a bad scratch race – it just spurred us on and made us think about it. It’s down to him that I’m back in the rainbow jersey.
“It’s about executing your plan. And if one race goes wrong in the omnium, that’s it – you’re a lot of points down.
“But once I took that first set of five points early in the points race I was settled then – I was into that race and I loved every minute of it.”
Trott’s fiancé Jason Kenny has had a sterling World Championships himself, proving he is back to his best by dramatically winning the men’s sprint title on Saturday.
But Sunday’s kierin final was a step too far as, after making his way through the rounds, he ran out of steam in the showpiece – ultimately finishing out of the medals. Sportsbeat 2016