Great Britain wins record numbers of medals at Worlds

Riding for Great Britain, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins won the men's Madison Title at the World Track Championships on Saturday. The duo scored 16 points in the 50 kilometre race and clinched the gold medal by taking back a lap in the last part of the event. Germany finished with silver after taking 13 points, whilst Denmark were bronze with 11.

For Wiggins, this is his third gold medal in the World Track Championships in Manchester, following victories in the team and individual pursuit races. The duo's victory converted Great Britain into all-time record holder of gold medals in a World Championships – with eight, one more than France's total in 1999. Great Britain's total was later increased on Saturday afternoon to nine when Chris Hoy won the keirin.

"It's a massive relief." Wiggins said afterwards. "The pressure will be 10 times as great now at the Olympics but I'm very happy nevertheless. I wanted three wins, but I didn't know if it was going to happen. The Madison is always a lottery event."

Wiggins dedicated the victory to his father, who died two months ago.

"We were going perfectly throughout even though we'd taken a lot of flak over the winter," said Cavendish afterwards. "I got criticised during the Six Day racing because I was coming off a tough road campaign. Today we proved a point."

Referring to the atmosphere in Manchester, Cavendish commented that it was "great, just brilliant. The support really kept us going throughout." Cavendish now returns to the road to ride the Classics for High Road, racing in the Three Days of De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem and the Scheldeprijs in Belgium. It was in Scheldeprijs last year where Cavendish took his first win as neo-professional.