Pendleton powers to another crown

Image 1 of 16

Women's sprint

In the semi-final match up everyone was looking forward to seeing, Rebecca James took the first heat against Jess Varnish with a last-gasp move round the outside, after Varnish led the race out. James just sneaked a wheel in front on the line to go one up.

James then wrapped it up and booked a place in the gold medal final with a very clean win, going to the front a lap and a half out and simply out-dragging Varnish to the line. In the other Semi, Victoria Pendleton wasn't really troubled by Victoria Williamson, winning both heats comfortably, as expected.

Pendleton then took the final against James in two straight rides. She waited until the back straight on the last lap in the first heat before blasting round her rival, doing just enough to claim the win by half a bike length.

In the second James left the door open and Pendleton went for home with a lap to go. Her young opponent held on creditably and even threatened to draw alongside in the final banking before the world champion applied a bit more gas and moved clear to retain her national title.

Varnish was too powerful for Williamson and took the bronze medal final in two heats. A well-timed run from the front by Williamson made Varnish chase hard in the second heat, but the result was never in doubt once the older rider had put her head down and she came round the outside in fine style in the last corner.

Men's kilo

Last man to go, Bruce Croall of City of Edinburgh was the runaway winner of the kilo, slipping under 65 seconds in the process and putting himself over two seconds clear of Andrew Kelly. Ieuan Williams took third, just over a second further back.

Paracycling flying 200m TT

A small but high quality field turned the paracycling 200m time trial into something really special. There were world records for newcomer Jon Butterworth and the experienced Jody Cundy, whilst tandem duos Helen Scott and Sophie Thornhill and Craig MacLean and Anthony Kappes would also have set new world bests if their respective pilots had not competed internationally within the last two years, which disqualifies them from official record setting.

In all it represented a remarkable competition with four out of five rides being world bests - how often can that have happened before?

Women's individual pursuit

The final of the women's individual pursuit saw Wendy Houvenaghel go into a 1.4 second lead after the first 1000 metres. Houvenaghel was into the same straight within two kilometres and went on to pass her rival with two laps to go and she then went on to finish with a rapid time of 3:30.612.

In the bronze medal ride-off, Laura Trott had too much for Anna Blyth, the Welwyn Wheelers rider beating the former sprinter by almost seven seconds and recording 3:44.769 on the way to claiming bronze.

Men's points race

George Atkins won a spectacular and increasingly brutal points race in the most exciting manner, pipping precocious junior Simon Yates on the line to claim the last sprint and with it the title.

Atkins' 100% ME team-mate Chris Whorrall had set the early pace, winning three of the first five sprints and gradually working himself into a decent lead. However, as Danni King found out in the previous night's women's race, a steadily accrued total of points is always vulnerable when there are big points available to riders who can lap the field.

With half the race run, the 100% ME duo of Atkins and Mark Christian were joined by Simon Yates in a dogged and determined effort to gain a lap. Ignoring the intermediate sprints, which they shared out, they went on a 30 lap campaign which changed the course of the race. They eventually lapped a disintegrating field which shed such class riders as Evan Oliphant and Ian Stannard during this attritional stage.

Once they had made contact with the main field, the situation changed and the three allies became rivals, with Yates drawing first blood, winning the third-last sprint and grabbing a five-point lead. Atkins responded by picking up second in the penultimate sprint to close the gap to two points.

Graham Briggs looked set to spoil the party by going away in the closing stages, but Atkins and Yates were not to be denied their final confrontation, going to the line neck-and-neck with Atkins just getting the nod by a wheel length. That gave him five points to Yates' three and with it the title; while they were now tied on 44 points, the better performer in the final sprint takes precedence.

It had been a superb race to watch and tribute to the largely young inexperienced field, with Atkins a worthy winner and Yates backing up his scratch race silver with another silver and confirming his exceptional potential.

Women's sprint

Women's 3,000m Individual Pursuit