Great Britain Cycling Team’s Elinor Barker won bronze in the scratch race at the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Los Angeles.
The 22-year-old reached the podium shortly after finishing fifth in the Madison alongside Ellie Dickinson.
Brilliant bronze
With Tetyana Klimchenko of Ukraine and Jasmine Duehring of Canada having taken a lap on the field, and the Ukrainian rider crossing the line first for gold, Barker was left to face a final lap sprint to the line for the final medal.
With Italy’s Rachele Barbieri and Nao Suzuki breathing down her neck, Barker held firm to win the bunch sprint and claim her second individual medal of this world cup season, following points gold in Apeldoorn last November.
After the race, Barker said she was pleased with the result, given the circumstances.
"Fairly happy with bronze. With it being so close to the Madison, there was literally not even 15 minutes in between, the plan was to risk it and to sit in for a sprint.
"With 10 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."
"Fairly happy!"
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) February 27, 2017
Reaction from @elinorbarker after winning #TissotUCITrackWC bronze, minutes after a gruelling Madison in Los Angeles.
pic.twitter.com/qKKUI3Oj95
The result was even more impressive for Barker following her efforts in the 20km Madison earlier.
Teaming up with Ellie Dickinson, the Great Britain Cycling Team duo got off to the perfect start, winning the first two sprints to take an early lead.
The pair picked up a single point on sprints five, six and seven to head into the final laps on 13 - just three behind then leaders France, with both Australia and Italy tied in second on 14 points.
It all came down to the final sprint, now contested for double points. Dickinson and Barker crossed the line in fourth, to move to 15 points but found themselves out of the medal positions.
Gold went to Australia, with Amy Cure and Alexandra Manly crossing the line in second place in the final sprint to finish on 20 points - a deserved victory after they were the only team to win points on every sprint.
New Zealand won the final sprint, the ten points allowing them to leap to second place on 19 with Italy crossing the line third and securing bronze on 18 points.
Team USN
Lewis Oliva just missed out on a second world cup medal of the season, finishing fourth for Team USN as Colombia’s Fabian Puerta Zapata won gold.
Rachel James qualified 13th fastest in the sprint, beating India’s Deborah Herold in the 1/16 finals before bowing out to Germany’s Emma Hinze in the following round, with Hinze’s teammate Kristina Vogel winning the gold.
The Welsh duo of Sam Harrison and Jon Mould finished ninth in the Madison. The pair won the fourth sprint, but didn’t add to their total of five points as Ireland’s Felix English and Mark Downey took two laps on the field on their way to gold.
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