Mountain bike one-two for Team England at the Commonwealth Games

Mountain bike one-two for Team England at the Commonwealth Games

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Annie Last won a superb gold medal in the women’s mountain bike at the Commonwealth Games as teammate Evie Richards claimed silver on the Gold Coast.

The medals are England’s first-ever in women’s mountain biking.

The Great Britain Cycling Team duo were a class apart from their rivals, with Richards and Last bursting away from the rest of the field on the opening lap.

Team England's Annie Last crosses the line to claim the gold medal in the mountain bike at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

It was the younger rider, current junior cyclo-cross world champion Richards who made the first move, leading the way for the opening 9km.

But Last - a silver medal winner at last year’s UCI Mountain Bike World Championships - overtook Richards and never looked back, soloing to a famous victory in 1:18.02.

Richards, equally composed throughout, crossed the line 48 seconds behind to win a fantastic silver medal.

Team England's Evie Richards cannot hide her delight at winning mountain bike silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Scotland’s Isla Short finished fifth, 3:32 behind Last’s time.

In the men’s race, Frazer Clacherty finished fifth in his first-ever elite race on the world stage.

The Englishman was the best-place home nations rider in a strong field, finishing 1:38 behind race winner Samuel Gaze of New Zealand, who pipped teammate Anton Cooper to gold in a photo finish in a time of 1:17.36.

Clacherty’s Great Britain Cycling Team colleague Cameron Orr - representing Northern Ireland - finished eighth, with 2016 Olympian Grant Ferguson (Scotland) and Nicholas Corbett (Isle of Man) completing the top ten.

Dylan Kerfoot-Robson (Wales), James Roe (Guernsey), Rhys Hidrio (Jersey), Michael Serafin (Guernsey), Marc Potts (Northern Ireland), Andrew Colver (Guernsey) and Oliver Lowthorpe (Jersey) all finished from 11th to 21st.