Cycling: Pendleton's bronze gets Britain moving

Cyclist 'well chuffed' to claim creditable third place in 500-metre time trial

(GETTY IMAGES)

Olympic champion Vicky Pendleton got Great Britain off to a strong start in the World Track Championships here yesterday when she blasted to bronze in the 500-metre time trial on the opening night.

Great Britain were guaranteed at least one further medal after individual pursuiter Wendy Houvenaghel's classifying time placed her in the final against the New Zealander Alison Shanks. Houvenhagel has never taken a medal at World Championships level before, making this a major step forward for the Ulsterwoman, regardless of the outcome of the final duel.

Pendleton's bronze was hardly less impressive. This was her first appearance in the 500-metre time trial – a deceptively difficult two-lap race against the clock – at World Championships level since 2006, when she finished fourth.

Three years later and despite not being on full form, Pendleton finished less than four-hundredths of a second behind Australia's Anna Meares and nearly a second short of the Lithuanian winner Simona Krupeckaite.

Pendleton said: "I'm well chuffed, really pleased. I thought I might be able to break the podium in the best of scenarios – and the best of scenarios has occurred. I thought that the rest of the girls would step up ahead of me after my time, but that didn't happen."

Ultra-fast acceleration from the standing start in an event as short and sharp as the 500 metres is crucial, and the Stotford-born rider was just a few tenths of a second behind Meares' provisional best at the halfway point.

A multiple champion in the speciality at national level, her victory at the World Cup meeting in Manchester last year briefly raised hopes that she would be on track for Great Britain's first gold of the night. But Pendleton had warned in advance that her form was nowhere near as good as when she took two golds and a silver in Manchester's World Championships last year.

Rather than upping her pace yet further in the second lap, the 28-year-old maintained a strong pace that kept her in contention for the medals, but short of the top step of the podium.

Nor was it totally surprising when the later starter Krupeckaite, tipped by Pendleton last weekend as a favourite for the event, blasted ahead of the Briton and 2007 World Champion Meares to move into first place with a world record ride of 33.296sec.

Great Britain's first medal of the World Championships is the direct consequence of Pendleton's interest in tackling all four sprinting events on offer – the 500 metres, team sprint, individual sprint and keirin.

Last year she had skipped the time trial in the World Championships because it had been squashed between sprint heats, her main target for Beijing. This time, it was a different story, particularly in a year when, as British Cycling's Dave Brailsford put it, "we're prepared to lose more to go further in the long term.

"If there's ever a time for experimentation, it's now," the track team's head coach commented – and Pendleton's first attempt at the 500 metres paid off very well indeed.

Armstrong 'broke the right bone,' says boss

Lance Armstrong's Tour de France hopes have not been affected by the fractured collarbone he sustained on Monday, according to Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel. The American could miss the Giro d'Italia, from 9 to 31 May, but he will be fit in time for July's Tour de France. "If I could choose one bone to break, it would be the collarbone," Bruyneel said. "It happened to me twice as a rider. You come back from it fine. A broken collarbone in March changes nothing for the Tour in July."