CHRIS Hoy produced the best match sprint performance of his career last night to beat the reigning world champion Theo Bos and progress to today's semi-final of the track cycling world championships in Manchester.
It was the first sprint defeat Bos had suffered since 2005.
Hoy's was only one of the outstanding performances on a glorious night for British cycling. There were three gold medals, for the team pursuit squad, the women's team sprint pair of Vict
oria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade, and Rebecca Romero in the pursuit.
Romero, a former rowing world champion, finished in 3:29.593 to set a British record in her qualifying win over two-time defending champion Sarah Hammer.
Hoy now has a great chance today of adding to the tally. Yet he had to recover from a disastrous first heat against Bos, which he gifted to the Dutchman. "I looked away, Theo pounced and before I had a chance to react he had fifteen metres on me," explained Hoy. "To make a mistake like that is unforgivable, and I was so angry with myself."
The second heat saw the pair battle for the line, with Hoy gaining the verdict by centimetres. It meant a third and deciding heat, which saw Hoy stage a dramatic recovery to claw Bos back and take him on the line, again by a tiny margin. "To beat Bos feels really great," said Hoy. "I've got nothing to lose now."
Fellow Scot Ross Edgar missed out, however, finishing 12th in qualifying.
The highlight of the second evening was the team pursuit, which saw the British quartet set a new world record. Having qualified second behind Denmark they rode a close to perfect race, with Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Geraint Thomas recording 3 minutes, 56.322 seconds for the 4km, almost three-tenths of a second quicker than Australia's existing world record.
The full article contains 323 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
