Wiggins exchanges with Cavendish on the pair's way to second in the Madison
Photo ©: John Pierce/Photosport International
BRADLEY Wiggins once again showed why he will be the man to beat at next year’s Olympics after helping his new trade team strike silver at the Beijing World Cup.
West Lancashire’s adopted son helped new team-mate at T-Mobile, Mark Cavendish, round off a superb weekend’s work in the Olympic velodrome – the very same track Wiggins will be aiming for gold on in 2008 – during the Madison last Friday.
The World and Olympic individual pursuit champion must hold some sort of record for a single rider competing for three different teams within the space of just three weeks – as well as clocking up the frequent flyer miles.
Wearing his Cofidis colours, he put in a disappointing performance, finishing 10th at the Ghent Six-Day in Belgium alongside Cavendish on November 25.
He then jetted over to Sydney and pulled on his Great Britain kit for the World Track Cup, where he helped Edward Clancy, Stephen Cummings and Chris Newton beat New Zealand and Australia to gold in the men’s team pursuit on December 2.
Wiggins then caught the next plane to China to link up with Isle of Man’s Cavendish for the Beijing World Cup – this time wearing the famous magenta of T-Mobile.
The pair rode with a clear head and capitalised by taking a lap late on with the French and the Ukrainians.
But the French pair of Jerome Neuville and Christophe Riblon had scored a single point in the first sprint of the race and, with no further sprints remaining, they could not be pipped at the finish.
Luckily, the T-Mobile riders made sure to beat the Ukrainians on the line to seal silver – ending the weekend on a high note for both Wiggins and Cavendish.
Three golds, four silvers and a bronze is a superb return – particularly when considering that all the medals were earned in events that will feature at the Olympic Games next August.
Meanwhile, Great Britain's rich medal-winning form in the World Track Cup has continued in Beijing, with more success in the men's team pursuit and the kierin.
Wirral’s Stephen Cummings, Geraint Thomas, Paul Manning and Edward Clancy matched last week's achievement of winning in Sydney, beating New Zealand.
Riding without world pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins, the British team pursuit quartet qualified fastest in 4.04.659 to set up a final against a surprise New Zealand squad.
The Brits then rode another two seconds faster in the final to take gold comfortably and show that the new Beijing track may yield some fast times in the warm conditions at next summer's Olympics.
Further success for Great Britain came in the men's keirin, as world kilometre champion Chris Hoy took gold from Frenchman Arnaud Tournant – the man whose world kilometre record he narrowly failed to break at altitude in Bolivia last May.
Stephen Cummings leads out Great Britain
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