Great Britain break team pursuit world record to win gold

Great Britain won team pursuit gold in Melbourne, setting a new world record, and perhaps more importantly striking a massive psychological blow four months out from the Olympics.

Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Steven Burke and Geraint Thomas were always up on their Australian rivals but had to fight off a comeback in the final lap to secure gold.

They eventually won in 3:53.295, while the Australians stopped the clock just outside the old world record with a time of 3:53.401.

It was close all the way, prompting performance director Dave Brailsfrod to state it was the best team pursuit he'd ever seen. At times the gap was no more than a few hundredths of a second. Great Britain did stretch the lead out in the third kilometre to three tenths of a second but the Aussies, especially Jack Bobridge, pulled them back in the final few laps as both teams lost a man.

It was the first time the British team had won the world title since Manchester 2008, since when the Australians have won each time.

More later....