GOLD FOR HOY, SILVER FOR PENDLETON

Chris Hoy kicked off the 2006 - 2007 winter track season for the British squad at the Sydney track world cup with a gold medal in the kilometre. Hoy, the reigning world champion, who threatened to drop the kilo from his repetoire after it lost it's Olympic status, finished in 1:02.242 to beat Jason Queally by twelve hundredths of a second.

Tim Veldt of the Netherlands was third.

Victoria Pendleton captured Britain's second medal of the day when she finished second to old foe Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus. Pendleton won the first round, but Tsylinskaya took the second, and then the decider.

Ross Edgar won the sprint in the seventh to eleventh place final in the keirin after winning his repechage that followed his first round defeat. The repechage win put the young Scot in a race with the likes of Theo Bos (Ned), Arnaud Tournant (Fra) and René Wolf (Ger) in which he finished fifth, putting him in the second final which he won ahead of Damian Zielinski (Pol).

The British team in Sydney is largely made up of sprinters as the squad continue with their strategic approach to gaining qualification points for the world championships. This sees them focus on certain races at certain world cups. Several of the endurance riders currently training in Perth will travel to the Moscow world cup in mid December, while the young riders from the Olympic Academy will contest the Los Angeles world cup in January.

The strongest British team will ride at the Manchester world cup from February 23 - 25th.