REED DENIES PENDLETON A PERFECT FINISH

Victoria Pendleton

In the end there was no fairytale finish for Great Britain. Perhaps it was being greedy to expect a tenth gold medal.

Victoria Pendleton was edged into second place by USA's Jennie Reed in the final event of the World Track Championships, the women's Keirin.

It was a battling effort from Pendleton as she attempted to repeat the triple crown of team sprint, sprint and Keirin titles she won in Majorca last year.

But it was not to be and so Britain's medal total finishes at nine golds and two silvers from the 18 events in a phenomenal week of racing. They top the table by a mile and will go to Beijing for the Olympics this summer as the track team to beat.

So, Sunday was the day the gold rush dried up. Who, a few years ago, could have dreamed that Britain would be so dominant?

The last time the championships were held at Manchester, in 2000, British fans thought they'd witnessed a successful championships.

There was gold for Yvonne McGregor in the pursuit, silver for the team pursuiters and team sprint trio and bronze for Jason Queally in the kilo and Rob Hayles in the pursuit.

That was when the Lottery funding and Peter Keen's vision for the World Class Performance Plan was first felt. Eight years on Britain sits at the top of the tree.

Not only that, but Great Britain's class of 2008 must be considered the most successful track cycling team of all-time.

Bring on Beijing.

In the day's other events, Dutch riders Eleonora Van Dijk won the women's scratch race, Teun Mulder took the men's kilometre and Hayden Godfrey of New Zealand won the men's omnium.

2008 TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAILY REPORTS

Sunday, day five>>

Saturday, day four>>

Friday, day three>>

Thursday, day two>>

Wednesday, day one>>

RELATED LINKS

Women's Keirin: Reed denies Pendleton the perfect finish

Who are Brit's golden nine?

Hoy wins the Keirin

Eighth gold for Britain in the Madison

Gold for Pendleton in the sprint

Chris Hoy wins sprint gold

Pursuit women take fifth British gold medal

Jo Rowsell's gold: the toast of Sutton Cycling Club

Belarussian wins men's points race

Britain going for more gold on Friday

Comment: How many more gold for GB?

Hat-trick of golds for Britain

Britain break team pursuit world record

GB into women's team pursuit final

Gold for Romero in individual pursuit

Reade and Pendleton cruise into team sprint final

Track World Champs: results

Romero breaks British pursuit record

It's Britain vs Denmark in team pursuit final

Britain aiming for team pursuit world record

Britain take silver in team sprint

Crowd step in as French anthem stalls

Hayles denies cheating after failing blood test

Wiggins: "I'm pleased I got the job done"

Wiggins wins pursuit gold

Brailsford defends Hayles after failed blood test

Hayles fails pre-race blood test at Track Worlds

Cycling Weekly's 2008 Track World Championships preview

PHOTO GALLERIES

CW's online gallery section>>

Day three in pictures

Day two in pictures

Day one in pictures

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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.