Two track races in a GB skinsuit, two gold medals. They may have been 15 months apart but that’s just what Ed Clancy does.

Not since his Olympic triumph in Rio had Clancy donned the red, white and blue in a velodrome, but the TISSOT UCI Track World Cup in Manchester was the perfect place to mark his return from a year on the road.

On the track they call home, Clancy, Steven Burke, Kian Emadi and Ollie Wood simply blew their Danish opponents away to win team pursuit gold in a time of 3:55.847 - Great Britain’s first title of the weekend.

Almost lapping their European counterparts, it was a far cry from their tussle with France in the first round - where the Brits stole the win on the line.

Clancy has already pledged his intention to go for a fourth Olympic title at Tokyo 2020, having being part of the teams that has been victorious at three consecutive Games.

But at 32, he knows he faces quite the challenge if he is to board the plane to Japan in three years’ time - particularly with teammate Wood 11 years his junior and already proving his worth on the global stage.

“I’ve missed the boys, I’ve missed the team pursuit, I’ve missed the track,” he said.

“That was a nice way to kick it off again at a home World Cup.

“I thought the Danes would be a bit closer. One of their best guys did the omnium earlier and I was hoping that would cause them to be a little weaker.

“I think that probably helped us to be fair. That said, when we had a real tough fight to get in pole position after qualifying, and then we had a real tough one with the French after that.

“One hundred per cent I’d love to go to Tokyo and that is 100 per cent the aim.

“You never know when your time is going to come, and looking there at Ollie Wood at the back, I’d say out the four of us he was the strongest.

“I might have already had my day, but I’m going to give it a good go.”
 

That wasn’t the only British title of the night, however, as Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker followed in their teammates track marks with Madison gold.

Barker and Archibald - who won omnium silver on Friday - led on 25 points heading into the final sprint, six ahead of Belgian world champions Jolien D’Hoore and Lotte Kopecky.

They clinched the win on the final sprint, two points ahead of their nearest rivals, and they wouldn’t have wanted it to happen anywhere else in the world.

“It feels pretty good to beat the world champions in front of a home crowd,” said Barker. 

“I’ve done quite a few Madisons this year and had a lot of seconds and thirds and come really close to a win.

“It was nice to save it for in front of a home crowd.”

It wasn’t to be on a busy day for Olympic bronze medallist Katy Marchant, as she finish eighth in the women’s keirin before placing seventh in the 500m time trial.

Elsewhere, Mark Stewart recovered from an early crash in the scratch race to finish fifth in the men’s omnium.

While in the men’s sprint, Philip Hindes, Jack Carlin and Lewis Oliva reached the quarter-finals before exiting, while Olympic silver medallist Callum Skinner departed the previous round.

And in the women’s team pursuit, the British four of Archibald, Barker, Neah Evans and Emily Nelson qualified fastest for Sunday’s first round, with the Team Breeze quartet also following them through.

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