World Track Championhips 2010: Final day success for Clancy but Pendleton misses out by a whisker

Despite the lack of any remaining interest for team GB in the men's sprint there was still plenty to celebrate on the final day of the World Track Championships in Copenhagen, with Ed Clancy putting in a fantastic day of riding to take gold in the omnium and Victoria Pendleton finishing the Keirin with a silver that should really have been a gold after a clear breach of the rules by Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite. Afterwards Team GB performance director Dave Brailsford was upbeat about the team's performance, seeing it as an Olympic preparation job well done.

Clancy started in the best possible way in the five-discipline omnium, putting in a big performance in the flying 200m to take the early honours. He wasn't so strong in the scratch race, losing two laps to the leaders and rolling in 13th overall, but that was enough for third position going into the pursuit, where he did enough to hang onto the bronze spot.

Clancy went out with all guns blazing in the points race, winning sprint 1 and gaining a lap to finish fifth overall, and that was enough to put him at the head of the table with 23 points, with Robert Bartko (GER) and Leigh Howard (AUS) filling the other podium spots.

Going into the final kilometre pursuit Clancy needed a top two finish to guarantee himself the gold. Few thought he'd be able to outgun American Taylor Phinney – a silver medallist at the Worlds last year over the kilo – but the Yorkshireman put in a lifetime best performance to streak home in 1:02.243 and take the gold in some style, with Leigh Howard claiming silver.

"This gold goes some way to making up for what happened in the team pursuit", said Clancy afterwards. "That was our big goal – my big goal – and this was a bit of an afterthought but obviously it's great, my first individual Worlds medal of any colour. "

"I had no idea what time I did in the kilometre, I just had my head down", he added. "I saw someone with a British flag celebrating so I knew I must have won something".

Clancy wasn't being drawn on whether he'd ride the omnium at the Olympics, pointing out that the slightly different format didn't favour him. "As you can see today I was hanging on in the bunch races and making up ground in the shorter events. With the addition of another big bunch race in the Olympics it's looking more like Chris Newton or Mark Cavendish territory. But you never know".

"Ed deserved the opportunity to do something for himself", said Dave Brailsford. "He's a fantastic team player in the pursuit but this was his chance to do something for Ed Clancy. We knew it was on the last day and we knew he'd be tired but he has all the qualitites to do well and he did a terrific series of rides to get the gold medal. It's fantastic for him".

In the women's Keirin Victoria Pendleton lost out in a photo finish to Simona Krupeckaite (LTU) but Brailsford was left fuming at the decision not to disqualify the Lithuanian for moving outside the sprinter's lane in the closing stages. "Without a doubt she came well outside of the sprinter's lane with both wheels. How far out do you need to be? That's like the ball going over the line in football and the referee saying it's not a goal. That's Vicky's medal as far as we're concerned", he added, before finishing a bit more pragmatically with, "anyway, that's life. That's bike racing".

Overall Brailsford was also keen to emphasise the focus of the team preparation and selection for Copenhagen and sees it as a job well done. "We came here looking at only the Olympic events, and of ten events we've medalled in eight, with three golds, four silvers and a bronze. If you take only the Olympic disciplines into account, we've been the strongest performers", he said, and Team GB do indeed head up the Olympic-only medal table with eight medals to Australia's three, with both teams gaining three golds.

"Australia came here flat stick but we've got more to come", added Brailsford, "we've got some other riders to look at. We've learnt a lot, and mid-way through the Olympic cycle I don't think we could be in a better position".