Sir Chris Hoy believes he has reached his best form since his heroics at the Beijing Olympics after winning keirin and sprint gold at the London Track World Cup, but added that there was still work to be done ahead of this summer’s Games.
The two gold medals were supplemented by a bronze in the men’s team sprint, with Hoy recording his fastest time at man three in the final lap since the 2008 Games. A career best speed in the keirin final on Saturday, clocking 78kph, gave the Scotsman plenty of positives to build on ahead of April’s world championships in Melbourne.
Hoy, who is competing to defend all three of his Olympic gold medals, admitted: “I don’t think I would have expected to win two golds and a bronze. I was hoping for some solid performances but this is the best I have been since Beijing, no question. It’s not just the cold figures, it’s also how you approach the race – with a bit more confidence, taking the race by the scruff of the neck and I enjoyed it. The other thing is that nobody was missing, all the top guys are all here so to win this World Cup, this is the one to do it at.
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"I don’t think I would have expected to win two golds and a bronze. I was hoping for some solid performances but this is the best I have been since Beijing, no question." Sir Chris Hoy |
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“I’ve got the tactics, I could show you half a dozen races that show me executing the perfect race from the front, the back, but it’s about doing them consistently so I know I can do it but it’s about doing it and staying alert.”
The Scotsman overcame a one heat deficit against France’s Gregory Bauge in the quarter-finals of the sprint contest whilst Jason Kenny was knocked out in the final eight at the hands of eventual runner up to Hoy, Germany’s Maximillian Levy. Despite placing himself in a good position to take the one sprint place available for Great Britain at London, Hoy refuted that suggestion that he had cemented the spot.
“There’s a long way to go, Jason is a formidable opponent, he’s not going to lie down and accept it he’s going to fight back in Melbourne. He’s not far away and he was up against Max Levy in the quarter-final who was the eventual silver medallist so he’s almost there and he’s a crafty rider. If he gets a little more speed before the world championships he’ll be a tough nut to crack.”
The 35-year-old echoed performance director Dave Brailsford’s assessment that the weekend represented Great Britain’s best track performance in some time whilst also reiterating the need for further improvements ahead of an expected backlash at the world championships.
“This is the best we have been as a team since Beijing. The fact we’ve been very good in a number of events on the Olympics track - you come back here and you get that good vibe, it’s like in Manchester, when you race there you have so many positive experiences to draw upon you can benefit from but a lot of things can change in the next four to five months, there is a lot of hard work to be done yet.”
