Grant White has revealed that Liam Phillips won the opening round of the UCI BMX World Cup on limited training, following an injury hit winter.

The Great Britain Cycling Team Olympic BMX coach explained that Phillips had just 10 weeks of serious training ahead of the opening race of the season.

Despite imperfect preparation, Phillips retained his unbeaten record at Manchester’s National Cycling Centre, winning both time trial and supercross events for the third consecutive year.

According to White, the 2013 world champion was in sensational form both mentally and physically – something that allowed Phillips to thrill the crowd.

“Every year I think the pressure must get higher and higher and I think for Liam to deliver that performance was fantastic” White commented following the weekend competition.

“He had a bit of an interrupted preparation over the winter with a bit of an injury and a couple of other bits and pieces so it was 10 or 11 weeks out (from the event) when he got really serious and stuck into some hard training and that all came together really well.

“Over the weekend he did a whole bunch of PBs, he’s gone faster than he’s ever gone before, he delivered under pressure so absolutely fantastic.”

Crossing the line on Sunday, a visibly emotional Phillips let out a cry of defiance as he removed his helmet, taking time to compose himself before speaking to the media.

The defending world cup champion now has three weeks to prepare for round two in Papendal and realise his ambition of winning a first open-air BMX international event.