It was silver for Elinor Barker and her British teammates in the women’s team pursuit final as they were overpowered at the World Championships in Holland by a supercharged United States quartet.
The Americans came storming through in the final third to register a convincing win and leave Britain without gold in their specialist event since 2014.
The USA were the fastest qualifiers and timed their drive to the finishing line to perfection after Barker and co had led after 2,000 metres.
What a battle!
Thrilling stuff as 🇬🇧 @elinorbarker, @EmilyNelson21, @_katiearchibald and @LauraKenny31 won team pursuit silver v USA! #Apeldoorn2018
🎥 @Eurosport_UK pic.twitter.com/AyTcq14tD7
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) March 1, 2018
It was the first race back for Laura Kenny since having a baby and she and Barker, racing at her sixth world championships, were looking to add to their Olympic title won in Rio in 2016.
But even though they missed out on gold, the British team were happy with their second placed finish.
“As much as we would have loved to have won, I’m still feeling super proud with silver. USA were once again super strong, but if you had said to me six months ago I’d have won a silver medal at the World Championships with the girls I would have thought you were mental,” said Kenny.
Barker will now go on to try to defend her world title in the Points Race. She is also is also joining Kate Archibald in the Madison, an event in which they teamed up in to win gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester in November.