Cycling - Wiggins misses gold as Australia win team pursuit
By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) - Bradley Wiggins' hopes of leading Britain to team pursuit gold at the world track championships were foiled by old rivals Australia in a thrilling final on Thursday.
It looked as though Wiggins, 35, and team mates Jonathan Dibben, Ed Clancy and Owain Doull would raise the roof in the Olympic velodrome when they closed an early gap but Australia struck back to claim the title.
Victory for Sam Welsford, Michael Hepburn, Callum Scotson and Miles Scotson was Australia's sixth world title in the event in the past 11 editions of the championships.
Earlier a perfectly-timed sprint gave Laura Trott victory in the women's 10km scratch race at the world track championships on Thursday as Britain belatedly got on the medal table.
Trott, part of Britain's dominant team at the 2012 Olympics when she won gold in the omnium and team pursuit, burst to the front on the 40th and final lap at the London velodrome and edged out Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands on the line.
Canada's Stephanie Roorda was third.
Trott suffered disappointment earlier when she was part of the British team pursuit quartet, who were only fifth fastest in qualifying, ruling them out of contention for a gold medal.
"I know this is not an Olympic event but last year in Paris this was the event that let me down in the omnium and I've worked so hard on it over the past 12 months," Trott said.
"The team pursuit was disappointing because we found out what our limit was at the world championships."
Germany won two gold medals on day two.
Kristina Vogel won the women's keirin title, edging out Australia's 11-times world champion Anna Meares with Britain's Rebecca James in third place.
Joachim Eilers won the men's 1km time trial, beating Dutch veteran Theo Bos and Frenchman Quentin Lafargue.
The men's team pursuit final rounds off the action later when the home crowd will hope to roar Bradley Wiggins and the rest of the British quartet to victory over Australia.
Hosts Britain suffered a disappointing opening day on Wednesday when they failed to medal in either the men's or women's team sprints.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris/Toby Davis)