Sir Chris Hoy leads British 1-2-3 as gold medals pile up at the Manchester Velodrome

By Sportsmail Reporter
Updated: 20:17 EST, 1 November 2009

Sir Chris Hoy led a Great Britain one-two-three in the men's sprint on the second day of the Track World Cup at the Manchester Velodrome.

Four-time Olympic champion Hoy, who claimed one of Britain's four victories on the opening day by winning the keirin, defeated Matt Crampton 2-0 in the final for Britain's second gold of the evening after Wendy Houvenaghel's women's individual pursuit triumph.

Jason Kenny beat Australia's Shane Perkins 2-0 to claim bronze for Britain to take all three places on the podium as the hosts continued their domination of the first World Cup meeting of the season.

Hoy paid tribute to his team-mates, but hopes to stay ahead of 23-year-old Crampton and 21-year-old Kenny - the Beijing silver medallist - until after the London Games.

'If they weren't around pushing me on, there's no question I wouldn't be performing at the level I am at the moment,' said Hoy, who will be 36 and in his fourth Games in London.

'They're inspiring me and pushing me on and I'm just really grateful they're there - but I don't know how much longer I'll be grateful for.

'It's getting closer and closer, but hopefully I can hold them off to London and they can have a great Olympics in 2016.'

Hoy reiterated his wish to look towards London, with Beijing in the past.

'It's coming up fast,' he said. 'It's starting to sharpen the mind a little bit and you can see that in the performances.'

Hoy set a flying 200metres track record of 9.869 seconds to demonstrate his
supreme form on his return to international competition following a hip injury.

'He's the man to beat,' said Crampton. 'It's a bad thing in a way but it's also a great thing, learning from him.

'Chris just keeps re-inventing himself; I think he's probably on better form now than he was at the Olympics.'

Houvenaghel, the Olympic and world silver medallist, was the fastest pursuit qualifier by nine seconds after a ride of three minutes 30.800 seconds and caught Josephine Tomic of Australia to win the final.

But talk afterwards centred on the future of the event, which is poised to be axed from the Olympic programme in changes proposed by cycling's world governing body, the UCI.

Beijing Olympic champion Rebecca Romero is among those to voice her displeasure
at the switch - designed in order for gender parity, but criticised due to the loss of the pursuits, the Madison and the points races - which is set to be ratified by the International Olympic Committee in December.

'It's devastating because this is an event that I've specialised in for the last three-and-a-half years,' said Houvenaghel, who was beaten into second place by Romero in China.

As for the London 2012 Games, which begin in 1000 days' time, Houvenaghel
dismissed the prospect of competing in the road time-trial alongside Romero.

'I feel that my strengths lie on the track,' she added. 'The team pursuit is probably going to be included in the London events and that will be my route to Olympic gold.'

Houvenaghel is a world champion in the team pursuit along with Lizzie Armitstead and Joanna Rowsell, and the trio ride in the event on the final day of competition tomorrow.