London: Chris Hoy and Britain's cycling team rounded off the Track World Cup at London's new Olympic Velodrome on Sunday, leaving the cheering home crowd more confident than ever of gold at this year's Summer Games.
Hoy, a four-time Olympic champion, followed his victory in Saturday's kierin with a 2-0 win over Maximilian Levy in the men's sprint, overpowering the German on the home straight in the first race and keeping his line under severe pressure on the back straight in the second.
Hoy's win and a silver medal for Britain's men's team pursuit outfit helped the host nation finish atop the points table at the four-day meet — which doubled as an Olympic test event at the new 6,000-seat arena.
"I've had a tough day out there and felt it in my legs," the 35-year-old Scot said. "More than the actual result, I'm more pleased about the way I rode. It's a really important step towards the Olympics.
"I've really fed off the energy of the crowd. Hopefully we can do the same at the Olympics."
Hoy's triumph also boosted his chances of winning the single team slot in the Olympic sprint event. His rival for that spot, world champion Jason Kenny, lost his quarterfinal 2-0 to Levy before rallying to beat a four-man field, including Bauge, to finish fifth. Next month's World Championships in Melbourne will be the next platform for the pair's battle. "Every race between now and the Olympics matters," Kenny said.
"I'm chasing Chris. There's not a lot I can do except try harder and harder to close the gap.
"It's really good actually. We're really pushing each other. Obviously, we're both really competitive people."
Levy's Germany finished as overall World Cup champion, while Australia's Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alex Edmondson and Michael Hepburn won the men's team pursuit and clinched the overall World Cup title with the second-fastest time ever.
Home favourite Victoria Pendleton reached the final of the women's kierin but got trapped after an early surge and could not get around on the outside, finishing a disappointing fifth. Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite took gold, while China's Li Huang won the women's multidiscipline omnium event ahead of American Sarah Hammer.
