Evans takes gold on final day of Track Cycling World Championships

Cycling Track 16 Oct 22

Neah Evans stormed to gold in the women’s point race to spearhead a successful final day on the track for Great Britain at the Track Cycling World Championships.

Great Britain took their overall medal total to ten in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, as Ethan Hayter and Ollie Wood won silver in the men’s madison and Ethan Vernon claimed bronze in the men’s elimination race. 

Evans earned her maiden World Championship crown with 60 points, seven ahead of second-placed Julie Leth of Denmark. 

The Olympic silver medallist gained a lap early on and was then able to gain another in the closing stages before clinching the rainbow jersey on the final sprint. 

“It was a little bit panicked,” admitted Evans. "I just had to try and give it everything to get the lap, get back on, and get back onto the top which I managed to do, which was fantastic. 

“It’s a pretty good title to win, it’s been won by a lot of fantastic bike riders so I’m delighted to get my name up there too.” 

Evans finished fifth in the women’s madison on Saturday alongside Laura Kenny, and revealed she was pleased to bounce back from a disappointing day on the track with a medal. 

“I was definitely disappointed yesterday, we had a lot of good potential going into the race but we just couldn’t bring it together,” added Evans.  

“It was a huge disappointment for us both so it’s fantastic that I’ve been able to use that form and generate the win today.” 

It was silver in the men’s madison for Hayter and Wood, as they finished behind Olympic bronze medallists Donovan Grondin and Benjamin Thomas of France. 

The pair were tied on 37 points alongside Belgium, Italy, and Netherlands but powered through on the final lap to take 10 points and with it the silver medal ahead of Belgian duo Fabio Van Den Bossche and Lindsay De Vylder. 

“We definitely thought a medal was possible at the start, we kept ourselves in contention,” said Hayter. 

“We made a couple of mistakes around 80 laps in, we made one effort we maybe didn’t need to make and missed a change when it all kicked off. 

“We went all in on the last 20 laps and rescued a silver medal.” 

And there was a bronze for Vernon in the men’s elimination race, as the 22-year-old was narrowly edged out by Italy’s Elia Viviani and New Zealan’s Corbin Strong in a bruising race. 

Vernon superbly navigated the numerous collisions on track to leave himself with a great chance of a medal, before storming past Jules Hesters to guarantee a podium finish. 

Elsewhere, women’s team sprint bronze medallist Sophie Capewell finished 11th in the women’s keirin. 

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