Chorley's Bradley Wiggins produced an outstanding performance to strike gold in the men’s individual pursuit in Beijing – retaining the title he won in Athens four years ago. He becomes the first athlete to win men's individual pursuit titles at back-to-back Olympic Games.
And there was also a deserved bronze medal for British team-mate Steven Burke, who is from Colne, Pendle.
Wiggins trounced New Zealand’s Hayden Roulston to claim Team GB’s third gold of the day and sixth of the Games. The New Zealander went out fast from the start and was ahead at the 1000m mark. But then Wiggins stepped up the pace - setting a punishing and relentless pace that Roulston couldn’t match. He kept the pressure on to the finishing line, ultimately crossing the line in 4:16.977 to win gold by 2.624 seconds
Wiggins said: "I had to play it safe, not chasing world records. It was a special occasion to get the job done and win gold.
"Yesterday was hard, the 16 this evening was controlled and the final was hard, but I couldn't risk trying to ride easy. Taking on the challenge of winning three golds takes work.
"When you've got a team like ours, you're there to be shot at."
Earlier Burke had beaten Russia'd Alexei Markov in the bronze medal match. Burke took the early initiative, before he was hauled back by the Russian. But Burke then overhauled Markov to finish third by 3.202 seconds.
Burke said: "I'm so elated, I'm just trying to get my head around it. I came here fully committed to the team pursuit and that's all I was thinking about, so to win a medal in this is amazing."
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