Quicksilver Pooley pedals to another medal for Britain
Emma Pooley produced a stunning ride to claim silver in the time trial yesterday and hand Great Britain a second cycling medal of the Games.
The 25-year-old only turned professional two years ago but came within just 25 seconds of landing a dream gold.
Pooley, who was credited for a playing a key role in team-mate Nicole Cooke winning gold in Sunday’s road race, went for glory herself this time round and set a blistering pace over the hilly 23.5 kilometre time-trial course.
Her time of 35 minutes 16 seconds led for most of the race until American Kristin Armstrong posted a late time of 34.51 to snatch gold.
“Today, I just concentrated on riding as fast as I could, being absolutely smooth and enjoying myself without anyone to push me off,” a relieved Pooley said afterwards.
“It helps being positive-nervous, because you’ve been waiting four years for this. I was enjoying going fast.
“It was pretty fun, I just kept saying, ‘faster faster’. I raced as well as I could.
Cooke, meanwhile, finished well off the pace in a disappointing 15th place, but was full of praise for her team-mate.
“Emma worked so hard and is a very worthy medallist,” Cooke said. “It just shows what a strong cycling team we have.
“She was a very critical part of my gold medal on Sunday and it’s absolutely brilliant Emma’s got her own medal today. It was a very hard course that required maximum effort throughout.”