Lizzie’s proud father says silver medallist ‘took to bike pretty well’

A delighted John Armitstead joked that his daughter, from Otley, near Leeds, had taken to cycling “pretty well” following her silver medal in the women’s road race.

Asked in a ITV Daybreak interview if he remembered teaching his daughter how to cycle, Mr Armitstead said: “You have got to do it on the grass so it is a soft landing. She was the third one we taught, so we had mastered it a bit by then. I am sure she took to it pretty well.”

The cyclist’s family watched her zoom over the finish line from one of the small podiums erected on The Mall.

Mr Armitstead said he and his wife had every confidence that their daughter would clinch a medal. “You daren’t tempt fate, you have got to be realistic but at the back of our minds, yes, we were hoping she would be up there,” he added.

Armitstead’s mother Carol, also appearing on Daybreak, said their daughter had received “100 per cent” backing from their large family. The 23-year-old cyclist was beaten to victory on Sunday at the end of a pulsating 87-mile (140km) race by Dutchwoman Marianne Vos.

Armitstead said afterwards: “I’m really, really happy. Maybe later I’ll start thinking about that gold, but I’m happy with silver at the moment. In retrospect I should’ve tried to jump Marianne, but she’s the fastest and I’m happy enough with silver.”

On the first British podium place of London 2012, she said: “It’s something very special and it hasn’t sunk in yet.”