Options increase as Clancy gears up for London 2012

A sensational individual performance from consummate team man Ed Clancy delivered Great Britain's third Track Cycling World Championships title yesterday – but Victoria Pendleton was denied her second gold on a dramatic final day in Copenhagen.

Yorkshire-born Clancy, already the owner of three world team pursuit titles and Olympic gold, was a surprise winner of the men's omnium, a multi-discipline event which is to join the London 2012 programme.

But Pendleton was denied her ninth world title in the women's keirin, despite video evidence proving conclusively she had been obstructed by champion Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania.

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The UCI, the sport's governing body, studied their own footage and British Cycling's prior to the medal ceremony, but deemed the result should stand, with Pendleton taking the silver.

The decision overshadowed what was a remarkable performance from Clancy, who was a relative novice in three of the five omnium events but followed Sir Chris Hoy and Pendleton to the top step of the world podium.

Britain finished second in the overall championship standings behind old adversaries Australia, but accumulated three gold, four silver and one bronze from the 10 Olympic events on the 19-event programme at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen.

The only non-Olympic medal they won was Wendy Houvenaghel's women's individual pursuit silver.

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Otley's Lizzie Armitstead, who won women's omnium silver on day four, was ninth in the women's points race yesterday.

The omnium was something of an unknown prospect for Clancy, whose fatigue at the end of the day was exacerbated by an early start yesterday morning.

The 25-year-old, who was born in Barnsley and lives in Newton-le-Willows, awoke an hour earlier than intended after his alarm clock automatically adjusted when he had already taken into account daylight saving time.

But he responded with victories in the first event, the 200m time-trial, and the 1km time-trial, the final event.

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He also claimed top-five finishes in the individual pursuit and the points race to win ahead of defending champion Leigh Howard and Taylor Phinney, the two-time world individual pursuit champion.

Road sensation Mark Cavendish and bunch specialist Chris Newton are expected to be considered for the omnium in London, which is set to include a sixth elimination event.

But Clancy's performance suggests he could yet spurn the team pursuit in a bid for solo glory.

"After today you've got to think about it," he said.

"It's probably going to clash with the team pursuit, so I'm going to have to weigh it up.

"I would've thought I'd stick to team pursuiting."

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Clancy led Steven Burke, Andy Tennant and Ben Swift to a runners-up spot on Friday, losing out by 0.152secs to Australia.

And he said he would have preferred to share in the glory.

He added: "Having said that, it's my first individual medal of any colour and one I didn't think I'd get.

"It felt like I had a hangover the day after the team pursuit and that wasn't just because I raided the bar.

"You just feel down when you lose by such a small margin."

Clancy had never previously ridden a flying 200m – he asked sprint coach Iain Dyer and Olympic team sprint champion Jamie Staff for advice moments before the start.

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He also looked to Newton for guidance on the bunch races, in which he used a bike he had ridden previously for only eight laps in Manchester.

He finished 13th in the scratch, but performed admirably in the points race, finishing fifth.

He said: "(During the points race) was the hardest 30-40 laps of my life."

Pendleton's attempts to add to Clancy's gold and claim her second keirin world title were undermined when Krupeckaite twice strayed out of the sprinter's corridor – between the black and red lines on the track – clearly infringing the rules.

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The winning margin was minute and Krupeckaite's move hindered Pendleton's prospects of a second title of the week.

The UCI dismissed Britain's protest, leaving performance director Dave Brailsford, pictured below, fuming.

"Those are the rules and they didn't have the bottle to apply the rules," Brailsford said.

"Why have the rules if you don't apply them?"

Pendleton was less upset, but the decision could have implications for her bid to qualify for the 2011 World Championships keirin in Apeldoorn as only the world champion has an automatic invitation.

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"Somebody up there is going to have to explain to me a little bit later quite why," she said.

Pendleton finished with sprint gold, keirin silver and fourth in the team sprint alongside Jessica Varnish.

"I've fulfilled all my ambitions this week," said Pendleton.

But Britain were without a representative in the men's sprint after Hoy, Jason Kenny and Matt Crampton were eliminated at the quarter-final stage on day four. Hoy's conqueror, Gregory Bauge, of France, successfully defended his world title.

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