Wolverhampton's Andy Tennant bags silver as Aussies rule cycling championships
[gallery] Wolverhampton's Andy Tennant suffered defeat at the World Track Cycling Championships as Great Britain were forced to settle for silver.
Australia gained revenge for defeat at London 2012 and the Worlds in Melbourne last year to win the team pursuit in 3min 56.751s with GB finishing in 4min 0.967s.
Tennant and Sam Harrison joined Olympic champions Ed Clancy and Steven Burke in the final in Minsk last night. And Tennant, who was selected for the Olympics but never raced, paid tribute to the Aussies.
He said: "It was a fantastic performance from them, they have some fantastic riders. They won the silver medal at the Olympics and are fantastic athletes.
"We were a fair bit down by the end but we gave what we could."
And two-time Olympic champion Clancy, who returned to the team pursuit after training with the sprint squad since London, insisted defeat must be put into context.
"We'd rather win than lose but perhaps it's their turn after what we did to them at the Worlds and Olympics last year," he said.
"This is the first stage of the Olympic cycle and you have to remember that British Cycling is an Olympic programme. This is just part of the process."
GB failed to win gold on the first day as newcomer Kian Emadi finished fourth in the 1km time trial and Becky James and Vicky Williamson, who replaced the injured Jess Varnish, finished third in the team sprint final.
The pair beat the Australian duo of Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton and Halesowen Cycling Club's Varnish believes it is the start of a new era.
"Vicky (Pendleton) and Chris (Hoy) have retired but it's the same in the other countries," said the 22-year-old, who is out with a back injury. "There are so many new people and not the old ones who were dominating.
"We've already done really well in the team sprint and the boys got silver in the team pursuit final."
