Double Dutch gold for Victoria

By her high standards, Victoria’s poor sprint display was soon behind her and she claimed an impressive victory in the Women’s Keirin on the Apeldoorn track.

The 31-year-old had won the Team Sprint with teammate Jess Varnish on Friday before coming a disappointed eighth in the actual sprint.

Victoria’s Keirin triumph came just ahead of another British success as Matt Crampton won the men’s title.

Her second gold medal on Sunday came just 24 hours after British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford insisted her failure to win a sprint medal on Saturday was no cause for alarm.

“There’s no point judging her on what’s here because it’s part of a process. Everybody has got more to come,” he said following the sprints in which no-one in the British team won medals.

Victoria’s mental strength in winning the Keirin discipline was clear as she could only finish seventh at the World Championships back in March at the same Dutch velodrome.

“Saturday was hard,” she said. “I felt I wasn’t ready to do what I usually do, and it’s never nice when you’re used to winning to get knocked out.

“I had to put it in perspective and I knew the training I’d done so far was more suited to a longer event than a shorter, explosive one.

“I was determined to relax, enjoy it, take courage in the work I’ve been doing, and just see the keirin as a new day and a new challenge.”

The focus for the nine GB riders now switches to Astana in Kazakhstan but Victoria will miss out and focus instead on training.