“This is not a slight on her team sprint partner Jess Varnish at all, but there is a gap there and it has not been closed so they are really going to have to go some to fill those particular shoes.
“But Vicky also struggled a bit in the early years of her career. She was very up and down and it took her a long time to make a breakthrough, so I think that is a good sign for Jess, who is only 21.”
Thomas: “For Chris it is about his work ethic and how much he really wants to win. You need hunger and discipline to be able to go and train like he does day in, day out for years and years. It is incredible to see.
“The 1km time trial was his original event. He went to the 2004 Olympics and won that under a lot of pressure. Then, when it was taken out of the Games he changed discipline, learning about the sprint and the tactics, and making himself the best in the world.
“As sprinters, he and Vicky have that one discipline that they need to work on for so long and it involves a lot of training and not much racing.
“They have the world championship every year and the Olympics every four, but they spend most of their time training on the track or in the gym and it can get quite monotonous at times, compared to pursuit training where you go on the roads too.
“That’s another reason why it is amazing for them to have achieved what they have done, with all their world titles too, over so many years.”
