Cycling champ's world record joy

The team broke the world record with their win

Cycling champion Geraint Thomas has spoken of his joy at winning gold in the World Track Cycling Championships and breaking the world record.

The 21-year-old, from Cardiff, triumphed as part of the British men's pursuit team at the Manchester event and said it was a "dream come true".

The team - which also included Bradley Wiggins, Edward Clancy and Paul Manning- beat Australia's 2004 record.

They set a new world mark of three minutes 56.318 seconds against Denmark.

It's a nice pressure to have, I guess, and we're all guns blazing for Beijing Thomas on Olympic expectations

Speaking after the record-breaking win, Thomas, said: "It was awesome last night in front of the home crowd and the atmosphere was just phenomenal.

"To pull off a world record as well, it was just a dream come true."

The team, who also won gold at the 2007 championships, now hope to emulate their success at the Beijing Olympics later this year.

Thomas, whose family live in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff, said he understood British expectations would be high for an Olympic medal.

"It's definitely a different pressure than being the underdog and hunting the Aussies down, which we have been doing the last year," he said.

The team took gold at the championships

"It's a nice pressure to have, I guess, and we're all guns blazing for Beijing.

In 2007, Thomas became the first Welshman in 40 years to ride in the Tour de France.

He also took the Welsh Senior Road Race Championship crown in 2005.

The cyclist was out of action for much of 2005 after he crashed a few days before his senior road race debut in Sydney and had to have surgery to remove his spleen.

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