Pendleton's time was only 0.10 secs behind her display at the Worlds

Victoria Pendleton was "surprised" to clock one of her best times in her first race of the season ahead of next week's World Cup opener in Manchester.

The Olympic and world sprint champion won the women's 500m time trial at the national track championships in 34.262 seconds on Tuesday.

Pendleton, 29, said: "This is the third or fourth best time I've ever done.

"It's by far the fastest time I've put in at this stage in the year so I'm pleasantly surprised."

Jess Varnish (Halesowen) was second ahead of double world junior champion Becky James (Abergavenny Road Club).

"Training for the World Cup starts today, so preparation is going OK," added Pendleton. "It's much better than I expected - I was expecting to do a mid to high 34 seconds.

606: DEBATE How will Pendleton fare at the World Cup event?

"It's great to see Jess and Becky coming through and putting in good times tonight too - having these girls [helps] in training as they push me to train harder.

"It's also good that I can help and hopefully inspire them to achieve their dreams and aspirations."

Pendleton will also be competing in the women's sprint event on Wednesday evening.

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