Jaco van Gass nets gold, Neil Fachie and Matthew Rotherham also win amid GB medal rush at World Cycling Championships

Great Britain continue to excel at the 2023 Cycling World Championships as Jaco van Gass, Tandem pair Neil Fachie and Matthew Rotherham, and Jody Cundy all claimed gold medals on Friday.

Van Gass took victory in the men’s C3 1km time trial, Fachie and Rotherham won the men’s B 1km time trial, while Cundy clinched C4 1km time trial gold.

There was more success for GB as James Ball and Steffan Lloyd took the silver behind Fachie and Rotherham.

It had appeared that British success was not guaranteed in that event when Germany’s Thomas Ulbricht and Robert Forstemann put themselves into the lead, but they were displaced by both of the British entrants.

First, Ball and Lloyd usurped them as they were eight tenths of a second faster, but it was Fachie and Rotherham who took to the circuit for the final runout.

Fachie – boasting 16 world titles already – and his team-mate were just ahead on their first lap, and on the second lap they appeared to be slowing, which left the favourites in danger of a surprise defeat.

However they then bested the lead time by just four hundredths of a second giving Britain both gold and silver.

“What a steal!” exclaimed Carlton Kirby on Eurosport commentary.

“The crowd just have a huge inhale of breath, they were not expecting that switch. But they made it. Wow!”

Fachie won his first world crown back in 2009 in Manchester.

It’s turning into quite the week for Fachie whose wife Lora qualified fastest for the women’s B individual pursuit.

In the C4 1km trial, Cundy was also the last to put down a time, and after moving within range in his first lap, the 44-year-old got closer in the second, and then put down a stunning third lap to move ahead of Michael Shipley by over a second.

It’s Cundy’s 14th consecutive rainbow jersey in the men C4 kilo time trial.

There was yet more success as Team GB landed their 12th medal of the competition as Van Gass took victory in the C3 1km time trial, with Finlay Graham taking second place.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Van Gass said: “Both Finlay and the New Zealander [Devon Briggs] went quicker than this morning so I had to back things up.

“It was not easy. It was amazing to have this event with the able-bodied guys because we rarely get crowds like these and they really pushed me on in the last lap.”

Britain currently head the overall medal table from Germany.