Emma Pooley (Great Britain) shows off her gold medal.(Image credit: Luca Bettini)
Emma Pooley (Great Britain) got a little teary on the podium as she became the first British woman to win a time trial title.(Image credit: Luca Bettini)
Emma Pooley (Great Britain) packs a lots of punch for a small rider.(Image credit: Mark Gunter)
After her win in yesterday's elite women's time trial, newly-crowned world champion Emma Pooley will now turn her attention to the road race decider on Saturday but has played down suggestions she's a favourite to make it two titles in one championships.
After watching the elite women's time trial with the Great Britain squad, which came out in force to support its star rider in the event, Cyclingnews asked Pooley if the apparent unity of the team would serve its riders well in Saturday's race.
"There's a really good atmosphere in the team at the moment - it's obviously not always like that because we race for different teams during the season but we've gelled as a team," said Pooley. "It's really nice to see that the girls who weren't racing came out and cheered for me. They could have just stayed inside and just waved instead!"
Pooley explained during the post-race press conference that she had spent the past several weeks preparing specifically for the time trial and as such the Beijing Olympic silver medallist played down suggestions she might be a favourite for Saturday's event.
She cited her focus on the race against the clock and the number of potential winners in the team as the reasons for quelling any speculation she might win two rainbow jerseys in Geelong.
"We haven't had a team meeting about the race yet and obviously I don't call the shots because I'm not in charge; my guess would be that because we've got lots of good riders and a few who could win, we won't have one protected rider," said Pooley.
With reigning Olympic women's road race champion Nicole Cooke, plus Sharon Laws and talented youngster Lizzie Armistead in the team there's no shortage of firepower; possessing several potential winners will be a big plus and no guaratee she'll be a protected rider, according to the 27-year-old.
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"That's a strength as a team that other squads won't have. Nicole, Lizzie, Sharon and myself... we're all riding really strong but in road racing you can't always predict what's going to happen."
