Champion of the World!

JUST when the British camp thought things couldn't get any better, Chris Newton proved them wrong. He became the first Briton to win the world points title and he did it in brilliant style.

Newton's victory margin was a massive 16 points. He rode like a man inspired and lapped the field three times.

The disappointment of the previous night's bronze medal was forgotten in the euphoria of winning Britain's third world title in three days.

"I felt I let the lads down after failing in the team pursuit last night," said Newton. "I didn't have a strategy going into the race, but as the gun went I got my racing head on and went for it."

Escaping in a four-man break, Newton lapped the field after 25 laps of the 120-lap race. Under new rules it meant a bonus of 20 points and suddenly Newton was a medal contender.

"I couldn't believe it, I was just floating," he said.

Three-time world champion Bruno Risi was the danger man. He moved forward to the same lap as Newton. The Englishman responded by winning the half-distance sprint lap. His reward was to extend his overall lead to 19 points.

Now Newton had to make certain that he didn't lose a lap to Risi, who would go top with the 20 points bonus. Newton went on the attack, Risi marked him and they drifted back to the bunch. Again Newton jumped clear in a threeman break and again Risi was forced to chase.

"I was sticking in full laps to keep the break going, I just wanted them to go faster," Newton said.

Now there were only 30 laps to go; Newton's group kept on gaining and he continued to collect points every 10 laps. Risi finally conceded defeat and, with just six laps to go, Newton and his breakaway partners Franz Stocher and Juan Curuchet gained yet another lap to clinch the three medals.

"I've been after a world title for so many years. Now I'll be able to have the rainbow bands on my sleeves for the rest of my life and nobody can take that away from me," concluded Newton.

1 Chris Newton (GBr) 76 pts
2 Franz Stocher (Aut) 50
3 Juan Curuchet (Arg) 49
4 Bruno Risi (Swi) 39
5 Serguei Kudentsov (Rus) 31
6 Leonardo Duque (Col) 31
7 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) 26
8 Volodymyr Rybin (Ukr) 25
9 Milton Wynants (Uru) 24
10 Juan Llaneras Rossello (Spa) 24
11 Matthew Gilmore (Bel) 23
12 Milan Kadlec (Cze) 23
13 Franck Perque (Fra) 23
14 Colby Pearce (USA) 3
15 Jukka Heinikainen (Fin) 1
16 Wilco Zuijderwijk (Ned) 1
17 Marco Villa (Ita) 1

1 lap behind

18 Jure Zrimsek (Slo) 3
19 Juan De La Rosa (Mex) 3
20 Andreas Muller (Ger) 0
21 Remigijus Lupeikis (Ltu) 0
22 Lars Thomsen (Den) 0
DNF Jean-Pierre Van Zyl (RSA)
DNF Graeme Brown (Aus)