Kent cyclist Jamie Staff made an impressive start to the UCI World Cup Series campaign by taking gold, alongside Sky+HD team-mates Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar, in the Men’s Team Pursuit at the Manchester Velodrome on Sunday.

The 35-year-old from Ashford, who claimed Olympic gold with Kenny and Chris Hoy in the same event at the Beijing games in August, combined with Kenny and Edgar to reach the final in the fastest time (44.156) before the trio beat Poland by just under a second in the final.

The five-round series is the prelude to March’s UCI World Track Championships in Pruszkow, Poland, with Melbourne next on the calendar in two weeks, followed by meets in Cali (Colombia), Beijing and Copenhagen.