2009 world champion Alison Shanks has finished second in the individual pursuit final at the UCI World Cup in London today.
Shanks was less than a second behind Great Britain’s Joanna Rowsell in the final at the Olympic Velodrome.
Second place was enough for Shanks to pick up the overall world cup title for a second time.
Shanks says racing in front of the partisan British crowd has had its challenges.
"There's an amazing atmosphere in here. The British have backed out the place and are so patriotic. In the final against Joanna, man they were loud," says Shanks.
"We are all still getting use to the actual shape of the track and getting to grips with how to ride it.
"It's been such a cool experience and I was absolutely stoked to be racing a Brit in the final.
"Obviously I desperately wanted to beat her but it was cool to be part of it and man the crowd was loud. It definitely gives you a real sense of what the Olympics will be like. It is going to be so exciting.
"It has been a different experience. We haven't trained through a World Cup before so to be racing so flat and through a big training load is not easy on the head. But we have really looked at the big picture this year which is aimed at the World Championships in Melbourne and on to the Olympics.
"So London for us was about coming here to experience the track and get a feeling about what it is going to be like in August. The performance was not such an important thing this time."
The World Cup finishes tomorrow at the London Olympic Velodrome.
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