Great Britain's Olympic champion Jamie Staff has admitted that defeat in the team sprint at the World Championships has been hard to take.

The Ashford-born cyclist, 35, won gold in Beijing but had to settle for silver in Poland after losing out to France by 0.3 seconds in the final.

Staff said: "It's a little hard to swallow after the success in Beijing.

"We knew the French would be hard to beat, they've got a fantastic team and they've won this event so many times."

He added: "I was hoping to get another gold but that's the way it goes and it's back to the drawing board.

"But I'm not too disappointed."

It is hard sometimes to get motivated as the Olympics was my dream come true Jamie Staff

Staff also admitted he found it hard to focus himself in training after winning the sport's ultimate prize.

He said: "Initially after the games, I didn't want to see a bike, you are so burnt out because it is so intense. You live, eat and sleep bikes.

"But then after a while that faded and I wanted to get back on and now I really enjoy riding again.

"It is hard sometimes to get motivated as the Olympics was my dream come true, so I had to dig deep and think of some new goals.

"My goal for this season was to try to win the worlds.

"I was a little bit off the mark, but we can't be too disappointed."

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