Cycling - Trott dominant as she hammers omnium field

By Martyn Herman RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Four races in two Olympics. Four gold medals for Laura Trott. Not bad for a woman who says she still feels "like a little girl riding around on her bicycle". Britain's Trott romped to victory in the women's track cycling omnium on the Rio boards on Tuesday, leaving her rivals trailing in her tyre tracks and scrapping for podium places. In winning the multi-discipline, two-day event and beating American veteran Sarah Hammer by a massive 24-point margin, she matched her feat at London 2012 when her team pursuit and omnium titles made her the new golden girl of British cycling. Last week she led the team pursuit quartet to victory in a world record time, becoming the first British woman to win a total of three Olympic gold medals. Now she has four and at the age of 24 there is no telling how many she might eventually collect. After cruising round the 100-lap points race on Sunday, the final portion of the six-element omnium, she was congratulated by fiance Jason Kenny who surpassed her Rio haul by one, winning three golds to take his tally to a British record-equalling six. Excess baggage fees may apply when they head to Rio's airport to fly home. All Trott's gold medals have been at the expense of Hammer, the American who must be sick of the sight of her rear wheel. While like a machine on a bike, Trott let her mask slip as she cried tears of joy after the race. "I am so proud at what I achieved," Trott, who won a second omnium world title this year, told reporters after holding up a British flag with "Go Trotty Go" emblazoned across it. "I always thought how special London was. I went there without expectations, so to win two golds was just incredible. Then I thought, how on earth am I going to top that?" She did so with a masterclass of track cycling, particularly in the omnium where she won the individual pursuit and the elimination race on Monday and then seized complete control by going fastest in the flying lap on Tuesday. It meant she had a healthy cushion going into the frenetic points race, a 100-lap ride where sprints offer points. She picked up a few insurance points but turned the race into a procession as the real battle raged between Hammer and Belgium's Jolien D'Hoore. Hammer, omnium world champion twice since 2012, won the final sprint of the day to at least have the consolation of being the next best rider in the competition, seven points in front of the tiring D'Hoore. The United States were left still waiting for their first Olympic women's track cycling gold and at age 32, Hammer's dream of ending that drought may be over. "I love racing my bike. Will I last another four years? Probably not," she said. "I will stay active in the sport. What I love to do is help others, and that's probably what I will be doing." (Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ed Osmond and Andrew Hay)