By Shane Stokes in Palma In recent years British Cycling has taken major results on the track and is...
The British team sprint pair (Image credit: AFP)
By Shane Stokes in Palma
In recent years British Cycling has taken major results on the track and is now a real force in world cycling. The expectation now is that the team will be fighting it out for medals in all major competitions. Olympic and world championships golds have all been achieved, and this has resulted in ongoing - and considerable - financial investment from the UK lottery and others.
The set-up is consequently one of the most professional in world cycling, offering a very significant support and coaching structure for the riders concerned. Shane Stokes spoke with British cycling performance director Dave Brailsford about his hopes for the British team this weekend and beyond.
Dave Brailsford has seen a very strong start to the track world championships in Palma, with Bradley Wiggins taking gold in the individual pursuit and the duo of Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade winning the women’s team sprint. The men’s sprint equivalent also resulted in a big result, although the trio of Ross Edgar, Chris Hoy and Craig Maclean lost out on gold by the heartbreaking margin of two thousandths of a second.
Brailsford spoke to Cyclingnews on Wednesday, one day before racing got underway, and said then that he was very happy with how things had gone. "We are ready now, we want to get racing. All the preparation has gone well. The key thing for us is to sit down the night before, which we will do tonight, seeing if there is anything else we could have done to prepare the team. Have we left any stone unturned? I am pretty sure we are going to get to that meeting tonight and say no, we have done everything we can, we are ready to race. We are relaxed, very relaxed. It couldn’t be better, really."
