Team sprint times an indication of Olympic progression
Image 1 of 2
Sir Chris Hoy led the British to victory in the men's team sprint(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Sir Chris Hoy at speed(Image credit: British Cycling)
Sir Chris Hoy was evidently upbeat following a win for Great Britain in the team sprint during the opening night of competition at the UCI Track World Cup in Melbourne.
The decorated sprinter, who rode a time of 43.829 in the gold medal final with teammates Matthew Crampton and Jason Kenny, says that the progression of the three fast men is where it needs to be as they develop towards next year's world championships and onto London in two years' time for the Olympics.
"[The time] is a tenth quicker than Europeans [European championships] two weeks ago, so we're heading in the right direction; again, we only arrived here on Sunday so we're still getting into the timezone and it's nice to be able to do good times but we've not got everything 100 percent yet," Hoy said.
"We had two tenths on the kiwis - that's two bike lengths - that's a decent margin. But you often see teams go faster in the second leg [of a team sprint] so you can never take anything for granted."
Hoy explained that the team is experimenting with him riding second man this year and it seems to be working, with Great Britain coach Shane Sutton informing reporters after the race that it was the Scot's best time riding in that position. And the results speak for the themselves.
"I normally ride third man in team sprint and I'm trying second lap this year - that's my best ever second lap," said Hoy.
"We knew there were a couple of little tweaks we could make to our performance to improve it but ultimately when it comes to team sprint you're not thinking about anybody but yourself and your goal within that team," he added.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"I was just thinking about getting on the wheel behind Jason, recovering and then delivering a good second leg then hopefully Matt finishing off the job. You don't really think about the other guys but it's good for confidence to qualify quickest."
