Jason Queally in the frame for World's team pursuit call-up

Jason Queally

Former Olympic kilometre champion Jason Queally is in the frame for a shock call-up to Great Britain's team pursuit squad for the World Track Championships later this month.

Queally, who will be 40 in May, had been preparing to become a 'pacer' for the British Paralympian team at the 2012 Games in London.

But after training with the Great Britain track endurance squad in Majorca and following some impressive performances, he is in the provisional squad of six team pursuiters for the World Track Championships in Copenhagen later this month.

Queally is on the shortlist of six with Ed Clancy, Andy Tennant, Andy Fenn, Stephen Burke and Ben Swift.

That will be trimmed down to five this week and the full Great Britain squad for the World Championships set to be named on Friday.

Seeing how Queally, who has such pedigree as a kilometre rider, could alter the dimension of a team pursuit effort is a fascinating prospect. British Cycling are constantly testing to see if they can go even quicker and the way Queally has adapted to the team pursuit and learned the nuances of it has impressed the coaching team.

Queally won gold in the kilometre at the Sydney Olympics ten years ago.

Meanwhile, the riders in the frame for the team sprint squad - Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Ross Edgar, Matt Crampton and David Daniell - will have a series of competitive ride-offs at Manchester this week to help determine the final squad.

New Omnium format still causing problems

BC's selection committee is also waiting until Thursday before deciding who should ride the kilometre time trial at the worlds. "We used to use it to develop man three for the team sprint," track Performance Manager Shane Sutton said. "But should we now use it for the Omnium rider?"

The Omnium continues to cause headaches for all the squads with the format at the worlds different to what it will be at the Olympics in London 2010.

Although Sutton wouldn't confirm who Team GB would field in the Omnium, he did say that; "we need to put a rider in the Omnium who could go on and win in London."

"But what it takes to win the Omnium in Copenhagen isn't necessarily what it will take to win the Omnium in London."

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Nigel Wynn
Former Associate Editor

Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.