The 16 recommendations to improve the domestic racing scene, released by British Cycling’s elite road racing task force on Monday, are “realistic and attainable”, according to Ed Clancy.

The three-time Olympic champion chaired the external group, which was established by the national governing body last summer. It included marketing experts, former team managers, and riders. 

Alongside Clancy, the task force included riders Monica Greenwood and Jo Tindley, Great Britain Cycling Team sports director John Herety, Brother UK managing director Phil Jones, M2 Sports co-owner Steve Fry, race organiser Chris Lawrence and Rapha marketing manager Jess Morgan. 

By consulting with a variety of stakeholders across the sport, the task force's aim was to then generate a list of ideas to boost the dwindling scene. 

In recent times, races have collapsed, some of Britain’s leading UCI Continental teams have suffered financial issues or struggled for sponsorship. It’s hoped that the recommendations outlined can help turn the tide and eventually force the scene to return to a place of prosperity. 

Presenting the task forces’ findings to Cycling Weekly, Clancy was quick to point out that he believes  there is no “no silver bullet” to fix the struggling UK domestic scene. 

Two recommendations include making sure more races on the national road calendar are held outside the north of England and ensuring the delivery of a men’s and women’s Tour of Britain this year.

Clancy told Cycling Weekly that knowledge sharing and creating a lasting impact would be key to ensuring those points are met. 

“They're struggling for money, like everybody else is,” Clancy said, speaking about local councils. “But I think one thing that’s apparent is that this has got to be bigger than a bike race. They need to see communities, more families involved and they're interested in seeing a lasting legacy. 

“We've got to make sure that the national circuit series has a bit of a brand about it, almost like a franchise model, that makes it easier to sell, or make it easier for the local authorities to buy in to. 

“If it's about more than simply a bike race turning up and leaving they would be more interested.”

“There were a lot of pieces to this puzzle,” he added. “But I do think these recommendations are realistic and they're attainable.”

There is also a recommendation that “succession plans” are put in place for when an event organiser, particularly one of a national event, decides to step aside. 

“I think the facts are that, generally speaking, race organisers are getting older,” he said. “Now they've also got decades and decades of experience that we don't want to leave the building. So one of our recommendations is that they'll come in to share best practice. 

“The good news is that there is young blood that's prepared to take on this task [of organising events]. An example is someone like Seb Ottley [Portsdown Classic organiser]. 

“We just want to make sure that when there is young blood coming in that we can support and we can share the knowledge and experience of the incredibly generous and hard working race organisers that have preceded them.” 

Clancy told CW that “dozens of” race organisers were consulted by the task force in order to share their ideas which ultimately helped to shape the succession plan recommendation. 

He said he believes in the ability of the “passionate people” currently operating in the sport to force change and make an impact using the 16 recommendations for guidance. 

“It's the people that are going to make this happen again and again,” he said. “As a task force, our job was to go away, go on this big discovery journey, consult with as many people as we can and say ‘right, this is what we think is gonna make a difference’. 

“Now, British Cycling will have a finite resource in terms of money and people. So it's kind of up to them, we've passed the baton over now, we've said ‘look, this is what we think and now it's up to you’... I think the good news is that there are passionate people in this sport like the current riders, like the organisers, volunteers, like the marshals, like everyone working in British Cycling hard to make things better.” 

Despite reiterating that change “would not happen overnight”, Clancy said that there was one recommendation in particular that he hoped to see put into practice sooner than the others. 

“Out of all those points I think it would be great to see the Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour happen this year,” he said. “It's out of my control if that could happen but I think that'd be something to celebrate if it does.” 

BC's CEO, Jon Dutton, welcomed the report and thanked the task force.

“While it is clear from the report that there are no easy answers, we have taken positive steps with our 2024 elite road calendar, and now have a clear long-term roadmap to propel our national level events towards sustainable growth in the future," he said in a statement.

“This has been a new way of working for British Cycling, which demonstrates our commitment to openness and collaboration with our communities, and to finding solutions to our most pressing challenges. We look forward to sharing our progress over the months and years ahead.” 

16 Elite Road Racing Task Force recommendations in full

- Explore the creation of a centralised procurement function.
- Produce a new branding, marketing and communications framework.
- Undertake a full review of the digital strategy.
- Develop event organiser succession plans for all national series events.
- Develop a ‘Winning Pattern’ playbook based on existing successful races.
- Consider a targeted sponsorship agreement for the National Series.
- Review rider entry processes to stimulate early entries.
- Develop best practice guidance for teams.
- Undertake a full review of the National Circuit Series.
- Prioritise National Circuit Series locations by audience size.
- Review the entry criteria for WorldTour riders to enter the National Circuit Series.
- Review the national road calendar and ensure more races are outside of the north of England.
- All efforts should be made to ensure delivery of the Tour of Britain and a UCI Women’s World Tour stage race in 2024.
- Explore opportunities to increase the number of UCI 1.2 and 2.2 races.
- Undertake a full review of race distances and rider qualification criteria.
- Consider a new range of jerseys for the National Road Series and a capped maximum entry cost. 

Olympic gold medallists Chris Hoy and Ed Clancy will be among those in attendance at this year’s National Cycling Show, which opens in Birmingham this weekend. 

The show, held within the city’s flagship event venue, the N.E.C., will bring together brands, athletes and leading cycling personalities, offering talks and immersive experiences. 

Among those who will be present are Hoy and Clancy, two of the Great Britain Cycling Team’s most successful track cyclists. The former, a six-time Olympic champion sprinter, retired in 2013, but has continued working within the sport, taking on punditry roles for the BBC and the new UCI Track Champions League. 

Like Hoy, Clancy also has multiple Olympic titles to his name. The Yorkshireman was a mainstay of Great Britain’s team pursuit dominance this century, and won three Olympic golds during his career. He now serves as the active travel commissioner for South Yorkshire. 

The duo will be discussing the latest issues in cycling on the National Cycling Show’s road and track stage. BMX athletes Beth Shriever - the current Olympic racing champion - and Kriss Kyle are also scheduled to talk on similar topics. 

For lovers of bike tech, there will be a number of high-end manufacturers displaying at this year’s show, including Canyon, Basso and Atherton. 

Sponsored by V12 Retail Finance, the show begins on 17 June and will be held over two days, finishing on 18 June. 

“The show is a one stop event for cycling enthusiasts,” a press release read. “People looking to take their first pedal in the sport, cycle commuters, athletes and leisure riders.

“Book your tickets now for a fun day out, seeing the latest bikes, gadgets and accessories from leading brands.” 

The press release continued: “New features for 2023 include Showcase Alley, where you can see cycling innovations across the history of the sport, Immerse Cycling, virtual reality cycle training for children and BMX Flatland competition.”

Day tickets are on sale now, and cost £10 per person when bought in advance, or £15 on the day. Children under the age of 16 are able to enter free of charge. 

To purchase tickets, visit the National Cycling Show's website. 

It’s a perfect spring morning and I’m in East London, killing time under the shadow of the Pringles-shaped dome that is the Lee Valley Velodrome. 

I’ve come to meet Ed Clancy, a three-time Olympic team pursuit champion with Team GB and now ambassador of a new e-road bike racing series - the EBK. He doesn’t know it yet, but in about half an hour, I’m going to ambush him with a proposition: a straightforward, two-up bike race. 

I’ve been thinking about it all morning. The EBK press officer told me I’d get a “one-to-one” e-bike ride-out with Clancy, which I chose to read more as a one v one. When I turn up, I’m raring to go. I’ve even got a skintight, bright pink race jersey in my rucksack. 

Clancy and I chitchat as we tinker with my saddle height. From what I can make out, the bike they've given me is a BMC Roadmachine AMP Two, an e-road bike with power assistance restricted at 25km/h. It's the most expensive thing I’ve ever ridden, by a factor of three. 

We roll out onto the lumpy, one-mile-long road track next to the velodrome used for the 2012 London Olympics. After I warm up and figure out how to downshift, I turn to Clancy. Let’s have a bit of fun, I say. His face lights up. We agree that, on the next passing of the line, we’ll race one lap of the circuit, dicing through its tight hairpins and down the straight run-in to the finish.  

It’s at this point that I realise I should’ve come with a race tactic. Clancy is a six-time track world champion, former national criterium champion and, as I discovered the night before, a stage winner at the 2011 Tour de Korea. My best result is 36th in a local hill-climb competition. 

When we cross the start line, I panic and start whirring up a big gear. My plan, it would seem, is to spring a long one on him, perhaps in the hope that his Olympic legs have suffered severe atrophy since his retirement, and I’m on the best day of my life. 

It quickly transpires that neither is true. Clancy latches onto my wheel, and as the road dips slightly, he leaps ahead, rounds a corner and puts three bike lengths into me.

The chase is on. I tuck my elbows in and stare down at my top tube to check turbo mode is activated. It is. Sadly, though, the power assist is useless at these speeds, and I kick through the pedals in desperation. 

When I look up, Clancy is no closer. He’s soft-pedalling. I’m gasping. The dry air catches my throat, and my eyes start to water. To those onlooking, I’m beaten, but I’ve watched enough hours of bike racing to know it's not truly over until one of us reaches the line. 

At the circuit's halfway point, Clancy sits up in his saddle and checks over his shoulder. I can’t tell whether he feels sorry or simply wants to toy with me, but he eases up and waits for me to regain contact. 

I know what to do. We come into a short uphill, side by side, and as we crest the summit, I dip onto the inside line and attack again. This is it, I think to myself, the race-winning move, but when I look back beneath my armpit, Clancy’s on my wheel once more. It’s coming down to a sprint. 

I don’t want to lead him out, so I let him through with 50m to go. This proves a fatal mistake. Seated, Clancy powers ahead, dealing me a cheeky smile as he steers clear and off into the horizon. The ease with which he dispatches me is comical. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it's nothing less than I deserve - a humbling at the hands of an Olympic legend. 

“It wasn’t my most famous victory, but it’s one of my finest,” Clancy tells me afterwards, chuckling. “Your tactics are on point, I think you just didn’t have the grim determination needed to take me on in that sprint.

“The bikes are fun, they’re punchy out the corners. I enjoyed the race, so thanks for that.” 

The Great Britain cycling team officially opened its new state-of-the-art wind tunnel in Manchester yesterday with the aim of supporting the team’s riders on the path to the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. 

Originally conceived by Chris Boardman and based at the Boardman performance centre in Evesham, Worcestershire, the tunnel uses a finely tuned data capture system which feeds video imagery and information back to the rider in real-time. 

Aerodynamicists can also then continually tune wind speed and direction to mimic any event or environment that an athlete may be competing in. 

The tunnel fan and control units have been taken to Manchester thanks to Halfords donating them to British Cycling for just £1.

The new facility is based at the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance on the Etihad Campus in East Manchester, adjacent to the National Cycling Centre. 

Chris Boardman, Ed Clancy and Halford's Paul Tomlinson were present for the new wind tunnel's official unveiling, which coincided with Great Britain’s track riders returning to Manchester after spending the majority of the current year training at an alternative base in Derby while maintenance work to the building was conducted. 

British Cycling performance director Stephen Park said: “Having a state-of-the-art wind tunnel in Manchester, the home of British Cycling, means that we are able to deliver our primary focus of supporting talented riders to achieve their best and continue to deliver world-leading performances, such as those we saw at last week’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships. 

“Thanks to Halfords, we will be able to continue to develop our understanding of bicycle aerodynamics, the related performance impact, and therefore provide an even better service to riders who represent this country with pride.”

Paul Tomlinson, Halfords cycling director added: “As the UK’s biggest cycling retailer, we’re delighted to be able to help as many people as possible, from beginners to athletes, to improve their performance, health, and overall understanding of bicycle aerodynamics. 

"So, it is of course our pleasure to have donated to British Cycling this state-of-the-art wind tunnel that will hopefully train individuals for generations to come.

“We hope that the tunnel continues to support talented British cyclists to deliver world-leading performances, as well as helping the nation keep pedalling.”

Ed Clancy has been forced to pulled out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, bringing his career as an Olympian to a premature end. 

Clancy, 36, has been suffering from ongoing back and sciatica issues, which have forced him to withdraw from the men’s pursuit competition after the qualifying round.

The Yorkshireman has also confirmed his retirement from Team GB, after a career spanning 20 years and three Olympic games.

For the remainder of the team pursuit competition in Tokyo, Charlie Tanfield will step in for Clancy to join Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood. 

He said: “I’m absolutely gutted that my Olympic career has ended this way, but it would be unfair of me to try to carry on now I have aggravated my back injury. Ultimately, I want the rest of the lads to build on the hard work we have done over the past year and a half and give them the best possible chance of making it on to the podium. I will be supporting them all the way.”

“I’ve spent just over 20 years on the Great Britain Cycling Team and I see it as my family. I have achieved more during my time than I ever could have dreamed of, it’s something I will remember for the rest of my life. It’s been a pleasure, to the extent that if I could go back in time I would do it all over again. It’s a tough call, because I’m enjoying it more now than I ever have done, but the difficult choice is usually the right one and right now is the time to go. I want to thank everyone – family, friends, coaches, trade teams, sponsors, British Cycling and everyone else who has supported me – my career success has been a big team effort.” 

Clancy was one of the first riders to earn selection in the now-famous British Cycling Academy, winning his first world title in the team pursuit in 2005, aged just 20.

With three gold medals to his name in the team pursuit, from Beijing, London and Rio, he is the most successful rider in that discipline in history. 

>>> Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games cycling schedule: when to watch the racing

British Cycling performance director Stephen Park said: “I admire Ed for taking the decision to retire from the sport which he still has a strong passion for. I know it was tough for him having to withdraw from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on account of his back issues, but his professionalism and honesty led him to make this decision and he can hold his head high knowing he was part of the quartet who posted the fourth fastest time in an event we know would be incredibly competitive.

“Through his domination in the team pursuit and by winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals, Ed has played a big part in driving the event forward, to the extent where we are witnessing the times we saw posted in Berlin and what we saw yesterday in qualifying.

“Away from the bike, Ed embodies the values of our team and has become a trusted mentor to his younger teammates. It’s been a pleasure to support Ed with his fantastic achievements and on behalf of everyone on the Great Britain Cycling Team, I wish him the very best of luck for the future, and I hope he keeps some involvement with us.

The Vitus ZX-1 is, as you’d expect Vitus’s top of the range machine and was launched in 2018. Vitus says that it’s aero inspired, with race winning geometry but also the comfort for all day riding.

It’s also disc brake only. According to Vitus Road Product Manager, Jodie Shann: “We are fully behind the performance benefits disc brakes bring to road cycling, so much so that when we introduced our flagship ZX-1 race bike in 2018 we released this as a disc only platform.

“Our experience from countless hours of rider testing and feedback is that discs give the rider far greater braking control in all conditions, giving riders more time to focus on road positioning rather than worrying about braking performance.”

Despite a rocky start in the pro peloton, disc brakes have now gained widespread acceptance, with Vitus not alone in offering disc brake only pro-level machines.

The team will roll on Prime Black Edition 50mm section carbon clincher wheels, Prime being another of Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles’s in-house brands. Tyres come from Schwalbe: the brand’s Pro One Evo MicroSkin TL-Easy in 25mm width.

Mechanicals are SRAM Red eTap HRD, with hydraulic braking. There’s a standard set-up of 53/39 chainset and 11-25 cassette.

Bars and stem come from Prime again, while the team will be seated on Selle San Marco Aspide saddles in black and red, to match the black with metallic red accents of the Vitus frameset.

The UCI Continental level team will have a 12 rider roster for the 2019 season, headlined by Olympic champion Ed Clancy and managed by Cherie Pridham. They’ve also brought on Brother UK as the team’s supporting headline sponsor for the next three years.

Commenting on the team launch, Vitus Brand Marketing Manager Chris McGlinchey said: “We’re extremely excited to see the performance of the ZX-1 Team bike come to life through Vitus Pro Cycling. Chez has put together a great squad of riders for the 2019 season and everyone at Vitus are excited to get racing and see the ZX-1 in the pro peloton.”

British team JLT-Condor is the latest racing team to announce their closure.

The continental outfit confirmed on Monday morning that they would cease at the end of the 2018 season.

Britain’s longest-standing UCI team was formed in 2007, and over the last decade riders have picked up wins around the world.

>>>‘BMC is one of those teams that will be remembered’: riders reminisce as US team closes

Managing director of Condor Cycles, Grant Young, said: “This past decade of supporting the team has made me extremely proud.

“I’ve seen Condor bicycles ridden to national championship victories, to wins in Australia, Japan, France, Spain and South Korea to name but a few.

“There have been highs, lows, and many medals.”

Mr Young said the team have been unable to find a new sponsor to take the place of insurance company JLT, but will continue the search.

JLT-Condor riders include multiple Olympic medallist Ed Clancy and Ian Bibby.

Chief operating officer of JLT Specialty, Nick Williams-Walker said: “We are proud to have been sponsors of JLT-Condor over the last six years and to have shared in the team’s many achievements during that time.

“We would like to thank all of the riders for their dedication and hard work over the years.”

Mr Williams-Walker also gave a special mention to manager John Herety for his work developing young riders.

JLT will continue its support of cycling through it’s sponsorship of Ed Clancy as he looks to add to his tally of Olympic medals in 2020.

The British team is the latest to announce their closure, after Aqua Blue Sport folded last month.

WorldTour team BMC will not continue into 2019 in its current form, while continental outfit One Pro Cycling will close its men’s team but set up a women’s team in it’s place.

JLT Condor rider Ed Clancy defeated plenty of WorldTour opposition as he took victory in the Herald Sun Tour prologue to take victory by a single second.

Riding his first race of the year, Clancy's was just the 10th rider off the start ramp, setting a time of 1-54 on the narrow 1.6km course in the centre of Melbourne that would stand up to challenges from the strong line-ups of Trek-Segafredo and Mitchelton-Scott.

Shortened from 2.1km to 1.6km for 2018, the short prologue was ideally suited to track specialist Clancy, with the three-time Olympic champion on the track taking his first road victory since the 2011 Tour of Korea.

>>> Herald Sun Tour 2018: Everything you need to know

The 32-year-old Clancy endured a long wait in the hot-seat as no fewer than four riders came just one second away from besting his time. Mads Pedersen and former JLT Condor rider Alex Frame, both of Trek-Segrafedo, were among those riders, as was Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport), who beat Clancy to omnium gold at the 2012 Olympics.

However despite Pedersen stopping the clock less than a second slower Clancy, no one else could challenge the Brit's time, and he will now wear the leader's yellow jersey on stage one, which covers 161.6km between Colac to Warrnambool.

Results

Herald Sun Tour 2018, prologue: Melbourne to Melbourne, 1.6km

1. Edward Clancy (GBr) JLT Condor, in 1-55

2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, at 1 sec

3. Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport

4. Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo

5. Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Bennelong SwissWellness, all at same time

6. Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 2 secs

7. Ian Bibby (GBr) JLT Condor, at 4 secs

8. Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott

9. Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor

10 Matthew Gibson (GBr) JLT Condor, all at same time

General classification after prologue

1. Edward Clancy (GBr) JLT Condor, in 1-55

2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, at 1 sec

3. Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport

4. Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo

5. Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Bennelong SwissWellness, all at same time

6. Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 2 secs

7. Ian Bibby (GBr) JLT Condor, at 4 secs

8. Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott

9. Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor

10 Matthew Gibson (GBr) JLT Condor, all at same time

Perfect start in the team pursuit.

🇬🇧 GB's @Ed_Clancy, @StevenBurke88, @kianemadi and @olliewood95 qualify quickest at the #TrackWorldCup pic.twitter.com/2OTXAR6YKn

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) November 10, 2017

Great Britain's male team pursuiters have posted the fastest qualifying time on the opening day of the UCI Track World Cup round in Manchester on Friday, November 10.

Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Oliver Wood and Kian Emadi posted a respectable time of three minutes and 58.548 seconds to finish ahead of rivals Denmark, who clocked 3-58.623.

In third spot were Switzerland with 3-59.583, the only other team in qualifying to go under the four-minute barrier.

>>> Manchester Track World Cup live TV guide and schedule

Current British team pursuit champions Team KGF – consisting of Jonathan Wale, Jacob Tipper, Daniel Bigham and Charlie Tanfield – posted a time of 4-00.448 to qualify fifth fastest.

The top eight teams now move through to the first round on Friday evening, where Great Britain will face France and Team KGF will ride against Belgium.

The men's team pursuit finals take place on Saturday, November 11.

GB's men's team sprint line-up qualified second fastest behind the Netherlands, with the women's team sprinters posting the eighth fastest qualifying time. Both progress to the first round, with the finals taking place on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, GB's Katie Archibald is in action in the women's omnium, the event for which she is world champion. Friday also sees the men's and women's scratch races taking place.

Ed Clancy gave JLT Condor a great start to their season as he led a one-two for the team in the Eddie Soens Memorial handicap at Aintree Racecourse in Merseyside on Saturday morning.

The 32-year-old multiple Olympic medal winning Yorkshireman edged to victory ahead of Welsh team-mate Jon Mould to secure his third win in the popular early-season race which this year was the 56th edition.

>>> Michal Kwiatkowski takes sensational victory at Strade Bianche 2017

Split into four groups, the elite riders had to wait three minutes before they were let loose to chase down the longmarkers, but it didn’t take long before the strong riders were on the heels of the rest, with the four groups – all set off a minute apart – were down to two groups with 25 minutes gone.

It wasn’t much longer before the race came together, and shortly after a group attacked off the front made up largely of elite riders – including Clancy.

That attack was pulled back but another went off the front soon after, and with most of the big teams represented it was destined to stay clear and make the battle for the finish a ten-rider affair.

Despite an earlier blip which saw Clancy have to drop back to a service car as a leg warmer got stuck in his back wheel, he looked strong and made several attacks off the front as the race progressed.

As they headed for the line the lead group were strung out, and Jon Mould hit the front, only for team-mate Clancy to sprint round him in the final ten metres, while Harry Tanfield (Bike Channel Canyon) took third.

First junior was inches behind in fourth, being the talented National, European and World junior cyclo-cross champion Tom Pidcock (PH MAS-Paul Milnes-Oldfield), while last year’s winner Vertie Newey (Metaltek-Kuota) was fifth after sticking with the elites as the third handicap group were swallowed up.

“It was nice to get the win in our first race of the year on home soil,” said Clancy. “When we had caught the leaders and the break went clear it had lots of different teams in there, so it went away pretty quickly.

“There weren’t too many tactics but we all worked well together. But it started getting a bit messy in the last couple of laps, so when Mouldy led it out I came past him in the last few metres.”

It was Clancy’s third win in the Eddie Soens Memorial having won in 2013 and 2009,and gave the team a taste of bracing windy and cold British racing on an exposed circuit, after having trained and raced for several weeks in Australia, including the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Results

1. Edward Clancy OBE (JLT Condor) 30 laps in 1-40-51

2. Jon Mould (JLT Condor)

3. Harry Tanfield (Bike Channel Canyon)

4. Thomas Pidcock (PH MAS Paul Milnes)

5. Bertie Newey (Metaltek-Kuota)

6. Jack Rees (Brother NRG)

7. William Tidball (PH MAS-Paul Milnes)

8. Matt Nowell (Bike Channel Canyon)

9. William Brown (Brother NRG)

10. Kieran Brady (Richardsons-Trek) all same time

Rio Olympic gold medallists Laura Kenny and Ed Clancy are two of a number of major riders on the start list for the second round of the Revolution Champions League in London this Friday and Saturday (2-3 December).

The event will be Kenny's first race since winning two Olympic gold medals in Rio, and the 24-year-old says that she is looking forward to getting back on the boards.

>>> Watch: Laura Kenny on racing again and getting used to being Mrs Kenny (video)

"I’m really excited to be back racing again. I’d taken some time off after Rio as the year leading up to the Olympics was very full on with training and I needed a break after it but I’m looking forward to getting back on my bike and enjoying racing after the pressure of Rio.

"I know the others won’t make it an easy race back for me, but it’ll be great fun and even better it will be in front of a home crowd."

Watch: highlights from the first round of the Revolution Champions League

Ed Clancy will be joined by JLT-Condor teammate Jon Mould, with the pairing hoping to defend their lead from the opening round in Manchester, where they opened a 27 point gap over Team Pedalsure, which will be represented in London by Andy Tennant and Iljo Keisse.

Tickets for the event can be purchased from Sky Tickets with full information on the Revolution website.

Other major riders in the line-up include Ian Stannard, Jon Dibben, Andy Fenn, Elinor Barker, and Ryan Mullen.

Younger riders will also get their chance to shin in the Hoy Future Stars competition, which is currently being led by Ellie Russell and Jim Brown.

For the third consecutive Olympic Games Team GB topped the medal table for track cycling.

Every rider who competed on the track left the Games with a medal, with the squad’s haul including six golds, four silvers and two bronze over the six night’s inside the Olympic velodrome.

Ed Clancy and Owain Doull are racing back on the track in the UK at Revolution in Manchester on 17th September. Tickets are available now: www.cyclingrevolution.com

But away from the boards what was life like for the British squad living in Rio? Which rider had the largest room in Team GB’s complex, who was the messiest room-mate, how much did the riders celebrate when the medals started rolling in and just how long was the queue for McDonalds inside the Olympic village?

Cycling Weekly spoke to half of the gold medal winning men’s team pursuit quartet Ed Clancy and Owain Doull to find out.

Ed Clancy and Owain Doull will take part in the opening round of the 2016 Revolution Track Series fresh from their gold-medal winning success in Rio as part of the British team pursuit squad.

Doull (Team Wiggins) and Clancy (JLT Condor) will ride in round one of the series in Manchester on September 17 against each other. Both riders have been regulars in the event in past seasons.

“It’s just great to be part of something so special, we’re still on cloud nine," said Clancy. "We’re living the dream right now. But people don’t often realise that we can’t take it completely easy, we’ve got races coming up just next month such as the Revolution in Manchester. I’m out training for six hours’ tomorrow, really it starts again here.”

>>> Team Sky officially confirm signing of Olympic champion Owain Doull

Doull added: “I’ve taken part in the Future Stars at Revolution for three seasons since I was 14. In the last season, I won it, which was nice. I’ve ridden the Revolution a lot; there aren’t many platforms you can race at in front of a packed crowd of 5,000 people and I think, actually, by the time you get to something like the Olympics, it gives you an advantage because it’s a natural environment for you.”

After his appearance in the Olympic Games, Team Sky confirmed that they have signed Doull for the 2017 season as he will embark on a new chapter of his riding career on the road.

In addition to the Revolution Track Series, there is a new series of events for 2016 - the Revolution Champions League. Both Team Wiggins and JLT Condor will both be trying to qualify for the new Champions League, where they will face teams representing seven WorldTour teams including Sky, Orica-BikeExchange and Trek-Segafredo.

Tickets are available online now, and for further information on the Revolution Track Series visit www.cyclingrevolution.com.

Revolution UK Championship 2016 dates

Round 1, September 17 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Round 2, October 8 – Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow

Round 3, October 22 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Revolution Champions League 2016 dates

Round 1, November 18 – Paris

Round 2, November 19 – Paris

Round 3, November 25 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Round 4, November 26 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Round 5, December 2 – Lee Valley VeloPark, London

Round 6, December 3 – Lee Valley VeloPark, London

He's got three Olympic gold medals to his name already, but Ed Clancy is far from finished with cycling, with the 31-year-0ld targeting one more Games.

Clancy will be 35 in Tokyo in four years time, but the hunger to defend the team pursuit title for a fourth Games in a row is great enough to spur him on for another Olympic cycle.

But one medal may not be enough for the Yorkshireman, who has set his sights of gaining his place back as Team GB's premiere omnium rider, having watched Mark Cavendish ride to silver in Rio.

"Tokyo is the dream. I would love to spend a little bit more time for the next two years with a road focus, and then the last 18 months, two years, put all my eggs in the Tokyo basket for one last team pursuit and/or omnium. That would be a nice way to finish my career," he told Sky Sports.

Ed Clancy's guide to the omnium

Clancy won bronze in the omnium at London 2012, but was forced to give up the event in Rio because of a back injury, suffered last September.

Cavendish then stole a march on Clancy in the race for Britain's only omnium pace. Clancy admits the decision paid off to take Cavendish, but he'll fight hard to make the event his own again.

"The only reason I had to give [the omnium] up this year was the injury," he added. "We had the Derby Revolution [in August 2015] - that was a big point for us, a big selection point. It's fair to say at that point in time, after me and Cav had a bit of a duel and I came out on top, I was in pole position.

"However, it wasn't plain sailing this winter. Obviously, [British Cycling] selected Cavendish to ride it, which made complete sense, and looking at how he rode, it was the right decision. But that said, I will give it a crack in Tokyo.

"I have always fancied the idea of retiring in Tokyo when I was 35. It seems like a good age. I've got plenty of time afterwards to do other things."

Ed Clancy is racing back on the track in the UK at Revolution in Manchester on 17th September. Tickets are available now: www.cyclingrevolution.com

With Cavendish winning the Olympic medal he craved in Rio it could mean the Manxman won't be a rival for the track again in 2020, but there are plenty of other potential omnium riders in the British squad.

Jon Dibben, who will be one of the front runners to take one of the vacant places in the team pursuit lineup, is a former silver medalist in the event at the junior World Championships and has won silver and bronze at the European Track Championships. Dibben also won the world points race title in London back in February.

Bradley Wiggins, Owain Doull, Steven Burke and Ed Clancy put Great Britain into the gold medal final of the men's team pursuit at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, setting a new world record in the process.

Wiggins did a long turn at the front and then swung off to leave Clancy, Doull and Burke to hammer home in their first round ride against New Zealand.

GB's time of three minutes and 50.570 seconds was significantly quicker than the previous world record mark of 3-51.659 set by GB at the London 2012 Olympics on their way to gold.

Earlier, the Australian squad of Alexander Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Callum Scotson and Sam Welsford had beaten a ragged-looking Denmark to book their place in the gold medal final. Australia posted a time of 3-53.429.

The gold medal final between Great Britain and Australia takes place later on Friday night at the Rio velodrome – it means that GB will be assured of at least a silver medal. Denmark will ride against New Zealand to settle the bronze medal.

>>> Rio 2016 Olympic Games: Latest news, reports and info

Result

Rio 2016 Olympic Games, men's team pursuit first round

Heat 1

1.    Germany 3:56.903

2.    Switzerland 4:03.580

Heat 2

1.    Italy 3:55.724

2.    China 4:04.240

Heat 3

1.    Australia 3:53.429 (Qualify for gold final)

2.    Denmark 3:53.542 (Qualify for bronze final)

Heat 4

1.    Great Britain 3:50.570 (Qualify for gold final) [World Record]

2.    New Zealand 3:55.654 (Qualify for bronze final)

In this latest behind-the-scenes video from Team GB track sprinter Philip Hindes, he makes his way into the accommodation of the team pursuit squad.

With Ed Clancy as quiz master, Owain Doull, Steven Burke, Hindes and Clancy himself all answer questions that have been posted by fans in the comment sections on previous videos on Hindes's YouTube channel.

The Liège-Bastogne-Liège fact about Clancy is particularly interesting.

Reports have suggested that the pursuit riders, including Sir Bradley Wiggins, have broken the world record in their final preparations for Rio. If true, they could be on for the win which would gain Wiggins his fifth gold and eighth Olympic medal in total.

Bardet and Alaphilippe training in Rio

Fresh off the Tour de France, where they were on rival teams, Romain Bardet and Julian Alaphilippe have joined forces to compete for France at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

After his impressive second place overall at the Tour, Bardet will be one to watch for the win in the road race on Saturday August 6 as a course with climbing and a decisive descent will suit him as well as anyone.

In this video, Alaphilippe shows off his cyclocross skills with a ride, dismount and jump over a drainage ditch.

Drifting skills

https://www.facebook.com/KishayComputer1/videos/vb.411891885531368/1226365304084018/?type=2&theater

I dread to think how many tyres they get through in an average month, but these kids appear to be having a great time drifting their bikes.

Specalized's colour changing frame

I'm not sure what the practical purpose of a bike that changes colour could be, but this is still pretty cool.

The temperature reactive paint will be on some bikes used at the upcoming Olympics, where the daily temperature in Rio should be around the 22C mark that changes the bike's hue.

Your essential guide to the Olympic cycling events

The men's and women's Olympic Games road races take place this weekend, August 6 and 7, with the time trials following a few days later.

This video gives you the low down on the events ahead of Rio 2016 kicking off.

Team GB riders share their early Olympic memories

For athletes going to the Olympics, whether it's their first visit or not, will have memories from previous events thanks to the people they watched and were inspired by when they were younger.

They're not all cycling memories, either. Just mostly.

Team Great Britain Olympic stars Laura Trott, Ed Clancy, Owain Doull and Katie Archibald will take part in the opening round of the 2016 Revolution Track Series in Manchester on September 17.

The four riders will go into the event having donned GB colours at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, just a few weeks previously.

>>> Team GB track cyclists show off their Olympic kit

Trott will attempt to defend her omnium title in Rio, and join Archibald in the women's team pursuit line-up. Clancy and Doull are both part of the men's team pursuit line-up. All are leading contenders to scoop up a medal in the Games.

Should the men's team pursuit squad win gold in Rio, it will add to the Olympic titles from Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012 – and Clancy would have been part of all three, making him the most successful GB team pursuiter in history.

>>> Seven WorldTour teams for Revolution Champions League

"After missing the whole season last year with a back injury I’m really looking forward to getting back to racing at Revolution," said Clancy. "It will be good to race in front of the home crowds for the JLT Condor team, as I’m sure the atmosphere will be incredible after the Olympics."

This year, the Revolution Series has two separate sets of event: the UK Championships over three rounds, and the newly-introduced Revolution Champions League. The latter features seven WorldTour road teams pitting their riders against the stars of the track world and kicks off in Paris on November 18.

For more information and online ticket sales, visit www.cyclingrevolution.com.

Watch: Beginners' Guide to the Team Pursuit

Revolution UK Championship 2016 dates

Round 1, September 17 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Round 2, October 8 – Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow

Round 3, October 22 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Revolution Champions League 2016 dates

Round 1, November 18 – Paris

Round 2, November 19 – Paris

Round 3, November 25 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Round 4, November 26 – National Cycling Centre, Manchester

Round 5, December 2 – Lee Valley VeloPark, London

Round 6, December 3 – Lee Valley VeloPark, London

Great Britain will win team pursuit gold at this year's Rio Olympics, but their main rider Ed Clancy should not ride the omnium, according to John Herety, Clancy's manager at his trade team JLT Condor.

Clancy is going for a record breaking third successive team pursuit Olympic gold at Rio in August, and he is also one of three potential options in the omnium.

The Barnsley-born rider claimed bronze in the event at the 2012 London Olympics and appeared to be a certainty to fill the spot for this year's Games, until a back injury last autumn put him out of contention for the Track World Cup races.

But with Mark Cavendish hoping to secure the spot for the event - he came sixth in the event at the Worlds - as well as World Championships Points race winner Jon Dibben, the selectors have a difficult choice to make.

Herety believes that Clancy's importance to the team pursuit means that he should forgo his spot in the omnium: "He’s a still a contender [for the omnium] but it will be subject to the injury and how that’s progressed, as well as how key he is to the team pursuit," Herety told Cycling Weekly.

Does a skinsuit make you much faster?

"Unless anything has changed since I last spoke to him after the Worlds, the team pursuit was his number one goal and after that anything else he got to ride was a bonus. But he doesn’t want to give his [omnium] spot up and he wasn’t willing to let it go without a fight.

"The injury changes things: is there enough time to do both? British Cycling will make a decision if he should do both. My personal opinion is that he should concentrate on the team pursuit and get that gold medal."

Clancy made a surprisingly quick recovery from his back inury and was pivotal in leading GB to a silver place at the Track World Championships earlier this month behind their long-term rivals Australia. He, along with Sir Bradley Wiggins,  appear to be the only two riders out of a possible eight guaranteed a ride in Rio.

"The Worlds, where he came from, was phenomenal," Herety went on. "No one knew where he was in his recovery, it was kept fairly quiet which was intended.

"He’ll definitely be in Rio and if they can do what they did at the Worlds, I’d be very surprised if they didn’t win gold. They’re still in their training phase and nowhere near their peak."

His ability to build gold medal-winning pace in the first few laps is what makes him a sure starter - fitness-permitting - as one of the four riders.

"He has been the number one guy: the guy who gets them up to speed in the shortest amount of time without doing any damage to the other riders. That is a crucial element of the team pursuit which no one else can do; not even Bradley can do it," Herety added.

Ed Clancy thought his cycling career was over when he slipped a disc in his back, and was forced to have surgery at the end of last year.

The 30-year-old double Olympic gold medallist suffered a prolapsed disc in the "freak accident" at the end of the Tour of Britain last September when he went to pick up a suitcase, eventually having surgery on it in November. And despite the fact he has spent the last 12 weeks recovering, Clancy is back in contention for a ride at this week’s Track World Championships in London.

“My whole career was in doubt,” Clancy said. “Owain [Doull] was there — remember when we were on top of that mountain in Tenerife I couldn’t walk. I had foot drop in my right leg — that’s what they call it — because the nerve was so compromised. When I came out of that operation and I could walk again I was like anything is a bonus. If I can ride a bike great, if I can make a career out of the bike even better.

“I’m surprisingly good. I think it’s fair to say it’s not the best I’ve ever gone but 12 weeks after fairly serious back surgery I’m over the moon.”

Clancy is considered one of the one of the key members of the team pursuit squad, having won Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 and four world titles in the discipline. However, his injury has meant he has had to change his bike setup.

“The position on the bike has changed and I don’t think it’s going to change back,” he said. “My saddle’s gone down, my bars have gone up. I haven’t been in a wind tunnel yet but it will have [changed things].”

Clancy’s fellow team pursuiter Doull insisted that his inclusion in the Worlds line-up was entirely down to the progress he’s made in a short space of time.

“He’s coming back in because he’s one of the strongest guys in the team,” he said. "The only way to describe Ed is like a freak of nature. He’s underplaying how well he’s going considering where he was 12 weeks ago.

“I remember after his surgery I went to visit him, we went for a pub lunch and he couldn’t sit down because he couldn’t bend his back and so he was kneeling in a restaurant.

“BC [British Cycling] had to organise a taxi guy to drive you to the track every day and he just lay in the back of it.”

The injury ruled Clancy out of the Track World Cup rounds over the winter, which meant he did not pick up the qualification points required to keep him eligible under UCI rules for GB’s one spot in the omnium for the Rio Olympics. He touted 22-year-old Jon Dibben as a future Olympic medallist in the event.

“I’m a big fan of Dibben and I think he’s got what it takes to win it, and he’s only going to get better with age.”

Clancy insisted that if he manages his injury right he has another four years in his career.

“I’m done in Tokyo anyway,” he said. “I said [to the doctor] if this is going to be a reason I can’t kick a football round with my kids I’m done. He seemed to think if we manage the problems we’ll be sound for four years.”

Ed Clancy has been forced to withdraw from the UCI Track World Cup round in New Zealand over December 4-6, as he faces surgery to correct a lingering back injury.

The 30-year-old from Yorkshire was due to make his return to top-level track competition after an enforced lay-off after a 'freak accident' saw him slip a disc in his back while lifting a heavy bag.

According to British Cycling, he will undergo surgery next week.

It's a further set back for Clancy in his preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where he is hoping to defend his and Great Britain's title in the team pursuit. He has already missed the opening round of the Track World Cup in Colombia and the European Track Championships.

>>> ‘Freak accident’ deals blow to Ed Clancy’s track campaign

Clancy has been replaced in Great Britain's men's endurance line-up by Senior Academy rider Joe Holt, who joins the youthful line-up of Germain Burton, Mark Stewart, Chris Latham and Oliver Wood.

Watch: Show us your scars - Ed Clancy

“Someone of Ed’s calibre is obviously a big loss to the squad but we believe we have the riders capable of stepping up in his absence, allowing him to focus on his surgery and rehabilitation," said British Cycling technical director, Shane Sutton.

“Joe Holt is a talented young rider and the experience of travelling to New Zealand and competing at that level will stand him in good stead going forward.”

Welsh sprinter Becky James is making her return in Great Britain colours after an 18-month absence due to knee injury.

Welsh former sprint and keirin world champion Becky James has been selected to represent Great Britain in the Track World Cup in New Zealand, her first outing in GB colours since the 2014 Track World Championships.

James has been plagued by a lingering knee injury that has seen her sit out numerous events in the last two seasons, and then she endured a cancer scare this summer.

The 23-year-old from Monmouthshire is still aiming to ride her way into a place at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, and the World Cup round in New Zealand on December 4-6 will be an important stepping stone.

“We’ll be going to New Zealand with the aim of scoring vital Olympic qualification points, particularly in the sprint events and it’s great to see Becky James come back into the fold," said Shane Sutton, Great Britain Cycling Team technical director.

James joins Jess Varnish and Katy Marchant on GB's women's sprint line-up, with Jason Kenny, Philip Hindes, Lewis Oliva and Callum Skinner making up the men's sprint selection. The men's squad needs to find some form ahead of the Rio Games after a below-par performance at the opening Track World Cup round in Cali, Colombia.

>>> Laura Trott wins omnium at opening Track World Cup in Colombia

The remainder of the team is largely made up of younger riders seeking to gain experience and make a mark on international competition. One notable exception is the return of Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Ed Clancy, who has now recovered from injury.

Germain Burton and Mark Stewart have also been selected in the men's endurance line-up fresh from their triumph in the Ghent Six, where they won the under-23 cup. They are joined by Chris Latham and Oliver Wood.

>>> British duo win Ghent Six’s U23 Cup despite late crashes

The women's endurance selection comprises Emily Nelson, Emily Kay, Manon Lloyd, Megan Barker and Abigail Dentus.

“We’re in the fortunate position that our performance across men’s and women’s endurance has left us in a strong position in qualification allowing us to blood some of our younger academy riders," said Sutton.

“It’s absolutely vital that we expose them to the pressures of world class competition at a young age and this experience will undoubtedly stand them in good stead in the rest of their careers.”

Great Britain squad for Track World Cup in New Zealand, December 4-6

Becky James

Jess Varnish

Katy Marchant

Jason Kenny

Philip Hindes

Callum Skinner

Lewis Oliva

Ed Clancy

Chris Latham

Germain Burton

Mark Stewart

Oliver Wood

Emily Nelson

Emily Kay

Manon Lloyd

Megan Barker

Abigail Dentus

British track star Ed Clancy has been forced to rest for two weeks after a 'freak accident' resulted in him slipping a disc in his back.

Clancy will now have to miss October's European Track Championships in Switzerland, which were scheduled to be an important step in the 30-year-old's pathway towards the Track World Championships and 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“He did a fantastic four weeks’ endurance training where he went to the maximum," said Great Britain track coach Heiko Salzwedel. "He really came out of the Tour of Britain in good shape but very tired.

>>> Mark Cavendish ‘excited’ at prospect of riding with Wiggins again on the track (video)

"When you’re tired it affects your muscle. It was just one of those freak things, he just turned to pick up his bag and his disc slipped."

Clancy is seeking qualification and selection to contest the team pursuit and omnium. Clancy helped Great Britain to gold in the team pursuit in the 2008 and 2012 Games, and also claimed bronze in the Omnium in London.

After resting for two weeks and resuming training, Clancy will return to competition at the opening round of the UCI Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia, starting on October 30.

Clancy faces stiff competition in qualifying for a place in the 2016 Olympics' omnium, as Mark Cavendish has returned to the boards with an eye on Olympic qualification.

Olympic team pursuit champion Ed Clancy won Tuesday evening's round of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series in Peterborough. The JLT-Condor rider won the sprint from a seven-man group which had escaped the clutches of the peloton with about 15 minutes left to race.

The team prize was taken by One Pro Cycling who edged Madison-Genesis into second place. The win puts the two teams level on points, though it is the former who will wear the leaders’ jerseys at Thursday’s final round as they have more outright race wins.

The race was tightly controlled by the two leading teams, who had representatives at the front of the group throughout, before posting one rider each in the decisive break. One Pro Cycling’s director, Matt Winston was clearly happy with the result and the momentum the team now has.

>>> London Nocturne: what’s it like to race in the dark?

“It was another solid performance,” Winston told Cycling Weekly “We’ve strung a few results together now, back to back, so we are building momentum and brought it into this evening. The victories have helped us get into the jersey going into the last round, but it doesn’t mater how many you’ve won, we’re level on points, so the first team across the line on Thursday is going to win the Tour Series. That should make for quite an exciting race.”

It was Clancy’s second victory in Peterborough and also his second of the year, making him the only rider so far with two victories. The result continues a rich vein of form which includes last Saturday’s London Nocturne and a second place behind NFTO’s Steele von Hoff in last week’s Canary Wharf Tour Series race. This time it was roles reversed with the Australian beaten into second place.

“I’m dead happy,” Clancy told us. “It’s always the plan to win, but it’s easier said than done. There’s been a lot of hard circuits this year, so there hasn’t been that many where I’ve had a real chance.

“I felt good from the off and it’s unusual for me to get in a breakaway and when I do it’s unusual for me to work in a breakaway. Today I felt good and I wanted to drive it, I wasn't confident I could beat Steele but I thought ‘ah, let’s have a go and even if he beats me again it’ll be a good laugh.’”

Video: Secrets of the toolbox - JLT Condor

French rider Morgan Kniesky (Raleigh-GAC) won the Chain Reaction Cycles points competition for the evening, meaning he is virtually certain of the winning the jersey overall. The team’s tactics worked perfectly, they dominated the sprints, taking 24 of the 60 points available, Kniesky winning 11 of those. His 11-point lead over second-placed Tom Stewart (Madison-Genesis) should prove unassailable with a maximum of only 20 available on the day.

Dame Sarah Storey won the women’s Matrix Fitness GP event, capping off a long lone breakaway, finishing 19 seconds ahead of second-placed Eileen Roe (Wiggle-Honda).

With two team mates joining Storey in the top ten, they have also nearly sealed the team prize, though with double points available, that could still change in the final round. “We have a very strong team. Joanna [Rowsell] was just firing off the front with Katie [Curtis] covering things, so it was only a matter of time until something stuck.

“The plan almost went a bit dodgy when they nearly came back to us. I spotted that and moved up to the front and launched one just as they were looking as if they would close that down.”

The final round of both the men’s and women’s series takes place this Thursday in Bath.

New Zealand's track riders continue to re-write their country's cycling history as they took their first ever team pursut world title in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines today. Last year in Cali they won their first team sprint title - and only lost the title yesterday after an irregular change - and now this.

They lead Great Britain early on, and although the British quartet moved in to the lead around the halfway mark, they lost their impetus when Ed Clancy swung out of the chain after three kilometres.

http://youtu.be/jiH3lL8D0SE?list=PL7NFlV830crM7pncvGD87O-X_y4I79-S8

The Kiwis also lost a rider, but held their speed and ran out winners with an impressive time of 3:54.088 minutes. At they end they had more than half a second's advantage, a new national record and the seventh fastest time in history. Was it a surprise? "Yes and no," said Regan Gough. "We’ve probably been the best we’ve ever been. The best a New Zealand team has ever been. If you look at it that way it’s kind of inevitable for something like this to happen."

Trott's four-year unbeaten team pursuit run comes to an end

Australia win the women's team pursuit world title in Paris, putting an end to the four year run of success

A new 250-metre indoor velodrome in Cambridge on New Zealand's North Island was opened at the beginning of 2014 and has helped the squad make significant gains across their sprint and endurance programmes, propelling them from regular podium finishers to world champions.

"If you’re a New Zealand athlete you have to be based in Cambridge," explained Pieter Bulling. "That’s where High Performance Sport New Zealand is now. Our track time has doubled, tripled even. We live together, we train there as a group, we do everything together and it’s brought us so much closer. It has made us very smooth on the track - you can see the way we’re riding now, it’s amazing the difference it has made in a year."

A silver medal was bittersweet for the British team. While they'll be unhappy with being beaten, this result was a major step up from last year where they finished well off the pace, qualifying in eight place, their worst result in the team pursuit since 1999.

Since then Shane Sutton has brought Heiko Salzwedel in to coach the endurance squad. Time spent at altitude on Mount Teide on Tenerife and more road miles appears to have made the British team more competitive.

"We had a shocker of an event [in 2014]," Ed Clancy said. "Understandably we got a fair bit of flak for that. This was a massive improvement. It was only a month ago Burkey was lying in the road with a broken collarbone, Doull was cut to ribbons [after being involved in the same crash] and I didn't think we were coming here."

British Cycling invited its followers to ask two-time Olympic champion Ed Clancy their questions last week using #AskClancy, which he answered in a video posted this morning.

One user, Stuart Morton, asked: "Whose wheel is the best/ worst to follow in the current GB track squad?"

http://twitter.com/stuartgmorton/status/527526491928948736

Clancy responded: "Owain Doull is by far the worst to follow on the track. I don't know why it's such a difficult thing, riding in a straight line on a track.

"The best wheel to follow I guess would be Brad [Wiggins] or [Andy] Tennant. They're big for a start and they're pretty smooth."

Another, Shaun Ellis, asked: "Having raised expectations in successive Olympics, how will you all motivate yourselves to keep working hard?"

http://twitter.com/picto65/status/527489188569288704

Clancy said: "You never sort of sit back and think oh well we've done this so we don't have the motivation to do that."

The Great Britain team, including Clancy, begin their 2014/15 UCI Track Cycling World Cup campaign tomorrow with the first round taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Fellow GB track cyclist Joanna Rowsell withdrew from the team for the first round of the series on Monday, opting to focus on her longer term form.

Great Britain team for the UCI Track World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico:

Men's sprint: Matt Crampton, Phil Hindes, Jason Kenny, Callum Skinner.

Women's sprint: Danni Khan, Jess Varnish, Vicky Williamson.

Men's endurance: Steve Burke, Mark Christian, Ed Clancy, Jon Dibben, Andy Tennant.

Women's endurance: Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ciara Horne, Laura Trott.

Joanna Rowsell withdraws from Track Cycling World Cup opener to focus on form

Great Britain's Joanna Rowsell withdraws from the first round in Guadalajara in preparation for the London round of the series.

Credit: Andy Jones

Ed Clancy: Worlds showed us how “not to prepare for the team pursuit”

Double Olympic champion in the discipline admits immediate preparation for 2014 Worlds failed.

Words by Patrick Fletcher

Great Britain claimed three medals on the second day of the UEC Elite Track European Championships in Guadeloupe, including gold in the men’s and women’s team pursuits.

The quartet of Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Ciara Horne and Laura Trott were utterly convincing in their triumph on the outdoor, 333-metre velodrome. They beat Germany by over four seconds in the semi-final, and posted a 4-38.391 to beat Russia by over seven seconds to claim gold.

Britain’s men then followed suit, as Ed Clancy, Jon Dibben, Owain Doull and Andy Tennant stopped the clock on 4-11.545 in the final to beat Germany by almost a second.

It was the fourth time in five years that the both team pursuit squads had triumphed at the Championships.

GB’s medal count for the day was taken to three when Clancy won bronze in the scratch race, behind Belgium’s Otto Vergaerde and Spain’s Eloy Teruelrovira.

In the team sprint, Lewis Oliva, Matt Crampton and Callum Skinner were just two tenths of a second away from a medal-winning ride, but ended up in sixth.

Today’s schedule includes the men’s sprint, omnium and points race, along with the women’s sprint and scratch race.

Ed Clancy admitted that Great Britain’s poor showing in the team pursuit at the recent Track World Championships was down to poor preparation, but insisted that not everything from this track season was a disaster.

Clancy, a double Olympic champion in the discipline, was the most experienced rider in the four-man squad which finished eighth in Columbia. It was Britain’s worst result in the men’s event since lottery funding began in 1998.

“We've learnt how not to do it,” said Clancy. “Whatever we did, perhaps some of the things we tried in training, we won't do again.

“There were good things this winter – the European Championships, the World Cup in Manchester [GB won both] – and obviously there were things that went wrong, particularly approaching the worlds.

“We will probably sit down and look at it in the next week or so. I think we're all giving ourselves time to let the emotions die down, and get some logical thoughts in our heads before we analyse it.”

The 29-year-old Yorkshireman spoke to CW at this weekend’s Revolution Series finale at the London 2012 velodrome, the place where Clancy and Geraint Thomas became only the third and fourth riders ever to claim back-to-back gold medals in the team pursuit. Unsurprisingly, heading back to the scene of such a memorable triumph stirred the emotions for Clancy.

“It feels like a completely different arena. It looks different, but nonetheless, it does bring back the memories,” he said.

“I remember the relief when we crossed the line, that moment when I thought to myself that that was it, the four years of hard work had paid off. It was as good as it gets.

“It was nice to finally race here without any pressure, too. You do race hard at Revolutions, but you can go out and enjoy it more.”

Both Saturday sessions from last weekend's Revolution Series finale are available to watch in full via https://www.youtube.com/FACECycling 

It was a frustrating day for the British track team as one by one medals slipped out of their grasp throughout the fourth day of competition in Cali, Colombia.

Jess Varnish looked most likely to deliver in the women's sprint but having knocked her team mate and defending champion Becky James out the day before,  couldn't get the better of the Chinese riders she met in the semi and then bronze medal finals today.

"It's disappointing not to be on the podium," Varnish said after her most successful run in the sprint competition at a world championships. "I thought it was going to be do-able today but it just wasn't there for me.  I was happy to get here in the first place after racing everyone yesterday."

"They were both really, really good." She said of the Chinese riders. "They've got the old French coach now, and obviously he was really good at preparing the French girls tactically. The Chinese girls have always been really, really fast and really good in the timed races. But now they're really learning to race so they are going to be a force to be reckoned with."

Germany's Kristina Vogel won the sprint, making it three golds from three events for the German sprinters.

Video: Watch Jess Varnish in her bronze medal final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHhBZPNa9lo&list=TLRQHlfVOrN3R5xz53L554by67fODuSh5P

>>Result of the women's sprint competition

There was to be no medal for Britain's male sprinters either.  The event concludes tomorrow but Jason Kenny, the champion in 2011, won't be involved after he was knocked out by the flying Frenchman François Pervis in the quarter finals. Kenny won the 5-8th place final but his exit meant that Britain's male sprinters will return from Cali without a single medal from any of the four disciplines.

"All year it's just been a bit average," Kenny said. "Every now and again you get a little flash and you think the raw speed is back that you need for qualifying. I'm not far off really, it's fractions, unfortunately we're at the wrong end of those fractions, we want to be fractions in front, not fractions behind."

"I always seem to be on the back end of it, rather than ahead of it. It's something that is a bit of a concern and a massive thing I'll be working on."

Clancy ends a nightmare week

Ed Clancy finished fourth in a fiercely contested men's omnium even after winning three of the rounds. The 2010 world champion won yesterday's flying lap, then the scratch race and kilometre tt today. Despite this he still missed out on a medal after a below par pursuit and 13th in the points race yesterday.

"Truth be told this whole week's been a bit of a nightmare." Clancy admitted afterwards. "I think with the form I had [fifth] is the best I could've hoped for. The scratch race was a soft race and it came down to a sprint. That's always good news for me."

"The kilo, the flying lap, we've still got good speed, [but in] the pursuit I was going nowhere. Points and scratch and elimination race weren't that bad. It's the pursuit where we lost ground here today."

"Back to the drawing board and we'll try to sort it out next year."

>>Result of the men's omnium

Laura Trott ended the first day of competition in the omnium trailing America's Sarah Hammer by six points. Trott rode a brilliant points race - her least favourite of the six -  to finish third, but surprisingly didn't win the elimination race. Hammer looks good for the gold with a second and two first places today, leaving Trott, Annette Edmondson (AUS) and Belgian Jolien D'Hoore to battle it out for silver and bronze.

Australia won gold in the women's points race with Amy Cure as Britain's Katie Archibald finished fourth. This was however only her third international standard points race; "I think you'd be nuts to go into a race and to not want to win. I wake up and I want to win." Archibald said afterwards.

"It's interesting, because I raced at Euros [last October in Apeldoorn] in a points race and you wouldn't have known I was there. I was following wheels, I was just a nobody. It's nice to be moving up. Fourth is a positive for me."

>>Result of the women's points race

Joanna Rowsell wins second world title in Cali

GB win first gold as women's team pursuit squad battle through

Great Britain endure disappointing opening day at track world championships

Great Britain fail to qualify for pursuit finals

World titles expected of British track team in Cali

Sir Chris Hoy in the British camp in Cali

The British team came away from the opening day of the track cycling world championships in Cali with a sense of disappointment after they won just one bronze medal, from the women's team sprint.

A strong team performance last year in Minsk had lead to hopes that the best funded team in the sport would pick up where they left off one year further in to the Rio Olympic cycle, but it wasn't to be on day one.

A bronze medal for Becky James and Jess Varnish in the team sprint put a silver lining on the day in which the British men's team pursuit squad recorded their worst result at a world championships for 15 years.

They posted the eighth fastest time in qualifying, over four seconds slower than the fastest qualifying time set by Denmark. "We didn’t announce it but behind the scenes we’ve had some problems," admitted team leader Ed Clancy, a double Olympic champion in the event. "We knew a week ago we had our backs against the wall. [Andy] Tennant's not here, and he usually  goes pretty good."

"Then Burkey, a pretty low profile guy, but he’s one of our very best when he’s on his day. When we set our world record in London he was our strongest rider. We have tried a different approach for these track worlds and perhaps it hasn’t quite paid off. There wasn’t one of us that was really on fire in that."

In the last 14 world championships Great Britain have only once failed to medal, in 2009 when they were beaten in the bronze medal ride by New Zealand in Poland. Although they are missing key riders, tonight's result may start ringing a few alarm bells with only two and a half years to go to the Rio Games.

Australia went on to win the gold, retaining their world title from last year, with Denmark in second and New Zealand third. All three teams dipped under four minutes in the finals.

In the men's team sprint the margins were smaller, but Britain again missed out on a medal ride, qualifying fifth, just over one tenth of a second slower than the French team. "We're disappointed with the result, but the time itself and the way we rode wasn't that bad. It could've been a little bit tidier," said Jason Kenny, himself a double Olympic champion in the event.

The gold medal was won by New Zealand who in doing so won their first ever senior world title in a sprint event. "The guys are talented like you wouldn't believe, and tonight it was perfect," said their new sprint coach Anthony Peden who only took over the role on the first of October last year.

"We all knew the form was there, but it was execution on the day. They tasted what silver was like last year, a bitter silver by only six hundredths of a second or so, and tonight they didn't want it to go the same way."

Dani King was eighth in the women's scratch race after finding herself boxed in with no where to go in the final few laps. King is reserve for the women's team pursuit tomorrow after struggling with a post crash injury in the winter.

Watch Becky James and Jess Varnish win bronze in the women's team sprint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPDNlG1MFtg&list=UUloqTh1nPpW13LCntQglS-Q&feature=c4-overview

Watch the New Zealand team win their first senior sprint world title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5t7PQr-RfI&list=UUloqTh1nPpW13LCntQglS-Q&feature=c4-overview

Action resumes on day two with the women's team pursuit, men's keirin, men's indiviual pursuit and women's 500m tt.

Could the 2014 track worlds be rained off?

World titles expected of British track team in Cali

Sir Chris Hoy in the British camp in Cali

Great Britain's track cyclists took another two gold medals on the second day of track competition at the London Olympics and set more world records on the way.

The team pursuit quartet of Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas set their second world record as they comfortably beat the Australians to retain their Olympic title, while Victoria Pendleton won gold in the keirin.

The two wins means Great Britain have won three golds out of four events, having only missed out on a gold medal ride in the fourth event, the women's team sprint, after being relegated. It's a level of domination not seen from the British team since the Beijing Games in 2008.

The British team pursuiters stopped the clock at 3:51.659 to win gold with a three second buffer over Australia, a massive gap at this level of competition. "I never felt under pressure to be honest," said Britain's Peter Kennaugh afterwards, his first ever Olympic medal around his neck. "I think our ride was so consistent, we were comfortable in the first two kilometres and they were on their limit. We lifted it in the last two k and then held on. They were never coming back."

The margin of victory was a surprise to many. Australia won here in London at the world cup in February and the two were evenly matched at the world championships in April. The two teams - who are light years ahead of everyone else in the event - came to London knowing a world record would be needed to win, but the Australians were never on world record pace in any of their three rides.

Great Britain broke the world record in qualifying on day one, went close to breaking it again in the first round ride early in today's session and then broke it again in the final. "They rode to perfection and were the best team on the day," said Jack Bobridge, the lynchpin of the Australian team. "We rode fantastically on the day and left everything out there and we've come away with silver. We got beat by [a team] who beat the world record."

Britain's female team pursuiters competed in their qualifying round today, and also set a world record. That means that every British track racer who has ridden in a timed event so far has set a world record. It is a mind blowing statistic.

Joanna Rowsell, Laura Trott and Dani King were almost four seconds ahead of the United States in second place. Australia were in third. Great Britain and the USA were the only two teams to set new fastest times here in London. Australia were almost three seconds off their time from the world championships in April. It means the British trio go in to the next two rounds tomorrow as clear favourites for the gold.

Pendleton back to her best

Victoria Pendleton made light work of her opponents in the keirin, her least favourite event and the hardest one to predict. She has been clawing her way back to form for the last year, and has hit her peak just in time, looking every bit as fast as she did four years ago. She won her first two races with ease but the final should have been harder.

Australia's Anna Meares looked just as good as Pendleton and the final looked set to be a battle royale between them. But when Pendleton surged past Meares and hit the front with just over a lap to go the Australian found herself swamped by those hanging on to Pendleton's coat tails.

With the Briton holding her top speed all the way round the final lap, Meares had nowhere to go and finished out of the medals. Afterwards she admitted to getting her tactics wrong on the night and praised Pendleton. "Victoria bounced back today after the disappointment she faced in the team sprint, and I think that's exemplary of a champion."

Pendleton said; "It would have been nice to win a medal in all three of them, but these things happen. After I finished in the track I went outside and had a little cuddle with my baby nephew Nathan who's ten months old. That put it in perspective. When he's a few years older I'll tell him how he made everything seem all right tonight."

Pendleton shows off the second Olympic gold of her career

Pendleton beats China's Shuang Guo to keirin gold

Steven Burke leads British team pursuiters as they defend their Olympic title