BRITISH TRANSFER MERRY-GO-ROUND
Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant are set to ride for Phil Griffiths' Candi TV-Marshalls Pasta team. Russell Downing leaves to join Team Sky. The three riders are all products of British Cycling's Academy programme and last season Clancy and Tennant raced for Halfords. All three were part of the Great Britain team pursuit squad that was just a second and a bit outside the world record at the Manchester World Cup. Clancy is an Olympic team pursuit champion, while Burke was a bronze medallist in the individual pursuit in Beijing.
Rapha Condor's team manager John Herety had signed Alex Dowsett, who was an excellent seventh in the under-23 time trial at the World Championships in September. However, they had an agreement to release him if a Pro Continental team came in for him. Vacansoleil made an approach, and then there was interest from the Trek-Livestrong team run by Lance Armstrong. "Even though they are not Pro Continental, we feel that if there is an opportunity to join the LiveStrong-Trek team it is one we can't stand in the way of," said Herety. The deal is expected to be confirmed soon.
Last year's 10-race series ran from mid-May to the end of June, with races held each Tuesday and Thursday. CW understands the series will again be ten races but dates, venues and teams have yet to be confirmed.
"Last year the first race in the Tour Series clashed with the FBD Insurance Ras in Ireland and we're hoping that won't be the case again," said Herety. "The Ras is a great event and it's really good for the riders, so it would be better for all the British teams if there wasn't an overlap."
And the Rapha boss said the 2010 season was set to be a big year for the team. "We know we've got to up our game, because there's going to be so much attention on Team Sky we need to make sure we still get a look-in."
National road race champion George Atkins, Tim Kennaugh, younger brother of Team Sky's new pro Peter, Chris Whorrall, who like Kennaugh is from the Isle of Man, and Jon Mould are the new recruits.
Meanwhile, another building in the Tuscan town of Quarrata has been acquired so that British Cycling's Academy and Team Sky staff and riders can operate alongside each other. This will provide Team Sky with a meeting and training base whenever they need it. The team's other headquarters will be in Manchester, and Mechelen, near Brussels.
Victory for the women's team pursuit squad on Sunday afternoon was Great Britain's 100th win in World Cup history.
Wendy Houvenaghel, Lizzie Armitstead and Joanna Rowsell's world record ride was also the 10th win of the weekend for British riders.
The UCI introduced the World Cup track series in 1993. Graeme Obree was Britain's first World Cup winner when he took the individual pursuit in the Athens round of the competition two years later.
Britain's first team pursuit World Cup win came in Athens in 1997, when Jonny Clay, Matt Illingworth, Bryan Steel and Phil West beat Denmark.
In 1999 the trio won twice - in Mexico City and at Fiorenzulo d'Arda. Queally also won the kilometre time trial at Valencia - foreshadowing his gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sydney the following year.
As the Athens Olympics approached, British World Cup success became a more frequent thing. Hoy and Queally battled for supremacy in the kilometre, and a young rider with a rapid sprint - Victoria Pendleton - won her first World Cup race in Sydney in 2003. However, Pendleton's first win did not come in the sprint or the Keirin, but in the scratch race.
In 2004, British riders had their most successful season - winning nine World Cup events, five in Sydney and four at home in Manchester.
In the run-up to the Beijing Games, Britain rose to the pinnacle of world track cycling. Aided by an almost complete domination of the Manchester World Cup a year ago - where British riders won 14 of the 17 events - they racked up a record total of 23 wins in the season.
In fact, half of Britain's total World Cup wins have been earned in the past three seasons. And they got this campaign off to a flyer with 10 wins, which also brought up the century.
So, which rider has delivered most World Cup wins for Britain? It's no surprise that Chris Hoy holds that honour. The Scot has won 28 World Cup gold medals in a career that spans more than a decade. Of those, 14 have come in the team sprint (formerly Olympic sprint), eight in the kilometre, five in the Keirin and one in the sprint.
1995 - 3
1996 - 0
1997 - 2
1998 - 0
1999 - 3
2000 - 1
2001 - 1
2002 - 5
2003 - 4
2004 - 9
2004-05 - 5
2005-06 - 7
2006-07 - 17
2007-08 - 10
2008-09 - 23
2009-10 - 10 (after one round)
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