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.”
Ed Clancy, omnium, London 2012 Olympic Games, track cycling day four morning session
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.
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“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.”
Nick Bull is an NCTJ qualified journalist who has written for a range of titles, as well as being a freelance writer at Beat Media Group, which provides reports for the PA Media wire which is circulated to the likes of the BBC and Eurosport. His work at Cycling Weekly predominantly dealt with professional cycling, and he now holds a role as PR & Digital Manager at SweetSpot Group, which organises the Tour of Britain.
