Owain Doull still scarred from Cali World Championships failure

Owain Doull is hoping for a much happier experience of the Cali track at this weekend’s UCI Track World Cup than he did at last year’s World Championships.

Doull was part of the British team that finished eighth in the team pursuit at the Worlds in Colombia in 2014 – the country’s lowest ever placing in the event.

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But on the back of a gold medal at the European Track Championships, the Welshman is hoping to banish his Cali demons at the first World Cup event of the season.

“It’ll be nice to go in there, doing a World Cup without the pressure of the World Championships,” he said on the British Cycling website. “I think coming into it, we’re all pretty confident and in good form.

“Hopefully, it’ll be a slightly more successful trip than last time.”

Doull joins Sir Bradley Wiggins, Andy Tennant, Jon Dibben and Steven Burke as the endurance riders in the GB squad for the Cali leg of the World Cup.

With double-Olympic champion Ed Clancy on the sidelines, there is a chance for the Welshman to try and cement his place in the quartet going into the Olympic year. But 22-year-old Doull knows all too well the competition he faces to be one of the riders to grace the Rio track next August.

“It shows the kind of strength of depth the squad’s got,” he added. “We had six guys who were all able to slot in [in Grenchen] without too much stress, to all go quick.

“Obviously we’ve still got Ed Clancy to come back in, so as a team, it’s a really healthy place to be.

“Over those rides, everyone was in different positions and different options. Moving on to Cali now, I think the momentum’s going and we just want to go quicker and quicker and quicker all the way up until the Olympics.”