STRONG BRITISH TEAM FOR WORLD TRACK CHAMPS

team pursuit squad

published 27 March 2007

The world track championships start this Thursday and the British team have never looked better. The squad flew in to Majorca last Friday to put the final touches to their preparation on the brand new track that is already running fast.

Virtually every rider in the team is a medal contender, and after their performance at the Manchester world cup last month, they are looking like the team to beat, ?we?re happy,? a slightly guarded Dave Brailsford said on Tuesday morning. After receiving more media interest than ever before, British Cycling?s Performance Director isn?t making too many bold predictions.

When the British riders first rolled up at the new track in Palma, the building work was still ongoing, but with extra builders draughted in to work round the clock, everything should be in place come Tuesday morning for all parties concerned. ?There?s still a lot of work to be done to finish it off,? Brailsford said. ?It was a bit of a building site when we first got there, but they?ve made a lot of progress in the last few days. It?s a fantastic venue.?

Their time at the track has been spent focusing on their performance rather than spying on what the other squads are up to, ?We tend to ignore it,? Brailsford said of the other nations. ?We do our own thing and don?t worry about what everyone else is doing. We used to, but we don?t any more. We concentrate on what we can control. Sitting in the stands with a stopwatch checking what the other teams are doing just causes anxiety.

We'll be covering the World Track Championships in full on www.cyclingweekly.com and in Cycling Weekly magazine, Thursday April 5 issue

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He first fell in love with cycling in 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 134-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015 and can still be seen riding bikes around the lanes of Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Albeit a bit slower than before.