Great Britain track team playing catch-up in gearing arms race

With a year and a half to go to the Olympics, the British team have their work cut out as other nations pull away on big gears

The Great Britain men's team pursuit squad at the 2019 Track World Championships (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Great Britain won four medals at the Track Cycling World Championships in Poland two weeks ago, meaning they hit the modest UK Sport medal target. But they are now chasing the Netherlands and Australia all the way to Tokyo.

Times in many of the events are getting faster as gear sizes get significantly bigger across sprint and endurance disciplines. Sprinters are now racing on massive 140-inch gears.

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Simon Richardson