At the world track championships in Paris on Wednesday Ed Clancy begins the countdown for what he hopes will be a successful third Olympic campaign in the team pursuit. But in the short term he is desperate to avoid a repeat of the debacle in last year’s event in Cali when the British quartet – Olympic champions and world-record holders – finished eighth, beaten in qualifying such as the Germans, the Swiss and the Spanish.
Like most of the Great Britain camp, from the technical director, Shane Sutton, down, Clancy remains at a loss to explain the disappointing result.
“I’m still quite baffled by how we got it so wrong,” he said. “It’s not unusual for one or two guys to be struggling but for the whole team – none of us had form, none of us had it. I never ever want to go through that again. It was a horrible experience.”
That defeat may explain why, in the longer term, Clancy has plans to relaunch his road-racing career in the two years after Rio, something he has wanted to do before only to find the lure of the track too strong.
“At this point in the Olympic cycle it’s exciting – we’re getting training camps, new sports scientists, it feels like we’re trying all of a sudden,” Clancy said. “We get funded on that one event so we put all our resources and funds into those last 18 months.
“I’m not saying that’s a bad attitude, that’s how it is. But for a cyclist it’s quite demoralising to go through those two years, want to push on, want to break records, but it’s hard to do it in those years. I don’t like to go to the worlds and just think we’re here to show our faces. That’s why we get battered.”
Changes have been rung since Cali with the arrival of the German coach Heiko Salzwedel, on his third tour of duty in Manchester not to mention stints with the Swiss, the Russians and the Danes, all of whom showed rapid improvement under his tutelage. Salzwedel has been given carte blanche by Sutton and has experimented most notably by taking the squad to Tenerife in December for training at altitude at the same base used by Sir Bradley Wiggins as he prepared for the Tour de France. Clancy, the senior man in the pursuit squad, says he has seen a difference. “Heiko has quite an old-school approach. He’s very keen on the latest sports science and findings. He gets what he wants,” he said. “British Cycling is a big place now but Heiko has a mentality that he gets what he wants and he’s not afraid of upsetting people. That attitude is getting us places.”
One difference is that Clancy has decided to devote all his attention to his beloved team pursuit rather than continuing with the omnium, the multi-event discipline in which he won a bronze medal at the London Games.
The event has been rejigged so that the points race, his weakest suit, now plays a defining role; it is far longer and every point scored is an omnium point.
“I’m sure I could win those rounds again but, say I went through to the final with a 20-point lead, someone like Elia Viviani would just take the piss out of me when it comes to getting 20 points back in a 160-lap race,” Clancy said.
That does not mean he has entirely turned his back on the event. The squad for Rio will be five and all must ride the team pursuit. It is unclear whether Britain’s new omnium man, Jon Dibben, can shine there and it is not clear how two other possibles, Mark Cavendish and Ben Swift, will fit in team pursuit training around road racing careers.
“I wanted to make things simple,” said Clancy. “At times I’ve thought I should forget it but Heiko has got ideas on how I can hang on to my team pursuit speed and still be competitive in points races. So it’s not completely dead. The main thing is always the team pursuit. I want to get up with Bradley Wiggins and smash it out for a gold.”
The men and women’s team pursuit squads begin their campaigns on Wednesday morning with the qualifying rounds that determine seeding for Thursday’s second round, and the main gold medals to be decided are in the team sprints. In the men’s race Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes line up alongside Callum Skinner or Kian Emadi while Jess Varnish and Victoria Williamson compete in the women’s event.
Five key races for Rio
Men’s team pursuit (qualifiers Wednesday, final Thursday)
Once a formality, this year a critical event because it will provide an immediate picture of how the team has moved on after last year’s disastrous eighth place in Cali. Of the likely candidates Clancy is said to be flying, fellow London gold medallist Steven Burke makes a welcome return along with former world champion Andy Tennant while Owain Doull is best placed for the fourth slot.
Men’s team sprint (Wednesday)
Since winning gold in London the British have struggled to replace Sir Chris Hoy in the Man3 position alongside Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes. The new candidate is Callum Skinner who helped the team to a surprise gold in the opening World Cup round of the winter. The Brits do not want to slip behind the Germans, Australians, New Zealanders and French and need to make up ground after last year’s fifth place.
Men’s keirin (tomorrow)
After a poor winter by their standards, Great Britain have qualified only one slot for an event which might suit Kenny more than the sprint, where pure power in qualifying – not his strong suit – is becoming ever more important. Kenny won the world title in this motorpaced sprint in 2013 but had a fallow 2014, epitomised by a mixed bag in the London World Cup where he lost out early on, fought his way back, then flopped in the final.
Women’s match sprint (Friday - Saturday)
No Becky James this year and while there is still a good chance she will return from her knee injury to claim the GB place in Rio, there is an opening for Jess Varnish to stake a claim after several years knocking on the door. There is no doubt about Varnish’s ability to produce a strong standing lap in the team sprint but she has yet to emulate James’s tactical awareness and aggression in the knockout rounds.
Men’s omnium (Friday - Saturday)
The new format rewards a points race specialist which leaves GB in a quandary about who their omnium man should be. Amid speculation Mark Cavendish or Ben Swift may throw their hat into the ring, Jon Dibben has progressed well over the winter and this is his chance to stake a claim while the road pros figure out whether they can afford a full-on Olympic campaign in 2016.
