STRONG BRITISH TEAM FOR WORLD TRACK CHAMPS

team pursuit squad

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.

?We?re very happy with the times we?ve been doing in training,? he said. ?We know what we want to achieve in timed events. We know what we?re capable of, but the total number of medals is out of our control. We know what we want to do in the team pursuit, but if somebody turns up and goes quicker, then it?s out of our control.?

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 can?t rule out that there will be some times that are faster than Manchester, whether that?s good enough for world records, I don?t know. They?re relaxed, they?ve got good moral and they?re ready to race. It couldn?t be better. I think it is one of the strongest teams we?ve ever taken to the worlds.

British Team

Jonny Bellis - Men?s omnium

Ed Clancy - Team pursuit

Rob Hayles - Team pursuit / Madison / individual pursuit

Paul Manning - Team pursuit

Chris Newton - Points race / team pursuit

Geraint Thomas - Team pursuit / Madison

Bradley Wiggins - Individual pursuit / team pursuit / Madison

Matt Crampton - Team sprint

Ross Edgar - Team sprint / individual sprint

Chris Hoy - Team sprint / 1km time trial

Craig MacLean - Team sprint / individual sprint

Jamie Staff - Team sprint / 1km time trial

Katie Curtis - Scratch race

Wendy Houvenhagel - Individual pursuit

Rebecca Romero - Individual pursuit

Anna Blyth - Individual sprint

Victoria Pendleton - Individual sprint / team sprint / Keirin

Shanaze Reade - Team sprint / 500m time trial

Race Schedule

Thursday March 29

Opening ceremony

Men?s Omnium

Women?s team sprint

Men?s individual pursuit

Men?s team sprint

Friday March 30

Men?s team pursuit

Women?s sprint (qualifying)

Women?s individual pursuit

Men?s keirin

Saturday March 31

Men?s sprint (qualifying)

Women?s sprint (final)

Women?s 10km scratch race

Men?s 40km points race

Women?s 500m time trial

Sunday April 1

Men?s sprint (final)

Women?s Keirin

Women?s 25km points race

Men?s 1km time trial

Men?s 50km Madison

Closing ceremony

Television Schedule

Thursday March 29

BBC Interactive LIVE:6pm ? 8.45pm

British Eurosport:5.45pm ? 20.45pm

Eurosport:7.45pm ? 8.30pm

Friday March 30

BBC Interactive LIVE:6pm ? 8.55pm

British Eurosport:5pm ? 8.45pm

Eurosport:6pm ? 8.30pm

Saturday March 31

BBC Interactive LIVE:4pm ? 7.45pm

British Eurosport:3.30pm ? 5pm; 6.45pm ? 8pm

Eurosport:6.45pm ? 9.30pm

Sunday April 1

BBC 2:12.30pm ? 1.45pm; 4.30 ? 6pm

British Eurosport:2pm ? 3.30pm; 4.20pm ? 6.30pm

Eurosport:3.30pm ? 6pm

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

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 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 two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.