Multiple Olympic and world championship gold medallists Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton will lead the British charge at the upcoming track worlds, which will be held in Copenhagen from March 24 – 28.
Hoy was forced to miss last years championships due to injury and wants to make a successful return, adding to his career tally of nine world titles. He will line out in the various individual and team sprint events, while Pendleton will do the same in the women’s competitions. She won her third consecutive sprint title last year and wants to build on seven gold medals in worlds events.
Lizzie Armitstead, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell also return as defending champions, having won the women’s team pursuit and notched up a new world record earlier this year.
One of the most intriguing entries is that of Jason Queally, a veteran rider who took gold in the kilo ten years ago at the Sydney Olympics. He’s focussed on being a paralympic tandem pilot in recent years, but has decided to return to world championship competition in order to try to qualify for the London Olympics.
With the kilo now no longer part of the Olympic programme, Queally is making the unusual step of riding the far longer team pursuit.
“At 40, I was never going to get an opportunity like this again. Even if I don’t make it to London, I know I have had the opportunity to go for it,” he said. “If I’m successful, fantastic, if not, I have given it my best shot.”
In all, 19 riders will represent Great Britain at the world championships. Matt Crampton, Dave Daniell, Ross Edgar, Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny will represent the men’s sprint team, while Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Chris Newton, Jason Queally, Ben Swift and Andy Tennant will compete in the endurance events.
There’s notably no entry from Geraint Thomas, who would otherwise be regarded as one of the major contenders for the individual pursuit title.
Rebecca James, Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish are the women’s sprint squad. The endurance riders are Lizzie Armitstead, Anna Blyth, Katie Colclough, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell.
GB cycling team performance manager Shane Sutton said that one of the goals of worlds participation is to see how the team squares up against its rivals, two years before the next Olympics.
“The Worlds in Copenhagen will be about assessing where we are, right here, right now,” he said. “We know what is going to be needed at the London Olympics so we need to go to the Worlds and assess where we are and how far we have got to go.
“I’ve noticed a high morale across the team and there is a bit of buzz around these Worlds as the days to 2012 are counting down.”