London Olympic Velodrome, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
The action opens on Thursday with the Qualifying for the Men's and Women's Team Pursuits - both Olympic events. The Women's final follows the next day but unusually for a Track World Cup, the Men won't ride again until Sunday. With less to worry about in terms of recovery, this could lead to some fast times in both qualifications and the finals for the Men!
It's sure to be a busy night of Team Pursuiting. Looking at the entry lists for the event suggests that up to 22 teams could be attempting to qualify for the Men's event - with the fastest two teams going through to the final, and the two next best going into the Bronze medal ride. Four teams standout as favourites aswell, in order of their positions at the 2011 World Championships: Australia, Russia, Great Britain, New Zealand.
Team Pursuit: Great Britain, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn and Rohan Dennis will lead a strong Australian team here as 3 of the 4 World Championship winning team - Jack Bobridge is likely to strengthen them at this years World Championships and Olympics. They also lead the World Cup standings having finished 2nd in every World Cup so far, but they have yet to ride in their full strength lineup. Then there's the dark horses, the Russians - riding under the guise of the Rusvelo team. Trained by Heiko Salzwedel - who has worked with the British team, and helped guide the Danish squad to a Silver medal in Beijing - they have really emerged over the past year. A 3:56.127 on a fast Astana track certainly served as a warning to the competition.
The New Zealand team benefited from an Australian crash to win the Cali World Cup. Sam Bewley, Aaron Gate and Marc Ryan are regulars in the team and are here in London - possibly to be joined by Westley Gough, and the Olympic Bronze medallists are a consistent threat in the Team Pursuit. Victory would be a surprise, but they are certainly capable of making the final on a good day.
That leaves the British team! Secrecy reigns from within British Cycling, after months of hard training - and the identification of the team remains unknown. Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas are likely safe bets - but then the other 2 slots could be filled by any of Peter Kennaugh, Ben Swift, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant. Clancy and Thomas of course won Gold in Beijing, while Burke medalled in the Individual Pursuit. They are clearly determined to win the World Cup - Clancy won't be riding the Omnium here, despite being European champion. A fast time will be required, and with any luck, Australia and Great Britain will qualify fastest on Thursday, to set up a mouth watering final on Sunday afternoon.
Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell and Sarah Storey, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
But of course, the first event of the evening on Thursday will be qualification for the Women's Team Pursuit, and as World Champions, Great Britain are the team to beat. At those World Championships in Apeldoorn, it was the trio of experienced Wendy Houvenaghel along with young stars Dani King and Laura Trott. All three are in the squad here, but with one of King and Trott likely to ride the omnium, it is possible that Joanna Rowsell will also feature - Rowsell being a Double World Champion in this event herself. They start as favourites, but by no means is victory a given.
There could potentially be 20 teams riding here, and though Ukraine do lead the World Cup standings, the biggest threats are likely to be the Americans. Led by the superb Sarah Hammer - look out for her later in the event in the Omnium - along with former sprinter Jennie Reed, they were the Silver medallists as last year's World Championships. They hold the World Record for the event - albeit set at altitude in Mexico. There's also Australia, the 2010 World Champions, which incidentally was the only time that Britain have not been World Champions, while just like with the Men, New Zealand are consistently contenders in the Team Pursuit.
Thursday night may get a little tedious for spectators, with up to 40 Team Pursuit rides to watch, but the Team Pursuit is a fascinating event to watch nonetheless - and one of the most hotly contested.
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