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news
Sir Bradley Wiggins leads Great Britain team pursuit at Revolution in Derby, August 2015 (picture credit Revolution Series)Sir Bradley Wiggins stakes Rio claim as he leads GB to sub-4 minute team pursuit in Derby
Sir Bradley Wiggins has staked a claim to finish his career with a tilt at a fifth Olympic gold medal by leading Great Britain to a blisteringly fast team pursuit time at the Revolution Series in Derby on Friday evening.
The time of 3 minutes 54. 974 seconds would have been good enough to secure the bronze medal at London 2012, where Team GB set the current World Record of 3 minutes 51.659 seconds.
Two of the riders who won Olympic gold three years ago alongside Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas were in the line-up tonight, Steven Burke and Ed Clancy.
In Beijing in 2008, Burke took bronze behind Wiggins in the individual pursuit, ridden for the last time at an Olympic Games and before the rule change that now permits just one rider per country in individual events.
Like Doull, he now rides for Team Wiggins, set up by the 2012 Tour de France champion to form the nucleus of the riders pushing for a place in endurance events at Rio next year, including Andy Tennant who was in the squad at London 2012 but missed out on a medal since he didn’t ride in any of the rounds.
Clancy, meanwhile, who rode alongside Wiggins to win the team pursuit in Beijing and besides gold in the same event in London also took bronze in the Omnium, remains at Tennant’s former team, JLT Condor.
There are two aspects of tonight’s ride that make it particularly striking.
First is the time of year; it’s unusual to say the least to see track racing in the Northern Hemisphere in mid-August, with the season typically getting going in the autumn.
Secondly, there’s the fact it took place in Derby – unlike a venue such as the Lee Valley VeloPark where the velodrome was built for an Olympic Games with a fast track to match, it’s a regional multisports facility not designed to host top-flight events such as World Championships.
As a result last night’s ride by Wiggins – who in June set a new UICI Hour Record in London – and his team mates suggests that Team GB will not easily relinquish their Olympic crown in Rio next year.
A star-studded field including Mark Cavendish is chasing Olympic qualification points in Derby this weekend as the 2015/16 Revolution Series gets under way – and limited tickets are still available for the remaining sessions here.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Calm down. He's just saying "I wonder how Clancy feels"
Wiggo will definitely get the nod, so I imagine Clancy will be quietly gutted (as it was his best chance to shine), but publicly philosophical.
Where am I saying he isn't worthy?
All I want to know if how do those who have spend years training to go to Rio feel that they might be left out for someone who has decided they want to go back to the track, without having raced it in years....
Imagine if Wiggo was going to ride the TT, along with Dowsett, but suddenly, someone who has never taken part in a TT starting posting similar times that either of them, they got dropped after putting in years of training for someone who put in less than a year....I can hear the uproar from British fans already, you can't drop a start like Dowsett or Wiggo....but it is ok for Clancy to be pushed out to another event instead of his speciality?
He's been pushed out of nothing.
If someone can reach the same standard in a year they should be in, as you could expect them to improve more in the next 12 months.
Not sure I get your point here. Are you really saying the guys posting the quickest times shouldn't necessarily be the ones who make the squad, because others are somehow owed a spot?
The problem I see, the four riders in the team were all Wiggins riders, so they are going to get to train together any time they want, Clancy isn't going to get a look in and he is part of the current world record time, he also holds the world record in the Madison, which he's not going to get a look at either.
So he is being pushed out, it is easy to see, unless he can get some sort of training in with the Wiggins team under GB rules, he'll find that he "doesn't fit in" the squad.
Also, I'm pretty sure he'll have been getting lottery or British cycling money to train and keep focussed on Rio, his focus, obviously would be the team pursuit as this is where he's had almost all of his success.
Really not sure what you're on about - as was pointed out to you initially, Clancy was in the pursuit team and he replaced Dibben in the final. Salzwedel also said "Clancy rode superbly, he is ahead of everybody at the moment" - so it would seem unlikely he's out of the reckoning. Which team or event are you talking about ?
They go 3.3 seconds off a world record on an average track without too much training and you think Wiggins isn't worthy of a place.
Hmmm....
Surely as Sean Yates has already set out in interviews, it'll come down to the strongest team, not who the biggest names are, Yes there's a good chance Wiggins will make the team because as has been shown in the past, when he wants something badly enough he'll work hard enough to achieve it, similar things can be said about Cav, there's a reason he's been so successful, he has natural talent but works hard to make sure it's not squandered.
Nope, just laughing at his arrogance again.
I'm happy to see him back on the track, saves the crap he spouts on the road disappear now
but I want to know what those who have been continually racing for places on the track since 2012 with the hope of making 2016 think of him and Cav just stepping back in because they won't win anything on the road....seems very unfair, especially if someone like Clancy, who has multiple track pursuit titles to his name is left out, just because he rides for a different team.
HAHA
Olympic time trial champion Sir Bradley Wiggins, who will team up with Cavendish in Sunday evening's madison, was fined 200 Swiss Francs (£130) by race organisers for failing to attend the presentation after helping GB win gold in the team pursuit on Friday.
You're in a cheery mood, Wiggins knick your rattle as a kid or something ?
Gkam has never given an adequate explanation for why he has so much animosity to Wiggins (that it drives him to comment on every Wiggins related thread.) We are just supposed to accept his negativity as a fact because of Wiggins' obvious arrogance; which involves generally winning anything he puts his mind to and is vaguely suitable. I suspect there was some unintentional snub in the past which Keith will never get over. It is amusing that he think he can chip away at Wiggins' achievements with snarky forum comments, like a kid throwing pebbles at Mount Rushmore.
Pretty sure it was down to him not being given the bunch of free stuff he wanted when he was mithering people for donations on various social media platforms.
Oh, THAT business. I forgot. That was all much more morally questionable than a couple of World/TDF class pros declaring their interest in the Olympics last year, riding well and being competitive on the track immediately coming into the team. Just riding on the road didn't just mean their track qualification disappeared?
Wiggins gave us a clear two year plan after his crash. Giro, Worlds, Hour, Olympics. Two out of three so far ain't bad. In controlled conditions he (almost) always delivers.
Ed Clancy was part of the winning team last night
I'd love to hear what Ed Clancy thinks, anyone get an interview with him, as one of the only riders who could just slot into that line up without a problem, in my eyes he should be there ahead of Wiggo at the moment until such times as British Cycling decide the line up.
I'm guessing British Cycling will go with an all Wiggins team, because they will train together through the winter and be working on all track things
In football parlance: There is only one Bradley Wiggins. Four of him would be wonderful.
One of him is bad enough
I did mean Wiggins (the cycling team)
In football parlance: There is only one Bradley Wiggins.