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Worst Olympic year World Championship for 20 years? And then Denmark set a new world record in the team pursuit by 6 seconds, that's not marginal gains, that's almost half a lap!
How come they were not using the new bike?
And then Denmark set a new world record in the team pursuit by 6 seconds, that’s not marginal gains, that’s almost half a lap!
Are you suggesting they got some "extra" help?
How come they were not using the new bike?
They never do until the Olympics. They use it for the minimum time to enable them to ride it at the Olympics, same with some new skins suits and helmets they'll inevitably have.
The difference this years seems to be that they've always been close without the latest kit and this year they're not.
"Worst Olympic year World Championship for 20 years?" Do you mean for GB, or just in terms of general spectacle?
Missing the nasty Aussie coach perchance?
Only two Hope bikes have been built so far.
Also to be a pedant, the mens TP WR was lowered by 3.5 seconds over the three rides.
Not surprised to see Dan Bigham has been working with Denmark but Germany and The Netherlands were also flying. It was clearly a bit of a shock for GB and Australia.
Are you suggesting they got some “extra” help?
Or we've been lacking it.
“Worst Olympic year World Championship for 20 years?” Do you mean for GB, or just in terms of general spectacle?
I mean last time we did this badly Lance Armstrong won a medal.
According to Stephen Park, Performance Director, the riders have changed over the last few years. The winning teams now field bigger stronger riders.
They never do until the Olympics. They use it for the minimum time to enable them to ride it at the Olympics
Aah, makes sense.
A lot of other countries have improved while GB have got worse combined with talent drying up.
What we saw over last 20 years was a concentrated effort to put money onto something that would return most medals but that chance no longer exists. Move onto the next sport with the money.
GB have got worse combined with talent drying up.
Not sure about this.
Men's team sprint broke the British record, men's team pursuit posted the fastest GB qualifying time ever, all with the 'old' kit.
With new kit for the games, GBCT are very confident. It'll be interesting!
i don't think team GB have got worse just everyone else has got better
I'm no big follower of track cycling, but I got the general impression that for some time, the UK team in Olympic years focus their big training gains on the Olympics and very little on the Worlds in those years.
Yes, that is what they need to do to keep the money coming in to support them. If they start losing the money will go elsewhere.
Team GB have targeted the Olympics rather than the Worlds for many years. It's typical for them to "underperform" at them. This year's championships do seem a little different especially in the longer events where rather than just being off the pace they were well off it. Ed Clancy really didn't sound convincing in his post 4K team pursuit interview that they could make up the difference.
i don’t think team GB have got worse just everyone else has got better
Right time, right place for Brailsford and Sutton to spot an opportunity to exploit a sport with little strong competition. Now every country's got on the bandwagon.
As much as I've enjoyed watching how impressive GB have been in the last few olympics, I'm looking forward to there being much stronger competition and presumably more interesting racing.
It'll also be interesting to see how much difference the new bikes and kit makes at the games. Most of the other major teams were using their full olympic gear.
Women's sprint they haven't got strength in depth, too many inexperienced young riders
Men's TP, I expect they are in shock, they would have factored in 3 secs off the WR, but not what the Danish did
Women's TP could still step up
Men's sprint still should be good for medals, the loss on Callum Skinner still showing
Other than that pretty standard, note they were on the Cervelo frames which are supposed to be flexy more like training frames
Men’s TP, I expect they are in shock, they would have factored in 3 secs off the WR, but not what the Danish did
Yeah, the extra 0.34s off it makes so much difference.
There's a couple of absolute crackers in that Guardian gallery. The kids on balance bikes is particularly good. I like this one...
I would also be concerned that the bikes haven't been made yet. Implies production issues. They look complex to put together and I wouldn't be surprised if the "old faithful" UK sport frames come out.
Implies production issues.
Or maybe running into eligibility issues now everyone else has seen them.
Personally I think they should be banned for being ugly.