In or out

Selection for the team pursuit squad will be made in the next ten days, Doull says, and it’s a decision which leaves him feeling “nervous but excited”. Seven riders are in immediate contention for places in Great Britain’s endurance squad for the Games: Doull, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Andy Tennant and Chris Latham, while Jon Dibben faces a race to be fit having fractured his elbow in April.

With Wiggins, Clancy and Dibben, Doull was part of the quartet narrowly defeat by Australia at the World Championships in March, and while he acknowledges that result may see Great Britain arrive in Rio as underdogs, Olympic history tells a different story.

From idol to team-mate

Doull has spent the past two seasons riding for Team Wiggins and the formation of the eponymously-named team came at an important crossroads in the 23-year-old’s career. As part of the team pursuit squad which finished eighth at the 2014 World Championships, Doull considered quitting the track to focus on his road career having been offered a contract with Europcar.

“We got quite a lot of stick for that result in Cali,” Doull says. “I thought I might drop it and concentrate on the road, but fortunately I went quite well at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and that persuaded me to stick with the track and the Olympic dream. I found out Brad was setting up his own team and it was going to be track-focused with a good environment for the team pursuit, so it just seemed to fit.”

Who were Doull’s idols as a young cyclist? “Bradley Wiggins,” he replies, before correcting himself. “Brad.” The pair are now on much more familiar terms than when Doull was an awe-struck junior and he describes Wiggins’ influence as “massive” – not least during his now team-mate’s annus mirabilis.

“When I first got on to the Academy it was 2012 – a golden year for cycling – and seeing what he did that year was incredible,” he says. “The year before, in 2011, my first Junior World Championships on the road was in Copenhagen, so to be there when Cav won was pretty amazing as well.

“I’ve gone from looking up to Brad to sharing a room with him on training camps or races – that took a bit of getting used to,” he adds. “But it feels natural now.”

Reach for the Sky

Doull will complete the journey from talented junior to professional cyclist when he joins Team Sky after Rio – a decision he described as a “no-brainer”.

“When Team Sky was first formed in 2010, I was a junior and so have dreamed for riding for this team for quite some time. For me it’s a boyhood dream.”

As an under-23 Doull has found the greatest success in Classics-style races. His third place finish at the Tour of Britain came on a typically punchy course and saw Doull finish no lower than 11th on a stage. Last year he also came tenth overall at the under-23 Tour of Flanders and seventh at the ZLM Tour, a race which includes Fabian Cancellara and Doull’s fellow Welshman, Luke Rowe, as former winners.

“As a neo-pro the Classics are what I’d like to focus on,” he says. “Sky’s got quite a young Classics squad but a hugely talented one – it’s a great place learn and try and grow in the next couple of years.

“To see the transition Luke has made over the past couple of years at the Classics – starting by helping people like G and coming fifth in Flanders – is a massive thing for me.”

London calling… and Rio awaits

This weekend Doull will ride one of his final races for Team Wiggins at the London Nocturne, returning to the streets of the capital for the second year as part of a line-up which also includes Clancy and Tennant.

“It’s quite a unique thing to race in the centre of London on a floodlit course with a big crowd,” he says. “I haven’t done as much racing this year so I’m looking forward to a good workout on the bike. An hour-long criterium is going to be pretty full-on and a shock to the system, especially with the UK Continental teams heavily involved in the Tour Series at the moment and firing on all cylinders, but I’ll give it a good go.”

Doull will then return to Manchester before a two-week endurance training camp in Italy. The selected squad will then travel to Newport for a pre-Olympic holding camp and on to Rio. “It’s really not long now – something like 70 days to the team pursuit – so it’s all getting very close,” Doull says.

“Back in 2012 it all seemed like a long way off,” he adds, “but now being in a position to achieve those goals which I set four years ago – as an 18-year-old who didn’t really know what it took to achieve that – is a nice but bizarre position to be in.”